Copenhagen

Postcard for You :: Royal Yacht of Denmark

(Click on photo to view slide show)

We just came back from spending out 'bank holiday' in Copenhagen, Denmark - home of Hans Christian Andersen (tid bit of the trip). I have to admit I wasn't super excited about this trip, but Joe convinced me to spent the weekend there since he had to be there for business this week anyway. It was a nice relaxing trip. As you can see from the grey skies above, it was a on again - off again rainy weekend sprinkled with a bit of sunshine. We were trapped in our hotel room (aka Joe's dorm room because it was so small) for large parts of the day due to rain, so lots of time to nap and rest from the long hours at the office recently.

We made it to Tivoli Gardens, the large attraction in Copenhagen. Kinda like Disneyland to Anaheim, except Tivoli is much easier to absorb. It's small :). We took a spin on the spinning swing ride for about 6 euro each, felt a little dizzy, threw some wooden balls at hanging plates, shot some hoops, and called it a day. Having fun is expensive wherever you go these days!

My favorite part was the shopping in Denmark. Did you know that sko means 'shoe' in Danish?! It was so meant to be -- me and shoe shopping :). Ended up finding a fab pair of chocolate brown leather boots at Brints for a very good deal. Got a bunch of cute tops and introduced Joe to Flippa K, a Swedish designer. Will leave a list of designers to check out below.

There was also an awesome photograph exhibition on Steve Bloom's Spirit of the Wild book. I have never seen such vivid and lively photos of wild life. Definitely a fan. I wanted to get the book 'Untamed' but they sold out. Poo. Here's a pretty need video of him planning his photo projects: http://www.stevebloom.com/pages/movie.html

Hope everyone is enjoying every last bit of summer! It's fading so fast -- so sad. To our lovely friends in New York City -- See you this weekend!!


::Recommended List for Copenhagen::
~Shopping~
Illum -- Østergade 52 (Strøget). All the Danish/Swedish designers all in one department store.
Brints Sko -- Kronprinsensgade 9, or Gammerltorve 8. Cute shoe store. I bought a pair of great leather boots here for a great deal :).
Flippa K -- In Illum and many other locations. It's like a high end Gap with a little edge. Originally from Sweden.
By Malene Birger -- Antonigade 6. +45 33 26 96 30. Unique sophisticated styles. Great tops :).

~Restaurants~
Cafe Ketchup -- Actually quite a nice restaurant. Only association with ketchup is the spicy ketchup they serve with the bread. There is one location inside Tivoli.
Umami -- Store Kongensgade 59, +45 33 38 75 00. Decent sushi and great drinks (try the ginger passion fruit martini). But don't order the meat there. They say it's like kobe but from New Zealand (I say not!)
Cafe Dan Turell -- Store Regnegade 3, +45 33 14 10 47. Yummy club sandwich, large portions.
Wokshop Cantina -- Ny Adelgade 6. +45 33 91 61 21. Small Thai restaurant. Great place for a quick bite.

~Restaurants I Want to Try~
(There are 10 Michelin-starred restaurants in the small city!)
The Paul -- Vesterbrogade 3. +45 33 75 0775. Danish and international gourmet food. Bill Clinton dined there during his last visit to Copenhagen. One Star.
Noma -- Strandgade 93. Food is based exclusively on Scandinavian ingredients. One star and rising star.

~Hotels~
Front -- Common areas look like they are designed by Anna Sui (all black and fuchsia), comfy beds, and free mini bar!
The Square -- Good location to downtown and Tivoli, but very small rooms.

~Sites~
Tivoli -- Open in the summer only, amusement park with lots of yummy restaurants.
Canal Tour -- Take a boat up the river to see the Little Mermaid statue, the opera house, the royal yacht, the marble church, etc!

Summer in Stockholm

LONDON //


(click photo above to view all
photos from london in June)

Summer has finally decided to arrive in London, and then fade away just as quickly (I wore my rain coat to work today, booooo). Our group of friends, which we have dubbed the 'london transplants', where able to spend a few days out in the park - soaking as much sun as possible, practicing our frisbee skills, patching together a quite impressive picnic, allowing the trigger happy folks (photographers) get there fix, enjoying the Lobsterfest at Belgo's, watching sheep get herded across the Millennium Bridge...

Enjoying a summer concert, some Brazilian flare: Joined a co-worker of mine last night to go to Gilberto Gil live in concert on his 64th birthday. It was amazing to see such a legendary musician (as famous as John Lennon and Paul McCartney) rock out on stage at his age with such energy and passion for music. I'm definitely singing this on my birthday, just as Gilberto did on his.

And among the other things I'm beginning to think you can only see/do in London. Some of my favorite photos this month:

Shameless Plug on Summer Blockbuster: Go see Fast and the Furious this summer. Joe's friend, Brian Tee, is the main bad guy who plays a Japanese gangsta/racer (aka the 'Drift King'). I actually thought it was quite entertaining :).


STOCKHOLM //


(click photo above to view
all photos from Stockholm)

Joe and I just got back from Stockholm - My first time, Joe's 3rd. It was Midsummer in Sweden. For explanation on what that is click the link to Wikipedia. But really - it's a time for everyone to not work, back your bags, and head to your summer house most likely located on one of the islands in the archipelagos of Sweden. The days are long (night lasts for about 3-4 hours), the people are gorgeous (blond hair, blue eyes), and the city is breathtaking (surrounded by harbors, islands, bridges, and bright colored buildings).

Food-wise, it's easy to get 'fished-out'. Even though seafood here is very fresh, we did get sick of eating shrimp, lobster, salmon or some other kind of fish for lunch/dinner. However, we was never tired of our morning kanebulle (there version of a cinnamon roll) and latte. Also, had a chance to have reindeer again at Fem Sma Hus (traditional Swedish restaurant).

We were lucky enough to stay at some great hotels during the week. Will leave a recommended list at the end just in case anyone visits. I'm sure all hotels have this in the Nordics, but it is essential to have some good heavy curtains. Else you find yourself awakened by the sunrise as 3am (no joke!). I went to sleep at 230am one night and saw the sky start to get brighter, it was a slightly weird feeling (reminder of when I was young and able to party to 6am).

Eriksdalsbadet would definitely be on Joe's recommended list. It's his unattainable utopia, or a dream for any city folks. A 50 meter swimming pool that is outside - amazing. You don't get anything better that 25 meters in London or New York, let alone have it be outside! We spent a couple morning here - Joe swimming 3000m, and me splashing about and going to lay out in the sun. :)

Joe and I decided not too be lame Saturday night (Friday night we stayed in and watched a few episodes of 24 after 5 naps), and headed out to find a party. We ended up at Cafe Opera for some good strong drinks and good old school dance music (all from America of course). Strangely enough Joe's friend who was in Stockholm on business. Is it a small world? Or does Joe just know everyone on this planet? :)

One of our favorite sites was the Vasa Museum, where you can see a salvaged war ship from the 1600s that sank on it's maiden voyage of the coast of Sweden. Seemed a bit funny that they were displaying a ship that was designed by the King of Sweden to be a symbol of the greatest strength/power, but it turned out to be a complete failure. None the less it was like we were seeing the ship used in Pirates of the Caribbean, but this was one real.

We also got the chance to see works by Paul McCarthy (not Paul McCartney) at the Modern Museum, who I only recognized because of Ian (Joe's artist brother in law). He is one of the most influential artists of his generation - Joe and I kinda stared at all the art work with 'I can't believe or understand what I'm seeing' look on our face. Crazy stuff.

Not many stores were open, but we did happen to stroll into a few. One find, which I think you will all get a kick out of, was at a store called 'Stockhome' (get it?). Don't know what they were thinking when they designed these toys. Meet Pee and Poo...

Hahhaa. Read the description on the back of the box :).

STOCKHOLM RECOMMENDED //
*Hotel*
Sheraton Stockholm Hotels & Towers - 5* hotel with Huge rooms, very very comfortable beds and a great view.
The Diplomat - Walking distance to center of the city and right in front of the harbor where boats depart to the archipelagos.

*Food*
Fem Sma Hus - Traditional Swedish restaurant in the heart of old town. Great food and atmosphere, but a bit on the pricey side.
Ulla Winbladh - Go for the Swedish meatballs
T/Bar - Restaurant at Diplomat hotel has great fish dishes

*Bar/Club*
Cafe Opera - Good location by the water and good strong drinks.
Strand Bryggan - Bar/Restaurant on the river with comfy coaches and right next to the bridge that crosses to Skagen.

I 'Heart' Helsinki

Remember to make your donations: www.justgiving.com/Google3PeaksChallenge (Thanks Shirley, Esther, and Tran!)
--
Joe and I both came back with "I 'heart' Finland" t-shirts (heart designed with the Finnish flag). I have to say we were not sure what to expect, and I asked myself why we planned a trip to visit a place that was even more frigid than London; but we left with a very positive impression of the city and it's people -- and we definitely came back full (ate a lot!).

Walking around, it's hard to imagine that such a small and quiet city once hosted the Olympics. I guess it didn't help that we were visiting during Easter, so a majority of the stores were all closed except for Saturday. And I would emphasize the word 'day', because when night came -- it was a different story.

Finnish people are avid party-ers to say the least (might have something to do with the long winter nights, and long summer days). All clubs close at 4am. Thanks to our friends Steve and Lisa, we were able to hit up some top spots re-viving some of Joe's dance moves from his early 20's :). Finnish peppermint liqueur shots (100 proof) and Montecristo cigars (Cubans) spiced things up a bit. The first time I heard 'Suomi Pop' (Suomi = Finland in Finnish) was at Onnela, a big club among the many in Finland. The high energy dance tunes (sung in Finnish or course) charges-up the locals to dance on wooden benches and tables. They installed bars bolted to the ceilings to prevent the somewhat intoxicated youngsters from falling off the tables, which works for the humans - but not glass cups or bottles. You can honestly hear a glass breaking every 5 minutes, but no one seems to mind.

On Easter Saturday, we gathered with many of the locals for a bonfire on the island of Seurasaari. The children dressed up in costumes and sang children songs while they burned this enormous mountain of pine. We didn't really understand the significance of the event (unfortunately), but did enjoy the walk through the island, some great turkey sausages, and a splendid sunset over a frozen bay. Funny enough, it was mating season for the mallard ducks so parts of the island were fluttering with males competing for female ducks. We dubbed it 'Club Heslinki'.

The best part of the trip was exploring Suomenlinna, five interconnected islands home to a sea fortress erected to protect the city from a Russian invasion. It was mesmerizing to see our ferry charge through the still somewhat frozen sea, sometimes breaking through 10 inch thick chunks of ice that you could probably stand on.

Food-wise, Finland loves there meat! Reindeer and bear were popular menu items and were popular amongst our group of adventurous friends. And boy oh boy do they know how to cook potatoes and make some delicious bread. Joe and I think the bread may be comparable (and maybe a bit better) to the bread in France. We would walk into a seemingly dingy cafe and have the best ciabatta sandwich ever! Since Russia borders Finland, there are a few Russian restaurants around the city. I was very excited to try a blini, a salty pancake drizzled with butter and eaten with caviar, chopped onions, sour cream, egg white and egg yoke bits. Yum!!

The Finnish language is a funny thing. They played English movies on TV (phew) with Finnish sub-titles. Joe and I came to the conclusion that because Finnish words were so long and convoluted, they couldn't dub Finnish over English movies because the timing would be entirely off. It would take them twice as long to say everything :).

Other Finnish things I luved: Moomin (Finnish cartoon), Karl Fazer chocolate, Marimekko (great textile designs), Temppellaukio Kirkko (church made out of a hill of rock).

(Click photo to view full set)

Kiitos! (Thank You in Finnish)

::Helsinki Recommended List:: (Just in case you ever happen to go :)
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Food:
Saslik - Neitsytpolku 12, tel: +359-09-7425-5500 (Russian, you must try a blini)
Savotta - Aleksanterinkatu 22, tel: +359-09-7425-5588 (Finnish, try bear or reindeer)
Kappeli - Etelaesplanadi 1, tel: +358-09-681-2440 (Finnish cafe/restaurant in an atrium setting)
MBar - Mannerheimintie 22024, tel: +358-09-6124-5420 (Cafe during day, bar at night)

Bar/Lounge:
Mecca - Korkeavuorenkatu 34, www.mecca.fi (Great DJ's and fancy food)
Studio 51 - Fredrikinkatu 51-53, +358-09-612-9900 (Busy dance club)
Onnela - Fredrikinkatu 48, www.ravintolaonnela.fi (Your chance to dance to some Finnish pop music, top 40, and some heavy metal all in the same club)

Hotel:
Crowne Plaza Helsinki - Mannerheimintie 50 (Short cab or tram ride away from the city center, and walking distance to a few museums and sites. Spa, sauna, and pool.)