Dead Drunk Danes & Other Day Trips...

We wanted to take my Sister and Fiance to a few places we haven't been before, so we went to Gilleleje last weekend, a tiny old fishing port on the North Coast. It's very picturesque, and I imagine it's even more so in the summer, but on this trip we didn't hang around outside for long - the wind chill factor meant we had to bid a hasty retreat into the closest restaurant, as it felt like our ears were going to drop off! We had a nice lunch at Far Til 4 and introduced my sister and her other half to some more traditional Danish fare...

On Sunday we went to the Vikinge Skib Museet in Roskilde. This place is definitely worth a visit, as is Roskilde; one of the oldest cities in Denmark. If you have time, you should not only visit the museum, but the huge Cathedral nearby (where the Kings and Queens of Denmark are buried) and the City itself. The day we visited was very atmospheric as a thick mist hung over the Fjord, serving as a fitting backdrop to the skeletons of these huge beautiful ships. It took 30 years to restore them back to this state and it gives you a real insight into Viking life.

During the week we also went to Louisiana , where this time I actually had time to look at some of the collections rather than going straight to the Children's wing... There's some great stuff here, I loved the fabulously named "Dead Drunk Danes" by Danish artist Asger Jorn. As an abstract painting it's hard to decipher whether it was a self-portrait or not, but the title won it for me! There's currently a great temporary exhibition (running until March 2011) by American Artist Walton Ford, (no pics allowed due to copyright issues, got very nicely told off for just having a camera around my neck!), but you can get the gist of his stuff here. There's also a collection of a series of paintings of female pilots from the Second World War. Information about the (pretty much unknown) role that each woman played is given underneath. As you walk through the hall, the noise of old aircraft plays in the background which is effective and strangely moving. After all this appreciation, it was time for lunch in the fantastic cafe that overlooks the sea. This Christianshavn Kager made me eat it, probably because it was quite possibly the nicest cake I have had here (so far)...! My grandparents visited Louisiana in the 1960's when they did a house-swap with a Danish family. It was funny to think they probably stood looking at the same Giacommetti's as I did. They were over when the moon-landing took place, which made it especially memorable to them as they didn't have a TV at home at the time - but the Danish family did! Poor Danish family, they had to knock on a neighbour's door in order to watch it. They were also asked to look after an undulator, which they agreed to, not having a clue what it was, and wondering whether it was a boiler or other machine that needed looking after, it turned out to be one of these....

Yesterday we woke up to our first snow of the winter which was nice for our guests - it was officially the first time my nephew has ever seen white stuff! It didn't settle in the centre of town, but we still have a covering in the garden. It does seem quite soon though!!

We said a sad goodbye to our guests this morning, it was so lovely to have them here. I miss being around the corner from both of my sisters, so any time we spend together is special at the moment. We managed to cram in a night out though - my sister's first night out alone since she had the baby. We went to Ruby to celebrate her engagement with a quick cocktail (the Carrot Cake Cocktail is highly recommended), then onto Mikkeller to meet some friends. The children loved having them here too and relished the time spent "looking after" their baby cousin (which included giving him his first unsolicited chip much to my sister's horror!). I am not sure they enjoyed the aborted landing at Gatwick due to another plane being on the runway, nor some of their luggage going missing, but all in all a great time was had by all. It seems so quiet here now! Time to regroup and get back into our "normal" routine before our next guests in three weeks time.