Amsterdam & Antwerp: Kings Day, Amazing Food and Vindictive Pigeons.

Greetings from Amsterdam!

Getting from Copenhagen to Amsterdam was more or less painless, walked to the train, train to airport, plane to airport, train to bus, bus to our new home in the north of Amsterdam.

We are staying with April's host family from when she was an exchange student for a semester four years ago. Her host parents are named Alex and Stephany, host brother and sister are Blue and Luna. Their house is in Amsterdam Noord or North, across the big canal from the city center in a quieter residential part of the city. It's a narrow house three stories tall with a lot of character; a spiral staircase between floors, wonderful art, bright colors and two cats in residence named Hassan and Kuala. Kuala sat on my lap all the first evening and made me feel very cozy.

Since arriving in Amsterdam last week our days have been pretty packed. We have thus far spent the day in Antwerpen, traveled to a sweet small castle in the countryside, gone to a party and mingled with cool Dutch college students, seen April get her second tatoo, gone to a huge party in Amsterdam the night before Kings day and danced to Serbian ska. I have also eaten some of the best home cooked meals ever made. Alex and Stephany really REALLY know how to cook.

Our first day the three of us visited the Amsterdam Maritime Museum. If you get a chance definitely go! 15 euros gets you admission to the museum and three floors of artefacts including navigation tools, figureheads from real ships, atlases, photographs, an entire gallery of naval paintings and model yachts. Also, into a sort of virtual reality experience of being on ships through time that might make you a little seasick. But the best part is the full size replica of a multiple masted sailing ship on the canal behind the museum. Inside are interactive displays, cannons you can shoot, hammocks you can lay in, ropes to climb, cargo boxes to crawl through and lift with pulley systems and much much more. I cannot sing the praises of this museum enough. If you get a chance, GO!

Alex and Stephany drove us to Antwerp, Belgium last week; It was an incredibly relaxing day in a beautiful city, strolling down streets through the park from cafe to cafe. For lunch we picked a place with a serene walled garden in the back. The tables were white rought-iron on old cobblestones with heavy pink flowers hanging off trellises. Once settled under a large elm tree and our first beers had been drunk, the food arrived. For me, bouillabaisse or seafood soup, one of my favorites. The waitress put it down and I took a moment to appreciate the day, the sun, the garden, the company and the sounds of the birds.

But a loud PLOP brought me back to the present. I couldn't see anything immediately but the sound must have come from somewhere. I inspected my bowl carefully and lo and behold there it was.

Birdshit. Right into my soup.

It was equal parts horrifying and hilarious. My disgust was only matched with mirth and everyone at the table had a good laugh, or several good laughs about the pigeon with a grudge. Luckily it didn't take to long for the bowl to be replaced with one with a little less protein. The soup was delicious by the way.

-----------------------------------

Today we attended Kings Day, the King's birthday and a serious party day. We went to the festivities last night for a few hours and they seemed more like what I would expect of a national festival. Thousands of people in a public square with several stages with live music, lots of beer, dancing, laughing, loud people and a lot of fun. Kings Day though is the day where it's legal to sell anything you want (within reason), so from about 6 in the morning until 3 in the afternoon the city is a giant flea market with people selling everything from toddler clothes to food to books, music, records, ice skates. Whatever you are looking for you can probably find it on Kings Day.

The sheer amount of people out was intimidating, besides the sellers there are musicians of all kinds, circus performers, some floats like parades playing music, carnival rides etc. It's like if the Fourth of July, county fair, flea market, school band performance, circus, summer concert series and the biggest beer garden you've ever seen all decided to party together for a day.

I even managed to find a kid playing a song I first discovered in Croatia and haven't heard at all the states. Listening to the music brought back memories of the Design/Build I hadn't thought about in a very long time. So see? You really can find anything in the Kings Day markets.

Last Days in Copenhagen: Canal Tours, Little Memaid, Botanical Gardens

The apartment is very cozy. Sofie and Emil have a bedroom with a sliding door, April sleeps on the couch as she is still getting over the plague, Rowan and I are bunking on pads on the floor between the kitchen area and the table. So really our feet are in the livingroom, heads in the dining room Ro in kitchen and me in the T.V. room with my head against the coffee table and body slightly under the dining table.

In the morning Emil or Sofie usually get up first and tip toe around us to the bathroom or shuffle alongside Rowan and open the fridge over her head to grab some bread and butter. Once roused we fold and store our bedding then make tea and toast maybe with eggs and eat breakfast together. A few people take turns showering, we check emails and facebook, upload pictures. Chat about the day and make jokes about how terrible we are at pronouncing Danish (it is a very difficult language).

Once, we convinced Emil to play piano for us, and the maestro sat down in his bathrobe and slippers to play a mix of classical, jazz and swing so April and I cut a rug somewhere between the music, living, dining and TV rooms. Somehow five adults in this small space is working out amicably. I love my new little family.

Monday and Tuesday were our touristy days. Sofie had the morning off from classes and took us to Nyhavn, which means "New Harbor" and is one of the oldest harbors in Copenhagen. Now it's all shops and restaurants for tourists taking pictures of semi-permanently parked, colorful sailing ships. Like this!

Our boat tour took us around the major canals. We saw the Opera house, museum, old palaces, and beautiful ships. We even saw the famous statue of the Little Mermaid from behind. Her head has been stolen twice since she was put in her place in the harbor in 1913 but with a new head she's looking pretty good chillin on her plinth. 

Copenhagen is proud of all things Hans Christian Andersen; the guide specifically pointed out a house he lived in Nyhavn and more than a few buildings, streets and squares are named after him.

After the tour Sofie left us and we shopped around for a bit in the old part of Copenhagen where there are pedestrian only streets and entered the main square where city hall and Tivoli Gardens are. Sofie's sister Matilda works in city hall and offered to give us a tour of the beautiful old building. We followed her up and down stone staircase, twisting around mezzanines and attempted to get into a locked ballroom or two.

Tuesday we explored the Royal Danish Botanical Gardens, wandering along the meandering paths basking in the glow of excellent landscape design. The glasshouse has gorgeous wrought iron spiral staircases to a catwalk around the inner edge of the dome to view the canopy of tropical plants. The temperature went from 85 degrees to above 100 in the distance of eighteen feet. One lap around the dome only; being up in the heat and humidity high in the air didn't seem like the safest of places to be for long.

Copenhagen has been incredibly cooperative weather-wise, sunny every day with temperatures creeping towards spring heat. Each day I was able to leave another piece of winter clothing at home.

On our last morning before leaving Denmark I went to Osterparken across the street to draw in the sunshine for a bit. I sat at a picnic table and drew a church tower in the distance behind row houses, a swan on the pond and people meandering the path around the water, taking in the birdsong.

A Day In The Danish Countryside: Karise, Denmark

Hello All!

Sunday got on the road mid morning to go to the countryside to visit Sofie's parents who live in a small town called Karise South of Copenhagen.The drive was about an hour long; the city giving way to the suburbs giving way to the outer towns, then once pulling off the freeway to tiny villages about a mile apart. Spring is a few weeks behind home, so the flowering trees are in full splendor while none of the deciduous trees have leafed out yet. The villages all have a small white or orange church with a tower facing west, a few buildings, some with thatched roofs and half-timbered walls sagging with age. The roads off the freeway are tiny and winding, only wide enough for one car at a time. It's very flat, with a few small hills here and there. The miniature horse is a fashionable pet in the area we noticed when passing fenced in front yards with shaggy mini-horses scratching themselves against trees.

Sofie's parents welcomed us with open arms into their beautiful home. It had once been a factory and after years of renovation is a lovely and large house. Sofie's mom Dorte made us a traditional Danish Dish called "Shooting Stars" that was a piece of buttered toast with lettuce, cod, flounder, shrimp, lemon, mayo, and caviar on top arranged very artistically. 

Then another dish of pate and mushrooms on toast and meatballs. It was all stellar food and we took a walk to work some of it off before dessert.

First we drove to a Vemmetofte Castle nearby where Sofie used to work. It once belonged to the Royal family of Denmark but has since been converted into extremely upscale and expensive apartments. The tenants the occasionally have the Queen of Denmark over for tea or lunch. Sofie met her a few times and said she was very polite and smokes like a chimney.
We couldn't go into the castle but walked the grounds and garden, Sofie's mom pointed out edible plants growing wild we could nibble on but we were all still too stuffed to have more than a taste.

Then to the beach where Sofie's mom has been jumping into the frigid northern waters once a week all winter. "Why do you do it?" we asked

"Because I am a VIKING!" she exclaimed. I like this woman.

The beach was sunny and warm with calm, ice blue water. It was so clear in places that it reminded me of the Adriatic but colder and with swans serenely searching for food.

On the other side of the small bay is a large almost perfectly round boulder reposing on the beach all by itself with no indication of when it arrived or how it got there. There is a story that a Swedish troll was angry at the Danes and threw the giant rock at Denmark. Luckily no one was injured in the attack.

By then we had made just enough room in our stomachs for dessert and returned to the house to partake in a light, fluffy lemon dessert somewhere between jello and whipped cream. Paired with tea it was the perfect way to end our afternoon in the countryside. I had wanted to see more of Denmark than just inner Copenhagen and I am very grateful for the lovely experience we had. Outside the city was startlingly quiet at first, with fresh breezes and long views across green fields and pastures. It's terribly peaceful, a model for any pastoral painting.

It shouldn't be a surprise to find out that we all passed out on the way home. Sofie chatted with her father in the front while April, Ro and I became slack faced sleep monsters in the back almost as soon as we bucked in.

Happy to Report the Adventure Has Begun: Seattle - Iceland - Denmark

Thursday I awoke to a brilliant blue sky. If weather is any indication of the success of a day's endeavors, ours were surely blessed.

Before heading to the airport, we took a walk through Carkeek Park to get a last look at the Pacific Northwest in full spring splendor.The deciduous Big Leaf Maples on the bluff have leafed out and salmon berry flowers are blooming. At Carkeek, canes arch over the paths making tunnels that dapple light below and break the green with spots of bright pink. The Olympics and Rainier even came out to say goodbye, their snowcaps reflecting brightly in the spring sunshine. All in all it was a good day to be in the pnw.

After a hearty breakfast, a momentary panic of lost shoes, and packing, bagging and taping my backpack within an inch of its life, Max and I headed to the airport.

The packing process 1, 2 and 3

- - - - - - - - - -

The flights were happily uneventful, one plane was comfortable, one was not, turbulence is scarier now than when I was a kid (I learned flying into an Iceland rain storm).

It's worth noting a vital travel tip here. Learn, remember and plan for what I will call your "last straw". A "last straw" is a some variable that you absolutely need to be going right for you to be a functioning adult. Mine is hunger for example. I can deal with acute exhaustion, small spaces, even crying babies to an extent but if I have to deal with those AND an empty stomach I turn into a blathering baby myself. I become less rational, quicker to anger, and much less compassionate for other people that's for dang sure. So the tip is to learn what your "last straw" is and plan for it as much as possible, especially while traveling.

Twelve hours after leaving sunny Seattle I landed in sunny Copenhagen. Wandering through the airport to the one door the terminal I opened it and found a hall lined with dozens of quiet, expectant people waving small Danish flags. I stopped, worried I had accidentally exited the door that the Queen was about to come through, but saw that their eyes had already slid past me to others exiting. These were just people waiting for their loved ones and waving the flag is a general celebratory thing to do like flags on the fourth of July but for any celebration.

I also noticed right away that everyone, e v e r y o n e looks amazing. Completely put together, indescribably posh and relaxed in the national ability to put together a coherent outfit. I had a similar shock arriving in Croatia I remembered too late; choosing a travel outfit for optimum comfort, looking like Carmen San Diego's more practical cousin Janet North Seattle.

After a bit of a communication kerfuffle I found the way to my friends April and Rowan in the apartment on D- where we are staying with their high school exchange student Sofie and her boyfriend Emil. We are right in the middle of the city a few blocks down from the old town. The largest street in Copenhagen is nearby and thick with bikes, busses and cars. Right on the other side of the road is the old town, buildings in bright colors, close on either side of small, cobblestone streets. The apartment we are staying in is small and comfortable with tall windows that look over a large long courtyard the size of a soccer field. Sofie says the Nazis used these buildings during part of WWII and they were bombed pretty extensively because of it. They were then rebuilt and now house dozens of families. Now they have a twelve year waiting list because of their central location, she and Emil managed to get on the list when it was only three years long.

Today is April's birthday and this morning we were awoken by Rowan, Sofie, and Emil singing happy birthday and festively waving Danish flags. In the kitchen they had prepared a picture perfect breakfast of parfaits, danishes, bread and tea. It was lovely, a wonderful first breakfast away from home, I felt incredibly welcomed.

Later, the five of us walked along one of the urban lakes to one of the tallest buildings in Copenhagen. The general style of the city is to have long row buildings, side by side the length of the street, 5-6 stories tall with neat windows in rows. The buildings circle an inner courtyard, service area or parking lot usually. The skyscraper is slowly making its way into Copenhagen though, and we visited one the Emil works in, going up to the view deck on the 18th floor for a 360 degree view of the city. With another sunshiney day and a light breeze we could see all the way to Sweden!

Copenhagen is very green with lots of old parks, ponds and lakes supporting animal life, on the walk we saw many water birds nesting in the reeds along the shore including a pair of swans. Mocking birds, doves, pigeons and crows swoop through the courtyard constantly for such an urban area. From the roof we could see different collections of neighborhoods grouped by architectural style, organized by streets all in bright colors and often sporting tiny roof balconies with people enjoying the Saturday sunshine.

Later this afternoon April and I went for a walk in a park nearby and came home to a surprise birthday party with most of Sofie's family. With big smiles they serenaded April with a sonorous Danish birthday song before we tucked into two delicious cakes. April's 24th birthday has been full of surprises and friendly faces for sure.

Sofie is able to make helpful things and people appear out of nowhere and proved it again by borrowing April, Rowan and I bicycles for our stay. Her big gifts to April were tickets for the four of us to go to a dance performance tonight across town. At dusk we unlocked our steeds and prepared to commute like the Danes do. There are more bikes Copenhagen than cars, bike infrastructure and support is just as large and important as any other infrastructure, this is known in the design world as BIKE CITY, so riding bikes and riding them well is important for us to manage. Unfortunately, the three out of towners are not so experienced and had bikes made for ladies at least a few inches taller than ourselves which made us look a bit like baby horses riding bikes made for giraffes. We wobbled up to speed tried not to disrupt normal traffic too much.

Biking through Copenhagen at night after the show was lovely if a little daunting. The evening was quintessentially springy- crisp after a warm day. There was very little car traffic and we rode home through the calm city. Tomorrow we are driving into the country to visit Sofie's parent's and see a bit more of the country outside Copenhagen . I am excited and sleepy. Goodnight!