Harry Potter geek-out and a wonderful wedding

After spending 10 days in California, Bobby and I headed to the UK. We were invited to a wedding in Northern England, so we decided to make a mini-holiday out of it. We left LA on New Year's Eve. Funny (not really) story: we took two different flights from LAX to London, which left on 25 minutes apart from each other, and spend New Year's Eve in the air. Don't ask how that happened. Anyways... we flew from London to Edinburgh and stayed at a lovely hotel. On the second of January, we woke up to a truly beautiful day (especially for January, in the winter, in Edinburgh!). I had remembered reading somewhere that J.K. Rowling wrote most of the first Harry Potter book in a café in Edinburgh, and she completed the final book in a hotel there as well. So after a nice stroll around the beautiful city, I forced Bobby to accompany me to the café.

And it did not disappoint! The café, The Elephant House, is now basically a giant memorial to Harry Potter and J.K. Rowling. It's still a working café, so Bobby and I enjoyed several pots of tea and some scones while basking in the glory of all things J.K. Rowling (ok, so maybe Bobby wasn't basking, but I certainly was!). The best part of the café, minus the giant pots of tea, yummy scones, and lots of seating room, were the toilets. The toilets are absolutely covered in taggings about Harry Potter! As you can see in this lovely photo, someone wrote 'The Way To The Ministry' above this toilet (us Harry Potter fans will understand the reference). After visiting the café, we went to a few art museums, both of which were free (I love all the free museums in the UK... makes up for the 20 pound entrance fee for Westminster Abbey, and for the Tower of London, and St. James Cathedral). We even got to watch the Rose Bowl in a local pub! I do so love Edinburgh, and not just for the sake of Harry Potter  :)

On the 3rd, we took the train from Edinburgh to Newcastle, where we rented a car and headed west towards Hexam. This area of Northern England, Northumberland, is rich in ancient history. When the Romans occupied England, they tried to invade Scotland as well. However, they were never able to control the wild northern areas, so the Romans built a wall to keep the rowdy Northerners out. This wall, known as Hadrian's Wall, still stands in many areas.

In several places along the wall ancient Roman forts have been discovered. The best place to visit in the fort and accompanying village of Vindolanda, which is still an active archeological site. Occupied for 300 years by Roman soldiers and their families, the site has been a treasure trove of ancient artifacts.

My favorite of the artifacts is, of course, the shoes! They also had some really interesting writing tablets, which included messages about birthday party invites, requests for more beer, and inventory lists. There were also coins, combs, and the usual pottery found.

After visiting the Vindolanda site, we continued driving around the area on small little back roads, traveling up and down hills. It is truly beautiful countryside: green rolling hills, hidden lakes, and old ruined buildings dotting the area. We followed Hadrian's Wall for quite a ways (the wall went from coast to coast).

We stayed at a BnB in the town of Hexham, about 20 km west of Newcastle. Hexham is home to the Hexham Abbey, which was first built in 674. The original abbey was made of stones taken from dilapidated Roman ruins (by 674, the Romans had been out of England for 300 years and the forts were already in ruin). Situated on the river Tyne, Hexham was invaded and destroyed by Viking invaders in 875. Go Denmark!

Luckily, the Abbey was restored. The Frith Stool, or bishop's throne, also survived. Dated back to the 7th century, this stool might have been created for Wilfred, founder of the Abbey. Interesting thing about frith stools: they were a place of sanctuary, similar to the 'safe area' when playing tag. Anyone who managed to reach the frith, such as a criminal fleeing justice, could not be touched until they were granted assurance of justice and fair treatment. Pretty cool, eh? Anyways, moving on... we were fortunate enough to see a concert performed inside the Abbey: the church's assistant organist performed Messiaen's La Nativité du Seigneur (The Nativity of the Lord). It was a lovely performance.

As I mentioned above, we were in the UK for a friend's wedding. The wedding took place in Langley Castle on a beautiful sunny (but cold) day. The castle is actually a 14th century tower house, which has been converted into a hotel.

The inside of the castle is beautifully decorated with chandeliers, thick carpets, huge curtains, and lots of comfy chairs and couches surrounding giant fireplaces.

Of course there is armor. What kind of castle doesn't have armor?

One of the most unusual things about the castle is the number of garderobes (old toilets) that were a part of the castle. There are a total of 12 individual garderobes, four on each floor. This was very rare for buildings of the time. Here you can see that two of the garderobes have been decorated with Christmas trees. No need for Pine air freshener in these toilets!

Christmas in Los Angeles

Bobby and I spent the holidays in the States this year. For the last few years, we've remained in Denmark for the holidays, so it was a nice break to be in sunny, warm California to celebrate. And, of course, it was wonderful to see so much family during our time in the States. We got to spend several days with Dad and Gloria in beautiful Manhattan Beach. We saw movies, took a walk along the beach, did some holiday shopping, and drank and ate well! I even got to go to a Clipper's game, which was a ton of fun.

On Christmas Eve, we hung out with my brother Jordan, Dad and Gloria, and Gloria's daughter Stacy and her boyfriend Safder. It was really nice spending time with everyone: we had a great meal, played board games, and played Christmas music on Gloria's player piano.

Christmas day was spent at Mom's house. She was such a sweetheart decorating the tree with Danish flags!

It was such a warm Christmas: 28 C/82 F! Bobby and I didn't have any of the right clothes for such warm temperatures. We had to roll up our pants and shirt sleeves, and I had to borrow flip flops from Mom! Flip flops, in December! It was a little embarrassing to show off our lovely Danish winter skin color...

Bobby's favorite gift was probably the time he got to spend with everyone's dogs. Here he's holding Gigi (on the left with the pink bow, my Mom's dog) and Chloe (the scared-looking chihuahua, my Aunt Gwen's dog). Not pictured was Chewy, another poodle (my Grandparents' dog).

Christmas dinner was wonderful: Papa cooked crab legs and prime roast! So many people were able to attend dinner: Nana and Papa, Great Aunt Gwen, Aunt Marlene and Uncle Dave, Cousin Christina, Brother Jordan, 2nd Cousin Bobby and his wife Cathy and their youngest son, plus Mom, Bobby, and myself. 2nd Cousin Leslie and her partner Carol were even able to stop by later in the evening. Good thing Papa cooked plenty of food!

Speaking of food... whenever we go back to LA, there are several places that we absolutely must visit for the awesome food. Here you have the fish tacos from Wahoo's, plus the awesome hot sauce Gringo Bandito. Just looking at this meal makes me hungry. Too bad there isn't a Wahoo's in Copenhagen!

We try to eat as much good Mexican food as possible when in California. Here you have the great meal we shared at La Super Rica in Santa Barbara. This was one of Julia Child's favorite places to eat, and I can understand why. I think there are three things I really miss about living in California: my family; warm weather (minus the summer weather... way too hot); and the awesome (and relatively cheap) variety of authentic food from many different cultures.

Weekend trip to Bonn and Aachen

For the last trip of his grant, Bobby spend two weeks in Bonn doing research at the Fraunhofer Institute (you can read about all that Bobby accomplished during his two year grant here; it's a very impressive list). I took an overnight train from Copenhagen to visit him (which was an adventure in itself, complete with hurricane-force winds, scary Germany boarder police with big flashlights at 2 am, and a Soviet-era train compartment with folding beds). Bobby has been to Bonn before, and we've both been to neighboring city Cologne (remember that blog post about eating 7 different animals in a 40 hour period?), so Bobby surprised me and took me to the town of Aachen to visit my ancestor! In order to visit, we had to stop by the Aachen Cathedral. The octagon and cupola you see here were first erected around 800 A.C.E.!

The inside of the cathedral is absolutely stunning. The core cupola is decorated with classical pillars and Carolingian bronze railings. This was the first post-classical cupola to be constructed north of the Alps.

The decorated ceilings are also quite lovely. Everywhere you look is detailed artwork.

And finally, the main event: my great (times many) grandfather, Charlemagne (aka Charles the Great, grandfather of Europe). Yes, it's true, I am related to Charlemagne, and I've got the papers to prove it! Do you see a resemblance? The Aachen Cathedral was commissioned by Charlemagne and is his final resting place. In the Middle Ages, the Aachen Cathedral became one of Christendom's most important places of pilgrimage. The pilgrimage still takes place every 7 years, with the next one happening summer 2014. During the pilgrimage, the four Aachen relics are taken out for display: Mary's cloak, Jesus' swaddling clothes, John the Baptist's beheading cloth, and Jesus' loincloth.

In addition to its religious importance, Aachen Cathedral was also politically important. Between 936, with King Otto I, and 1531, with King Ferdinand I, 30 kings and 12 queen were anointed and crowned in the Cathedral, and then enthroned on this throne. The throne, which was created for Charlemagne, was actually made of even older ancient material! Some claim that the steps are from Pilate's palace, which, according to the Bible, Jesus climbed up after being whipped.

This sarcophagus, known as the Persephone Sarcophagus, is where Charlemagne was first interred (his remains were removed around 1215 and put in the golden Shrine of Charlemagne, which is housed inside the main chapel of the Cathedral). The sarcophagus was created in the first quarter of the 3rd century A.C.E.

We all know by now how much Bobby and I love eating, so let's get to the good part: German food! In every city we visited (Bonn, Cologne, and Aachen), the Christmas markets were in full swing. It was fun to see all the crafty things for sale, but what we really enjoyed with the hot mulled wine and beer and the giant grills! Many of the guys behind the grills were dressed in traditional German clothes (lederhosen and all). There were so many different sausages to choose from, all of them delicious.

And we weren't just limited to sausages. Here we have a steak! In a bun! With grilled onions! Oh man, this was so delicious.

Don't worry, though; we saved room for dessert, like this gooseberry cake. I have to say, cold winter months are the best time to fill up on the rich, heavy German foods.

Weekend trip to Barcelona

Bobby gave a talk in Barcelona on Wednesday, so we took the opportunity to have a long weekend away from cold, dark, rainy Copenhagen. We arrived Saturday evening and immediately went to a tapas bar. We both had some cava, the Spanish version of champagne. We then proceded to stuff ourselves full of a variety of little bites.

We simply had to take our plate up to the bar and pick what we wanted.

We had some Ibérico ham, goat cheese with tapenade, and another soft cheese with an onion jam.

We also had crab salad, fish cake, and salmon mousse with roasted bell pepper. You can see one toothpick spearing each tapa; this is how the waiters know what to charge you. We paid by the toothpick, and each tapa was 1.95€. So for under 40€, we ate a ton of tapas and had enough cava to leave us feeling happy.

But no evening out is complete without dessert. On our walk home, we came across a lovely little gelato place. We shared two scoops; I chose dark chocolate, and Bobby chose cherries and cream. As you can see, Bobby was very happy with his choice.

The next morning we started our day with some café con leche and croissants from the amazing Hofmann bakery. We were lucky enough to stay just a few blocks away from Hofmann, which is one of the best bakeries in Barcelona. We tried their croissants filled with mascarpone and one filled with raspberry jam. I was hoping they would have their mango-filled croissant, which I had been recommended to try, but they didn't make any on the two days we visited. Oh well, we were quite happy with our selections!

This was our second trip to Barcelona; we first visited in June 2009. The nice thing about going to a city you've already been to is that there is less pressure to visit everything since you've already seen so much of it. We therefore didn't feel any guilt about just wandering and meandering around. We still saw a few historical sites, like the Cathedral of the Holy Cross and Saint Eulalia. There was a concert of some traditional Catalan dance music outside of the cathedral; there were many older (and even a few younger) people wearing special shoes dancing in a big circle. One man was energetically waving the Catalan flag.

We even re-visited the side cloister, which is home to a gaggle of noisy geese. I wonder if the Cathedral's priests get a special meal of foie gras every so often...?

I just love this covered passage!

We continued our relaxed strolling in the Gothic area, stopping for not a cone of ice cream but a cone of meat!

We love all of the cured meats you can find in Spain. We were quite tempted to buy a whole hock to take home, but we didn't think it would fit in our carry-on. Next time, we'll bring a bigger suitcase.

We also did some shopping while in Barcelona. As you can see in this photo, I was in shoe heaven. All ballet flats, all made with good materials in Barcelona! Needless to say, I bought a pair. But don't feel too bad for Bobby; he eventually got a pair of shoes as well (not ballerina flats, though).

The days are getting very short in Copenhagen; it is completely dark by 16:30, and it's quite chilly as well (we might get our first proper snowfall this week!). It was still a pleasant temperature in Barcelona, though; it was in the 70s during the day with plenty of sunshine to make us feel very pale. The days are also longer, which helped us adapt to the Spanish meal schedule. In Spain, it's very unusual to eat dinner before 20:00 or 21:00. I don't mind eating late so long as I have a cone of meat as a snack in the later afternoon. However, what is difficult is knowing what to do with the hours between 18:00 and 20:00! So, of course, we drank. We really, really enjoyed this sangria. Bobby enjoyed his sangria so much that he gave a euro to some really crappy street musicians.

After a bit too much sangria and support of the arts, we headed to dinner. We greatly enjoyed this squid, along with a few other dishes. Unfortunatley, we ordered a large plate of cockles (sea snails). It turns out we both hate cockles. Land snails are tasty; sea snails not so much. Oh well, live and learn!

The next day we headed to the Park Güell. Completed in 1914, the park was designed by the famed Catalan architect Antoni Gaudí (perhaps best known for the Sagrada Família church).

The park is a UNESCO world heritage site and at .17 km2, it is one of the largest architectural sites in southern Europe.

La Torre Rosa, which is also within the park, was where Gaudí lived for a number of years. Compared to his other works, I think the style of this building is quite restrained.

This is more what I expect from Gaudí.

For our last dinner together, Bobby and I went out to a wild game restaurant. The restaurant, Pitarra, is housed in an old clock-makers studio and there are many different clocks all over the walls. The food was pretty good, though a bit under-seasoned. We started with some local mushrooms, which were served with Iberico ham, prawns, and parsley sauce.

We then split two main courses. We started with the leg of baby goat. This was served with more mushrooms, a long and slow roasted tomato, and scalloped potatoes. This was my favorite course. The goat leg was very tender and juicy, falling off the bone like pork knuckle. When a couple next to us ordered the same dish, the waiter asked if they wanted the right leg or the left leg (at first they didn't understand that he was joking).

Our final course was wild board in a chocolate sauce. The boar was tasty and not too gamey, which was nice because we've had some really, really gamey boar in the past. The chocolate sauce, however, was too overpowering, and too chocolately. It wasn't bad, but nor was it great.

All in all, we had a really lovely weekend relaxing in Barcelona. We spent out time wandering around, eating well, sipping cafés, and enjoying each other's company. A perfect weekend away!

Lots of work in the apartment

We have done a lot to the apartment in the month of October. We started with purchasing the china hutch, which we showed in the last post. Remember when I said that we don't usually make just one improvement at a time? Well, this holds true for October as well. We added a carpet to the music room. This carpet was actually left in the apartment by the previous owners, but I couldn't think of a good place to use it. Bobby finally convinced me that it would work in the music room. After some maneuvering, we found the perfect position for it.

We finally placed some photos and random art work on the nook table. We also hung some curtains.

Bobby said we needed the curtain (and rug) to help dampen the sound of his piano practicing. He's been doing a great job at practicing daily since returning home in August. I'm quite impressed with his progress. You can also see in this photo that we've hung up a world map. My paternal grandparents used to have a similar map, where they had pins sticking out of all the places they have visited. I loved looking at the map as a child and would wonder if I'd get to visit as many places as they did. I'll still not sure that I'll reach all the places Grandma and Grandpa went to, despite my best efforts, but I still love having my own map with pins in all the places Bobby and I have visited together.

I think the guest room is finally finished (at least until we replace the old closet unit in it, but that won't be for a long while). I touched up the brown wall, added a bed-side table (which Bobby found in the trash! Gotta love Denmark for all of its nice furniture in the trash), and then added a lamp (this one purchased at Ikea).

We also added a desk to the room so our guests have a place to write their postcards. I'm pretty sure this desk was found in the trash, as was the lamp on the desk. Both the chair and closet were left in the apartment by the previous owner, similar to the above-mentioned rug.

Our bedroom was the big task this month. The room used to be painted the same yellow color that the entire apartment was one painted (the only rooms left yellow now are the kitchen and Bobby's office... we've painted the entryway, guest bedroom, part of the guest bathroom, dining room, music room, and bathroom). It also had a huge but completely non-efficient closet unit that took up the entire side of the wall. We decided to replace the old closets with new ones from Ikea. These are also huge units, but they actually take up less space than the previous closet, and I love the mirrored doors! These behemoths took us 16 hours to make over the course of two days. 16 very, very long hours. It took us about 4 hours to break down the old closets and take them down to the large trash bins in our central, communal courtyard. We live on the 4th floor, so that's a lot of stair!

In addition to replacing the closet unites, we also painted the entire room. We thought we had bought a gray color, but in the room the paint turned out to be more of a blue-green-gray. Though it's not what we were expecting, we actually really love the color. It reminds me of the ocean. We also hung up new curtains. Funny story about the curtains - they block out so much more light than our old curtains that the first week with the new curtains we kept oversleeping because it was so dark in the room!

Last but not least, we added a shelf above the bed. Man, this was a giant pain to install. Not as bad as a 16 hour closet installation, true, but still a pain. But I think it looks great. The white bureau was one we used to keep in the guest bedroom. It was something we also found in the trash! Add some new sheets and a new duvet cover and violá, we have a brand new bedroom!

China hutch

 Our home improvement bug has yet to flitter away. After scouring Den Blå Avis (dba.dk, the Danish equivalent to CraigsList), we found this awesome china hutch (vitrineskab in Danish). The original owners bought it new two years ago from a fancy design shop in Copenhagen and it is in perfect condition. It's also a heavy SOB, which makes me happy since that means it's a solid piece of furniture (no offense Ikea). Luckily for us, the original owner had a car and was kind enough to rent a trailer, so he delivered it to our apartment! He and Bobby carried the two halves up while I carried the shelves. It's really nice to have a hutch where we can display our wine glasses and alcohol collection, plus have the storage space for our serving linens, candles, and other odds and ends.

This black piece is what we used to use for a hutch. It has now be relegated to the front entrance, where it stores our winter hats and gloves, ping pong paddles, and umbrellas.

Hurray for new furniture!