Marooned...

Well today has been quite an adventure... Was all packed and ready to head home today!  Alarm set for 2am, we were out of the house at 3am on our way to Billund to fly home through Amsterdam...  We were a little worried with the fresh snow that was on the ground but things seemed to be going alright on the roads to the airport so thought we would still be alright... No such luck.  First stressful situation of the day... phone navigation thought it would be tricky and take us some sneaky back route (off main road and through small towns where it would have been sooooo easy to miss a turn).  Whole time we were wondering where on earth we were and why we were driving through small towns and neighborhoods with no signs to the airport or to Billund the city we were to be flying out of.  Panic was setting in... where on earth are we and are we even going to make it to the airport... magically we still did (and probably wouldn't have taken so long if it weren't for having to drive slow on the small streets in the dark.. with the snow)!  So step one down.  Then we get into the airport and it is total mayhem.  People everywhere, lines almost out the door. Machines breaking, and the general lack of urgency by everyone around.  an hour later we had managed to check in for the flight (barely in time) - after I somehow pressed the wrong button that said I am a US citizen but do not have a passport from the US (I suck!!!).  I think I was in full on panic by the time I finally managed to get someone to help and I was all checked in, and my bags checked through to PDX.

Oh but wait... the flight is delayed 2 hours (leaving at a more reasonable time of 8am instead of 6).  So now it is 5am and we have 3 hours to spare.  Lucky for us we were going to have a couple hour layover in Amsterdam so we were still going to make our connections... 2 hours later (at about 7:30am) an announcement comes over the loud speaker "if you are on the flight to Amsterdam please come to the information counter for re booking of a flight as we are not allowed to take you to Amsterdam if that is not your final destination.  Ummm, what???  Freak out #3 of the morning begins.  So we get shepherded downstairs where we get given our bags back and told that our flights in Amsterdam have been canceled due to the major winter storm which has hit.  Later we find out that is not necessarily true, they just will not let anyone else be brought into the airport because there are thousands stranded already and they are just trying to get all of them out of there (so our seats are gone and we have to find alternative arrangements).

Step 1. Call BCD Travel (or company travel agency where we have to book/change our tickets through), sit on hold for an hour and a half I think?? But hey got plenty of time because we had to take a number (like at the DMV) and were numbers 346 and 347 and the current number they are on is 318... and moving about as fast as the DMV does. Not fast at all!!!  But I guess that is understandable when really there are thousands stranded in Amsterdam, and Frankfurt, and London as all England flights are shut down all together.. Everyone trying to figure out how to get home.  Well finally talked to the travel people and there are no more flights out till Monday.  And I can take a flight from Copenhagen through JFK in New York instead of trying to go through Amsterdam.  Hopefully the weather will clear up and I will be able to make it home that way!!  But alas now I have to still sit in line to talk to the KLM airport people since my flight wasn't officially "cancelled", as it was still going to Portland, but just with other people  :(
Several more hours later we finally get in to talk to the airport people and I am squared away on my Monday flight... FINGERS CROSSED

Sooo my great love for snow not quite so great today.  Bright spot at least we are not one of the thousands that are stranded at the airports.  I am at least sitting on my couch in pj's instead of sleeping on the floor.  Get to enjoy the Christmas decorations a little longer  ;-p
As long as I actually get home on Monday...

Fur monster thing!  Don't think Nate loves him nearly as much as I do, but I think he is so cute!  He replaced a tree for me this year.  Figured I didn't need to buy decorations for him ;-p



Gnomes  ;-D

Check out all that snow  ;-p

Snow covering the skylights over my bed

View off my upstairs balcony.  It will be a white Christmas here :-)

Here's to safe travels on MONDAY... never spent Christmas away from all friends and family.  Not prepared to start now!  Miss you all so much! 

Home

Can't wait to see everyone in a couple weeks when I come home to visit for Chirstmas though  :-D

Diesel

You know at home how you get the little need fuel warning light you are like.. ok ok... i got a bit of time.  Maybe still like 45 minutes of driving (or more if it is my awesome little Civic).... well here it is not quite like that (especially in the tiny little Aygo)... that light comes on and the car is not messing around... you need fuel NOW!!!  We learned the hard way....
So smart us we managed to run out of diesel fuel while driving down the highway, at night (which is like pitch black here), in the middle of winter (so it is like in the 20's), and while there is lots of snow on the side of the road so we could barely get into the shoulder... yea that was an interesting night.  Oh and my phone was dead, and Nates was about dead so we were about to be stranded..

Luckily we convinced the roadside assistance people that they really needed to come save us as every time a car drove by our car shook... no exactly the safest place to be stuck...  So they said they will be there in 2-3 hours as there were so many people who were waiting for assistance since their cars wouldn't start in the cold... Hmmm.... seemed like maybe we were in a bit more dire straights if the others were in their homes. but who am I to say...  Luckily we got a hold of Steve before the phone died, and he came and tried to save us with some Diesel (but it did take about an hour before he was there since he was in Randers and we were almost home to Aarhus - about 30 mins away)... but the car didn't even care at that point.. she was pissed and would not start!!!

So I sat in Steve's car and tried to de-thaw from sitting in a freezing car for the past hour, and watched as the boys tried to figure out where the manual fuel pump is in our baby Aygo (which is near impossible when the engine is tiny and compact)... Eventually Roadside assistance came... he also had no idea what to do to get it to start... they kept trying for like 20 minutes... no luck... eventually we towed the car to the dealership. dropped her off with a note and keys in the drop box... and home we went... left work about 6 and got home about 9:30... yea... not ideal.
I will NEVER run out of gas again!!  That was horrible!!!  Now I think we are both paranoid and are going to be filing up the tank at half a tank every time  ;-)

Aalborg

It is kind of crazy how much I miss everyone.  When I went to Australia it was pretty much straight playing in the warm sun... but here it is work... and then hibernating from the cold... So it is really an effort to get out and actually do things.  But as I started totally feeling like a rat in a cage last weekend I ventured out of town with a couple of coworkers.  It stopped snowing and actually broke 0 degrees Celsius so we were having a heat wave!!!  We ventured a couple hours up north to a little town of Aalborg (which so happens to be the fourth largest town in Denmark.. at ~130,000 people).  We went to go see the Christmas market and just wander around the town for the day. (as of course I had to make it home by the beaver game in the evening.. hmmm.. which didn't turn out so well.. but could have been worse)

It is a really cute little city which really feels much larger then it really is due to there really not being any other large towns around so I think this one (the "largest" in area) just has gotten a bit bigger with shops and stuff.
Joe and Carol my coworkers from Australia who I was venturing with, are totally awesome.  We had a day full of laughs, and had a really amazing time.  I love the crazy Auzzies  :-)

I am totally drawn to fountains.. I am sure many of you already know that. But I am always a bit surprised just how much time I can spend looking at them.  Apparently even when they are not currently running.  There was this amazing frog fountain in the center of the walking streets in Aalborg and I LOVED it  :-D  Little frogs buried in the snow!

 Burrrrrrrr....

 I don't know what these cathedrals were but they were pretty neat looking  :-)

 Super old church in the middle of Aalborg.  I thought I read somewhere that it is the oldest still in tact church in use in Denmark... but I am starting to think I made that up...

 Hidden between buildings in the middle of the shopping streets was an ice skating rink... or two.. one for the little kids who were learning (like a bunny hill... but on the ground...and not a hill.. and for ice skaters not skiers... so I guess really not like a bunny hill at all. haha)... and then a bigger one for all the professionals to skate around on..

As I have never been ice skating before I know that when I do try to go this winter I am going to end up with all the munchkins in the baby rink. haha.

 Christmas market!!!  Like a little craft fair that comes out at Christmas time  :-D

And why not just throw in a Ferris wheel and merry-go-round in the middle of the mix.  Seriously was wedged between everything.. not totally sure how they even got it in there. Ha.

Was a great day though. And made it back in time to watch the game... which I guess went better then it could have with our on again/ off again team this year.  Hopefully it means that Quiz will come back and play next year with James though!  And Katz takes some time to grow up over the summer and not get so rattled when he gets hit. And our offensive line learns how to do their jobs... yea that would be nice.  maybe next year is our year.. I will still be staying up at all hours to watch the games.  So still a devoted fan, even from over here.  I watched all the train wrecks this year  ;-p

Snow!!!

I really am like a kid in a candy store when it comes to snow!  I keep getting distracted and staring out the window at the beautiful white flakes falling from the heavens... Makes me giddy!  Driving is a bit exciting when we are sliding about, but Nate is a pro so I know he has everything under control.

View I woke up to Monday morning!!!  Made being home so much more wonderful!

Vestas dusted with snow  ;-)



Nate - turning into a snowman on his walk into the office  ;-p



My hypnotizing view all day from my desk... snow has been falling everyday since also.

Hamburg, Germany

Last weekend we decided on a whim to go down to Hamburg for the weekend with Steve, Anju, and the kids (Corina, ~1yr, Everett, ~4yrs).  Got up at like 6am on Saturday so we could get an early start (drive is about 3 1/2 hours).  Somehow getting up early in the morning is a little easier when it is getting up for a fun adventure, instead of getting up for work.  :-)
Off we went... We made it unscathed, even though as soon as we hit Germany and the insanely fast drivers we felt a little out of place... I mean Nate doesn't exactly drive slow, but there we seemed to be crawling along.  Little baby car was pushed to the limit!  She did quite well though!  We just made sure to stay out of the way of the drivers that were driving crazy speeds!

We got to Germany about 11am and parked near the church of St. Nikolai for our first adventure.  Was quite a place to start I think.  The church was victim to bombing during WWII, only the steeple was left standing.  Today the ruined church is maintained as a memorial to remind of the horrors of war.  Very impactful to see the pictures of buildings destroyed during the war.  You can just feel all the death and chaos that ensued.  In the basement crypt there is maintained a gallery of pictures, some of which show pictures from around town before the war, during/after the destruction of WWII, and then what the rebuilt/restored buildings look like today.  Sad and moving to see the progression.  I really don't know if I will ever understand all the hate in the world, and how people can be so horrible to one another.  I really wish that love could just make the whole world go round, and everyone could just live their own lives to the fullest without worrying about what other people are doing in their own lives that are not in line with ones own ideals.  I mean to help someone when they are down, I get that, but who pushes someone down and holds them there?  I hope one day to live in a world that is free from hate (yea a pipe dream I know... but I still choose to dream).

We took the family up to the top of the steeple and looked out over the city.  This is the tallest point in Hamburg so we got a pretty good view :-).

Statue out front of monument

View looking up the steeple from the ground

View from the top

Statue built inside the ruins of the church. Vivid picture to really bring home the point of the monument left the way it has been.  As an empty shell of a church which used to be.

The rest of the day we spent just wandering around the city.  Looking at the festive decorations that were going up everywhere in preparation.

Christmas markets are starting to go up everywhere (in Denmark too), this one was just getting the final touches put into it so it could open up on Monday morning.  So we didn't see it open, but still was fun to walk through and see the festivities  :-D



 

 

We (Nate and I) spent the evening wandering around the red light district of hamburg.  That is a quite interesting part of town for sure.  As the evening went on there were actual prostitutes which were lining the side streets... where I am sure you could just walk down the street checking them all out and then pick which one you would like to pay for... Must be a rough line of work to be in.. don't think I will try that out  ;-p

We decided to escape the cold for a bit and popped into a local pub to watch a football (i.e. soccer for you Americans  ;-p) match.  There was some big rivalry match against two German teams (no, I have no idea now what teams we watched), we ordered a beer and sat back to watch.  It took about 45 minutes before we noticed that we were not in a straight bar (well or so we assume).  I was one of three "girls" in the whole place, and I am pretty sure one of the girls was really a man.  So that was quite entertaining. We stayed for a bit but eventually had to leave to go get some delicious dinner.  Another culture notch in the belt (for Nate too, not sure if he ever would have on purpose gone into a gay bar), had a good time though. :-)
I tried to convince him to come with me to a drag show after that, but there is a line which he is apparently not ready to cross... So girls.. one day we will have to go to one. I feel like I am missing out :-D

The next day we got up, packed up our stuff, ate breakfast, checked out, and headed back to the car to move it somewhere for the day... but oh low and behold... we are stupid Americans... we parked in a parking garage, because it was open on Saturday when we drove in there to park... and didn't bother to try to figure out what the little signs said.... I'll let you guess from the picture..

Oh that's right... the idiots that we are parked in a garage that is closed on the weekends.  So how it was open full of cars on Saturday is a mystery to everyone.... and Germany is just like Denmark... you can't get a hold of anyone on the weekends... sooooo we checked back into the hotel, dropped our stuff off and tried to lift our spirits and just accept that we had another full day in Germany (instead of the anticipated half day) and would just have to get up at 5am to get the car at 6 (when the garage opened), drive home and just be late to work Monday morning.  So we walked all round town, taking in all the sites we hadn't managed on Saturday.  By the end of the morning our feet were killing us though!  Walking that much on cobblestone is brutal on feet I guess!  We ate lunch at a delicious little authentic German restaurant.  We had only half an idea what we were eating, but it was amazing!  Think I was still full 24 hours later though, German food is so heavy! 

We went back to the hotel and asked them one more time to try calling the parking garage people, and someone answered!!!  He said he lived above the garage and would let us out... we ran back over to the garage to meet him.. where he looked at us like we were morons (which I don't blame him, we were freaking idiots for not trying to read/translate the sign), and off we went back home!!!  We made it home just after Nate's Vikings kickoff, however I think maybe he would have preferred to miss this one in the end though, they look like a train wreck this year :-(

Always good to make it home, even though the adventure is awesome!!!

oh... and it snowed again today and was sticking a bit in the fields... burrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrr

off to Hamburg, Germany tomorrow.. hopefully it is a tad bit warmer at least  ;-)

I forgot to mention badminton!!!  Every Thursday now we are playing badminton with some other people from work!!!  We have our own rackets and everything!!  :-D  I think each week we will get a little better.  I have lucked out so far with having good partners (because we play doubles) and both weeks have walked away with more wins under my belt.  Nate is not the biggest fan of that..  ;-p  So I got a couple badminton balls (oh yes, for some reason they call the birdies balls.. because they are totally shaped like a ball.. haha) and we are going to practice in the park if we have any free time (and it is not freezzzzzzzzzing cold and raining outside)  ;-p
Glad to have a fun extracurricular exercise thing to do each week!  We are starting to do P90x again too, but that is just us jumping around like freaks in the house, while neighbors look in at us like we are lunatic ks. haha
Going to get into shape even in the cold winter!  Might have to cave at one point and join a gym, but they are so expensive!!!  Want to make absolutely certain that is going to be necessary!

We went and saw the Social Network on Wednesday... interesting film. Thought it was a bit slow, but is always curious to me the brains that some people get, and what they do with that.  The insane computer brainiacks always seem to have some socially awkward quirks (Bill Gates for example...) and seem to have a hard time with "friendships".  Really amazes me what they did with facebook though, it is everywhere now!

Denmark Culture

Nate made it back from China safe and sound... and with a bit more stuff... Guess the markets are quite an experience over there.  He had an interesting time in the culture over there.  Guess in Beijing (where he was), there is so much pollution that the whole city has a permanent fog like haze, and he said it smells like "cow manure and sweat" (doesn't sound all that appealing to me)... And pedestrians get hit by cars every day, and people get out of the cars and yell at the pedestrians for being in the way!  That is quite different.  They said that you watch the Chinese and when they make a break for it across the street they followed suit assuming that was the safest time to risk it  ;-)
I really want to go back to walk on the Great Wall, but can't say that spending more time then maybe one day in the city is really on my list of things to do in life.

I decided to continue our culture adventure over the weekend too. Just in Aarhus :-D
We lucked out with an absolutely beautiful day Saturday!!!  (I think it has been raining or snow/raining every day since)  We started out by walking over to the Church of Our Lady (the Church of Saint Nicolai), we were the only ones in there, it was really quite surreal.  This is the kind of spirituality I can get behind.  Just being in the old churches is so mesmerizing. 

 Down into the crypt under the church...

They say it is the oldest stone church in Scandinavia, and it is still used for mass once a week.  Can see that being a fun service to attend (even if I will not understand a word that they say...).

Of course our tour would not be complete without a visit to the popular Aarhus Cathedral which is located at the eastern end of the walking streets and is a popular destination for tourists.  Was fun to see how much bigger and more elaborate this church was from the first.  I am never sure just how old things are but it still is fun to look at.  Over the years the cathedral has been built up and out, and now is the tallest church in Denmark.

 I would love to hear that organ played!!!!

I think this is where the sermons would be held from?  All the pews were facing this spot...

No idea what this is, but it was in the grownd and it drew my attention for a few minutes... I think that is the darkness in me calling  ;-)

 The statue at the bottom is actually quite large in person, amazing how a photo next to the building can make it seem so small  :-)

Don't think we finished there!  After that we went to Aros, which is the big museum in Aarhus.  The building its self was pretty cool.  I was mesmerized by the winding staircase...

 And the view of the city was lovely too!  Especially on such a nice day!

We wandered around the museum for a couple hours looking at all the exhibits.  There is some pretty strange artwork out there and not good strange like Dad's art... this was just bizarre.  Or kind of sick and twisted... was interesting for sure though.  Was a good day  :-)

Still had the night though!  So off to the international film festival we went (no not the international contemporary dance thing I went to earlier, I was over that already..).  We went to a independent film called "The Miscreants of Taliwood" by George Gittoes (Australian)
Was an interesting/disturbing film.  A documentary about this Australian who went to Pakistan to shoot a low budget (it takes only about 4000 to make the whole film there) action film. Films simply for entertainment purposes are for sure in conflict in Pakistan so there is are kind of issues with the Taliban along the way.  As this is a documentary there is some pretty disturbing stuff that you see/learn along the way about things that are going on (some things that deep down you may know but that we choose to not really know/think about as it hurts to even imagine horrible things like that happening).  So can't say I ended our day on a high note, but "cultured" us for sure....

Sunday it was miserable and rainy and we pretty much did nothing... which was also lovely... ahhhhh my bath..  seriously is my haven, and my escape... reading in a wonderful bubble bath is a little slice of heaven.......