First visitors

Good evening from CPH.  It's been a little while since the last blog update.  Things have been busy with even some form of routine settling in.  And, we've had our first visitors.


So where to start....cycling.


Use of the Christiania bike has been steadily increasing with regular trips to the supermarket, the park and most importantly the beach.  Yes, the weather has finally got a lot better.  I have discovered that it is possible to do a good skid, with even a bit of 'fishtailing' with a suitable road surface by standing hard on the pedals.  It's probably prudent not to try and go for the full 180 degree or doughnut as I suspect the whole cabin would over turn which is unlikely to be appreciated by R and T.  R has also finally got her own cycle which she is very proud of.  We've had one try without stabilisers so far and I'm just waiting for my back to recover before we have another go.


Now the weather and its impact....There has been a good 7, maybe even 10, consecutive days of sunshine with temperatures in the 20s.  As a result, we've realised that Danes are total sun worshippers.  Every available area of parkland and beach has been covered by Northern European bodies emerging from a long winter, steadily turning all sorts of shades of pink, red, brown etc.  It's also quite alarming in the Faelledparken as there are shades of Munich's Englischer Garten, with many of the sun worshippers stripping down to bare minimum levels of covering.  Both male and female, young and old.  Now that was something else that almost made me lose control of the Christiania.


The prize for being our first visitors goes to Grandma and Granddad who came and stayed for a week.  Timing their visit perfectly for a bank holiday and mostly brilliant weather.  This was a great visit for many reasons, least of all as it meant there was someone else to pander to the demands of R & T, and particularly most appreciated when Rhia wanted to go for a paddle in the sea and Granddad was a willing volunteer.  That man clearly does not feel the cold!


During our visitors' week, a lot day trips were undertaken some of which are more recommended than others.  The Louisiana Museum of Modern Art is a great trip up the coast from Copenhagen for a fix of art.  The Henry Moore sculptures were excellent as expected, however the current exhibition was a little inaccessible, at least for my tastes.  I was much happier in the children's wing, where T and I discovered the most enormous buckets of Lego bricks, and R spent time painting and generally making a mess.  The cafe was also another highlight, particularly the view over the sea as it drops down from it's perch on the hillside.  A hillside incidentally which was very popular for small children to roll down, and down, and down.  A day trip was also done over the bridge to Sweden to visit the beach at Malmo.  An impressive drive over the sea, unfortunately once we were there, a less than impressive picnic on the beach as a result of the squally weather.  But, like good Brits, we persevered though in the wind and rain.  The first time I've worn a wooly hat in May for a picnic.  It was nice to pop over to Sweden, but for £60 (return) in tolls, the weather's going to have to be really good, and / or we need to investigate the cheaper toll options.

Finally, gastronomy update.  Not too many more places tried since the last time - a lot of good cooking at home though (by me, ahem).  Gustavs Bistro warranted a return trip with Grandma and Granddad.  Excellent food again, although bemused by a veal escalope coming out more like a steak than an escalope. Secondly, with the great weather and our new favourite babysitter, (R's new BFF), CoI and I discovered Cafe Bopa a few blocks away on Løgstørgade.  A very elegant looking spot situated on a square with lots of mature chestnut trees.  Lots of tables and an appropriate scattering of beautiful people.  Decent wine list and small cafe menu.  No one seemed to go for much other than the moules frites or the burger.  We plumped for the burger each which was well made and cooked.  Washed down with a chilled Australian white it was a great way to while away a hot summer evening in Copenhagen with the odd blast of music from the Carnival at Faelledparken.  The only odd thing about the cafe was the adjacent petanque pitch (?) which seemed to have a gathering of 'lads' on a 'lads night out'.  First time I've ever seen petanque as an activity for such an evening - it's those crazy or trendy Danes I guess.  I suspect the one girlfriend that had been brought along also thought the same as well given her bored and pained expression.  Or maybe it was the crazy heels she was wearing....just an observation.


Keeping fingers crossed for more sunshine!

Like a galleon darling...

So, massive strides in the last few days in becoming more of a Copenhagenite.


For those of you who read the trials of my last blog around getting a mobile phone, you'll be pleased to know that I am now a proud and relieved owner of a new mobile phone.  I chanced my arm one more time with 3 (other providers are available) at a different store and despite some early scepticism, which included examining my passport for some kind of Danish immigration stamp (I had to point out I was an EU citizen, full rights of entry / residence etc), we had success!


Another big development has been the purchase of our Christiania bike which I am starting to throughly enjoy and look forward to using a lot.  Must be said, that the initial omens were not looking good.  Taking the bike for a test spin on a windy and wet day, in what must be the only hilly region of Copenhagen, there were only 2 near crashes and 1 near rollover.  However, R sitting in the cargo box was very reassuring and supportive despite describing my initial biking attempts as "wobbly" and our CoI further encouraging me with comments like "you look like a galleon darling"...  This however was the least of my troubles.


Little did I realise that actually driving a 'Christiania' on the road with no weight i.e. children / cargo in the box actually makes the bike fiendishly difficult to manage, steer and generally keep on the straight and narrow.  So a 10KM cycle to get the bike home, in the blustery wind and rain along the coast made for an interesting experience.  Particularly the road by Charlottenlund Palace where the road undulates, zig zags and the camber on the cycleway does its best to drive you into the adjacent hedgerows.


However, a Sunday afternoon excursion the following day, complete with both children and no near misses suddenly makes the city feel a lot smaller and accessible, not to mention confidence in my abilities to drive one of these things at an acceptable level.  All we need now is an industrial sized bike lock.  Despite Denmark being a very low crime and pleasant country, apparently thefts of Christiania bikes are very common, with even gangs in vans driving round the city looking for them and then just lifting into the back.

The other big step forward this week was a night out for our CoI and me, all by ourselves with no small children.  We seem to have struck pot luck by discovering an extremely local option for babysitting.  Very child friendly and brilliantly flexible.  In fact when we left on Friday night, R was trailing around after her new best girl friend for the evening.  T was oblivious to it and probably best ignored what looked like a girlie evening starting to take shape.

Our evening out helped further our gastronomic adventures in the neighbourhood as we discovered Gustav's Bistro on Classensgade.  A small wine shop with a lovely bistro attached run with a sense of humour.  The food is influenced by French cuisine but with plenty of local Danish twists and ingredients.  And the cassoulet we shared as our main course deserves a special mention.  Another locale making it on to the 'must take friends to' list.

So fuelled by good food and an excellent bottle of Bourgeuil, we started making further plans for nights out exploring the abundance of eateries Copenhagen seems to have to take advantage of our newly discovered babysitting option.  Not to mention preparing for our flurry of visitors that will start within a few days.

Till next time.  Hopefully it'll have rained less in between blogs...

Reality bites and it rains a lot...

So, it feels like the honeymoon period is over.  

Our CoI is fully back into the routine of work with a vengeance.  I am fully understanding the meaning of being a stay at home dad with 2 small children.  One of whom has decided that teething involves all sorts of histrionics and drama.  The other one fortunately is somewhat less dramatic and it is possible to have a rationale conversation with her.  Or at least as rationale as it gets with a 4 and half (very important the half) year old child.

On the upside, it means we are doing lots of things that involve exploring the neighbourhood to keep ourselves busy and out of trouble.

The highlights of discovery since the last blog have been the Fælledparken and the Østerbro Svømmehal.  The former is a large expanse of park, with multiple sports pitches, walking and running tracks and most importantly a fabulous children's playground where the kids can occupy themselves for hours.  Now that the weather is also improving this is becoming a regular excursion.  The latter is an imposing structure modelled along the lines of ancient Roman baths complete with statues of faux gods.  It has a great kids' swimming pool, which is perfect for me and 5m and 10m diving platforms which is perfect for the kids.  This is starting to look like a banker for rainy days.  Of which there are many it seems.

Now that things are starting to become normal again, the time for gastronomic exploration has been limited.  Although, I did try the Maharaja Indian restaurant a few blocks away the other night for a 'treat for self', which whilst a little on the pricey side did a very passable lamb korai with good naan.  So for you members of the FNCC, a perfectly good venue to reconvene when you make it out here.  Kingfisher and a decent wine list also available.

Things we have learnt since the last blog:

1.  Denmark has a supremely well integrated set of government departments - with one number we now exist and every department can help us at the drop of a hat.
2.  The most 'modern' radio station I have discovered, seems stuck somewhere between the mid 80s and mid 90s, with the odd foray into the 2000s or beyond.
3.  Security guards in Copenhagen are as unhelpfully obtuse as in London.
4.  Opening a bank account with our CoI was a wonderful experience involving pleasant one on one meetings in plush offices.  As opposed to the spotty trainee in an open plan station on the high street.
5.  Danes are sticklers for the rules, right down to the feedback on how I should shower when I took the kids swimming (slightly unnerving).
6.  Surprisingly, recycling seems a lot less structured than back home, or at least we were used to in London.  Plastics, tetra paks, food waste all goes into the landfill bin.  And, I have yet to find out where to recycle tins.
7.  The beer is good - current favourite is the Tuborg Grøn pilsner.
8.  The daily weather forecast usually includes; cloudy with some rain, cloudy with a little rain, sunny spells with some rain etc. 

D-day: The Big Move Phase 1 (The day we caught the plane)

So, hello Copenhagen.  After a month of organising followed by a 2 day maelstrom of packing and final house snag list reduction, we have made it to Copenhagen with the contents of our house packed into 180 boxes on to a 40 foot trailer currently somewhere between our home (in England) and our new home (in Denmark).  Somewhat eerie seeing the house emptied of all its contents, however it has never looked better.  A new carpet was even laid the morning of leaving!

The trip over was pleasantly uneventful apart from T being the wriggliest 1 year old in history in between charming the stewardesses.  No aborted plane landings unlike the last time we all flew into Kastrup.  The taxi driver at the airport looked a little apprehensive at first at the amount of luggage that needed transporting but tetris like we squeezed it all in.

Whilst we wait for our own beds to arrive, we are in an apartment in Christianshavn.  A very 'edgy' neighbourhood bordering on Christiania where there are no laws.  I think we are exploring it tomorrow, any trouble and we will set T on them for whom wrestling is a newly found pleasure.

As Copenhagen shuts down from tomorrow for Easter, a quick trip to the local shops was required for supplies.  The supermarkets experienced so far in Copenhagen seem far from super but maybe it's just the unfamiliarity.  Irma for the more upmarket experience, Super Brygssen for the everyday essentials.

On our visit to this area in February, we discovered the 'Spicy Kitchen' restaurant and takeaway on Torvegade, run by some very friendly Afghans and serving some very passable Indian like (Afghan?) fair.  So what better way to settle into our new city than with a curry.  Welcome to Copenhagen!

Welcome: D-day minus 5

So a foray into the blogsphere.  The random and sporadic thoughts of trailing spouse, sporadic dad (thanks Martin R) and currently under utilised ex management consultant charting our experiences of moving and living in sunny Copenhagen.

As we approach the anniversary of moving back into our newly renovated beautiful  new house (Sunday!), we are busy preparing to move out again.  In 5 days time to be precise.

Panic is slowly seeping into my body.  However on the plus side, the kids are blissfully unaware with R excited about her last day at school, T just grateful he's spending so much time at Thamma and Dadu's (T&D's) and our Captain of Industry (CoI) too busy doing something important with big numbers.