Happy New Year

Happy New Year to all.

I found this youtube of the fireworks in town hall square in Denmark.
Very nice indeed :-)




Happy New Year

The Julekalender

yeah I know it's gonna be hard to *really* explain.

But with Christmas coming up this is (weird as it sounds) is one of the things I miss on tv in the season.

In DK there is a long tradition to have a JuleKalender. This is kind of like the advent calendar only with a tv show that has been split up in 24 episodes (Since Christmas is on December 24th... right?).

Anyway. There are two editions. One for the kids and one for the grown ups. The one for the grown ups are now available online :-)

Right here:
http://programmer.tv2.dk/thejulekalender

Ohh yeah you may not get the videos but the music is pretty cool ;-)

Like this song: Long time ago in Bethlehem or even better: The støvle dans

Thorup strand

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek

Travel Date: July 27, 2008
Travel Destination: Thorup strand

Here is a couple of photos from our trip to Thorup strand. It was one of those days where mom would head off with farmor to do other things and the girls wanted to go to the beach... soo... yeah of course ;-)

Here is a few "mood" photos from the beach and a couple of panos to finish up the post ;-)



Along the coast there are several of these buildings. They are housing the rescue boats. Usually colorful buildings all with the Danish flag on the front doors.



Here you can see how the fishing boats are pulled up on the beach when they are not out on the water. On the west coast this has been done for a long time and when you don't happen to have a harbor near by this is a good way of protecting the ship from the waves.



Here are a couple of panoramas from the beach. You may have to click it to see the full photo. They tend to get rather wide and not show well in minimized format.

Lindholm høje and a few from Amtoft

Remember to also check my photography blog for my Friday post: Udsigt photography

Travel Date: July 26, 2008
Travel Destination: Lindholm Høje

Keeping with todays theme on the travel to DK topic and the changed my mind (see Jacki's blog here) todays topic is Lindholm Høje. I only got a few photos from this visit so instead of repeating photos and story head on over and check out the story and photo on Jacki's blog.

I do however have a panorama I created giving a wide view of the area :-)



So to ensure I don't leave you with a "Is that all I get from your blog today" feeling I have added a few scenic photos from Amtoft. These are from the water front (ohh don't ask about what happens when you have a slippery surface and add plenty of water).



As you can see it's not always windy and cold in Denmark. Sometimes it's calm and in the light of the setting sun...

Dining and touring Hanstholm

Travel Date: July 25, 2008 (a continuation of yesterdays post)
Travel Destination: Hanstholm, Denmark

Just a few extra photos to add to Jacki's post from our family dinner in Hanstholm.

Being at the water and with plenty of ships coming and going there is of course a lighthouse in Hanstholm and it's a pretty neat one too. Considering it has been sitting there for quite a bit ;-)



As with many other places in DK there are wind mills. And it doesn't really ruin too much of the view when you look at it. And consider that it is windy more often than still so they are being put to good use :-)



After dinner we went down to the harbor. Here you can see how the fishing boats are layered to fit in as many as possible. I have no clue as to how they get out but I would guess that they kind of all leave at the same time.



You should think they would have made it easier to get to the pier. Well if you ignore the warnings and all that. But they could have unlocked the door in the wall so one wouldn't have to climb the wall...



Having climbed the wall you will find that plenty of people have gone before you and the fishing is good. I think they caught quite a few mackerels.



Looking the other way towards the tip of the pier it's the good ole evening sun...



Here is a panorama from the restaurant with a view of the harbor. (ohh you may have to click the photo to get a larger size).



And a pano of the fields that at one time used to be ocean floor between the islands.



Yeah I know Jacki posted a photo of this one... but maybe it's just because I'm a guy... Canons in this size are cool :-)



And just to finish up I have one panorama covering the pier from the tip of it and all of the harbor.
Unfortunately it got way too wide to be able to upload it in full so here it is cut in two pieces. Again this may require a click on the photo to enlarge it and see as big a version as possible. And yeah it's kind of a long walk and the water is plenty deep in the outer harbor so I had a good hold of the kiddos but it's pretty cool seeing things from that side.

Job security...

Ok it's a different culture and all that. But is this what you call something to fall back on?
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2008/08/12/AR2008081203131.html.

Considering I am Danish with two daughters that have blond hair and blue eyes... and I am already in the US so import isn't an issue... Makes you wonder.

A trip to Copenhagen with Airfare, Hotel, time off work and all is how much? Around $4.000-$5.000. To me it sounds like a service that would be worth half of that... not bad for not really working that much ;-)

Moms out shopping

Travel Date: July 25, 2008
Destination: Amtoft beach, Denmark

As you may have noticed on Jacki's blog this particular day Mom (Jacki) and Farmor went out shopping leaving the girls with me. Sooo what to do? Well the girls didn't have to think for two seconds before they unanimously shouted "beach beach beach"...

Sooo off we went ;-)

Looking for the perfect sea shells	That's a big tub
Getting into the details playing in the sand and chatting in two languages
How about we run....	Wow... look at this sea shell
Just a pretty scenery
You never get to old to play on the beach. We spend a good amount of time creating a small lake and before you know it... yeah we were busy but man it was fun :-)
Adding the final touch... Yep it's sea weeds

Tomorrow will bring the last half of the day going out for dinner and having a look at Hanstholm. If you want to get a few more looks on a interesting bunker this will be an interesting post ;-)

Ohh and be sure to head on over and see what Jacki was up to going shopping.

Heading to Skagen

Travel info:

Travel Date: July 24, 2008
Destination: Skagen

Check out Jacki's part of the story on her blog as this post is more a less a continuation or side note to that one.

Being the tip of Denmark there is a lot of ships passing here every day. Some being big cargo ships but there is a large variety of ships and their purpose.
I have made a small collection of the different ships/boats you see while being at the beach.



Being a really nice summer day there is always a lot of activity and the ocean view is great. Just take a look at these picturesque beach views.

All the young people getting the game on
Emma in her element
Now looks at those blue waves

Getting to the very tip of Denmark does require a little beach walking that will take you over the dunes and along the water to the tip where you can see the two oceans "collide". As you can see in the photos below it's a very popular place to visit and during the summer time there are always people here. Winter time is something totally different ;-)



Finally from the beach here is a panoramic (yeah I tried getting a few of these even though I am not sure if this is one I took or Jacki did).
Ohh you may have to click the photo to get a larger version to really view it ;-)

Visiting Spøttrup

I will start off just around the point Jacki left off. Heading outside the castle. Just to avoid confusion here's the travel info:

Travel Date: July 23, 2008
Destination: Spøttrup, Denmark

As you may have noticed from some of the photos on Jacki's blog the castle "workers" where dressed up in time appropriate clothing. Here we are on our way out of the castle over the draw bridge as a couple of "the locals" were passing us.



Outside the castle (just like way back when) there was a medieval market. This market had different shopping areas and showing off equipment used at the time. Ohh and of course this isn't done with modern booths... It's the good ole tents with flags and banners :-)



Remember how Danes are with flags and proudly showing it off at any chance? Well a market is always a good opportunity to show the colors.
Here it is in the food court and clothing "store" ;-)



This castle at one time was occupied by the bishop as Christianity was introduce in Denmark. It was a little different at the time and well for a bishop to have respect he would have to create it.
So aided by "loyal" subjects the bishop would purify the population by capturing the witches and dragging them kicking and screaming through town to scare everyone else from doing something they shouldn't.
Here is a procession with the bishop taking the lead and army men dragging the witches (yeah they were actually kicking and screaming) to the castle to pay for their crime of witchcraft.



Be sure to check out Jacki's blog for more on the trip.