Aalborg

For Barry's final semester (which he is going to do back home in New Zealand), he has to complete a full Architectural Technology project on his own. This project covers all requirements set by the University for the Bachelor degree. The job he will be doing is for a new Church and is based in Aalborg which is about 150km north of us.

So last weekend we took the train so Barry could check out the building site, and this time both of us went home with hundreds of photos!
Aalborg is Denmark's fourth largest city with an urban population of 136,000, so a bit larger than Horsens which has 87,736. Fact; if you look at the map above (or in Google Maps) you will see that the body of water to the left and right of Aalborg means that the very top part of Denmark is actually an island (Denmark is made up of a peninsula, Jutland, and hundreds of islands which you can read about if you wish, here). Aalborg is situated at the narrowest point of this water (known as Limfjord) and began life as a trading port.
So anyway, today the city is very pretty with old and new bits and a pedestrian shopping area, etc, just like all the cities we have seen in Denmark. We had dry and sunny weather and also took the opportunity to visit the polar bears in the Aalborg Zoo.

A bit of snow at Horsen's station before we left

Very old and some new

Winky wonky buildings on cobbled streets in the old part of town

Pedestrian shopping area

Kids having a ball on the ice skating rink

Sculptures in Sculpture Park

A view over Aalborg on a sunny but cold winter day

Polar bears!

And just for you Bernie....

Reindeer!

So tomorrow I leave this lovely country. I am going to miss it for sure. We had a sunny day back in Horsens so we went for a bike ride and took these lovely shots...

Byebye fjord and bike!

It was very sunny and still but VERY cold!

Mirrored docks look like they are floating in air

Barry on his cycle after our last coffee at a Horsens Kaffe!

Getting ready for instant summer in 2 days time!!!

2018 and one week left in Denmark

We got home from Ireland one day before New Year's eve. It would have been Mum's 82nd birthday if she were still here (Happy Birthday Mum!).
So around lunchtime on New Year's eve we started hearing the odd loud bang and as it got more and more frequent we realised the noises were fireworks. Sure enough by the time it got dark (around 4pm) it was like a regular New Zealand Guy Fawkes and we were making comments around how they celebrate early for New Years.
Nothing prepared us for what happened at midnight. Literally the whole neighbourhood (city, country...) erupted with thousands of fireworks going off in all directions and it went on incessantly for at least an hour...by 1am we crashed with earplugs in and at some time in the night I woke to realise it was quite again.
The clip below gives you an idea. This was from our doorway.

We hadn't prepared ourselves for food either and hadn't shopped. The supermarkets were closed until the 2nd so New Year's day dinner and lunch was homemade minestrone soup from frozen veggies, spelt grains, tinned beans, and tomato mix with scones - i.e. all that was left in the cupboards.

It was quite yummy too!

So yes, in one week today I will be leaving Denmark, and Barry three weeks later. While we are really excited and keen to get home again, I realised I am going to miss this place too. We haven't had any snow this year yet and got a sunny day today so I got my camera out to capture what I can so I can look back on these in years to come.

On our way to our supermarket

Loaded up and ready for the walk home

Barry's furry friend; Albert

I'll be sad to say goodbye to this wee plant. Its about to flower too :-(

See the face? Its wearing a helmet

Local graffiti/art/statement?

This reminds me of the gap-fillers in Christchurch. A building was pulled down and you can place Swing Tennis complete with Umpire chair!

Embellished substation

Dublin, vikings, and Crests

We spent the last couple of days of our Eire trip in Dublin, catching up with our wonderful friends Esther and Jarlath. Its' so amazing that after four years, we can just slip into the friendship like we'd all just come back from our 4 day mountain bike trip together.
Esther and Jarlath currently live in Vancouver but were home for Christmas. We mostly hung out at some local cafe's but also checked out the small museum, the Dublina which took us on a journey through the viking and medieval history of Dublin. Barry was especially interested to find out that his surname, Wilkinson, stemmed from the Anglo-Norman's, and wasn't native to Ireland. We had noticed that the name was nowhere in amidst the coat of arms for Ireland, nor for that matter, my mother's name, Rabbitt, which also was brought to to England and surrounds from the Normans. The Normans of course, were Northmen, or Vikings.
So it looks like Barry and I have vikings back in our ancestry. Cool! Hopefully we aren't distantly related though as that would be weird.

Jarlath and Esther

The Spire looking up

The Spire from Henry Street, all tied up with a bow

The river Liffey

The Georgian doors of Dublin were made famous when they were photographed and collated into a poster. I didn't know any of this when I first noticed the doors, but was captivated by them all the same. I have enough photos of them to make my own poster now. They are so colourful! These are just a few of the many photos I took.

Of course, doors were not the only things in Dublin I photographed. Not only did we have the city to explore with camera in hand, and friends to meet, but we saw some sun as well!

Conkers!

Lamp post emblem one side

And the other side. The Dublin Coat of arms with the Latin words meaning; 'Happy the city where citizens obey'

Sculptures in Merion Square. Oscar Wilde in the background.

A well dressed in pink little girl with her Mum in a chemist.

Another coat of arms. This one on the rails around Trinity College

One of the beautiful lamp posts around Dublin

Barry and possibly his ancestor (which could be mind as well)!

Friends!

Market Arcade

Modern building, another pointy one to add to my collection

St Patrick's Cathedral, Celtic Cross detail

St Patrick Cathedral Crest