Kør, Misse !

Kør, Misse !

Some major chanllenges since last week.  Jens gave me a little shock that scared the begeesus out of me.  After I got him off of the floor, I plopped him into his new chair that had just arrived 5 days earlier.  There was no way he was going to sit in that thing, he told me.  But after the fall, he has decided that this wheelchair thing can actually be of help.  Today we took it for a test ride to find out.

 At 3:30 we crossed the pedestrian/bike bridge to go to the mall for a bit to eat.

 On the way, once we crossed the bridge,  I make a left hand swing

to show Jens some of the new buildings going up in town.

There are new apartments going up on both sides of the harbor.

In the very far background on the left hand side is our apartment building.

 Here is a canal that is between the tiny island that we are now stand on and the mall is just to the left on the other side of the canal.  The skybridge in the background is the "snake ramp".  You can see the making of the snake ramp by clicking here. Just scroll to the last 4 pix to see the final result.

This is the view from our window in the restaurant at the mall.  Just across the harbor (and a little to the left) is where we live.  

 This is my view looking straight forward.  You can't tell in this photo but we could see the city center through the window that is behind Jens' head.  But all that you can see in this picture is our appetizers - Shrimp cocktail for Jens and Danish blue mussles steamed in white wine.

 And this is his view as he looks forward.  Down below is where I took the picture of Jens with the "Snake ramp" behind him.

 The main course arrived - a huge hunk of oven baked salmon with fantastic sauce that I could not stop eating.  And I kept playing with the potato cake and I must have asked Jens 10 times, how did they make this? ; paper thin slices of potato with cream in between each slice and not a single bubble/space without potato.  The cream must have made this potato cake worth 5000 calories.

Jens ordered the National meal - Stegt Flæske med persillesovs.  It's a gut bomb.  Oven baked or deep fried pork belly with parsley sauce.  The meat is so hard it will break your teeth, the grease will be dripping down your arms and the fat will stop your heart.  The butter in the sauce will activate any possible blod clots just waiting to be formed in your arteries.  Velbekommen !  

Oo La La - Oh L' Amour

I have a new Paris blog but before we go on, you should know that this blog contains adult themed pictures.  Nothing pornographic but if you have a sensitive soul, you would be better off to click here instead of going any further.  Don't say I didn't warn you.   And one more warning.  I have 101 photos connected to this story.  But for those of you with a short attention span, I will show only a handful here.  You can see all 101 photos on my Shutterfly site.  click here to see them.  It's a good idea to visit the site if you have a hard time sleeping.

If you are brave enough to have decided to follow this story, then turn up the volume and  start with this link first and play it in the background - it's one of my favs. The whole story starts with a facebook posting from Clarke (she is mentioned in the last blog in case you forgot who she is).  She posted that she landed a major roll in a play that was going to be put on stage in Paris - Please come out and see it - she posted to those who were interested.  For some reason I thought the play was going to be in August.   I wrote to her and told her that I would consider coming to Paris to see her in the play.  "When is it", I asked.

AND.... 

I have also been thinking of visiting our good friends Patrick and Fabien.  Patrick and Fabien live in the middle of Paris and you have seen and read about them here several times in other blog stories.  

I didn't really want to go to Paris again.  I have been there so many times already.  I would rather now see some other part of France. As my sister sang years ago:  Nice could be nice.  But to go to Nice, I would want to be there for 5 to 7 days.  We were not even sure if Jens could walk from the check-in counter to the flight gate, let alone hang out in Nice for so many days.  

So instead of booking a whole week in a far-a-way place, we booked a flight to see a play and to see good friends over a quick weekend in Paris.  Jens said no way to employee discount flight tickets.  So we paid 3 times the price for a trip that would last less than 48 hours.  I can't blame him - there are always problem$$ with employee flight tickets.  It may have cost extra money for real tickets but this totally eliminated all the stress and anxiety that goes along with stand-by tickets.  We also had just carry-ons which meant easy check-in from home.

Clarke was supposed to go home back to California several days ago but once she found out that she was going to be in this play, she paid an extra charge to rebook her flight home.  It also meant that she was going to have to find sofas here and there to sleep on since her French home was for a specific time.   After Clarke had spent days studying lines, paying extra to change flight tickets, searching for other places to live, she got the message at the last minute that the play was canceled. Ugh!

Our afternoon flight to and from Paris was going to work out perfect for Jens' medication times.  This is always something we have to consider.  Many flights take off or land too late for Jens.  His medication is very time sensitive.

OK - we arrived at CDG airport and hopped in a taxi to Paris.  I wanted to take the train to town to save $ and time and traffic hassel. But again - it's a long long walk in the very crazy Paris airport just to get you to the train.  Just to find the one and only toilet was a huge walk.  But the good thing about doing a cab from CDG airport to the center of Paris is that there is a new law which states a taxi ride shall have a set fee of 50€ from airport to city center. It can easily cost more if there is traffic - and there is always traffic.  Plus this was Friday afternoon when everybody is ready to go home after work to get the weekend started.  The bad news is:  even though traffic was horrible, it was only bad enough that the taximeter showed it would have cost only 38€ had we gone by the old law.  We paid the 50€ and tipped an extra 5€ because we are such nice guys and rolling in the dough.

The taxicab ride saved a lot of walking for Jens so that he would not be totally drained before even checking into the room.  Had we taken the train, there would also have been the walk from Les Halles train station to the hotel and the train station is bigger than the airport.

The taxi driver wouldn't open the doors until we handed over the cash.  Do we look like the kind of guys that would run away?   Don't answer that!  Jens has a smoke and then we walk into the hotel to check-in.   Very very friendly people almost begging us to call the front desk for service.  The  hotel is just 7 steps away from Patrick and Fabien's apartment.  So convenient. Patrick and Fabien had plans for the day we arrived so we started our visit with Clarke at the corner café.

The following day we did a boat ride on the Seine.  On-line, I found out that there is a waterbus that is similar to the waterbus here in DK.  One big difference is the price - ouch!  However the ticket was good for the whole day. One complete trip takes 2 hours.   This was a great way for Jens to see the city without having to walk.  Luckily the nearest bus stop was only 585m (650yds.) away.  That's about what he can do here at home. 

The waterbus ride was 2 hours long.  We thought it was only going to be 1 hour.  Clarke was supposed to come with us but she locked herself out of her new apartment and she had her laundry with her.  So we did the boat ride on our own.  I think Clarke would have really like it - who wouldn't.

Here is the website for the waterbus.  Check out the 9 stations under the roll-down menu: The Stations.  We started at Hôtel De Ville (which is not a hotel at all).  From this point on and for the next 2 hours, I went crazy with my camera. 

The boat ride is un-guided and so are these pictures from each stop - but I will give you a little hint and you can follow the route on the map on the webpage.

our start station - Hôtel De Ville

stop 2 - Louvre Museum

stop 3 - Champs-Élysées

stop 4 - Beaugrenelle

stop 5 - Eiffel Tower

stop 6 - Musée d'Orsay

stop 7 - Saint-Germain-des-Prés

stop 8 - Notre Dame

Stop 9 is the only stop I don't have a picture of.  I didn't realize until now that the feature of this stop is the huge garden and the paths along the river.  I should have known from the name of the stop - Jardin des Plantes. It looked to be really nice.  Here though, is a photo I stole from the website.

stop 9 - Jardin des Plantes

The next stop is where we got on - Hôtel De Ville (city hall).  From there we walked back to our hotel to drop off and pick up some things and then we walked next door to meet with Patrick and Fabien for lunch.  We rang on the bell and from the speaker box we hear Patrick say:  "We're coming down."   It was hugs and kisses in the hallway of their apartment building and then we were on our way to get something to eat at an Italian restaurant just up the street.  The place was filled.  Most places are.  There are hundreds of places to eat and yet they are all full and it can be hard to find a table to sit at.  We walked a few doors down and there was another Italian restaurant.  We sat down and ordered.  The food was amazing and I am so sorry now that I didn't snap pix of the food or of our lunch-in.  Here is, however, a trip advisor link to the Italian bistro called Assegai.

Not quite sure what happened after lunch but suddenly Patrick and Fabien had to go.  So Jens and I went back to our hotel for a little nap.  When we got up at 16:30 there was a message on my phone that Patrick and Fabien were ready for us at 18 - 18:30.   So we took a walk around the block.  To kill some time we went to have a coffee at a café on the next street over.

At a little to 18:00, we continued our walk around the block.  On the walk we passed a very colorful and happening burger joint. By the time we got completely around the block, back to where we started from, it was just past 18:00.  We passed our hotel and 7 steps further on, we rang on the bell to Patrick's and Fabian's door.  They buzzed us in.   At Patrick's and Fabien's apt we sat for a chat, visit and cocktail.  Then we were out the door again for dinner.  "Where would you like to go", asked Patrick.  It was as if we knew where all the cafés, restaurants, bars and bistros were at. Patrick then started to name different suggestions; Indian, Pizza, Burgers and so on.  It was then that the burger joint popped into my head.  I started to tell them about the funny burger joint.  From the sidewalk you could see into the restaurant all the way to the back wall.  It looked more like a disco than a restaurant with all the laser lighting and loud music coming from the place. Hanging on the back wall was a video screen.  On the screen was a bunch of guys modeling undies and speedos.  It was so crazy.  What do speedos have to do with burgers!  Well, when Patrick asked, "Where would you like to go for dinner" and started listing different kinds of food, I remembered that funny hamburger shop just 2 blocks away and suggested we go there.

Tata Burger

It was a five minute wait to get in.  We sat down and looked over the menu.  Patrick started to translate.  "Just give me the main ingredient", I told him - "all burgers have pickles, tomatoes and lettuce."  Then the waiter came over to the table and started to explain what was on the menu too.  It was loud and hard to hear.  Music blasting.  Laser beams blinding. Everybody speaking happily and loudly.  The waiter said something about a surprise drink or a surprise something-or-another.  We really didn't understand what he was talking about.  We called the waiter over again to tell us about the surprise.  I was sure he said surprise drink but it was a surprise burger.  "What's in it", we asked.  "I'm not going to tell you", he said, "it's a surprise."  I laughed but curiosity caught Jens so he ordered it.  We couldn't stop laughing when the surprise burger came to the table.

Not only was it very funny but it also tasted fantastic. Everything was speedos and we realized there was some kind of advertising for a specific brand of undies and swimwear.  The tables out front were interesting too.  They were like pictures boxes.  They could take off the glass top and you could put in any kind of decoration you wanted into the "box".  Here they put the advertising product into your table.  It was actually a pretty clever idea.

It was good company, good food, very fun and very unusual atmosphere.  The portions were big so we just were not able to do desert - maybe next time.  It was late and past Jens' beddy-bye time so we called it a day and headed back to the hotel.  I invited the guys to breakfast the next day but they are late risers.  We asked Clarke also to come and join us too since she missed the boat ride the day before. 

We would have a long breakfast and stretch it out until a little after 11.  We actually showed up to the café before the cook showed up.  There were, however, fresh baked croissants readily available. And you can't go wrong sitting at a sidewalk café in the middle of Le Marais. 

Alas - it was time to wind things up.  Back to the hotel to pack our carry-on toothbrush and check out.  The deal was to meet the guys at the driveway at noon.  They would have a car ready for us to take us back to the Airport.  It was Sunday afternoon.  Probably the least busy time of the week to go to the airport.  Still it took 45 minutes.  That's just 15 minutes less than what it took to get into town on a busy Friday afternoon.  I am just amazed at the huge numbers of people on the streets.  I love little tiny Copenhagen.

Don't forget to check out the other photos on shutterfly.  click here or here.  If you click onto "slide show, it will show the pictures in full screen version.  -  and watch out for that lime-green dildo hanging from the ceiling.

Tami & Clarke 2B or not 2B

A couple of girlfriends of mine - or as I like to call them: My sister-in-law and niece, came to visit a couple of old farts here in Copenhagen.  I was honored that of all the places they could have gone, they came to visit me and Jens - again.  Tami has been here a few times and Clarke was here just last year.  So it was really great that they would want to bring their charming faces to town once again.  Tami was flying in from California to visit her daughter Clarke who is now living in Paris and going to school there.  They were here for just 2½ days.  It might be a little country but there is so much here to see and experience, that you could actually book a few weeks and still not see it all.

Normally when guest fly into CPH airport, I pick them up and drive them directly to their accommodations.  But this time I decided to do something a little different.  Instead of coming into town, we drove to the other side of the airport which is even further away from town.  I took them to have a welcome lunch along the shoreline of a fisherman's village called Dragør. 

The village was founded in the 12th century.  It quickly grew as a major fishing port and became the area of the largest herring producers - smoked and pickled.

In the early 16th century, King Christian invited the Dutch to come and work the land so that the royal family had something to eat.  The Dutch, at the time, were more advanced than the Danes when it came to farming.  Often there was rivalry between the Dutch farmers and the Danish fishermen.  This part of the island, still today has some Dutch influence.  It's quiet interesting really. After lunch, the girls and I took a little stroll through the village while Jens stayed at Café Blink to enjoy a smoke and another cuppa java. 

From 12th century Dragør, I take the girls back to the future to visit "The Number 8" building.  I play a guessing game with the girls and try to get them to guess who designed the building.  I know that they know who designed it.  And I know that you know it too.  A very famous Danish architect has re-designed a very important building in New York.  Can you guess?  He is changing the Manhattan skyline along with other huge projects in the US.  His name is Bjarke Ingles and his architect firm has re-designed 2 World Trade Center.  Click here to read more and see a video about that building. 

But here in Copenhagen, Bjarke Ingles has designed a number of apartment buildings and several of them have been huge hits, winning international awards and selling out before even being built.  His latest is 8 Tallet or in English:  8 House.   It's because the building is shaped like the number 8.  It's a building like no other.  Most apartment complexs of 8 floors have elevators and stairwells.  But because Danes are so obsessed with bike riding, you can actually ride your bike to and from your front door - even if you live on the top floor.  Check out this bizarre bike ride.

We stopped at 8 House to have a quick coffee and a peek at the building before checking into the Air BnB.  Our stop here was very quick because Sleazy Jet was an hour delayed and the agreement was to be at the BNB by 16:00.

The girls checked in and unpacked and took a little snooze before ringing on our door bell.  Luckily the AirBnB was the next apartment building to ours.  We can actually see each others buildings.  Originally the girls were going to get a different kind of BnB - bed and boat.  But the docking area for this time of year was not really the best idea and it was on the other side of town which would require a long drive in our car or a long bus ride with a transfer - not convenient at all.

I meant to be on the water bus by 5:00 / 17:00 but we got a late start.  By the time we got on board, it was late and dark, so much of the great view was gone.  But nevertheless, into town we go.

Tami and Clarke on the water bus.  We got off at Nyhavn and walked the row of many restaurants.  We couldn't decide where to eat.  We sat at one restaurant but then quickly got up and went to a place where a sign which announced a veggie burger, grabbed Clarke's attention. The place was cute and the food was amazing with a very cheap price for Nyhavn.  I will for sure come back for some very affordable and delicious flavors.  Here is the link to the restaurant called NyhavnC.

Our tour home was by metro and train and a walk over Bryggebroen aka cykelslangen or bicycle snake.  The girls were surprised by all the fascinating locks hanging from the side of the bridge.  Click here to see the bridge swing in motion.  I filmed it from our balcony a couple of summers ago.

Day 2 - the girls got up, got dressed and walked on over to our apt for breakfast.

After getting grossed out by egg yoke and doing funny things with the food, we made our way down to the parking garage.  The girls are surprised by all the bikes and cannot believe - and who can - that our parking space cost more than the price of our car.  And the car was not cheap by US standards.

Today we drive north along the coast.  We got lucky - it was a beautiful sunny (but cold) day.  Our final destination is Krongborg aka Hamlet's Castle.  It is a world heritage site.  It was built in 1420 and the main purpose was to collect a toll for those who wanted to sail in and out of the Baltic Sea.  Clarke played Ophelia in Shakespeare's Hamlet so it was fun for her to see where the setting is for the story.  Here in the castle, every summer, you can see the play, Hamlet.

walking towards the castle from the parking lot.

an iron model of the castle and the castle grounds.

Crossing the second bridge to the castle.

This is the 2nd bridge but looking back.

Once you come through the second gate,

you can see the castle.

We buy some coffee before we buy the entrance tickets.

With coffee and tickets in hand, we are set to go.

The fog has lifted and now we can see Sweden.

The inside of the castle is not so spectacular as any other castle in DK.  As a matter of fact it is rather on the boring side.  But nevertheless, here are a few shots from the inside.

Here now are a few of the paintings throughout the castle.

It may look like a homo orgie frenzy but the guys are actually beating each other to a pulp to win the hand of the maiden in the box in the upper left hand corner.

I didn't notice the ceiling candelabra being in the way when I snapped this but here is a painting of Queen Margrethe I of Denmark receiving the Swedish crown in agreement with Sweden and Norway for Magrethe becoming ruler of all of Scandinavia. In 1387, in the Swedish town of Kalmar, Magrethe managed to make an agreement between the 3 countries to be ruler of this union with herself as the leader.  The event has come to be known as The Kalmar Union.

 Looking out of a window from the Great Ballroom.

After the castle tour, we make a 1 hour tour of the town, Helsingør.  It's really cute and maybe this year I will be back to see more of it as well as the new martime museum which was built in the old dry docks.

town of Helsingør

Now it's time to head back to the city.  Clarke was very set on having dinner at Kødbyen aka The Meat Market. So I pulled into the parking lot and we walked into 3 or 4 restaurants.  It is such a popular place, that even on this Tuesday evening we needed reservations. Bummed and hungry, I made a decision to take the girls to our steady stand-by Italian restaurant just up the street from where we live.  I promised Clarke that I would make reservations for tomorrow at The Meat Market.  Imagine that: a vegetarian dying to eat at The Meat Market !

But tonight we eat Italiano. Here we are at Ponte Vecchio.

Day 3 - this morning we go to Vesterbro Torv  aka West Bridge Square - for breakfast at Café Obelix.  Good food at an affordable price, smack in the middle of Vesterbro life.  This is where it's at ! But time is of the essence to soak in all the sights, sounds, smells and tastes.

However time we did not have and the girls couldn't wait to hit the walking and shopping streets.

 Having cake and coffee at Coffee Industry Sweden - no website just pix.

 Diesel - Notice the wall behind the tank is orange.

The beautiful Amager Torv.  Say: Ahhh-maaaah-Torv.  Here is a good Wikipedia site with some quick facts for some interesting info about the history of the square and of the buildings.  This is a favorite spot for most Copenhageners. 

The shopping bag is from Samsø & Samsø.  Originally Danish jewelry, then clothing for men, then Danish design clothing for women and then Scandinavian clothing.  Inside of the bag?  Some pretty pink personals - so mind your own business!

 Easter in Tivoli opens tomorrow - the day after Tami and Clarke fly back to Paris.

Tivoli is the second oldest operating amusement park in the world.  Buy your tickets here.

From here it is a mad rush to The Meat Market.  The first available table was at 5:30/17:30.  We had to be there on time because we were limited on time.  We had to quickly suck up our food and then rush back to the apartment to pack and then head off back to the airport.

Here is a long and boring history of The Meat Market (ok ok - the English terminology is The Meat Packing District and borrowed from New York.  But in Danish, the place is called Kødbyen which litterally translates to The Meat City.  But I like The Meat Market and this is my story so there ! 

It all started way back in 1671 and then lots of bla bla bla all the way up to today where several of the meat stalls turned to rows of restaurants among other things.  It's super super trendy.  Can't even get a table on a boring Tuesday evening without a reservation.  Clarke insisted that
we go to Bollyfood. I was expecting to be disappointed but Ooooo Miiii God - I am going back for more.

 Pink booze

 Don't ask - just eat - die and go to heaven !

No website - just pix.  Seriously - the food was amazing but now we had to get our butts in gear, get home, pack and head out to the airport.

I caught the last 2 seconds of the mad dash packing - lots of souvenirs into one tiny carry-on and one even smaller back pack.  I asked the girls to take back some things from me to you but there was just no space - sorry - guess you'll just have to come out to Copenhagen and pick up your things.

It was great to have you here Tami and Clarke.  Come back again next time when you can't stay so long - wink wink.