Back on the slopes

5 months since my operation and I decided it's time to try snowboarding again. On a total whim, I went with  a friend to the southernmost ski resort in Sweden, Vallåsen. It's a very small resort, with only a ~120m worth of altitude, and sitting not far off sea level. Most of the snow there was artificial, yet no worse than conditions I have typically been in, in Australia. With some last minute shopping on Friday night I picked up a pair of wrist-guards to ensure I didn't break my wrist again. After spending many hours researching what to get and where to get them I ended up just grabbing pretty much the only pair in my size available anywhere in Copenhagen. Thankfully, they did the trick! Though in actual fact, I didn't really test them out too much and spent most of the day on my feet, which was a pleasant change. I think perhaps I am finally getting a bit better, have a bit more confidence, and despite how I thought I would feel, I'm less nervous about falling now that my hands are protected!

Anyway, a great day was had by all (short of sore leg muscles the following day), and now I'm ready to hit the Alps!

'tis better to have discovered rubbish, than to never have discovered at all

I don't know what it is about frozen ocean that fascinates me so much,
but it just does.

I'm going to begin with a tangent to a tangent here. The first tangent is the title of this entry, the tangent to the tangent is that up until now I had always quoted the real words from the quote as coming from Shakespeare, thinking it was from Romeo & Juliet. And it was one of my favourite quotes. For some reason, I decided to research it tonight and much to my disappointment I discovered that the words come from Lord Alfred Tennyson, and not from Shakespeare! So much for thinking I actually absorbed the one Shakespeare play I studied at school...

Back to the original tangent... A friend of mine told me not to bother with the Viking Museum in Roskilde as it is a waste of money. I think they were bang on actually. The Viking Museum is a large building hosting a collection of 'pieces' of 6 Viking boats that were excavated from the fjord in 1962. They were 'put' there by the Vikings to create an underwater barrier to prevent sea based attacks on Roskilde. The 6 ships are in various states, but in general, without the steel frames and some imagination, there really wouldn't be that much to see. However, WITH the steel frames and imagination, I did still find it fascinating seeing wooden constructions that carried dozens of Vikings, thousands of miles, many hundreds of years ago. Something about old 'stuff' always fascinates me...

The 'on board' dunny on the reconstruction.

In fact, a reconstruction of the largest ship (built in the museum's shipyards) recently completed a voyage to Dublin and back (it was thought the original was constructed in Ireland). The was a special exhibit on this in the musuem which was quite interesting, and it definitely reminded me how glad I am to not be a Viking sailing the choppy seas 1,000 years ago!
 
So back to my tangent. I had been told the museum wasn't worth it. And at DKK 75 (that's the special 'winter' price) I honestly think it was a bit of a rip-off. However, that's pretty much standard in Denmark I guess - that things are a rip-off and it's just a part of life. But, my point is, despite even thinking to myself that the museum may not really be worthwhile, I still wanted to go. It's not like I didn't have the money or the time, it was a beautiful day to be travelling to the country-side anyway, and, well, I thought to myself afterwards, 'tis better to have discovered rubbish, than to never have discovered at all.

And I think that philosophy pretty much explains so many of the things I do in life, and so much of why I do things. But finally I have put it down in a single line, one explanation of why I feel I need to try everything at least once, why I want to travel to so many places (even the ones that may not be so exciting), why I seem to want to chop and change jobs and careers, why I want to live in different cities, and why I am who I am.

The important things in life

I spent the weekend in London. This was one of the great attractions of moving to Copenhagen for this job, the ability to travel easily and cheaply. To not have to spend 4 hours on a plane just to get to the other side of the country, never mind a different country, and to be able to do so with pocket change. Anyway, I made use of some super cheap flights and had a fantastic weekend in London. The best part about it though, was that there was zero tourist aspect to it, and it was purely to spend time with an old childhood friend, and some family. The two days there made me realise what are the things that are really good about life, and what is really required to make me feel good about myself. Friends and family.

So yet again I have learnt the lesson to not let 14 years (but practically, more like 25 years) pass between catching up with friends. That, and to make time for family because they are the ones who always welcome you with open arms, who will always make time for you, always be interested in you, and always make you feel loved.

I'm baa'aack

Finally, after a 6 month hiatus I am back in the air. And not just any air, but the freezing air of Southern Sweden. After much mucking around and trying to figure out how to go flying in Scandanavia, I settled on Sweden and the Sturup Aero Club outside of Malmö, just across the Øresund from Copenhagen. Although I don't have a European pilot license, I am able to validate my Australian license (for private, daytime flying, for up to 12 months) in Sweden at no cost. Sweden also has the bonus of having cheaper aircraft hire than Denmark, even if it means a slightly more complicated and expensive trip to the airport. If I end up staying here longer and decide to actually convert my license to a European one (as opposed to say, simply get another 12 month validation by changing my flying location to Denmark instead and going through the Danish authorities and Danish planes), it looks like I will only have to do a couple of written exams and a flight test, nothing too serious.

View Larger Map ('A' is where Malmo-Sturup Airport is)

Fire and Ice

Near Vik on the south coast

First I should say, I have never before planned a holiday around a single attraction so much, missed out on the particular attraction, yet had one of the best holidays ever. When I decided to go to Iceland for a week, one of my main aims was to see the Aurora Borealis, the Northern Lights. The concept of particles from the sun streaming into the atmosphere and putting on a light show seems so magical and I really wanted to see it for myself. I ditched Northern Norway in favour of Iceland figuring there were so many other things to do there I would probably have a better time, so off I went. All the while I knew that in addition to solar activity, one of the major factors for seeing the Aurora is cloud cover. Unfortunately, the weather for the 9 nights I was in Iceland could not really have been much worse. Cloud cover was 8/8 almost constantly, with only the occasional break for some moon-rays. Oh well, I may have to make a trip to Northern Norway after all...

The days in Iceland are extremely short this time of year. Sunrise was around 10:30-11:00 and sunset around 16:00 (it's very hard to really know when the sun is up when it is totally overcast and twilight seems to last forever). Similarly, the cities (or rather, 1 town and multiple villages) seem to operate based on daylight hours too. It is very hard to get up in the mornings when it's pitch black outside, but even worse when you step into the main street in the capital city and most the shops are still closed and there is barely a soul around. It seems like the only time there is congestion (both pedestrian and vehicular) is between around midnight and 2am on Saturday and Sunday mornings. Party time really is the only time Reykjavik gets busy, and the locals come out in force. And there is definitely no shortage of drinking establishments in town.

Happy 2011

Although I am not normally one to join in the pagan new year celebrations on a large scale, this year I got invited to a traditional Danish New Year celebration hosted by a pom. How could I say 'no'? It was going to be a small dinner party with myself, the pom, and 7 Danes. It turned out to be us to English speakers, and 16 Danes! All squished into his 1 bedroom apartment - we managed to just fit in!

A traditional Danish New Year's party is rather different to what I am used to in Australia (a BBQ and/or some drinks with friends). Here, the New Year's party is possibly the most important meal you have with your friends throughout the whole year (Christmas is something you celebrate with your family, and I think that meal may be more important). The whole affair is typically a sit down formal dinner with no holding back. Lots of candles on the table (required for any good hygge get-together in winter), streamers, party hats, poppers, and various explosives which in some countries are possibly only legal if used out-doors!

 

Fireworks in the streets! Unfortunately I can't rotate the video without losing the audio track - so just tilt your head!

Frostbite

Why it's dangerous to walk on the footpaths here in winter

I'm guessing the doctors probably wouldn't classify it as frostbite, but after my experience of riding a bike today (the weather app on my phone said the windchill was -17'C!), frostbite is something I wouldn't wish on anyone! Last night when riding out to my Irish Pub Christmas dinner, I wore my ski gloves, thinking that's the way to keep warm. I was sorely mistaken. So thinking that my ski gloves simply do not stop wind like my other ones, I wore my other gloves today. Boy, big mistake. They were even worse. After a 15 minute ride I could not feel any of my fingers. It was a struggle trying to get my hand into my pocket in order to pull out my phone (with a map on it), not to mention a struggle trying to work the lock on my bike and then trying to grip the zipper on my jacket to take it off when I reached my destination. It took a good 15 minutes of indoor heat before I could feel my fingers again, and 2 hours later I still had pains in the extermities. Wow! Talk about an incentive to find better gloves!

On the bright side, here are some more pretty photos of this icy weather...