Norway trip

Frocycle

RIP Frocycle 10/14/08-11/14/08

My poor, poor bicycle met a tragic end on Friday morning. She was parked in the bicycle parking outside the shop, minding her own business, when some crazed driver pulled in and hit her. They just left her laying there on the street, and they didn't even come tell us. Henrik and Niels had to break the horrible news to me. Her back tire is crushed, and would cost too much to fix. I have a new bicycle, no where as great as Frocycle, but I'm getting use to the change. I loved my bicycle.

We're Moving Back!

So our families know this, but we're going to be moving back to the States in December. Adam will have finished the majority of his research at the Museum, and can continue working on it in Seattle. We fly into Seattle on the 29th of December.

We already have a place to live in the Greenwood Neighborhood of Seattle. It is much quieter than the U-District so I won't miss the drunken meetings at the corner by our apartment. I will miss Robert, our apartment manager. He's a great guy and a great manager!

A few weeks ago, Adam and I were looking at apartments for rent on Craigslist. We found one that we both loved, a mother in law apartment in the bottom half of a house. We didn't think anyone would hold an apartment for two months, but we e-mailed anyway. It turns out that I had class at the University with the owner. Small world. We sent in our rent agreement and our deposit.








The most beautiful thing I have ever seen. Right in our own apartment!!

White Cliffs and Apple Cider!!

Last weekend was a very busy weekend for Adam and me. On Saturday we went with Adam's friend Caroline and her son Anders to the ocean. There was a medieval church perched on the edge of the cliff which closed to the public over a hundred years ago. About twenty years ago the choir loft fell into the sea below.

We walked down the steepest stairs (78) I have ever seen in my life. They would never pass inspection in the United States. Once we got down to the ocean, we walked over flint rocks under the white chalky cliffs. It was beautiful. Anders successfully collected about 17 pounds of rocks. Keep in mind that Anders is 6, and was quite insistent that he was bringing all the rocks home with him. He was covered in chalk by the time we got him to the car. It was beautiful! I found a very cool rock which had a hole in it. If my bag doesn't weigh a million pounds then I plan on bringing it home and using it as a very small pot!

On Sunday, Adam and I woke up early and took the train out of the city to a very small town, where we were picked up by Niels, one of the owners of the bicycle shop. He took us to a farm to make apple cider. It was a very cool operation. The apple cider was delicious and tasted so good coming out of the pasteurizing machine. We drank our two bottles in a few days and now are looking longingly at the empty bottles sitting by our heater. It was a very cool area. The farm is part of a boarding school which is set right next to the ocean. There are about 9 horses on the property, they seemed very interested in the apples that we were using to make cider. Two of them sat very patiently for the bad ones to be tossed into their enclosure. We tried to walk down to the ocean, but the wind was blowing so hard that you could lean into it, and still stand up.

It was a very busy weekend, but one that we won't forget!

(as always, more pics at http://picasaweb.google.com/freebs429)

Hubertusjagten

On Sunday, Adam and I went to the 200th annual Hubertusjagt (Fox Hunt.) This was minus the foxes and the hounds but was very cool regardless. The hunt is held on the royal hunting grounds, and Adam and I saw the queen while we were eating our lunch on a log. There were close to a hundred horses that participated (Brooke estimate.) We had very good spots for watching several sections of the running. Unfortunately we were right next to a jump as a girl and her horse didn't quite make it over. She fell off and her horse landed on her, then several other horses jumped on both of them. It was very scary, but I think she's okay. She stood up right away (probably in shock) and then someone got her to lay back down. That was the only accident that we saw, but right before that a large what looked like a Dutch Warmblood came running without a rider on. It was kind of funny because he was going right for the jump and then realized at the last second he didn't have to go over it, so he went around it. I guess having a large amount of horses running through the woods and going over the jumps can't be all that safe, but it was awesome!

After the hunt, Adam and I wandered around the grounds (Dyrehaven) and saw some very neat stags. They are smaller than white tails, but have antlers like an elk/moose cross. They didn't seem to mind us and we got about 20 feet away from a pair. The "hunting cabin" is the most beautiful building I have ever seen. It sits perched upon the top of a hill overlooking all of the trees and the ocean. It is amazing!

The area is beautiful! It was only 5 miles from our house so we'll go back again, this time with our better camera. For now check out the rest of our pictures on Adam's Picasa site http://picasaweb.google.com/freebs429. We hope you're enjoying our blog.

Same old, same old

Adam and I have settled into our routines nicely. Things have become common place, and not as exciting as when we first got here. I am still enjoying my job at the bike shop. Today we had a film crew from Latvia here. They were very interested in me renting out bicycles. I just have to laugh. I'm becoming an international film star! Ha!

Adam and I are going to Norway in a few weeks. I have a very good friend who taught at my school in Seattle who lives there. She lives in the middle of no where so it should be an exciting time. I'm sure we'll have lots of pictures from that trip.

Hope all is well in the States. It is very cold and rainy here.

Settled In

And now for the long haul...we've settled in to a daily and weekly routine: daily bike commutes rain or shine (which, so far, has been lass rain than Seattle in autumn), dinner hours before our European roommates, and making sure we go to the store on Saturday because everything is closed on Sunday. Things are becoming more familiar around town, so we usually don't take our camera with us.

This was a shame last Sunday, because we ended up at a medieval encampment downtown, in the garden of the artillery museum in the wings of Christianborg Castle. There was alot of smithing going on, as well as archery, mead tasting, and, of course medieval candied apples. Brooke of course got one. At 15 kroner (about $2.75), it is one of the things we find cheaper over here than back home. According to Brooke, it was the best candy apple she's ever had. I had a bite or two, and I must admit, the combination of Danish apple that wasn't a Red Delicious, plus the coating of what I assume was real sugar (not corn syrup), without artificial dye, melted in a copper pot over an open fire...well, it was pretty darn tasty. We also took in the jousting show. It was a fairly raucous event, with lots of raunchy medival humor that seemed very believable, especially due to the real cabbage, apples, and bread rolls that were being thrown by the actors and the crowd. Yep, nothin' says the middle ages like throwing food in public. Brooke enjoyed seeing the knights' horses perform, while I enjoyed seeing everyone dressed like Monty Python and the Holy Grail.

Last Saturday, however, we did bring our camera on a nice jaunt around northwest Sjælland (Zealand, the island Copenhagen is on). This was a nice trip on a somewhat rainy day with two of my colleagues from the National Museum. We went to arctic explorer Knud Rassmussen's house
(obviously a point of interest for us Arctic researchers), then to a number of Late Neolithic and Bronze Age burial chambers, as well as a 12th century church. We finished with a look at the landscape west of Roskilde, which is a glacial moraine from the last ice age. I think Brooke had fun, even though the tour may or may not have catered to the three archaeologists in the car.


The mound to the left might be the Cave of Caerbannog...


In other news, my research is going well, or at least I think it is. I am studying the remains of my third Eskimo house from about A.D. 500. I have 5 more to go to reach my target, but further archival research may lead me to more artifacts that I want to study. We'll see how that goes, but as long as I get all 8 houses, I'll be happy.

Last, but not least, is my "food blog" picture, both for Colby and Dad. For Colby, because he wants me to keep a food blog, and for Dad because the one on the left is liver pate. Homemade liver pate. We stopped for lunch at a smørrebrød shop. Jens ordered the leverpostej, so I thought I should too. I can't say I need to order it again, but you never know.

for some more pictures of our adventures, go to http://picasaweb.google.com/freebs429/DanmarkOct#