25-year Silver Anniversary

 above: August 23, 1990 Copenhagen City Hall.

below: August 23, 2015 Silver Anniversary.

Once upon a time, long long ago, to a far and distant land, a young man with hair on his head went east to a magical fairytale land.  The hit song of the time was Go West.  All the people of the village were singing it but this young man went east.  He went far far away; all the way to Europe.  He traveled many many countries by train and by boat and met many many interesting people. He loved it so much, he decided to go east again the following year and even the year after that as well.  But the people of the village were still singing - Go West.  Policemen, construction men, army men and wild natives were singing the song.  Why, even animal lovers and pet shop owners were singing go west.  But still this young man with hair on his head went east.  It was on his 3rd adventure that this young  man with hair on his head went to a mystical fairytale garden.  In the day time you could hear children laughing and playing.  But in the evening time it was very very dark and very very mysterious.  There were evil eyes lurking about following your  every movement - every step.  What's that!? Watch out !  Hands were reaching out after this young man - creepy hands. The eyes were following this young man and long long arms would reach out to grab him when he least expected it.  But the young man ran and ran as fast as he could.   He ran down one hill and then up the next hill to get away far far away from the grabbing hands with the evil eyes.  But it was an very very dangerous place and impossible to get away from the creepy creeps.  And then suddenly - Smask! The young man ran right smack into one of the creatures lurking in the dark.  AAaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa!!!!! screamed the young man, Let me go! Let me go! he cried as he shuttered.  But the creature,  it turned out, wasn't one of the evil creatures at all.  It turned out to be a real live Garden hero and he saved the young man from the mysterious night time creatures with long grabbing hands and evil lurking eyes.  The creatures tried hard to get the young man back to the mysterious garden, but they were no match for the Garden hero's super powers.  And all the evil creatures hiding in the dark winced and shrilled against the super strength of Garden hero as he safely led the young man away from the evil creatures of the mystical garden and back to safety.

2½ months later the hero asked me to marry him.  I laughed.
A few days later he asked me again.  "You must be nuts" I told him.
Then he had the nerve to ask me such a silly question again.

"You're a man and I'm a man" I scolded him, "And men cannot marry each other even if you do have super hero strength!"  

"Ah haa" exclaimed the super hero, "But this is fairytale land and men can and do marry each other."
  So... as romantically as I could, I replied, "oh... why the hell not !"

And so it was - 25 years ago on August 23, 1990 my hero and I married each other at the city hall in Copenhagen.

And........

On August 23, 2015 my super hero and I celebrated our silver wedding anniversary.  We had just a few of our closest 800 facebook friends join us in the celebration. We started the celebration with free flowing champagne, fresh frozen jumbo shrimp and bigger than life, teeny tiny weenies and olive-cheezy things on rainbow colored sticks, on our balcony over looking the harbor.  

left to right: Brent, Nhu, Birthe

Birthe, John, Jens, Lars, Nasko

left to right: Brent, Jørn, Nasko, Birthe, Jens, Lars, Eddie

Magnus and Jørn

Stephan, Dan, Anne

What a wonderful surprise; my beautiful niece Sabrina popped in to say congratulations.

and next to her is Nasko.

The only person I don't have pictured here on the balcony is JC.  It all went so fast.  I'm kicking myself in the butt now for not having more time on the balcony and doing individual photos with each guest.  The celebration was just getting started and I was overwhelmed by the wonderful kindness of our dear friends. I'm getting tears just thinking about it as I type. 

Jens and I ordered new rings.  We weren't sure when we should put them on.  Before the party? After the Party? In private?  And then we figured out that we should open them and put them on in front of our guest. The rings were very very VERY expensive - cuz that's just the kind of guys we are.  $47.63 for both rings and that includes international postage.  A kiss on the hand may be quite continental but glass is a gurls affordable option!

Jens with ring-box in his hand.

Ooo what could be in this little box, prey tell?

Opening the boxes and Bounty is hoping there is a bite for her.

Some shouted - Show your rings! And you know me - always willing to accommodate.

I bought them on-line - you know - cuz it's so romantic that way.  The boxes I got at the mall.  How's that for classy sophistication!

Before we knew it - I was shouting that it was time to go catch the boat.  It was the last boat of the day.  But somebody shouted back, "We can't go until you open the gifts!"  Well... gift number 1 was already open and hanging from the ceiling.

A few weeks before the celebration, my good friend Dan asked me, "Hey Eddie, what do you guys want for an anniversary gift - and don't say nothing - because I'm going to get you something anyway - so you may as well tell me what you want."  

Really - I didn't want anything other than the happy faces of our guest. I was honored that people would just take the time out of their day to celebrate 25 years with us.  But the way Dan said that he was going to "just buy something anyway" kind of shook me up.  We have a small apartment and we have too much stuff already.  I'm trying to sell things and get rid of thing and the last thing I want is more stuff to tuck away.  How sad that would be to receive a gift for 25 years of marital bliss, only to end up pushing the gift to the back of the closet or in the basement or worse: send it off to a second hand shop.  Well it turned out that I was getting ready to buy a new lamp.  We needed a new dining room lamp to hang over the table.  The one we had was a fly magnet. At any one time, there could be up to 5 flies on the lamp.  And you could actually see thousands of fly-shit spots all over the lamp.  I know, I know; you're asking - oo gross! where do all the flies come from?  Well....  we live just 2 doors down from a nature reserve area and there are 2 horse corrals there.  One for young girls whose hobby is ridding horses and the other corral is for the police horses (which they got rid of last year but left the flies behind).

I don't know what happened to the bottom ½ of the pix but this is the lamp.

It was so disgusting I didn't even bother to take it down when painting the ceiling last month. So now along with the fly poop there is also paint spots.

Here you can see the fly shit and where I swatted just a little too close.

I would carefully swat at the flies being sure not touch the lamp because it is made of very fine and thin brittle opaque sail shaped blades (that's a fancy way to say cheap plastic)  Well...... I missed.  Twice.  And broke 2 of the blades and it had about 90 blades that would have to be taken apart one by one very carefully to wash off the fly poop and the dust.  It needed to be done often and it was too big of a job.  We had the lamp in our hallway at the old house for 8 years and at this place for 4 years so it was time to get updated.

and stupid me.

In several of the apartments around this area, when we walk the dog in the evenings, we can see this very simple and very elegant lamp hanging over several dining tables.  It turns out to be a very expensive designer lamp.  It is Japanese designed by Shoichi Uchiyama but Danish distributed for Louis Poulsen. The main housing is sliver and I though it would make a great idea for Jens and I to have a new source of light in a silver color for our special moment.  A 25 year silver anniversary commemorative - if you will.  But when Dan said,"I'm going to buy something anyway", I hurried to send out the message that if anyone insisted on buying something, then they were welcome to be a part of this gift.  I ordered it right away and made sure that I could get it hung by the time our guest arrived so that they could see that they really did buy this special gift.

It came in a little box - not much bigger than a stack of pancakes.

You say you are too embarrassed to ask, "How much is the lamp?"  Well..... let's just say, without exaggeration, for the same money we could easily buy round trip (tur-retur på dansk) flight tickets to any country in Europe.  As a matter of fact, I am looking at flight tickets right now for 2 people to Gran Canaria this coming December and they are actually quite a bit cheaper than the lamp.

But enough about that.  We have to hurry.  The boat is on the way now so Jens and I have to quickly pack out the gifts and read the cards.  I tried to note who gave what.  But there was way more than I could imagine.  And of the 3 bottles,  I am not quite sure who gave the special edition of fine Italian wine and who gave the bubbly from South Africa.  But I promise - we will drink it with love in our hearts. Let me know who brought the fancy Italian wine (Lars and Nasko?) and who brought the South African Buitenverwachting bubbles.  Thank you Sabrina for the hand picked Champagne and hand hand picked box of chocolates from Budapest where you had just arrived from.  And not only did the Balcony Bar Happy Hour go by too fast, there were 3 cards that we missed and found them first after we came home from the restaurant.  Thank-you, Thank-you, Thank-you, all of you for your very kind and loving generosity.

 This one really choked me up.  A beautiful hand painted piece of art by Jørn. Just this evening Jens said to me, "Every time I look at it I like it more and more."  It really is wonderful and special.  Anybody can buy art work but it's the special piece that is painted with love.

 ALL RIGHT NOW - LET'S GO !!!!!  

Move it !
Move it !
Move it !

The boat stop is just a 5 minute walk from the front door but thank goodness I planned for a half hour.  By the time we got to the boat ramp, we only had to wait 5 minutes for our ride.  I had already told everybody that I bought tickets in advanced but I lied.  I didn't want to sit on a boat if it was going to be pouring down.  I did however seek to buy tickets in advance at the down town ticket office.  They told me I couldn't buy on Thursday for a boat ride on Sunday.  But I found out they are wrong because you can order them on-line for any day in the future. And I was just about to order the tickets on-line but stopped just short of pressing the "accept" button for the purchase when the news about the weather came on - there was a chance of rain for Sunday.

When I inquired about advanced purchase at the down town ticket office, it was also when I found out that the boat ride was for 2 hours and not 1 hour.  So I had to call the restaurant for a new reservation time and contact all the guest to let them know about the new plan.  It also meant having to take the earlier boat.  Otherwise we would have gotten on the boat and the next stop would have been the last stop.   So thank goodness I asked about the advanced tickets. 

We were so damn lucky with the weather. We've already had a long streak of sunny days and it doesn't last long here so far north on the planet.  The weather man promised clouds and light rain starting in the afternoon on Sunday.  I was bummed.  And sure enough, the clouds came just before the celebration started.  But there were less than a handful of clouds and they were gone before the first ring on the door-bell.

So here we are now waiting to get on the boat and you can see it approaching the landing dock.

 That's Lars and my niece, Sabrina in the lower left hand corner.

The boat has now arrived.

While waiting for the boat, Magnus and Nhu are looking fabulous in front of the nations largest advertising building just off in the background to the right.

And now we are on the boat and ready for a wonderful cruise under a bright sunny and warm sky.

 And we have plenty of shrimp and bubbly to keep us busy.

You've seen this advertising building before in an earlier blog write-up.  It's just a paper thin wall made of glass.

The background spot is just a 5 minute walk down the street from where we live.  

And also at the first tree to the left is where we will be eating dinner tonight.

We are soon sailing by this very nice modern glass bank building and then under Langebro - Long Bridge.  German Stephan is waving the Danish flag.

Actually, we boarded at the last stop.  We have now come to the official start of the tour and this is down town Copenhagen where the ticket office is located. There are 10 stops altogether. You can get on and off any time at any stop within 24 hours. That is the Parliament building on the right.

The official start dock down town.

Stop number 2 in the very popular Nyhavn. All tourist as well as all Danes end up here on sunny days like today.  Did Magnus have too much champagne? We're just getting started!

And finally we have a picture of JC - he's the one in front and center.  He was the guy who is not photographed on the balcony. Come back JC and Brent so we can do another photo op - we still have plenty of champagne.

 

Leaving Nyhavn - This should have been a video.  The flags were waving frantically in my face.

We have just left Nyhavn and Lars and Nasko say SKÅL! with the beautiful Stock Exchange building in the background.

Here is a better view of the Stock Exchange Building.  

Take a good look - It's always pointed out that the spire is made of 4 dragon tails.

Here we passed by the Royal Yacht.  It is one of the most beautiful and romantic looking yachts from late 1931.  It's been all around the world including Greenland, USA, The Virgin Islands and much of Europe.  You can read more about the yacht here (and there is a side bar on the site to change the language.)

This is the brand new Circle Bridge which I have made mention of before on my blog.  There were 7000 spectators just the day before to watch the opening ceremony of this finally long time waiting completion.  That's John sitting at the lower right hand corner.

 Passing the amazing and huge Opera House in the background on the left.

You've seen pictures of world renowned divers jumping off of the roof in my Red Bull blog.

left to right: Nhu, Dan, Stephan, JC

Passing by another one of my favorite art-deco buildings.  Years ago I used to take the boat to and from Sweden from here when the building was the ticket office, departure and arrival hall for tours to Sweden.  Now it's a fancy eatery. 

Jens, Sabrina, Anne

Nasko, Sleeping Magnus, Lars, Sabrina, Anne

left to right: John, Birth, Jørn, Magnus, Nasko, Lars

 

 And now we are interning the narrow canals of Christianshavn.

 

It's probably the most exciting part of the tour.

Now we are passing another bridge that should have been completed 2 to 3 years ago.  

It's nearly finished.  When it is, and with the completion of the Circle Bridge, I will be able to ride my bike into the very center of town in just 10 minutes.

 

 Slowly heading back home now.

And so......... here we are - back at the last stop where we first started.  With stomachs filled with shrimp, teeny tiny weenie meat things and bubbling champagne, we are now ready to walk back over the pedestrian bridge, along the harbor and to the restaurant for a delicious Italian restaurant.

Jens and I have been to Ponte Vecchio Ristorante several times before.  We celebrated our 24th anniversary here too.  We order the same thing every time because it is sooooooooo delicious.  The sun was out all day today and the windows face south allowing for maximum exposure and maximum heat.  It's a huge window but only a tiny part of it can open so it was a warm evening.  The table was fancily set when we walked in and we had the room all to ourselves. Did anybody snap a pix of the table before we sat down?  Please send it to me if you have it. There was plenty of space for more guest but I am glad that we were just a small group so that it would be more intimate. 

There were several special party menus to choose from or there was the serve yourself buffet table option. But Jens and I wanted the Gorgonzola Veal so we created our own menu from the regular menu card:

Welcome drink

Bruschetta al pomodoro

Bruschetta with tomato, garlic and fresh basil.

Mozzarella di bufala e pomodoro

Fresh buffalo mozzarella with tomatoes and basil.

Medaglioni di vitello al gorgonzola

Veal medallions with creamy gorgonzola sauce and vegetables.

Tiramisù

The classic ”layer cake” made from lady fingers, coffee and mascarpone crème.

wine/soda/coffee/beer/after dinner drink

 I photographed the first dish but died and went to heaven when the 2nd dish came out.
So I never snapped a shot of the tomato and mozzarella.

 I almost completed the main course when I remember that I was supposed to snap a photo of it.

 

We've had the Tiramisú before and it's heavy duty but we got cheated this time.  Sure it was tasty but I've had better from the market.  Someone told me that they were glad it was the light weight version because they were stuffed and couldn't eat more.  But either way, the cake was very tasty and it went down easily.

The whole idea behind this celebration was to share the moment with good friends.  The gifts were a very nice surprise and not at all necessary.  Several guest pitched in to buy the lamp and it is something that will always remind us of this special day every time we turn it on. We received flags and flower, chocolates from our neighbors Gitte and Jesper who babysat Bounty while we were out, 4 bottles of spirits and the rum was actually picked up in India and champagne picked up in Budapest along with another box of chocolates. There was wine from Italy and I think it was from Lars and Nasko who just came home from Italy but who went to South Africa for the other bottle of bubbly? I've noted it as from Stephan from Germany, a beautiful piece of artwork from Jørn the artist, an unusual ghost plant - bet you can't find it, we even received a card from America from a very kind Danish family in Wisconsin and we only know them as pen-pals, a travel gift certificate, a shopping gift certificate along with kitchen towels and just about enough cash to pay for the lamp - wow!  But most of all and the most special was the kindness, love and support each of the guest has shown us. 

From the bottom of my heart - thank-you so very much.

And now we are getting ready to make plans for a little celebration on the other side of Denmark with Jens' family next month.  So if you couldn't make it to the celebration last Sunday in Copenhagen, feel free to join us in Kolding late next month.  And if you can't come next month, then let it been known here that you are welcome when you can come.

For those of you who didn't read all of the above but just skimmed your way to this sentence, you can now click onto this link to take you to the photo site with nothing to read but instead see all 149 pictures.  When the next pages opens, just click on the blue text that says: Silver Anniversary 25 years.

And don't forget to leave a message at the end of this page. You can select "anonymous" under "select profile" but remember to write your name if you want me to know who left the message.