Danish Food

I'm still undecided on the whole Danish food concept...smoked herring is a fave here but I keep thinking that's the same fish we used as kids to catch other more edible fish. They have some interesting breads here too, some salty, some sweet & others i'm not quite sure what they taste like but it aint good! On the plus side though the Danish's are amazing (as you'd expect really) & the ice cream even tops NZ ice cream!

Getting settled

Finally Spain delivered, a great Sunday was had by all as my second team (behind NZ of course) & pick for the title delivered on their last 50 years of potential! We watched the game at a South African bar of all places although I think I was the closest person to a South African at that place. Problem so far has been there's no where to watch the All Blacks that I've found so far, word has it they've been playing reasonably well lately?

Well this week saw me finally grab myself a bike, I don't know what I would have done without one to be honest, so far in one week I've covered nearly the whole of Copenhagen city & even managed to travel out & up the coast. Bikes here are a definite must have commodity, obviously we don't have the infrastructure for them in NZ but here in Copenhagen nearly every street is bike safe, even pedestrians give way!

It's been a bit of an up and down week with the bike though. I now bike to work everyday, only takes around 10min and is great for helping to wake me up in the morning. No helmets required here in Denmark, this certainly makes things easier for getting around and about, personally though I think it's to protect the Danes' hair, quite styli those Scandinavians! Funnily enough as it would happen biking doesn't quite work so well when it's raining. Tuesday saw a downpour between 8-9am, right when everyone was heading to work! Thankfully my trusty MacPac is waterproof but the rest of me wasn't. I arrived into work drenched from head to toe along with half the others in the office, still; at least the rain was warm – for now.

Found out this week that Maersk happen to have 5 yachts moored in the local marina just down from work. Luckily for me, my colleague had been looking for a crew & I happen to be able to put one together. So a sunny breezy Thursday afternoon/evening turned into a great time out sailing the Copenhagen coast with a case of beers. One thing I'll give the Danes is they really know how to perfect this whole work life balance business (come 4pm on a Friday afternoon you'll be hard pressed to find someone in the office still)…

It's been another sunny day here today so what better way to get over a hangover than a bike trip up the coast. Andrew led the way & we tripped on up the coast for a good 25 or so kms, found a nice marina, grabbed a cider (delicious ciders here in Denmark by the way) then turned round and headed back. Legs aren't quite used to that so they're starting to ache a little now but I have a feeling I'm going to need to toughen up and get used to that if I'm going to be biking all the time.

I've just started hearing noises from upstairs so I have a feeling that maybe the neighbors might have either just moved in or just returned from holiday – mission for this week, meet the neighbors!

Welcome to Copenhagen!

And so ends my first week in sunny Europe. Todays a balmy 37 degrees or so the random thermometer on the road tells me as I walk by to try find some grass with a bit of shade. Its been stinking hot since I arrived last weekend but one cant complain with the sun given its no doubt cold and miserable back home. Don't worry though; the comparisons will only last a few weeks as the Danish summer is soon to welter away as the winter takes grip on the continent.

This whole writing thing is a bit of a novelty for me so I better get back on track & begin at the start. Arrived into Copenhagen after a rather pleasant 28hr flight over, believe it or not it was only a 1hr stopover in Hong Kong & then 3-4 hours in London Heathrow before we jetted down into Denmark. On first glimpse the place has certainly changed a lot since last time I was here, being the beginning of February she was snowy, cold and miserable; something to look forwards too for the coming months :)

Saturday was the first real introduction to Danish life with a trip down to Ofelia Beach (that’s what they call concrete with some sand on it) with a fellow NZer working with Maersk, Craig. It was the Germany vs. Argentina game & I must say it was great to be at a place where people actually showed passion for their teams. The Argies began the more noisy team with chants & songs echoing around the crowd. Unfortunately for them though the game quickly went the way of Germany & with it the chants suddenly became a little more Germanic. It was a good day, sun was out, beers were flowing, we met up with a crowd of others (some Maersk, some not) and after the game headed into town. The one thing about Copenhagen (& Europe for that matter) is that it's perfectly acceptable to sit on the edge of the pavement & crack open a 6-pack. Right outside all the café’s along the canal side we joined the throngs of people & enjoyed some cold stubbies in the sun. Headed back to the 'beach' to watch Spain overthrow Paraguay & then continued into town to try and get over the jet-lag.

The first weeks work was rather uneventful. Turns out nows the perfect time in Denmark to go on holiday so the floor I'm on was about 20% full. I cant seem to get my head around just why everyone goes on holiday now though, this has to be the best time of the year weather wise in Denmark & yet people chose to get out of the country & head somewhere else. I can think of better times to do this, i.e. middle of winter when its cold & the days last about 4 hours! The office seems nice enough, the people are a bit cold though. What I mean by this is that its extremely hard to get a smile or even a look when you pass them in the halls, they're ever so the professional persona up here. I'm trying though, challenge number 2 from “the 4 hour work week” was to look everyone in the eye & its one thing I'll get those Danes to do eventually.

Well that's enough for week 1, it's now coming up only a few hours from the World Cup final & its about time I headed down to join the throngs on the waterfront! Victoria es españas, dominan los holandeses!