It Was Love at First Sight

Before leaving for Kiev, I was confident I would enjoy this city and almost certain that Michael would as well. But I was completely caught off guard that the moment we exited the customs terminal I was already head over heels in love with the city, and my feelings grew stronger and stronger with each new thing I laid my eyes on. Don't let me fool you though, the airport wasn't the best, the cleanest, the newest or even the nicest airport I have been in. In fact, it was probably closer to the ugliest, darkest, depressing one. It was a big concrete cold feeling building, packed with travelers and those waiting for them and a hoard of people outside smoking. But this gave me peace and a overall sense of familiarity, which I loved. Finally, I was back in Eastern Europe.

We immediately saw my name on a sign held by our private driver to take us to the hotel. The ride to town was great. We drove through the tall trees in the forest, the high rise apartment buildings that were so run down and old, we crossed the big bridge with a great view of the river and the hills of Kiev, we passed through areas of big houses, cemeteries selling bright colored flowers, and fancy well kept apartment buildings.

"Hotel Sonya" called to me when I ran across it online. It was more of an apartment rental run like a hotel. We booked an apartment called "Lora", which after looking at online looked cute and big, but nothing special. We were surprised when they let us in our apartment and we saw that it had been completely remodeled since the pictures were taken that were on the website. It was beautiful and renamed, "Yoshiko". I'm sure you can guess that it was a Japanese inspired apartment that was so nicely done. After our little tour of our apartment by the lady that checked us in our mouths hung open for about 10 minutes by how nice this apartment was. On top of the amazing room, they brought us breakfast each morning to as part of the price. We got to pick what we wanted to eat each day and they showed up on the minute that we requested it. nice! We will definitely be staying here again.

As for the city, I am totally enamored by Kiev. No words, descriptions, pictures, thoughts or reflections could possibly start to explain this city. I think my "bible" (Lonely Planet) said it best; "It (Kiev) puts the foreign back into European travel and acts as an antidote to an increasingly over explored, identikit world." I couldn't agree more or say it any better. You nailed it Lonely Planet.

The most shocking part of this trip for me, was that Kiev easily became my second favorite city to date and we didn't even get a chance to scratch the surface. The second most shocking thing to me, was that Michael was just as taken with this city as I was. We'll be back here again, I have no doubt.

A few pictures to wet your palette until I get the rest online

Pretty Tulips

Street Scene

Former Soviet Leaders and Ukrainian Supporters of the Communist Party
celebrating Labor Day on May Day
In the news photo 1
In the news photo 2

View

Easy as 1, 2, 3

1. Today, after almost 15 months,was our very last Danish Class. I have a post semi written out about it, but I didn't have time to finish it before bed and our trip tomorrow, so I'll post about that after we get back. But it was an exciting day for us to be done.

2. Remember that one time back in 2002-2007 when we had that big extensive website then we moved to Denmark and it disappeared? Well, It's back now! kinda. We aren't hosting it anymore, so it doesn't have the amount of pictures and details, but it works for now, until one day, we can get our BIG site back up and running. Check it out " www.mnp8.com " , there is also a link on the side of the page now.

3. Remember when we booked tickets to Texas the night before we left for Italy? Well we did it again.

Twas the night before Kiev, and all through the house,
not a creature was stirring not even our plane tickets to Amsterdam.

Michael is attending a conference in Amsterdam in the middle of May. I'll meet him down there on day 2 of the conference and play solo traveler for a couple days while he sits and learns all sorts of big important things about something or other. Yippee!

now...bed.
*yawn*

Pige Tur

Today my friend Dorte (you may remember her as the witch from Halloween) and her daughter Emma had a little "pige tur". It doesn't translate well in English, but it was a little "Girls Day" outting for us. :) Dorte is one of the secretaries at DTU whom really helped us not only feel at home, but helped us in so many aspects the first time we lived in Denmark. She seriously made living abroad so much easier for us for the first time than I could possibly describe. Emma turns 13 in a couple of weeks and is getting very good at English so it is fun to speak with her and watch her brain work as she listens and responds in English. Danes never cease to amaze me with their English speaking skills that they acquire at such a young age. In turn, there was a fair amount of Danish scattered throughout our meeting.

We met and the Lyngby train station and went to cafe where we got cake and various drinks. I had a great cup of coffee that complimented the most delicious slice of chocolate cake. The cafe we went to, Cafe Mig og Annie, is maybe 1 block from our flat and I pass it almost daily, but have never stopped to enjoy it properly. I was extremely pleased and actually preferred it to the other cafe a few blocks away that we usually pick. It was a cloudy day but still quite warm (50-something degrees) and comfortable and we were able to grab a table outside.It sits right next to the big flower shop on the Hovedgade (main street), so we had a pretty view of all the gorgeous flowers that are showing up.

After we ate we shopped around the Hovedgade in all the shops and went to the store center. (like a mall, it is the big black building you can see from the view of our flat if you can recall our pictures) It was a fun day and I walked away with two bottles of wine from one of the local wine shops. yum.

Emma and Dorte

Emma and Moi...and a lady in a big purple scarf

Київ

Look where we will be one week from today!

Київ (Kiev, Ukraine)
Just yesterday on CNN this article popped up CNN.

Broken Hearts Fixed

I am happy to report that Denmark and I are back in love.
*cue hearts falling from the sky*
As mentioned before, we had a rocky relationship over the winter. I mean, how can you love something that gives you "Seasonal Affective Disorder"?? The past four days, we have done some seriously strong bonding bringing us as close as we were before winter hit. The only thing that Denmark and I can't ever get past was established long ago. We can't seem come to a healthy agreement about the taxes. But that's ok, I respect it's differences, and it respects mine. So that leaves Denmark forever as a fun fling in the first decade of the 2000's and we can't ever commit to a longer relationship.

So, how did Denmark and I mend this broken relationship and find peace again? I'll tell you! Since Saturday we have had the most wonderful and beautiful spring days. The sun is rising at 5:45am-ish and setting at 8:45pm-ish and each passing day is noticeably longer than the last. We have finally been able to sleep with our bedroom door open allowing us to wake in the morning with the birds singing, the church bells ringing telling me what time it is and a cool breeze brushing against our faces. The trees and bushes are developing blooms and leaves at a rapid pace and Lyngby is turning green before our eyes. Michael and I were actually excited when last week our allergies both starting to act up from the blooms. It is the first time in history, neither of us really even care that we have allergies; a small price to pay to welcome spring. We spent the weekend laying on our balcony out in the sun. It was wonderful. There is still a cool breeze lingering so you can't really walk around without warm clothes, but when you stay in one spot you'll heat up nicely!! What prompted me to write this post was that I just got home from the grocery store. While I was walking home with the one item I purchased (dish washer tablets), I stopped at a phone booth, set my purse along with the tablets down and......took off my jacket leaving me in a short sleeve shirt for the remainder of the walk home.

*happy tears*

Our Store Bededag

Once Easter passes, Denmark is littered with spring holidays. This past Friday was one of them called, "Store Bededag" or "Great Prayer Day" but I think it sounds better in English as "All Prayers Day". It falls on the 4th Friday after Easter and became a holiday back in the late 1600's. Store Bededag was created when several prayer days were lumped together. One of the traditions is to eat "hveder" heated up in the oven. The closest thing I can compare hveder to is American dinner rolls. The reason they are eaten was because long ago (and the majority of them still today) the bakeries would be closed on Store Bededag so they would make a ton of these rolls that you could heat up the next day. This was the first year we got to eat hveder and they were delicious. Too bad you can only get them once a year!

We spent the afternoon and evening with our friends Hella and Jens. For those of you that know Klaus, Hella is his sister. We enjoyed a 2.5 hour walk with them around Dyrehaven. It was the first time back there for us for the season. They took us up to an area we hadn't been before called, "Rådvad". It was pretty with a nice lake and some older houses. We sat and had coffee/tea and muffins.

While walking around in Dyrehaven were able to see lots of deer roaming the fields and this got us excited about summer and all the days we will be able to hang out here again. In fact we will be back in about 2 weeks with Tanya and Wayne when they come to visit.

Back at their flat, Hella and I made dinner and Michael and Jens talked about music and wine. After dinner they introduced us to one of the coolest games ever called, "Rummy Cube". It is like scrabble with numbers. I'm now addicted.

Rådvad

Our view over coffee and muffins

Jens, Hella and Michael

See the deer in the background between the trees?

Deer crossing the path

Woods of Dyrehaven starting to bloom

A Royal Day in Copenhagen

Remember last year when I did this: Queen Margrethe Turns 67

Well, today, Queen Margrethe turned 68!
Because I had so much fun last year, I did it again this year, this time with Hubby in tow.

We got to Amalienborg (The Queens winter residence) about an hour before the balcony appearance and enjoyed the happy atmosphere of the crowd. Not much was different this year from last. The Royal Guard band still marched around and played,little girls still wore their paper crowns, a few little boys were still dressed up in royal guard uniforms, and of course there were still Danish flags everywhere! The only thing different was the Crown Prince, Princess and their two kids didn't take part this year. But you know how it is with me, been there, done that, seen them...so no biggie ;)

Waiting

See all the construction workers in the shafts?

Little girls had on with their paper crowns

Cute Mini Royal Guard

VIDEO
The Queen Making an appearance

HRH Queen Margrethe

The Danish Royal Family
The Prince Consort (AKA The Queens husband) is the older man
The younger man is her youngest son Joachim and his fiance Marie
The two little boys, Nikolai and Felix are Joachims children from his first marriage to Alexandra Christina, Countess of Frederiksborg.

Me with the Danish Royal Family

After the balcony appearance we went for a cup of coffee and then to Rosenborg Slot (Castle). They have a lovely rose garden tucked away in the park. In the spring of 2003 the garden was full of tulips and I was wanting to see if they planted them again this year. But there were none. They were however currently replanting all the roses. Despite the lack of tulips (and roses), it was a lovely day to sit outside so we claimed a bench looking over the garden and the castle. We were surprised to see th Royal Gaurd band at Rosenborg Slot. As they played a crowd began gathering. We sat from a distance and watched. Michael laid down on the bench and took a nap and I sat in the sun listening to the music and the birds.

Rosenborg Park

Rosenborg Slot

VIDEO
A little bit of music a little bit of castle and a little bit of Pates

Michael on our bench.....before the nap.

We were here about 45 minutes when out of nowhere, someone appeared!
I stood up on the bench, and low and behold saw the Queen again!
Twice in one day! Not too bad.

Queen Margrethe in the black hat going up the stairs

From here, our day felt complete and we came back to Lyngby.

Celebrating in the City

Friday morning we got ourselves up and headed up to DTU to listen one of the DTU/TTU guys defend his thesis. Well, Michael went to listen and I went to visit our friend Dorte. :)
Roland did great and got a good mark on his defense. There was no doubt that he would, he is a wonderfully smart guy.

Friday evening it was time to celebrate with Roland along with Jason, Bryant and David who are all in the DTU/TTU program. David is your "stereotypical" Texan. He goes everywhere with his cowboy hat and boots and it was a lot of fun being in the city with him to see all the attention he got. It was all good attention too. He said it is easy to meet girls! I don't doubt it. I'd be interested in a cowboy too if I hadn't ever seen one before!

We met in the city and ate dinner at Riz Raz. It is a great Mediterranean food restaurant. We had been once before with Kelli and Mads. The food was just as good as it was the first time and we had just as much fun.

One of Jasons favorite spots in the city is a quaint little microbrewery called, Brew Pub . It was packed and hoppin'. I've had their beer before from a bottle from the store, but never from the actual place. It was delicious. There is even one beer called "Amarillo". We stood around a tiny table, talked and enjoyed ourselves. There was a cute little courtyard in the back that was all dug up for renovations, but I believe we will be making the trip back here in the summer to enjoy it.

As it was Roland's last night in Copenhagen he had to visit his favorite spot, Copenhagen Jazz House. None of us in the group had been there before besides Roland. There was an entry fee which was a little pricey, 90dkk (19 USD), but as far as entrance fees to places, it was actually pretty reasonable. So, I'm not sure why I'm complaining! Hmmm??? The atmosphere was amazing and the music was incredible. The only down side was that we couldn't talk during the performance. I mean I guess we could have, it was a bar, but no one else was so I think we probably would be been hushed. I guess thats the difference between me, just enjoying jazz music and those who LOVE jazz music. :)

Here is a little clip of some of the music.

Saturday was an exciting day! If you're a long time reader you know that one of our favorite ways to spend our weekends is going to the forest. Saturday, we got to start that up again! The weather was nice enough, the sun was out so we put on our hiking boots and went on our merry way. We took different route than we had before and along the way we came to "Garderhøj Fortet". (A Fort) It reminded us so much of the "Lyngby Fortet" we visited in the fall, but less grown over with bush.

Garderhøj Fortet

Around the back of the fort

Caution!
Break Dancing in Progress

(It means roughly there is a steep cliff)

Lovely Lyngby

The past couple days have been absolutely freezing. The air reminds both of us of fall and we keep joking that winter is just days away. The past couple of mornings it has been so foggy and our slanted windows have been covered in ice. When I open the windows to see what it looks like outside, I see people on the street scrapping the ice off of their windshields. The only thing that is keeping my faith that spring is indeed coming are the early sunrises, late sunsets, budding trees and all the pretty flowers popping up!

The Magic Hotel
Now you see it

Now you don't

Sunrise at 6:30am

Grassy area with lots of flowers at the Lyngby Mølle (Lyngby Mill) on Lyngby Hovedgade
Michael walks past here twice a day on his way to/from work.
I pass it only about 2-4 times a week
Looking Towards TI

Why? Seriousy, WHY?

I am so not happy to read about this:
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/technology/7334372.stm