Death of a Tennis Ball

One last Copenhagen photo. This is from a cafe where we had breakfast yesterday, overlooking a public square and the Stork Fountain. (Our guidebook says the birds on the fountain are actually herons, but whatever.) The sun was shining brilliantly and I was sorry to leave, but Olga awaited!

Traveling home was unremarkable, which is probably a good thing. When we got to the Copenhagen airport, I had a bunch of random Danish change in my pocket, enough to buy a bottle of inexpensive sparkling wine at the duty-free shop. We were going to give it to our dog-sitter, but by the time we got home she was already gone.

Olga was thrilled to see us, but her Kong toy was missing. I'm guessing she took it on a walk and dropped it somewhere, which she is prone to do -- you gotta keep an eye on her at all times! A lesson for the dog-sitter. Fortunately, thanks to my former boss Susan -- who brought a Kong to Olga on her recent visit -- we had a spare.

Meanwhile, in her excitement at our arrival, Olga demolished a tennis ball on the living room rug. Scraps of rubber and damp green fuzz everywhere!

Cold in Christiania

Yesterday Dave and I bought a ticket for those city tour buses, so we could more easily access distant parts of Copenhagen. Our first outing was to the "free city" of Christiania, which operates as its own little island of self-governance within Copenhagen proper. It's a hippie community that is traditionally soft on mild drugs and known for its street art.

There were some interesting murals, but the wind and chilly temperatures were biting and we didn't linger too long outside. We adjourned to a cafe for a big mug of hot coffee, and it's a good thing we did because when we went out to catch the bus again, it took its sweet time arriving.

Dave and I stood on the sidewalk for almost an hour. Even using a nearby wall as a windbreak, I was chilled to the bone by the time that damn bus arrived!

When we got back to central Copenhagen, Dave retreated to the hotel to soothe his hypothermia. I got on the next tour bus for another destination -- the Carlsberg brewery, where I wanted to see the famous elephant gate.

The brewery is a huge complex surrounded by construction, and it took me a while to find the gate, but I eventually got there. Then I took a long walk northward to Nørrebro. As long as I'm moving I don't get cold, and I had a great time walking amid the swirling leaves, listening to Astrud Gilberto on my iTunes.

I found a very peculiar building that made me think of Ms. Moon, because it had chickens protruding from the walls.

I ended my walk with a beer at Pussy Galore's Flying Circus, one of at least two bars in Copenhagen named after Bond girls (in this case, with a bit of Monty Python thrown in). I managed to hit both of them in the same day -- the other, Honey Ryder, is located in our hotel, and Dave and I went there before dinner!

We ate last night at Restaurant Kokkeriet, which was fabulous. Today, back to London, where Olga has cuddled right up to her dog-sitter. I've seen photographic evidence. She apparently doesn't miss us at all!

A Harbor Cruise

Dave and I set out walking yesterday and wound up taking a spur-of-the-moment harbor cruise from Nyhavn (above). We went on one of the flat little boats like the one at right, which are built to glide beneath Copenhagen's numerous incredibly low bridges.

It was an interesting experience -- and cold, at least on the outdoor deck! For one thing, it gave us a fast-track route to the famous Little Mermaid sculpture on the harbor. We only saw her from the back,  surrounded by her usual retinue of tourists, but that's enough for me.

And we saw some interesting architecture, from Copenhagen's ultra-modern opera house...

...to the more traditional Marmorkirken, or Marble Church, which was started in 1749 and then took about 150 years to finish. (I shot this after we got off the boat and walked to Amalienborg Palace, home of the Danish royal family.)

This guy was entertaining the passers-by on the canal in Nyhavn. It's not often you see a busking clarinetist, is it?

Dave and I ate an insane amount yesterday. After the boat tour we had lunch, the traditional smørrebrød, a kind of open-faced sandwich -- or, in our case, four open-faced sandwiches. (We didn't quite understand the menu.) They were topped with pickled herring, paté, sliced beef and shrimp with dill sauce -- with more Tuborg Christmas beer and aquavit, it made quite a lunch!

After lunch we walked to Rosenborg palace (lots of palaces around here) and then to the Rundetaarn, a tall, historic round tower with a sloping ramp. Supposedly there are great views from the top but we didn't ascend it, having walked quite a distance by that time. Dave, in particular, was ready for the hotel, so he headed back while I went on a brief exploration of the local park and some little side streets. I found a gay-themed store called Homoware, where I chatted with the proprietor and then felt like I should buy something -- so I picked up a pair of striped gym socks. I'm sure I'm supposed to wear them clubbing, but I'll probably wear them to walk the dog.

We ended the day with dinner at a nice seafood restaurant not far from our hotel. This time we did some advance research on the menu by translating it with Google Translate, but the results were questionable. One shrimp dish was translated as "hand-peeled travel in congestion."

Fortunately, the restaurant had a menu in English. I ate light!

The Long Danish Night

Well, here we are in Copenhagen, where it is very....dark.

Seriously, as I write this, we've experienced only about an hour of daylight in Denmark. By the time we landed in mid-afternoon yesterday, the sun was on the wane, and by the time we'd taken the train into town, walked to our hotel and checked in, we were sliding into twilight.

But that's not a bad thing. Copenhagen is very lively at night!

After checking in, Dave and I went in search of a meal. Around the corner we found a comedy club that doubles, during the day, as a cafe. (Mercifully, no comedians performed while we were there. Stand-up comedy is one of my least favorite things in the entire world.)

We ordered tuna-and-fish-roe sandwiches, and I got one (OK, two) of Tuborg's special Christmas beers. The waitress put little Danish flags on the sandwiches to welcome us -- she said they're normally reserved for patrons celebrating birthdays.

The toilet in the men's room had a message printed in the bowl: "Aim like a SNIPER."

Then we walked around town a bit, window-shopping (scary saggy onesies, anyone?) and getting a feel for our neighborhood.

I took this photo specifically for my brother, who's big into biking. I doubt that he would attach a little bell to his handlebars, though. He's way too serious for that.

I told Dave that in London, it would say "Bicycle and die."

Our hotel is located about a block from Tivoli Gardens, a famous 173-year-old amusement park in central Copenhagen. I'm not sure we'll go there, but it's fun to peer up at the fanciful pagodas and domes and spires surrounded by roller coasters.

When we got back to the hotel, Dave promptly fell into a snooze and I spent some time reading and watching a movie ("Harold and Maude"). Today, I'm looking forward to seeing Denmark in daylight!

Last-Minute Floor Mopping

This picture shows our purple "Amistad" sage, which is just about the last flower blooming in our garden at this point. It even survived that frost we had a few weeks ago. It's a perennial but it will eventually die back, too.

Dave and I are off to Copenhagen this morning, and I still have to pack. I'm also racing around trying to get the house into shape for the dog-sitter. It's funny how you don't really see certain forms of dirt until you know someone else is coming over. Then you think, "My god, that dog has tracked a lot of garden mud onto this floor!"

Happy Thanksgiving, everybody!

The Day's Photos

With Thanksgiving tomorrow, we only work a half-day today and we have no students. It's just meetings and administrative stuff. Thanksgiving isn't a British thing, but since we're an American school we follow the American calendar!

Here are some random pictures of stuff I found interesting yesterday.

First, I love the little feline sign above the door on Anna's House. It's right near our flat and I'm sure I've walked past it a million times, but I didn't notice it until yesterday morning.

Last week, when I was walking home from work, I passed police cars surrounding what looked like a covered-up body on the pavement on Abbey Road. I have no idea what happened. I've tried to look up news coverage and can't find anything. But there are bouquets at the site now, left in memory of someone named Terry.

Our Christmas cactus at work is blooming profusely!

And finally, the occupants of a house I've photographed frequently on our street seem to have moved. They've been throwing away a lot of stuff and last week a van was out front, with removal men hauling boxes. I'm sorry to see the house change hands, because there was always an interesting assortment of stuff out front, including a bench, an old bicycle and two large cement lions. It made for good photos.

The lions, however, appear to be sticking around. They've moved a few doors down to another house -- perhaps they were gifts from the neighbors!

Trends and Prehistoric Creatures

The Trends wine shop on Mill Lane, not far from our flat, closed several weeks ago. I always liked this place because of its abundance of signage, but I must admit I never bought wine there. (We patronized another, closer wine shop, and unfortunately it has now closed, too. We hear it will reopen under a new owner.)

Anyway, I will miss Trends Trends Trends.

As some of you know, I've been working on transcribing my old paper journals into blog form, in order to create a digital backup. The other day I transcribed an entry from my days living in Morocco, in the early '90s, in which I mentioned coming across a puddle full of strange creatures -- I described them as resembling small, pink horseshoe crabs. Apparently, they really repulsed me.

I never learned what these things were, but fortunately, I also drew a picture of them. Using that as a guide, I got online and did some research and found that they're called tadpole shrimp. They apparently live in seasonal bodies of water and their eggs encyst and live in the environment for up to 27 years before hatching when the conditions become right. I mean, that is freaking amazing, is it not? Nature is incredible. Anyway, I'm glad I solved this 22-year-old mystery!

Here's more of our modern London nature:

Mr. Fox, captured on our garden cam. Just a few hours earlier:

Olga and these foxes do a sort of continual pas-de-deux, taunting each other with their mere presence.

And speaking of French, I thought yesterday about whether I want to continue my classes and why they've become so hard for me. The classes themselves aren't that difficult, but I'm struggling with motivation. I think I've been somewhat frustrated by my slow progress, but I have no one but myself to blame -- after all I can barely bring myself to do my homework and I'm often distracted by other things. So I've decided to double down and work harder. I spent about an hour last night studying, including making some flash cards so I can finally learn my verb forms and stop sputtering tentative guesses, and I wrote a note to my teacher (in French! Using tenses!) in which I apologized for my absence and told him I would be back after Thanksgiving. (He doesn't care; it was more just an exercise for me.) And I'm going to sign up again in the spring, even if it kills me, and I apologize in advance for all the whining I'm going to do.

Je vais apprendre cette langue!