Denmark-Copenhagen, Autumn 06

Poul and Christinas wedding in HolstebroAfter my Eurail adventures I was broke so needed to put my head down and work. As part of my "Gap year" I was keen to live for the remanding six months in Denmark. The aim of this was to spend a decent amount of time with my danish family which is actually bigger than my NZ including my brother neils who I had only seen a couple of times the ten years we lived in NZ. I was also keen to try learn Danish and experience the unique Scandinavian culture. Almost as soon as I came to Denmark in August I went to my mate Poals stag party in Holstebro and a couple of weeks later he and Christinas wedding.

The lovely Christina looking stunningThe Autumn Colours on DamhussøenAs soon as I got to Denmark I wrote off to a bunch of Engineering companies in the hope that they would have use for an english speaking structural engineer. This was not actually too unlikely as Danish engineers are well regarded worldwide and Danish firms undertake a lot of large international projects in which the working language is usually english.. Soon after I got replies back from the companies saying thanks for the application, we will review our situation and get back to you in 6 weeks. I could not have afforded to sit idle even if wanted to so I got myself a job soon after with Jacob Neilsen and his gardening firm Sønderskov in Vanløse. I worked there from September until January when I was offered a good engineering job. During these four months we did range of work including, tree pruning, laying paving stones, chopping trees down and stump removal. We also did a lot of driving around Copenhagen cutting grass which was a good way to figure out the local geography.

My brother Neils, Bror 5, Bjork 2 and his wife Linda

The family gathering in OdenseMy other brother Stig from LA travels a lot with work so he pops into Denmark often when he is working in Europe. On one occasion we all met up in Odense at mormors house and had a big family gathering. As always with mormor the food was excellent! It was good times, everyone got into the wine and we carried on into the small hours.

Poul and Christina at the Nyhavn MarketsI got a visit from Poul and Christina in late november, we cruised around town making the most of the christmas markets that were in full swing. Of course no chistmas market is complete without a cup Gløgg (danish mulled wine)

The lights of Tivoli Gardens
Drinks at Jespers apartment After a quick trip to Tivoli we headed around to Jespers apartment for a few drinks. We got into the beers and fishermans friend which is a mean brew of vodka and fishermans friend cough sweets. Things got a bit messy later on that night but not before some scratching on Jespers record player and dancing on the couch.

The night starting to warm up

The Ice rink at Kongens NytorvThe weekend after I had a visit from Hillary and Marissa which was always going to be a good laugh. I picked them up from the airport on friday night and after we headed straight into town for a late pizza. On the Saturday we got up around 9ish which is probably the earliest I have ever seen hillary up. We then headed over to Christiania to start our tour before returning to Nyhavn. After that we took a tour through the Royal Palace, Amalienborg and cracked up big time at some of the photos of the royal family (great facials). By the time we returned to Kongens Nytorv the Christmas lights were blazing and the ice rink looking really inviting. We had a lot of fun cruising around and trying to workout how to use our skates much to the amusement of the spectators. We finished the night off with beers at the Dubliner pub, after a brief snooze on the pub bench Marissa woke up and started chatting up the locals.

Sunday in Tivoli

Hillary and her mate from FinlandOn the sunday we were not so quick to get up after the late night and the girls had a early evening flight so we had only time from a trip to Tivoli that day. We all bought the unlimited ride pass and so we tried as many rides as we could, the non existent queues meant this was quite a lot. Marissa and I were particularly keen on the golden tower which is probably the best ride in the park, its a ride which takes you up to 80m and then fires you down faster than gravity. Was great, while we were up there Hillary befriended a charming Finnish man. After Tivoli I took the girls back to the airport, it was an awesome weekend and had a lot of good laughs.