Whitsunday Islands

We've been on Brampton Island for 3 days/nights and it has been lovely. This is a partial list of what we've seen or have swam within 3 feet of...

cockatoos, XL sea turtle, variety of L sting rays, rainbow loirkeets, reef shark, snake, XL lizards, flying fox bats, 7M fish, L bugs, ground fowl and teamed with the Aussies to beat the Frenchman at beach vball.

We've gone snorkeling everyday, catamaraning a couple days, hiking everyday, and armed with a glass of wine, watch the rowdy bats in the palms in the evenings. The food (took on the all-inclusive meal package) was great, with a Xmas buffet of sea creatures, salads, and various other prepared dishes. All meals were eaten outside on the balcony overlooking the light turquoise sea. In the morning the rainbow loirkeets would join us and eat out of our hand.

Within a couple hours we're departing by boat to the mainland to rent a car and spend the next few days exploring the coast, with a final destination of Palm Cove. That's all I have been told so far.

Long Plane Fight

One story to note from the traveling home yesterday. The last of the 3 flights was Zurich (Switzerland) to LAX. In Zurich, the flight was delayed by 1.5 hrs due to the snowy weather. There was about 6" of the fresh stuff.

Upon boarding the plane, my seat was in the first row of the section (6K), with the bulkhead in front of me. My seat neighbor was a chatty Arizone native who has lived in Paris for the past 20ish years as a language instructor. She had more of an East coast personality than a West coast, and perhaps that's why she loves Par-hee so much. Another row neighbor (sitting at the opposite window 6A) was a heavy lady holding a very determined, upset young infant. We waited through 3 planes to get de-iced before ours was given attention, then had some minor waiting for the runway. The infant was still not satisfied & we had not even left the ground. By this point, the man sitting next to the mother/baby had already been reseated w/ the help of the flight attendant.

No worries, I'll just flip on the movie. The plane levels out at cruising altitude. I'm done w/ two short documentaries that were commentated by the crying baby and all the meanwhile being interrupted by my seat neighbor's own documentary on the mother/baby drama. The baby was now waling away in the bulkhead-mounted crib. The mother was sitting in her seat trying to ignore it. What is the deal? Perhaps a young/new mother? Perhaps the kid is not hers & she's just transporting it?

Next, appetizers are served. In order to pass the time on flights, I minimize multi-tasking; I do not eat and watch the movie at the same time(if it's on a personal pause-able movie screen). I just eat. Then I watch the movie. My neighbor opened up the movie pause for more venting. This meal was not going to be pleasant, let alone the flight, if the baby didn't stop nor the neighbor stopped.

What to do? Get up and go do something about it.

With my appetizer plates still on the fold tray, I squeezed out & crossed the plane to this noisy crib. I smiled & greeted the mother, not knowing what language she spoke, then poked my head over the little peace-reaper and started to baby-talk it. The thing didn't care. It exercised it's lungs (and coughing) at the same level. It at least prompted the mother to pick it up and hold it.

We started chatting. The baby (Anthony) is 6 months old and has baby bronchitis. It's very sick, hence the noise. She asked me if I'd mind holding Anthony so she could use the restroom. Being trained by my 2nd cousins once removed, and wanting to do something about the noise, I was only happy to oblidge. Standing at the bulkhead, I cradled the critter so it faced the rest of the passengers and provided some gentle bouncing. The crying immediately subsided. Emphasize immediately. Soon passengers were all looking, smiling and sighing... apparently the terror's grimace mutated into a grin. The mother came back & upon being instructed to sit & relax, we continued chatting. Jeez.

She is from Switzerland, currently living in North Hollywood with her husband of 1.5 years. She got pregnant w/ Anthony after a month of marriage. She is 21 years old. She was visiting her family for the holidays while her husband had to work in Los Angeles. On Tuesday night she received a call saying that her husband's friend found him unconscience on the floor. Apparently he had a seisure due to some brain pressure. The hospital confirmed he has a brain tumor and he's on life support in a coma. She is on her way to see him. Nuts.

At this point some bathroom patrons, hallway exercisers, and eavesdroppers were hearing her story. It wasn't just a frustrated baby with an unattentive mother. It was a very sick baby with a very distracted mother.

Little Anthony continued his quiet streak while wearing out my arms. After 20-30 minutes, I propped him up in the bulkhead crib so he could look around. His mom cradled him for a bit and he went to sleep within the hour... not another angry peep from him. We all followed suit soon enough.

The rest of the awake hours Anthony could be found in different women's arms and chairs. It had become a group effort to help out him and his mom. At one point, Anthony was bottle feeding 2 rows behind his mom. Even while she was awaiting her luggage at baggage claim, there was a stranger there occupying Anthony in her arms while the mother dealt with the present situation.

It was tremendous to witness this whole affair. To watch an ugly scene become beautiful... simply by being there to help.

Chilling Locally

From Denmark II

With all the busy weekend getaways, I decided to hang local this weekend. Friday night the jacuzzi was filled and I read my book. Saturday was a frigid day with the wind chill factor. I had forgotten to wear my long johns, so after less than an hour of walking around the little town & in shops, my hands and feet were done. I went to a cafe in the marina (that advertised in the newspaper that it'd be open) for aebleskivers (think cookie-sized spherical pancakes w/ powdered sugar and jam) and glogg (warm spiced xmas wine), however the cafe was not open. Dejected, I returned to the holiday home for a lunch of fresh bread, cheese, dried fig, and apple slices. Yum.
To get myself out of the home one more time, I went on a mission to find a Julmarkt advertised in the paper. It was in a tiny 1-restaurant residential area (can't call it a town), and down a dirt road. I parked where there were a few girls in what resembled boy scout uniforms. There were trees & greens for sale outside, and in the shack was a bunch of xmas trinkets (junk). Being the only one in there, and a young girl scout watching my every move, it was necessary to buy something. After picking up some metal candle holders, the scout leader appeared & I asked her if the money supports the scouts. She volunteered that it goes towards a summer trip to a place on the border of Germany. Apparently 25,000 scouts go there for a summer convention/trip. Done.
Next mission was to find some driveway vegetables on the way home. I drove down a random side road and sure enough, found a stand & bought carrots. Two of them are for me (they are really big!), and the rest for my horse neighbors. They now graze on my side of the pasture 'cause I've been feeding them daily. They have enjoyed apples, carrots, pomegranite, and fig. They don't like cabbage nor leeks.
Saturday night involved more jacuzzi and reading.

Sunday I woke up and broke a record.... it was light when I woke up! I woke up at 9am and there was a little light coming in through the blinds. It's dark at 8:30am, and is now starting to get light at 9am. A bit of a difference since I arrived.
It was a lazy morning & got to chat w/ Jamie for a while. We will be re-united on Saturday, so that is very, very exciting!
Around noon I headed out for a drive North to Randers, where the shops would be open on a Sunday in preparation for xmas. I made a quick stop in town for cash. Turns out the Grena fire department was serving free rice pudding (it was good w/ cinnamon sugar & butter). So, to support I bought a fireman calendar... two younger fireman in their boxer briefs & fire hat standing in front of the big red truck). The rest of the pictures are normal fireman work. Then, I was on my drive.
Upon seeing a huge brick house/castle estate, I drove in the crowded parking lot. Last week at dinner, Irene & Jonna mentioned that I'd see this on the road & it was a worthy site to visit. It's called Gammel Estrup (Old Manor House I think). Really neat place to visit. Most of the house is available to walk through, as it was decorated in the 1600s & 1700s. They have the National Farming museum in one of the buildings as well. Neat old wagons, sleds, and tractors. It had beautiful estate grounds too. I spent the rest of the day there and never made it to Randers (totally fine by me).
Upon returning, made some carrot-ginger soup, started packing up my things, watched Kate & Leopold (on TV), and finished with a read in the jacuzzi. Quite a lovely day.

Thanks for following me on these travels! Unless there is something significant that occurs, I'll be signing off for this trip. There's a good chance that this blog will continue to get updated w/ my next trip that starts on Thursday (CA time), so check back in another week (or two!).

Local Week

From Denmark II

A few notes on my daily Danish life:
- The holiday home gets 4 TV channels. All are Danish. If the show is produced in another country, they keep the native tongue, just add Danish subtitles. I have gotten re-acquainted w/ Friends, get my news from the John Stewart's The Daily Show, and keep some lady who solves mysteries on the background while I prep din din.
- It has been reasonably warm, or my body has adjusted to the temp. It has been consistently damp and in the 30s.
- Darkness has increased.
- Neighbor deer and pheasant family still living
- Neighbor horses becoming more friendly (ate out of my hand today). They are penned in a huge area next to my grassy parking spot.
- Continually get spoken to in Danish. Have now learned the phrases, "I'm sorry, I don't speak Danish. Do you speak English?"
- Have come across 1 anit-Bush sentiment. Zero anti-American sentiment.
- Wooden stoves are no longer impossible.
- For better or worse, I'm accustomed to being in a big house all by myself in a somewhat remote area.
- Still love the Danish dairy, chocolate and honning (honey).

In addition to those daily life items, I cooked dinner for two coworkers on Wednesday night. The dinner was local kleek & potato wedge baked fries, stuffed mushrooms, vegetable coconut curry, and ginger rice. Dessert was dark chocolate dipped frozen banana with some nutz. We had a great time. Here's a little video we took after the meal.

Tonight (Friday) has been a take-it-easy night. The last few days have been a bit busy, so I'm taking it easy. Was able to get out of work around 3:30pm and had a little light left to take a walk. The beach is a 10 minute walk away from the home! Amazing. Took me too long to find that out!

Weekend in Copenhagen, Denmark

From Denmark II

Friday at noon I went to my favorite cafe for my favorite sandwich (they only have 4 menu items) and ordered it to-go for the bus-boat-bus to Copenhagen. It's the same system I used to get to/from Copenhagen during my last visit. The boats are funny looking, as you can see in my pictures, and super duper fast.
The public transportation system (trains & buses) is widely used by the teenagers, and somewhat regular for adults as well. The teenagers bring their laptops everywhere. They talk in Danish, however 80-90% of the conversations will have some English terms. Sometimes mentioning people (Justin Timberlake), but usually it's a phrase and at that, mostly derogatory slang not to be repeated here. They pronounce these phrases with a perfect American accent... not a slightly British accent like the rest of their English speaking skills. So, I suppose the happiest country on earth lacks sufficient words to express "cool" derogatory slang.

My friend Nick met me at the bus station w/ his extra bike & we pedaled off to his place. Like last time, I had a bedroom in his landlord's place. She's in her late 60s or probably 70s, owns a large 4-story + basement house from the late 1800s, and she resides on the first floor. She seems a bit lonely, in the artsy/"intelligent social scene" (per her words), a smoker, and never cooks. She has a couple funny behaviors too. It's all tolerable for a short weekend stay by myself. Nick lives in the basement w/ a Danish roomate. After a trip to the store, we cooked a dinner in the landlord's kitchen, while she was at a party (she didn't mind). Pretty mellow evening & catching up.

Saturday I was off on my own at 9am. First stop, bageri (bakery) for a danish & OJ. Next rode my bike a couple blocks for the Carlsberg brewery tour. It's not as good as the Jack Daniels tour, but was still a worthy trip. It follows the history of beer in Denmark, starting from around 900 A.D. It ends in a nice large modern bar and the tour holder w/ a ticket for 2 free beers. Being the beer drinker I am not, I ordered a small taste of their Christmas label. I drank it while smelling yeasts from different items (banana, smoke, toasted bread, vanilla bean, etc.)... quite interesting. Half a glass later (that's all I wanted), dare I say it was decent for beer. It was the most beer I've ever had in my entire life.
After the 1/2 beer I followed the exit signs out of the bar, down some stairwell, and to a door that a lady was frantically knocking on. Apparently she had gone outside (for a smoke?), and the door was locked to return in. I let her in & went outside to the courtyard with gated sidewalk exit. I went and pushed on the 7-ft gates to exit & it didn't budge. Now I was locked outside in the courtyard (they lady was not locked out due to a smoke). It took some internal negociating before I hopped up a short stone wall, up to the 7 ft stone wall, and carefully belayed myself down w/ one hand on the gate, dropping the last couple feet to the sidewalk. Yep, I basically had to break out of the brewery! I think they must have forgotten to unlock the gate & I was one of the first people who wanted to leave that morning.

Nick & I met up for a lunch at a down-the-alley french place. It served all items on buckwheat pancakes (think crispy whole wheat crepes) and some unique apple cider. Good little find. Then I was off to Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli is usually closed after the summer, but it reopens for December for xmas festivities. It was really well decorated, very crowded, and cold. There were plenty of kids doing the rides, plenty of families in the restaurants and jolly-ness in the air. I browsed the xmas huts for items not to be lived w/out & didn't find much. Overall good experience, probably more fun w/ a friend though.

Sunday morning I boarded a train from the main station bound for Roskilde, the Viking age capital of Denmark. It's been on my Danish list of places to visit for their Viking Ship Museum. There was a great bakery in Roskilde... awesome danishes, rolls, and chocolate balls (eaten later). I walked through the still-sleeping town, and down to the Viking Museum. So much history is there! I was walking on a grassy hill, and there was an old town buried beneath the hill from 900-1000 A.D. The Viking ship museum was neat. The 5 ships that they had pieced together was only discoverd 60 years ago, sunken at the bottom of the fjord. In the Viking age they sunk ships to create water blockades to control a ship's path (for defensive purposes). After seeing some grown naked men jump into marina water of the outdoor museum, I headed back up to town.
Shops in Denmark are open on the first Sunday of the month, and they are closed on all other Sundays. Roskilde had some decent shopping. There was a great little cafe for lunch and even better people watching. There was a Santa Claus that was carrying a reindeer around, a Santa Claus winding a music box, boy's acapella group, boy's brass band, a xmas train for kids/families that was trucking around town, and plenty of festive people. Once all the shops started closing (3:30ish), I caught a train back to Copenhagen. After a little packing up and chatting, got on the bus to come "home".

It's good to be back to the holiday home. I'm finally used to being there by myself. I'm not freaking out at the creaks and pops that it makes at night. Still enjoying it!

Weekend in Hamburg, Germany

From Denmark II

The big weekend plans were spending Sat & Sun in Hamburg, Germany... my first overnighter in Germany. I had not heard about the German Christmas markets until I started research on events in Hamburg... the 2nd biggest city in Germany (Berlin beats it).

Saturday morning it took just over 3 hours to drive to Hamburg. Now, this was an experience in itself. Mapquest quoted a 4 hour trip. However, the directions also involved the German autobahn. I went 240 miles in 3 hours... and that includes non-highway driving. Yep, I averaged 80 mph.... going mostly 90ish and topping out at 108mph. It was all very safe in the Audi A6. I could tell I was in Germany when the cars turned into Audis, BMWs, and Mercedes. Other than that, a flag, and a temporary speed limit decrease, there were no markers nor customs on the border.
The transportation "issue" was navigating & driving at the same time in the city where the street names not only hard to find, change at every intersection, not in a grid pattern, but they have similar letter ordering when you do find them. There were flurries flying in the air when I arrived. Perfect for an xmas weekend!

Upon checking into my single hotel room, I began adventuring around the city blocks. Wow. I thought Aarhus lighting & decorations were fancy, this place is fascinating! The many pedestrian blocks (think many 5th avenues for pedestrians) have lighted trees, there are dozens of passages (aka indoor malls) to browse, and outdoor german xmas markets in every neighborhood's city plaza. This means there were 5 of them within a mile walk! The pictures should give you an idea of the buvarian stands w/ evergreens, trees, lights and ornaments around the stand. They were selling wursts, bakery items, xmas products, homemade products (not many), and plenty of gluwein (heated spiced xmas wine). The streets had street muscians and miniature ponies that would happily take a donation as well.

The crowds were out in full force as well. The later it got in the day, the more people were out. Even on Sunday, when all the stores are closed (markets are open), there were crowds out and about.

Food. Yum! Other than a soup & a glass of wine, I ate by market vendors the whole time! My faves were kartoffel puffers (think thick pototo latkey), champiogns (sauteed mushrooms w/ sour cream dolluped over the top), fist-sized sypherical cookies w/ marzipan filling, and glewein!

Sat night after snacking at a cafe in hopes of meeting a foreign friend, I stopped by a crowded market gluwein stand as a last resort. Sure enough, I made eye contact w/ a blonde chic and we started chatting. She went to school in Hamburg & was hanging w/ her boyfriend, his childhood friend & his girlfriend. They all began chatting in English once I became apart of the conversation. After a few gluwein refills, we were boarding the subway to go to a different neighborhood. We hit up a couple bars there and by then the guys were wrecked and us girls were tired. Got back around midnight. They encouraged that I join them at their flat for a breakfast the next morning. Their flat was off the city map & she didn't know how to explain for me to take the city bus to get there, so it didn't quite work out.

So, I was off on my own. There's not much open on Sunday (read: no stores, even most restaurants), so it was difficult to find a breakfast. Even when I did, I had to talk the waiter into just selling me 1 OJ and 1 pastry... not the full brunch service. Anyways, I walked the huge harbor. It's quite a long walk along the harbor strand, and I didn't do 1/2 of it. Finished my visit with a final stroll through the last of the markets & spending the last of the Euros (or donating it to a street muscian or rescue dog operation).

The last highlight was picking up the car from the hotel's parking "lot". When arriving, I had driven the car into a 2 car back-to-back garage w/ a rotating platform in front. It seemed the car was driven onto the platform, rotates 90 deg, then driven through the side wall of the garage. Well, when I picked up the car, it was way, way cooler than that assumption. I was instructed to go wait "downstairs" in the garage. I went downstairs to where there was a 1-car garage w/ a ramp up to the street. Suddenly a door opened, and out came my car, w/ no one inside! It was being pulled from its underside by a mechanical pull. Once the car was in place, the pull retracted behind the door and the door closed. I was then in this 1-car garage by myself. It was effecient & neat! There was a picture of the system on the wall showing vertical rows of cars. As Jamie said, it was an auto-vending machine.

Uneventful drive home.


More thumbs up and definitely add a German Christmas Market to your lifetime To-Do List.

Friday Night in Aarhus (28 Nov)

From Denmark II

Gol Jul = Merry Christmas in Danish. Gol = Good, and Jul = Yuletides (my own equivalent). Most of Denmark's xmas holiday was kicked off this weekend. Most of the towns light their xmas tree & have a parade or some carols sung. I passed up the small town stuff for the big city events. Here's my Friday evening:

After an extra long week of work (yes, I worked on Thur Thanksgiving & black Friday since they don't have a Thanksgiving holiday), I took off early on Friday to catch the train South to Aarhus. Aarhus is the 2nd largest Danish city (Copenhagen beats it). Taking public transportation in foreign places is great... didn't have to worry about parking and navigating & driving (at the same time). It seems many kids use the train to travel to/from school, activities, or maybe parent's houses. They treated it as routine.

Upon arriving at the main station, the lady passenger next to me went out of her way to show me town hall. Just next to town hall there was a Julmarkt (Christmas Market) that had it's opening night. I went inside this large single room building that resembled a real nice barn, and there were dozens of merchants with their hand-made items on display. From pottery, wool knits, glass, leather, wood.... you name it and they make something from it. It was fun to meet the artisans and support them directly. The atmosphere included Christmas lights strung across the rafters, xmas music, and a snack station (I can never pass up the aebleskivers). I did a once-through, before revisiting tables for purchases. I almost wish I bought more. Really neat.

Exited the Julmarkt and started walking down whatever streets looked interesting. After buying some street vendor candied almonds (wow, nothing like them... don't think I can bring them back due to custom's though), I decided to sit outside at a restaurant along the waterway. It was good people watching and managed to stay warm w/ tea. As I finished up I heard a band playing and ran up the stairs in the nearest alley to the Stroget (shopping/walking district) just in time for their Christmas parade. It had a few marching bands, kids in xmas costume handing out candy, a tractor, and santa in a convertible. Quite similar to a US parade really.

Once it was over, the overhead lighting display was "on" and underneath it I explored the many, many shops with the many, many people. The shops normally close at 7pm on Fridays, however it was a special xmas event, so they were open through midnight. A few shops were good enough to browse through. The most interesting one operated like Ikea with the forced path through the tiny store w/ nothing but reasonably priced xmas decor, bath stuff, and widgets. After being through the Julmarkt, it's difficult to buy anything from a store.

The 9:15 train ride home was uneventful. Made it to bed before midnight for the big weekend plans.

So, thumbs up for the Aarhus Christmas spectacular. The lighting decorations & Julmarkt were GREAT.

Grenaa Week 1

From Denmark II

Hej Family & Friends,

I gotta say, it sure is strange to be back in Grenaa! It's still fun. I arrived on Tuesday evening to a holiday home (aka rental house) instead of the hotel. Since I'm by myself, I'd like a hand at cooking instead of dining out at the limited choice restaurants each evening. Having a home also provides more space when interior comfort is key...think freezing weather and long dark hours. Anyways, the holiday home is cold to US standards. It's all electric, and the floors are what heats the house (sound nice?), however the floors are not warm to the touch. I've proven no skills with a wood stove either, so I just make sure to have wine, tea & down booties around.

My weekday exploring is nonexistant w/ the darkness. The sunrise is at 8am and the sunset is at 3:50pm. The daytime termpatures hover within a few degrees of freezing, but with the damp air and on/off wind, it's bone chilling. So, here's what I did this weekend:

Sat: Woke up to snow on the ground! Only about an inch, but it got me up quicker! Drove up North to Skagen, the destination I missed last time. It has a beach spit where the North Sea on the West meets the Kattegat to the East. The two seas collide creating a bit of water turbulence. It was Cold and windy (notice capital C). After the token picture at the spit tip, went into town for some fiskesuppe (fish soup) and tea. I browsed a few stores but they were closing up (forgot about the 1pm Sat closure time). Next I headed West to Nordseon, in the town of Hirtshals. It's Northern Europe's largest acquarium. Wow. Creative interior designed tanks paired with a wide array of local ocean species makes for a very impressive visit. It seemed everything they had (w/ the exception of seals?) was caught at some point in the ocean. Drove home in the dark afterwards. People drive 30-40 km/hr faster at night on their equivalent highway. They were passing me at 150km/hr (=90mph). I guess there's much fewer cops at night. Low and behold, it started snowing upon my arrival into Grenaa! I was pretty excited.

Sun: Lazied around the house this morning cleaning & jump roping inside (I tried running outside and it's a doozy), while it snowed! It only lasted:30-:45 minutes. Then I drove to a free day at the zoo (Ree Park - closed this time of the year except for today) between here & Ebeltoft. Two coworkers & their families were also there, but I never saw them. It was a great local activity and it was fun to see all the kids (some pretty old) with their onesy ski outfits on. It was only a couple inches this morning and they were well prepared. After a quick warming up at the home, I ventured out for a beach walk & then a mission to buy local produce. I drove along some country roads at dusk & stopped at every self-regulated driveway stand. I found 2 within 10 minutes. For 45 krones ($7.50) I walked away with a bag of potatoes, bunch of leeks, carrots, cabbage, pepper, and the apples were gratis (free). I'll feed the apples to the neighbor-horses and be cooking everything else this week.

That's all here, maybe not quite so interesting in type, so here are some pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Sasboarden/DenmarkII
(I'll include holiday home interior pictures in my next email.)

Thanks for "listening"! Take it easy,

~Sas