The Hamiltons are here!

Two weeks ago (Friday, March 30), I picked up Mom & Dad Hamilton from the Aalborg airport. It's hard to put into words how nice it is to greet someone at the airport - every time we get a visitor, I'm so happy that I'm almost crying. It's a strange thing to live so far away from family and friends, knowing only a few people in Aalborg (or Denmark or Europe, even). This visit has been particularly wonderful, as we've gotten two full weeks with family!

On their first full day in Denmark, we rented a car and took Wally and Marie for a drive around Nordjylland (that's Northern Jutland, or the northern part of Denmark where we live), stopping at the viking graveyard nearby first (a favorite place to take visitors...) and then hitting the coast. We drove on the beach from Blokhus to Løkken and were almost washed out to sea when Andrew drove our miniscule car over a seemingly-tiny streamlet. (It was not actually that tiny.) If that wasn't exciting enough, a few minutes later we got stuck in the sand and had to push the car out. What a morning!

Continuing around the coast, we stopped at an old lighthouse which we climbed up to in the midst of a veritable sandstorm. After stopping for a hotdog and some ice cream (both are must-haves on a trip to Denmark), we stopped at an old windmill and a beautiful church on our route to Skagen, where we walked out on the beach at sunset.

The rest of the week was spent in Aalborg, exploring and shopping, and getting ready to leave on our great train-trip. More pictures on our flickr page!

A Visitor (and a trip to Viborg)

Last weekend we entertained our third ever guest: our friend, Paul. He's in Germany for about a month for work and (since we're so close here in Aalborg...) decided to come for a visit while in Europe. He arrived late Friday night, and after we got home we treated him to some traditional pickled herring with all the fixings: rogbrod, pickled onions, a curry egg salad, and some Aalborg akvavit (Aalborg is famous for its potent shnapps - it's disgusting, but you need it to mask the taste of pickled herring!). Andrew and Paul partook in the herring feast - I've tried it once, and I'm not having any more!

We spent Saturday morning out at the nearby viking graveyard, and this time we went in the museum, which was pretty cool. Lots of old remnants of viking civilization from the area, as well as plenty of information on the time period. Also, we got to try on some viking helmets, which is always fun:

We went to a beer tasting on Saturday afternoon, which was very fun but took over four hours! I was glad I wasn't doing any of the tasting, as I'm sure I would've been under the table. On Sunday, we took Paul around Aalborg. The weather was absolutely amazing (mid 60s, which is a heatwave here) and it seemed like everyone in Aalborg was out eating ice cream and sitting by the Limfjord.

All in all, it was a really wonderful weekend, thanks in most part to our visitor. Yesterday, on Monday, I had to go to Viborg (a town about an hour and a half away) to see the doctor, so Andrew and I made a day of it. It's a very charming town, but the main feature is the cathedral, which is supposedly the largest granite cathedral of its kind in Scandinavia.

More pictures of our fantastic weekend and our daytrip to Viborg are on our flickr page. Our next visitors (Mom and Dad Hamilton) arrive this Friday (yay!) and then we're off on a train adventure through Europe next week (Hamburg, Amsterdam, and Paris)!

Juletid in Aalborg

Christmas has taken over Aalborg since October - as neither Halloween nor Thanksgiving really exist here, the Danes start decorating very early. The streets are all decked out with Christmas trees and lights, and one of the biggest Christmas traditions is the town's outdoor Christmas market. Almost every town (it seems) has their own market that is set up through the holiday season (Advent through Christmas). There are plenty of stalls full of people selling food and Christmas presents, and there are even rides for the kids. 

 

In addition to the town market, there is also an indoor Christmas market in Nordkraft, the cultural building about two minutes from our apartment (it houses an indie movie theater, restaurants, a climbing wall, and the tourist center, among other things - be warned, though, the Indian restaurant there is terrible!). The indoor market is infinitely better than the outdoor one - we got some delicious apple cider and bacon there a few weeks ago, but have yet to buy anything from the outdoor one. One of the best parts of the indoor market has got to be the man riding around on an absurd bicycle, though:

Lastly, one of Aalborg's best Christmas festivities is the train (actually a bus that is decorated to look like a train) that runs around the city during the season. I've never seen anyone but children riding, but it looks like a good way to get around the city...

We're famous!

Andrew and I attended a dinner for expats at the local library here in Aalborg last week. It was a potluck dinner and over 100 people were there from different countries, each bringing a cuisine from their home countries (we made macaroni and cheese - I couldn't think of anything really American!).

It was a fun night, but the best part about it came yesterday when we found out that we'd made it into the feature on the local news. Check us out on Danish t.v. here. The clip isn't long, but it is almost entirely in Danish, so if you only want to see us, you can skip to 00:09 (saying that I'm from Chicago) and 00:15 (sitting with some friends, enjoying dinner - you can only see the back of Andrew's head and the side of my face, so you'll have to look carefully).

Out and About in Aalborg

Andrew and I have spent the past two weekends in Aalborg, exploring our new city and savoring what warm weather is left in the year. Already the temperatures are starting to drop from the sweltering summer highs (mid-seventies) to the sixties. Maybe that sounds nice to all of you suffering from the heat wave that's been hitting America all summer, but I would have liked at least one day this summer to have broken eighty!

Last weekend, Andrew found a lovely park for us to bike to on the other side of the Limfjord. It had a few historical buildings that were open to visitors, as well as a large garden with various plant varieties, including herbs and flowers and fruit trees to explore.

 

Today, we walked to the Kunsten modern art museum. One of the first things we encountered was a motorized couch that took off when Andrew sat on it. He wants to build one for our home to surprise guests when they come over:

The next room we entered was probably the best in the whole museum. It contained a smaller room lined entirely with mirrors (on the inside and out), which patrons are allowed to enter, one at a time, in their socks, for a period of about five minutes. (Andrew and I both went in twice.)

The room has only a swing inside and was both scary and beautiful.

In addition to their normal collection, they also had a special sculptural exhibit on wax, an exhibit exploring the themes ugly/beautiful, and a large sculpture garden outside that several children were enjoying in their underwear (they were playing in a large fountain designed by the same artist who created Andrew's moving couch). We are excited to go back with the yearly pass I got (which allows me one free guest) as they get new exhibits every few months.

(We aren't all high-brow... we also saw Bridesmaids in theaters yesterday but our pictures from that aren't as good!). Feel free to check out our flickr page for more pictures.

Sexological Zoo

Andrew and I were awakened at 9:00 this morning by blaring techno music that was literally shaking our building. For about an hour, we thought it was our neighbors, but we soon realized that it was, in fact, a truck parked on the street outside laden down with enormous speakers and costumed Danes. Today is the Carnival Grand Parade!

According to the official Carnival website:

• "This year's theme 'Sexological Zoo' offers a framework for your costumes ... there is no censorship regarding the costume" (true enough - we saw several nearly naked people)
• "Toilet facilities are placed along the route. Please use these!" (we caught many people peeing into the Limfjorden, the major waterway in town that is right behind our apartment)
• "No shopping carts are allowed in the Parade" (many people had these and [for some reason] baby carriages filled to the brim with alcohol)
• "Embrace the animal within, release your inner party-self, and join the endless and crazy possibilities of the greatest Party of them all" (we did)
• "Speed Wedding: In the Speed Wedding tent you can get married to that special someone - or the next in line. Wake up with more than the experience of Carnival! The motto of Speed Wedding is 'Marry the one you love - or love the one you marry!'"

Here is a video of part of the tail end of the parade for your enjoyment:

                                   

More pictures of the parade are posted on flickr (here). We are thrilled that the parade route goes right by our apartment and we can't wait to start planning next year's costumes...