Category Archives: Travel: Europe

Tivoli Gardens

by

When we were in Copenhagen, we visited Tivoli Gardens.    Tivoli is a classic amusement park, built in 1843.  It is the second oldest amusement park in the world, and currently the most visited.

Entering Tivoli

It is quite a fun experience.  For me, it was neat to see how the rides and amusements maintained an old timer feel….it felt special.   Another cool feature was how the amusements integrated seamlessly into nature.  The Danish are very eco-focused which definitely came through in visiting this gem.

Ride modeled after Hans Christian Anderson stories, who was from Copenhagen and lived in the colorful harbor, Nyhavn.

This hot air balloon ferris wheel was one of my favorites. Notice how green the park is.

Classic amphitheater

Enjoying Tivoli Park

Even the food huts were green – loved the flowering roofs

Lots of open green spaces. Not a lot of concrete.

Tivoli brings out your inner kid

Tivoli fountain

A lovely summer day

 

I used to love rides as a kid, but as an adult, am just as content holding coats/umbrellas/purses.  I did this while these guys rode the old timer coaster, Rutschebanen.

Waiting their turn

 

They said it was more exhilarating than planned so I was glad I just rested.  Notice how Gabe is hidden by the little orange man.

 

So glad we got to see this charming little park.

 

Copenhagen Cuisine & Nightlife

by

If you are wondering how Rhubarbara Streisand and Kung Foolish got their blog names*, look no further than our bar tab at Kung Fu II in NØrrebro.

They were appropriately named because Rhubarbara Streisand happened to be on the continent because of her job as a market manager at Purity Vodka, whose headquarters are near Malmo, Sweeden.   If you haven’t heard of it, you should.   It’s 34 times distilled and the smoothest liquor that Gabe & I have ever tried.

It’s meant for mixology – the art of science of cocktails.  Bartenders use seasonal ingredients, even herbs and spices to deliver a drink that resembles more a work of art than the type of cocktail I was used to seeing.   They also come with creative names, such as the ones we selected for our visiting friends blog names.

Rhubarbara’s colleague had recommended Kung Fu 2 to her, as they had this type of mixology.   We were a little skeptical as the name sounded like a fast food chinese place.  However, what we found couldn’t be further from the naive expectations we had.

Enjoying a drink at Kung Fu 2 / Isakaya bar

The Rhubarbara Streisand drink – amazing!! It was made with homemade rhubarb soda which was in season and accentuated the Purity.

The wasabi gimlet made with Purity. Wow.

After cocktails, we were seated at our table and we selected Omakase service.  This basically means that the chef recommends a tasting menu that is brought out slowly.   We loved all six small courses, thoroughly enjoying every one.

Kung Foolish & Rhubarbara Streisand

We’d highly recommend Kung Fu 2 and sitting in the bar area.  The barmen were incredibly experienced and they really created an enjoyable memory for our first night in Copenhagen.

The second night, we went to Radio.  It was listed as the 2nd best restaurant in Copenhagen.  Noma is the 1st and impossible to get into because it is actually also the 1st in the world since 2010 (although our friends Lady J & The Man scored a reservation at Noma).

We felt fortunate to get a table at Radio, even though it was 5:30.  Early bird special.

Radio, image courtesy of Nile Guide

The food was absolutely incredible.  Five courses of inventive Nordic cuisine, including amazing homemade bread, a salad with foam dressing, asparagus starter, fish, meat and a tasty pear dessert.  Gabe opted for a sixth, a pork belly, that came prior to dessert, and claimed it to be the best.   He is still talking about it.  Anyhow, Radio left us full and happy.

After, we walked to Salon 39, recommended by Rhubarbara’s colleague.  The barman, Michael, was a friendly chap who entertained us as we sat in the old-world style cocktail bar.  We loved watching his creative take on our request for Purity.   My favorite drink of the weekend came from this charming place, the Eucalyptus Daiquiri.

Image courtesy of Salon 39

After a round, we moved onto Ruby’s Cocktail Chronicles in the centre city.  When we arrived around 10pm, there was already a line.    The interior was really neat – it felt like we’d taken a step back into the Roaring 20’s and we enjoyed the scene while we sipped our cocktails.

Ruby’s image courtesy of worlds best bars

After a drink, we moved onto a bar by Kung Foolish’s requests – Charlie’s Bar.  He’d heard from two separate people as being the best bar in Copenhagen.  We got beers and sat next to a local and soon we were engaged in a 2 hour conversation that lasted until 2am.

Image courtesy of Flick river

It’s always fun to run into locals when enjoyed the nightlife in a city.   It really is the best part to learn about the culture and feel of a place.   This guy was really interested in why we selected Copenhagen to visit.  We explained we’d only heard good things and loved the water, the food and the progressiveness of the city.   Our conversation varied from everything to the triathlon he’d just participated in, to healthcare, to public transport, and politics.   After an enlightening evening, we said farewell, jumped into a cab and headed home.

So, Copenhagen gets a great review for food & drink.  If you head to this Nordic city, expect a happy belly.   Living in Geneva, we need to experience this every once in awhile 🙂

*Most everyone on our blog has a “blog name” to protect their privacy.  We started calling everyone by their first initial until Henry Birmingham asked if he could suggest a name.  Since then, we force ask everyone to come up with a name.  If they don’t, we come up with it ourselves.  For instance, Kung Foolish’s was going to be Weinerstang after this interestingly named Danish pastry:

FreeTown Christiania

by

I think I first heard about Christiania through one of Rick Steve’s videos.   This little area located in the Christianshavn area of Copenhagen is unlike anything else in the world.

Gabe at the entrance to Christiania

It is a freetown, an autonomous village that has its own laws and governance.  About 1000 adults, 200 kids and 200 dogs live there.   You freely pass through, as this is one of the only requirements that Denmark has for their continuance that it be a public place.

Rhubarbara Streisand at the entrance to Christiania

They only have a few laws:
-no stealing
-no violence
-no hard drugs
-no weapons

Also, if you walk down Pusher Street, they add a few:  no photos and no running.   Once you walk around and notice that everyone is in their own ‘state’, you understand how someone running would upset the mental order.

Image courtesy of Zen Aida – I was too afraid to take photos of even the no photo sign

You might be asking yourself how this came about?   In 1971, squatters took over this area which was previously military.  Back then, the area was quite a seedy place and land values are low.

A view of Christiania residents enjoying the water from our canal tour the day prior.  I didn’t take a photo of the guy  sunbathing in the nude on the dock prior. 

However, it has become quite controversial recently now that the area has become trendy and all the nearby buildings are being refurbished and sold for big buckaroos.   I heard its on the brink and that it would soon likely become extinct.  Thus, I really wanted to visit.

Christiania is located in the green area that forms the triangles.  Image courtesy of ehrasmussentrip.blogspot.com

This was an old boat house and now is condos, just opposite of Christiania. Image courtesy of arc house.

Boat houses converted to modern office spaces, across from Christiania. Image courtesy of Flick River

I was glad we checked it out.   It was interesting how the residents of Christiania have formed their own utopia.   However, it made me realize how important social norms are in establishing what feels like a utopia.   To these folks, this free society was heaven on earth.   For me, I was bothered by the trash and walking down Pusher Street so it was foreign to my concept of a home.

To each his own.

 

Related links:

Rick Steve’s Copenhagen / Christiania video (starts at 1:05) – http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v57JVVD6-ag

 

 

Colorful Copenhagen

by

This weekend, we met up with Kung Foolish and Rhubarbara Streisand in Copenhagen.

Copenhagen is in Denmark.   We like cities on the water, and Copenhagen fell into this category.

Image courtesy of Nation Master

I think the coolest thing about the city is how the water was integrated into day-to-day life.   Copenhagen just isn’t on the water, life there is all about the water.

Our canal tour leaving from colorful Nyhavn harbor

Pulling out of Nyhavn, all the locals were enjoying a beautiful summer day, sitting on the sides of the harbor drinking beers (mostly BYOB or out of vending machines)

A few of the naval museums.  Including a ship (left) and a submarine (right).  Being on the water, the Danish navy presence had to be big.

Armory / naval building

Ship pulling out of the harbor

This guy isn’t afraid of the frigid water

There were many boat bars and waterfront bars. We enjoyed a round at Badlejing.

Also what was neat is to see the blending of architecture, old and new.  The Danish are very progressive and very green.    Their modern buildings were balanced quite well with their historical sites.

The Opera House

View into the centre of town at the old architecture of Amalienborg Palace

Beautiful modern buildings juxtaposed with classic Danish buildings

Classic architecture in the centre town

Looking down Straegrade street at the pastel buildings

I am a sucker for colorful buildings.

Enjoying the beauty of the architecture in Nyhavn harbor

Beyond the water and the architecture, we really enjoyed the food & nightlife.  But we’ll save that for tomorrow.

Related links:

Schwingen in Switzerland: Danish Bike Culture & My Fanboys Experience

Schwingen in Switzerland: Something was rotten in the state of Denmark…It was Us

Driving on the Wrong Side of the Road

by

We rented a car so we could see Ireland’s magnificent countryside.  However, in Ireland, they drive on the left side of the road.    Gabe was a bit apprehensive…mainly about driving a stick.   The worries went away once he discovered the operations for the manual worked the same way, that he wouldn’t have to do that in reverse.  Just remember to drive on the opposite.

He did a remarkable job.  Not that it was easy.

First, the roads were narrow.  Our friend A in Geneva lived in Ireland a few years.  He called them the “sweaty palm roads”.

Yes, this road is for both directions

In addition, you had to watch out for oncoming traffic.  And random farm animals.

Not enough room for two

Watch out…cows!

Kudos to Gabe for keeping us alive!

Gratitude Friday: My Time Capsule

by

When we were in elementary school, we sometimes made time capsules.  The concept was that one would fill a box with things of that era, bury it, so that in the future, someone would know find it and know what life was like back then.   In 6th grade, I think we filled ours with Milly Vanilli cassettes, slap bracelets, and the like.

I was visiting my Mom in Virginia this week and happened to find a special time capsule.

She’s had all my father’s memorabilia packed into the basement since his passing.  I remember as a child a really neat scrapbook she’d made him after they got married. She took all his souvenirs and keepsakes from his summer in Europe and made a book to tell the story.  Anyhow, I have been looking for it for at least the past five years and every trip down to the basement, I haven’t found it.

It became more important to me now we live in Europe.  I wanted to line up our travels and compare sites.

I always loved this photo and wanted to know the history. Anyone know what city this could have been? Amsterdam?

And this leads us to this Friday’s gratitude post…. this trip, I attempted again and voila, they were found.  Actually in the spot they should have been.  Not sure how I overlooked these totes each time.

I wanted to share some of what I found:

Dachau brochures

Was a book from Sweeden

The Berlin wall would only have been 5 years old when he visited in 1966

Loved the 5 franc piece

They had “crashed” a party of Princess Grace and Prince Rainer while traveling through Monaco. They even took a napkin and menu as a little souvenir. My grandparents saved the article from The States about the party.

Their road map with stops circled

Mugs from Haufbrau House

Coasters from all over Europe

We’d seen this rainbow the night before setting over the house.  I’m grateful for the spot of luck in brought me in my search!

 Not sure what my plans are for the items. They’ll stay in Virginia I think until we are back in The States.  Then maybe the coasters can become a glass topped table, and we’ll surely have to display the HB house things in our future home.

Bon weekend, everyone!

Animals of Ireland

by

I loved seeing the different animals during our time in the Irish countryside.  Since farming is the #1 industry, there are a lot of them.   I was happy with how well they were all treated.  They were all free range, happily roaming in their vast craggy fields and keeping guard on castles:

Horse in Liscannor

See the brown and white cows on the top of the cliffs?

Cow on the top of the Cliffs of Moher

Donkey guarding the stone ring fort

Sweet sheep

Aww. Cute baby.

Happy Irish Cows

Hello, I like to pose

On its perch

She’s going to make a nice sweater.

Donkeys

People friendly

Watch out for sheep!

I hate to say it, but they were pretty tasty too.   I had beef, lamb, and duck while in Ireland.  It’s nice to know they are free range and treated so well.

Irish Castles

by

We have seen our fair share of castles lately.  I thought I’d post a few from Ireland….

First of all, we ate in a castle on our way from Dublin to Galway.  At first glance, we thought it might be cheesy but it was the only open restaurant in town, Tyrellpass.  As it turned out, it was fully with locals.

Our 2nd castle-dining in a week. This one not a UNESCO site like Bellinzona.

Next we drove through The Burren and spotted a few on its craggy coast.

Dungary Castle

On the Ring of Kerry, we saw quite a few.   We spied this one from the road and it was completely deserted.  We thought it was quite cool with the growth.

Ballycarberry Castle

We also saw ring forts in the distance and explored two.   The ring forts were defensive structured.

Ring fort #1

Ring fort #1

Ring fort #2

Ring fort #2

Ring fort #2

On our way back from Killarney to Dublin, we stopped at Blarney Castle (home of the Blarney Stone) and the Rock of Cashel.  We found Blarney to be incredibly touristy.  We couldn’t wait to get out of there…

The Blarney stone is at the top

Rock of Cashel, however, was cooler.  It was a home for kings until one donated the grounds to the church for strategic reasons.  It then was used until only recently.  The roof has falled into decay so I am sure it is not that pleasant with the typical Ireland weather.

Approaching Rock of Cashel

Inside of Rock of Cashel

Nearby monastery

Beautiful gravestone

The Ring of Kerry took our breath away

by

When I first started researching our Ireland trip, something that caught my eye was driving the “Ring of Kerry”.   It is a road, about 112 miles looping in the county of Kerry through some pretty amazing and dynamic landscape.

Image courtesy of The Moorings

We got a hotel in Killarney which is the northernmost part and also the biggest town.

Here are some of our views from the drive:

Cliffs of Kerry

Cliffs of Kerry

Watching some surfing action.

Rolling hills of green

House overlooking the Atlantic Ocean

Loved the many little islands

Beautiful panorama

We were warned that there would be tour buses galore and it would get annoying driving down the roads.  However, we only saw three tour buses all day, so we really lucked out with the mild weather and unpopulated roads.    We only had to watch out for these guys :

Sheep in the road

In my reading, it said you could take from a full day to an entire week to do the ring of Kerry.  We only had a full day.  By the time we’d stopped at a few gorgeous places, we were running short on time and had to keep trekking back in order to get to our hotel at a reasonable time.  However, since we’d driven from Liscannor, we only started the ring at noon, so didn’t have a full day to start.

We stopped for an awesome seafood dinner at this “beach bar”

But to those going, I’d encourage you to break it up and try to do it in two days.     One, you can do it more leisurely and see more.  Two, if you are like me, I got so overwhelmed with how gorgeous it was that at the end, I couldn’t take in any more.  I had “panoramic shock”.

If you do it in two days, note that there were plenty of cute B & B’s along the route that would be lovely and advertise only 25 euro / night rooms.

Our tips:

–Do two days if possible

–Do the Skellig Ring add-on.  Our favorite!

–We also heard people liking the Skellig islands but we didn’t have time

–We ran into some recent grads from UGA and they said the cut through path in the middle of Ring of Kerry was pretty incredible too

–Don’t try to go too far off road. We almost got our rental car, Patrick, stuck in the middle of nowhere:

Yup, we drove down this road.  Gabe’s idea.  

Ireland’s West Coast: The Burren and The Cliffs of Moher

by

Our first day in the countryside included a drive down to our B & B near Liscannor, on the Western coast.   We drove from Dublin, through Galway and then southward.

On the way, we passed through The Burren which has an incredible panorama.   Edmond Ludlow in 1650 said,  “(Burren) is a country where there is not enough water to drown a man, wood enough to hang one, nor earth enough to bury him…… and yet their cattle are very fat; for the grass growing in turfs of earth, of two or three foot square, that lie between the rocks, which are of limestone, is very sweet and nourishing.”

Landscape of The Burren

We found our B & B, Atlantic View, operated by energetic Mary and then headed to see the Cliffs of Moher.

Backpackers near Liscannor

We arrived around 7pm.  The views were breathtaking.  We had heard about them from Couch Surfer.

Gorgeous Cliffs of Moher

She had told us about people climbing on the path on the edge and she thought they were crazy.   Gabe coaxed me out there but I didn’t stay long, wanting to get back behind the safe wall.   The reason is that it is very windy.  I know it would take a lot to blow off the edge, but I didn’t want to take any chances.

Hubby on the edge.  He’s braver than me. 

The other side

We enjoyed the view for about two hours, quitting just before sunset.  With the sunset at about 10pm in Ireland during our trip, neither one of us could postpone dinner any longer.

One last glance. Beautiful.

We found a local joint, Daughan’s Anchor Inn, in the fishing village of Liscannor and happily enjoyed our seafood dinner.

The next morning we set off for Killarney, our base for exploring the Ring of Kerry.