Oui Oui à Copenhague

After my floor was to be completed in just 6 days, I was supposed to have approximately 7 weeks to put my apartment back together before our French friends, Patrick and Fabien, would come and visit us for a long weekend.   But it was a total panic situation because I had to do everything in just 10 days.  With the arrival flight of my friends, my apartment cleaning came to an abrupt stop.  Now it was time to get out to the airport and welcome Patrick and Fabien.

Patrick and Fabien have been here for a visit for a number of times. For a few months, Fabien even lived in Copenhagen about 25 years ago.  Jens and I have been to Paris a few times to visit them too.  If you follow my blog, then you have met Patrick and Fabien here on my blog, as well.  The link will take you to one of several blog posts with Patrick and Fabien.

This will be a short blog - as I have already shared several stories here on the blog before.  Since the guys have been here so many times before, I needed to come up with a new destination to share with them.  So we went to Køge.  It's a tiny village - or so I thought - about 35 minutes south-west of Copenhagen. It's the last station on the city public train system.  But we went by car so we could get around a little more.  I had just planned on taking the guys to the center of town.  We had a lunch and then we walked.  That was when I discovered that the village was quite a big bigger than I had thought.

It's true what Peter Olesen, a well known reporter and author of the 80's - 90's, said in one of his books.  "If you see a gate opened, walk thru it."  And ever since then, I have made so many wonderful discoveries by doing just that.  

Fabien and Patrick on the central square in Køge.

say: Koo

Fabien started and ended his lunch with shell food.

Oysters with pesto for a start.

And finished up with mussels.

Fish for me and stake for Patrick.

When we were finished eating, I suggested that we get up and take a walk around the square.  As I say, it is a little village.  Just as we started to walk, I looked across the street and I noticed there was a gate open.  I was telling the guys about the book I read and it suggested to walk thru an open gate for a wonderful surprise.   Thru this little gate, the village doubled in size.  We found a lot to look at and a nice place to sit down for a coffee and a little treat.

When we were finished with the center of town, we got back into the car and drove out to Køge marina.  It's becoming the next hot spot to live in, being that it is so close to Copenhagen with direct train transport and right on the beach.  Fabien took a photo of a poster that shows how far they have come.

The sign reads: Development of Køge Marina and Harbor.

Eventually it will be all homes and apartments.  

Now is the time to buy.

Home prices have already a few years ago jumped 

sky high and will continue to do so.

SHARK  !!!!

I couldn't see it until Fabien pointed it out.

It's an advertisement for the largest seafood and 

shellfish buffet restaurant in east Denmark.

As we walk around, we came to this wild purple

Cadillac with white leather interior. 

We checked out the boats in the water.

Here now are a few random photos of our time in Copenhagen.

Across the street from where I live.

Down the street from where I live.

At a Vesterbro torv café.

(West bridge square)

Less than a ½ hour walk away.

Fabien is a DJ, among other things, and he collects music.

At a second hand shop he bought these collectables.

Remember them - the tiny cd singles?  

Smaller than a pair of sunglasses.

One is Madonna and the other is Wham.

On another day we went on a hunt for goodies at a flea market.

We worked up an appetite and had a bit to eat in a popular city center restaurant.

The place is called Father's Son.  

It's so popular, we were the only ones there.

Eventually, it was time to say good-bye.  It was soooo very very nice to see the guys again.  Such big loving hearts.  Not only did they visit with Jens in his nursing home but they also wanted to leave in good time so that we could pop in and have a little good-bye chat.  It was a nice and sweet visit and I hope to see these guys again soon.

6 Days Turned Into 6 Weeks

For years I have been wanting to get my floor sanded and varnished.  Jens wouldn't allow it.  Too much stress for parkinson's.  Now that Jens has moved out, I decided to do it at the end of 2023.  Of course my bike accident put a stop to everything.  But now in the early part of 2024, I contacted a floor company.  One of the biggest and best companies in DK.  Several of my neighbors have used their service. So I know the end results and I was willing to pay the higher than average price to get top job results.

The rep from the company came to look at my floor and he gave me an offer.  It was way higher than I thought it would be.  I managed to talk him down to a more reasonable price.  Still it was higher than average but I knew what I would get for my money.

I had to get everything out of the apartment.  What I thought would take a few days, ended up taking 3 weeks.  Of course in that 3 weeks, I did spend a lot of time in the nursing home visiting Jens.  In the 3 weeks, I packed 30 moving boxes, 5 suit cases, unscrewed 4 IKEA closets, 2 IKEA book cases, 1 home-made hall closet, 1 home-made office closet and a partridge in a pear tree.  I also got rid of my falling apart pleather sofa, got rid of my 2-man bed, got rid of my cheap discount dining set, and I got rid of my washer and dryer.   It's a small apartment.  Not including the bathroom, it's roughly 68m2 / 732sq. ft. of wooden floor space.  It's also shocking what you can collect and squeeze into such a tiny space.  

I finally got everything all packed and cleared for the floormen to come in and get the job done.  I handed them the keys and they were to complete the job by the next day.  That was surprising to hear that they could do it that fast.  In just 2 days the floor would be sanded and and varnished 3 times.  The floor needed 5 days to dry before I could move back into my apt.

One week later I opened the door and walked in to inspect.  It looked great.  Then I noticed a big mistake.  The entire edge of the floor was like Velcro.  I couldn't see the problem but I could easily feel the problem. I knew that when it would come time to taking a dust mop to the floor, the dust from the mop would stick to the Velcro edge.  I called the rep of the company.  He came out to check the floor.  He apologized and said he would have his men get right on it.   

To make a really long and sad situation short, I will just say it took the company 5 times to get it somewhat correct. The first mistake was the Velcro edge, the 2nd mistake was the thousand of bubbles and all the dust and fuzz they varnished into the floor, the 3rd mistake was thousands of rainbow scratches all over the floor, The 4th mistake was full circle scratches all over the floor and 2 different kinds of varnish. The 5th time is was much better but still lots of dust particles in the varnish.  After 6 weeks, I just could not do more.  The dust that they varnished into the floor and the missing spots of varnish was just something I am going to have to live with.  

In the end, I would rather have paid more to get what my neighbors got but when all was said and done I paid 6.250,- danish crowns, down from the original offer of 16.500,- (but 14.300,- on the agreed offer).  

 ....I paid $900, down from the original offer of $2,400 (but $2,080 on the agreed offer).  That's the price in dollars today as I write.  The rate goes up and down daily.  So it could be either more or less by 50 - 80 dollars.

My mom, sister, and buddy helped me to gain the courage to demand a lower price.  I see now that I still paid too much but this was the first time that I had to deal with something like this.  My sister and my buddy do these kinds of negotiations on a daily/weekly basis.  I was really happy to have them encourage me on how to get at least 50% off.  All 3 of them were saying go for even less.  I see now that I should have.  But hey - through all of this, I learned that I can be demanding.

Anyway..... I got it done and I want to put all the troubles behind me.  That's one reason why this blog is so short.  There really is a lot more to the story but this is more than enough for now.  Now it is time to move on and get a new sofa, dining set, and dryer.  The washer and bed have already arrived.  My neighbor is going to install the washer and dryer for me when the dryer arrives on the 9th.   

In the middle of my floor nightmare, other neighbors take a completely different approach.  They remove and install a totally new floor.  Probably 3 to 4 times the price for everything.  This may be what I buy myself for my 75th birthday present.  One of the neighbors was installing a brand new floor.  In the parking garage, they had piled up the old floor to take to the dump.  Here are some pix of their old floor.  This is what I have in my apartment.  I am assuming after all the sanding and repair work, I have just a sliver of veneer left. 

The original floor veneer is less than the width of a fingernail.

The bedroom floor had thousands of bubbles in the varnish.

This is what really hurts my stomach.  

The estimator said that there may be some small scratches 

on the metal baseboard under the kitchen cabinets.  

I agreed to that.  

But it wasn't small scratches.  

It was a few gouges. 

And if they could do it so well in the corner,

why couldn't they have been just as careful 

with the rest of the baseboard? 😕

Damaged cabinet base.

Needing chiropractor work after lifting 

my washer into the back of my car.

After I pulled out the washer and dryer,

I moved the fridge into the cubby space.

Moving 30 boxes of crap and 5 suitcases 

of even more crap down to my storage closet

in the basement.

Only space for 20 boxes.

I had to borrow space from Lotte.

I told her I only need it for a few days.

A few days ended up being almost 2 months.

Some of my IKEA crap got 

tweaked in the shower.  

Again - it was supposed to be there 

for only 6 days.

This is where the original owner had his bedroom cabinet.

He lived here for only 6 years.

I hope my floor doesn't get yellow again before I turn 75.

The floor was supposed to be varnished

with a matt look but they spread on 

very shiny varnish - in the hallway only.

I have hundreds of photos of dust under the varnish. 

I have to end this blog now.  

It's making me sick.

But first I will leave on this more positive note.

Here is the end result..... so far.

More still to do.

Memory Lane:

This was our new house that we bought 20 - 21 years ago.

I sanded the floor.  I had the experience from sanding 

our floor in our 1st apartment 33 years ago.  

This was the basement that we turned into a very nice guest room.

Notice how dark the floor is and super thick layer of 

high gloss varnish.

The old lady who lived here left some of her furniture behind

We removed the cabinets and I sanded the floor.

This is what it looked like when we were finished.

We were hoping you would come and visit.

Yes, you!