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Summer Vacation, 2022
School starts next week. Buy a new backpack, meet the teachers, visit the classroom, and talk about “What you did during Summer Vacation”. A few minutes ago, Jae and I were talking about our summer, and I thought I’d write up the list. Our summer was packed – camps for the boys (Neuron Garage, DoubleCreek, EarthNative, Camp Allen), swim lessons at the Y, movies at the Drafthouse, challenging projects at work with ever-present pandemic complications, traveling to visit my parents in El Paso, camping in the Limpia Mountains, and a family trip to Santa Fe. Including stops for meals, fuel, and bio-breaks, the trip to Santa Fe was a little…
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Bastrop State Park
This past weekend we drove to Bastrop to camp, hike, and enjoy some time outside. Jae’s Kindergarten is on Spring Break this week, and LisaDiane (as she is always so good about) planned ahead to get us a very nice campsite for the first few days of his holiday. Bastrop State Park is a beautiful wooded park not very far from Austin. The park is filled with post oaks and loblolly pine trees, part of the Lost Pines Forrest. The park is in the early stages of recovery from the Bastrop County Complex fire, which swept through Bastrop County in 2011 and burned 96% of the park. I volunteered in…
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Diwali
Sujata and Aaron hosted their inaugural Diwali party this week at their beautiful home in south Austin. Diwali is a Dharmic religious festival that typically takes place in October or November and symbolizes the spiritual “victory of light over darkness, good over evil, and knowledge over ignorance”. The celebration includes home cleansing and decoration, fireworks, gifts, and partaking in a feast and mithai sweets. The kids made rangolis (pattern art made with colored sand) on the back porch, decorated little saaki lamps, and decorated themselves with temporary tattoos. Sujata gifted us a Masala Dabba spice box – she told me that her family tradition is for guests to return each…
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Appendicitis
Automated muscle pump on right leg. Automated muscle pump on left leg. Automated BP cuff on left arm that sounds like a Donkey Kong machine. Red diode pulse ox sensor clothespined to my left index finger. Nellcore pulse ox sensor taped to my right ring finger. Peripheral cannula (IV heplock) on the back of my right hand (the infusion pump is quite talkative – beeps and lights). Bair Paws hospital gown with integrated climate control. Nasal cannula supplementing my O2. Spent part of my day catheterized & on a ventilator after being filled with IV contrast, measured by a digital scale, and imaged by a laser guided talking magnet table.…
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Austin Wildflowers
I’ve paused here and there in the last few days to capture wildflowers and whatnot et cetera as the springtime rolled out. The equinox is behind us and the pollinators know it.
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Walnut Creek Park
Kay, Daniel, LisaDiane, Ela, and I went for a walk through Walnut Creek Metro Park this afternoon. Ela was almost invisible as she led Daniel through the tall grass.
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So I had an orange at lunch…
… and I cut it open. Across the axis of the orange. And it looked like this: A little strange. So I cut open another just to check. Cut across the same axis as before. Same kind of orange from the same box at HEB. The second orange looked like all of the other oranges I’ve eaten this week. Here is a picture of the two oranges next to each other. And some video of the oranges 🙂 Unexpected appearance, and both oranges were tasty.
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Opera in Dallas, A Weekend in Denton – May 2009
Last Saturday LisaDiane and I loaded Ela into the car and made a road trip to Denton to visit Laura and Jason and to see Laura’s new opera in Dallas. Ela stayed with Laura and Jason, and was well behaved around the cats (although she did knock over that one flowerpot in the living room). We visited our favorite stops on the square – Beth Marie’s Ice Cream, Jupiter House Coffee, and Recycled Books – and added a new favorite stop: Laura’s new business, Massage on the Square. Laura and her partner Wendy have opened a very comfortable, beautifully appointed studio right next to Recycled Books. LisaDiane blogged about it…
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The First Carousel of Slides
Last fall I had some free time and it looked like I was going to have access to a slide scanner. I mentioned this to Papa and sent me a few carousels of slides from his collection. And then access to the scanner went on hold. So I’ve had this closet full of slides for a few months and no real plan for dealing with them. I mention this b/c last week I had access to another scanner, picked a carousel at random and got to work digitizing slides. The scanner produced good results. I posted them to Facebook and Flickr earlier tonight. They are restricted to Friends and Family.…
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My Nephew
Kay and Daniel came over to visit for a while today. We went to Tacodeli and spent some time hanging out in the deep grass in the back yard. That boy is super-cute.
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Maybe, if I’m really quiet, they won’t see me
Last weekend I went camping with some friends at Canyon Lake (a little west of San Marcos). Lee and I carpooled out to the campground. We loaded the car with gear and tied everything down before we loaded the dogs. Ela and Cali made the ride down without incident and with only a little whining. Saturday turned into a lovely day at the lake as we set up camp, made dinner, played Apples to Apples, roasted marshmallows, and counted stars – all the stuff that makes for a good camp out. We got up the next morning, everybody cooked breakfast, chatted for a while, and a little before noon decided…
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Aerodynamics
frustrated grackle - tortilla in autumn breeze - I can't fly like this.
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Filter Poetry
So I’m sitting here at breakfast with Kat and she just demonstrated how you can use the power of the spam filter to create poetry. Open your spam mailbox, pick a subject line as your starting place, and just read each subject line aloud one after the other. Today mine is: Suffering from low self-esteem? Ever wished to increase your man’s size? Than do not miss the opportunity. Now you can easily put your most intimate problems to end. Get the pair of shoes you have been eyeing all season Branded shoes at affordable prices now Go to our online store to enjoy shoe heaven, as you will find what…
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The Seattle Underground
Today we took the ferry from Orcas Island to the terminal and drove back into Seattle. With a day left before we were to fly home, we decided to explore the city a little, and we took a tour of the Seattle Underground. In the 1890’s, the streets around Pioneer Square were re-graded at one-to-two stories higher than the previous street level. Some of the older ground level walkways and dwellings, now below grade, fell into disuse. The tour took us through some of these spaces. We also spent some time at the Seattle Mystery Bookstore, shopped at the Utilikilt shop, and had a snack in Occidental Square Park.
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The Village of East Sound
We began our day today in the charming village of East Sound. Lovely morning, good breakfast, enjoyed exploring. Looking forward to tonight’s festivities. I’m so happy for my cousin 🙂
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Traveling to Marty and Brittney’s Wedding
Today we traveled with Nancy to Marty and Brittney’s wedding destination on Orca’s Island. We met up in Seattle, traveled together to the ferry dock, spent the day on the ferry, and settled at the end of the day at the OutlookInn.
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Hamilton Pool – June 2008
On Saturday LisaDiane and I went with some of our friends to Hamilton Pool. LisaDiane, Don, Coye, and Sydney drove out to the pool at about ten o’clock. Both Misty and I had commitments in town that left us free to leave at noon, so I hitched a ride with Misty and her boys. Brian is currently a pilgrim on the Camino de Santiago in the Pyrenees, so he was not able to join us this year (Brian – I’m looking forward to seeing pictures from Spain). Misty, the boys, and I got to Hamilton Preserve at about one o’clock. We had to wait about half and hour for a…
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A Day in the Park with Daniel and Kay – June 2008
Last Thursday LisaDiane and I went to lunch with Kay and Daniel. We went to Freddie’s on south first. Kay had never been to there and Freddie’s is so kid friendly that I thought we should help her get acquainted with it. We enjoyed some burgers and walked around the playground and took pictures of Daniel. I was a bit restless (the girls had chatted and eaten slowly – I had wolfed down my burger in a few quick bites and was in dire need of a walk to make amends) so I proposed we head over to the park for a stroll. We relocated to Zilker and I pulled…
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An Anole at St. Matthew’s – May 2008
This week I am attending a workshop retreat titled “The Art of Engaging Holy Scripture” at St. Matthew’s Episcopal Church in Austin. I noticed this anole in the window of our workroom just before our lunch break today. I was so pleased to catch a series where he changed color!
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Kat’s Birthday – February 2008
LisaDiane and I drove up to Fort Worth yesterday to eat cake, slay a piñata, and celebrate the beginning of Kat’s 32nd year on the eighth return of her birthday. Tim’s father was at the party and I spent some time chatting with him and Tim and Rod about home improvements, cellular networks, recumbent bicycles, and other worthy engineer topics while feeding my Yitzchak Spector glass a fair supply of bubbly sweet red wine. Kat made a wonderful yellow cake with rich chocolate icing – I had two pieces and took a big piece home after the party. Sad news for Fort Worth – Tagel is moving to Seattle to…
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The Crestview “Wall of Welcome” – February 2008
Kay, Troy, Mama, LisaDiane, and I ate lunch at Little Deli in Crestview on Monday. I had not been over there in a few months and so I did not know that Jean Graham had been hard at work on a beautiful new mosaic mural on the Woodrow side of the shopping center. Jean has been providing mosaic lessons and supplies to Brentwood and Crestview residents and this (nearly complete) mural titled the “Wall of Welcome” is the fruit of those labors. Here are just a few pictures from this pleasant addition to a pleasant neighborhood.
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Rachel’s Birthday Lunch at Freddie’s – February 2008
We celebrated Rachel’s birthday with a lunch party at Freddie’s on South First Street on Sunday. Children, dogs, and friends were in attendance. I got to play with Asher, Chiara, Keegan, Molly, and Lea while LisaDiane caught up with Audrey, Will, Maggie, and Jay. And there was birthday cake. With strawberries.
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Acolyte Festival – February 2008
Milton Bell and I took pictures at the Acolyte Festival at All Saints’ on Saturday morning. Teams of Acolytes traveled from across the diocese (some drove all the way in from Houston – they must have been up *very* early, the festival started at 8:30 AM) to participate in the workshops and the acolyte olympics. The thurifer workshop, a perennial favorite, was particularly popular this year. Here is a collection of our photos.
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Kay and Andrew’s Baby Shower – February 2008
On Saturday LisaDiane and the Zimmerman family hosted a baby shower for Kay and Andrew at the Zimmerman’s home in south Austin. We stuffed ourselves on snacks from Central Market, tasty homemade deserts, lime punch, and lemonade. Here are some photos from the party:
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Aaron and Sujata’s Wedding, Austin, Texas – February 2008
I am very pleased to announce that Sujata Prabhu and Aaron Camp were married on Saturday the sixteenth of February, 2008. LisaDiane served as Matron of Honor and I served as Best Man. The Bachelor-Bachelorette party was at Cafe Castronova Thursday night and we mingled with their new extended family at a pre-wedding open house in Lakeway on Friday. We spent the day Saturday at their fabulous wedding celebration at Arbor Point in Round Rock.
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Vestry Retreat – February 2008
We had two special guests at the All Saints’ Vestry retreat on Saturday. Our discussion focused on the buildings at All Saints’ and our perception of how well they serve us. BJ Andrews was our first guest and she helped set the stage for our discussion by telling us about the history of the buildings, past and present, on the All Saints’ campus. After lunch we met for a Q&A session with a second guest: The Buildings. All Saints’ Chapel and Gregg House came to our meeting!
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Mardi Gras at All Saints’ – February 2008
The annual Mardi Gras celebration at All Saints’ was a big hit again this year. We had a big crowd, lots of floats, a good parade around the block, and our EYC raised a fair amount of money for the mission trip. This year included the giant hamster float (driven by giant hamster wheels): Many families participated as part of the Krewe All Saints’ parade. And the Dragon made it out to the parade for a third year! Here is a photo of the Dragon leading the King through the parade.
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Debra’s Birthday at Volente Beach – September 2007
What a relaxing party! Debra took her whole family out to Volente Beach for her birthday. Volente Beach is a small water park on the shore of Lake Travis (just northwest of Austin). They have nice sandy beaches, a few water slides, and (this last weekend) no crowds 🙂 We met at ZuZu’s for lunch and birthday pie and then drove out to Volente. Debra and I took turns swimming with Asher in the big kid pool and we all took turns riding the slides. I had a really nice time. Thanks Debra! Happy Birthday!
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Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows at BookPeople – July 2007
We just got back from the BookPeople release party for “Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” – fun & chaotic. Thousands of costumed fans followed inter-laced carnival queues to see fire spinners, eat Gryffindor kettle-corn, join Luna and Neville for a wand dual, dunk Voldemort, listen to the Orchestra, and get a copy of the 7th and final Harry Potter novel. We bumped into Michelle and Hannah. Hannah looked like she was having a great time while she was officiating at the Wizard Battle booth. Lee and LisaDiane got their copies of the book shortly after midnight.
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A day with Papa in San Antonio – July 2007
LisaDiane and I spent Saturday in San Antonio with Papa – It was so nice to see him. Papa was in SA to attend Promise Keepers. We met him after the event and enjoyed an afternoon browsing in the shops on the Riverwalk, exploring the dragon exhibit at the Institute of Texan Cultures, and shopping in Market Square. We had dinner at El Mercado and bought desert at the candy counter at Mi Tierra.
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Logan, Utah – July 2007
Last weekend LisaDiane and I went to visit Laura at the Utah Festival Opera in Logan Utah. I was delighted to discover that Jason was also visiting Laura that weekend (it is always a treat to spend some time with Jason – the other other of a Mercado daughter :-). LisaDiane and I spent our days shopping in town and hiking in the canyons while Jason got in a little fly-fishing in the cold waters of the Bear River. The three of us spent our evenings at dress rehearsals of “Porgy and Bess” and “Il Ttovatore” — the performances were terrific (I learned that the anvil chorus is from “Il…
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Our Anniversary – July 2007
On July 4th LisaDiane and I had some friends over for a party to celebrate our 9th wedding anniversary. We played games, grilled burgers and hot dogs, made ice cream and mojitos, danced, and socialized well into the night. We had a terrific time – it was a pleasure to spend time with everyone who came, and food hit the spot. I have finally finished eating the chocolate torte that Billy and Lee brought to the party – gotta remember to return that cake-taker.
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Krista and her Amazing Space – November 2006
Twas the night before Thanksgiving and we visited a friend of Ted and Becky named Krista. Krista is a creator. She is living in a renovation in progress – a retired trade school in south central Pennsylvania. She is transforming the space from sturdy-single-pane-school-house to fanciful-curvy-found-industrial-restoration. The space is sparkling textures, warm wood floors, pastel paint, futurist appliances, fiber-optic bath fixtures, and comfortable antique farm machines. Click. Look. Enjoy.
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Visiting North Carolina – April 2006
I finally took up LisaDiane’s offer to visit North Carolina. She has been working in RTP for a little over a year and she invited me to join her for a few days, see the cities, and meet her co-workers. We went to the Spring Daze Earth Day festival in Cary, the North Carolina Museum of Natural Sciences in Raleigh, and the Magic Wings Butterfly House at the Museum of Life and Science in Durham. We had dinner with friends at Maggiano’s and a tasty Mediterranean lunch at Neomonde. Here are some photo’s I took along the way.
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Lata’s Sushi Party – April 2006
On the last evening of our week off, LisaDiane and I joined Aaron and Sujata to celebrate Lata’s birthday with a sushi party. Aaron cooked about 5 pounds of rice and we took turns rolling our favorite rolls and sharing them at the table. Aaron and Sujata had done a terrific job of shopping for ingredients – they selected a very nice sake, toro, ebi, and a fabulous squid salad which we enjoyed while we worked.
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Spring Bluebonnets
Kay, Troy, LisaDiane, and I took these pictures in a field of Bluebonnets near Rachel and Debra’s house in Pflugerville on April 16, 2005. Then I took them home, moved them onto the computer and promptly misplaced them. Ten months went by and then, a couple of weeks ago I was cleaning out some files on Continuity’s storage array and found an archive with some image data in it and *voila* the bluebonnet pictures resurfaced. So here they are… some pictures we took last year.
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Grandpa’s Memorial Services – January 2006
Sunday January 8, 2006 and Monday January 9, 2006 Lisa Diane and I celebrated Grandpa Louis at two wonderful solemn memorial events. On December 30, 2005, Grandpa Louis Rodriguez passed away. Grandpa Louis was married to Esperanza for 63 years, raised six children – scientists, soldiers, businessmen, teachers, and musicians – and shared his smile and charming character with the world. He was a charter member of the Pan-American Golf Association, sang with the San Antonio Chordsmen for 20 years, and retired from Southwestern Drug Corporation in 1983. His family and friends gathered at the funeral home on Sunday night. Members of the Chordsmen sang, friends told stories about his…
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Dialogues of the Carmelites – January 2006
Great show. Real guillotine. Principle overcomes fear through fellowship and faith. Faced with death, nuns lose their heads. Laura was terrific. Our trip up to Fort Worth was the first part of a whirl through central Texas – we went to the opera on Friday, celebrated Dory’s 80th birthday in Houston on Saturday, and sang at Grandpa’s memorial services in San Antonio on Sunday and Monday. Not only did we see the opera and get to spend time with Laura, Jason, and Nathan, but I finaly got a chance to meet Mary and Gordon.
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Hair – December 2005
Love your locks? Trouble with your tresses? Can’t make up your mind? We can fleece your mop or coif your do – or just laser it away. These ads were posted at a north Austin restaurant.
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Thanksgiving in El Paso – November 2005
LisaDiane and I spent Thanksgiving week with my parents in El Paso. She and I had just recovered from a couple of weeks of flu, so we took it easy – LisaDiane spent a lot of time knitting, we took a drive through the upper valley, we had lunch at Little Diner in Canutillo, and we saw a couple of movies (’Good Night and Good Luck’ and ‘Pride and Prejudice’). Toward the end of the week we were feeling a little more adventurous, so we went hiking up above the theater in McKelligon canyon and then drove to Chico’s Tacos for some lunch.
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Papa’s visit to Austin – July 2005
This year Troy, Kay, and Mama gave Papa a trip to Austin for his birthday. We did a little scheduling and managed to find a weekend Papa could be away from work and Troy, Kay, and I would all be free – of course it was 2 months after his birthday, but we found one never-the-less. We took Papa swimming at Barton Springs Pool, toured the new Cabela’s store in Buda, had pizza at Mangia, and took pictures of deer in my neighborhood.
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Acolyte Festival at All Saints – February 2005
The Austin Convocation Acolyte Festival, which took place at All Saints’ Episcopal Church Saturday, February 26 from 9:30 a.m. to 3 p.m, was a tremendous success! Over 100 registrants attended the workshops, during the festival Eucharist Bishop Daniels offered a perfect homily for the occasion, and thirteen parishes from across the Diocese were represented in the Acolyte Olympics.
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Nanny’s Memorial – November 2004
Our paternal grandmother, Nanny to us, died on November 15, 2004. She had been living near our our Uncle in Kansas and had made arrangements to be buried alongside her husband in Pampa, Texas. Kay, Troy, and I made the drive from Austin to Pampa and attended Nanny’s Memorial service in Pampa on November 22. Our parents drove from El Paso, and we spent most of our visit at Aunt Suzie’s house visiting with our cousins, aunts, and parents. I was so happy to meet for the first time some of our cousins from Massachusetts. Nanny’s obituary is archived at Charmichael-Whatley.com. A photo of the obituary from The Pampa News…
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London – October 2004
Mark, Rick, Dave, and I spent most of October working in London. I saw as much of the city as I could during the little free time I had (a couple of Sundays and a couple of evenings). I went for a sight-seeing walk along the Thames from Big Ben to Tower Bridge, saw the London Eye (hard to miss), walked across the Millenium Bridge from Saint Paul’s to the Tate Modern and the Globe Theater, went to services at Westminster Abby, and enjoyed watching the street performers at Covent Garden.
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Tradeshow in Las Vegas – September 2004
For those of you who asked about my trip to the Recharger World Expo in Las Vegas last week, here are a few photos. The trade show was held in the Sands Expo center, which is part of the Venetian Resort Hotel Casino. I’ve posted some pictures of the Venetian, the trade show, and the company party at Studio 54.
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Kay’s Birthday – August 2004
Kay’s birthday was a piñata smashing success. Troy hosted a backyard birthday party in his new backyard, and Kay made a custom piñata (she bought two piñatas, removed the paper, attached the framework of one to the other, and covered the new piñata with new paper – thus yielding an effigy of the friendly worm character from Jim Henson’s “Labyrinth”) which we helped her destroy. A bunch of Kay and Aaron’s friends joined us for the celebration.
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Frisbees on Joey’s Birthday – July 2004
We spent the evening throwing frisbees in Troy’s backyard on Joey’s birthday
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Our New House – July 2004
LisaDiane and I have spent the last few weeks unpacking boxes and settling into our new house. Many little household adventures have come and gone (there was a laundry sink saga – eight Lowe’s receipts in one day) and we are beginning to feel settled. We are hosting a baby shower at our house this weekend, so we will make one more push to get the last of the pictures hung before Friday. Click on these pictures to see some more photos of the house.
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Mother’s Day in El Paso – May 2004
Troy, Kay, and I drove to El Paso on May 5th with the intention of spending the Mother’s Day weekend remodeling Mama’s kitchen. (Roadtrip!) Papa had already removed some of the cabinets and taped, floated, and painted the new walls. We spent the next few days cutting tile, sweating new joints into the plumbing, running new lights and outlets, and replacing all of the cabinets and countertops. Ross and Kat were in El Paso while we were and we spent some time with them. I hope we can do more family projects like this. It was fun to all work on the project together.
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Passover – April 2004
For several years Kat, Ross, LisaDiane, and I have celebrated passover together. Kat is a marvelous cook and she has always treated us to a lovely dinner at passover. This year Kat was working in El Paso and could not join us – so we had to make do on our own. We invited a larger group than usual, and everyone contributed to the evening. Kay (who joined us for passover for the first time last year) brought her friend Aaron. Troy, Christine, and Sujata all attended – and helped us cook. We had roast lamb, roast beef, charoset, broiled asparagus, palak paneer, boiled eggs, matzah balls, carrots, and potatoes.…
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House Shopping – April 2004
Troy and I have been doing a little house shopping. Amazing how much you can do on the Internet before you begin to drive around. Here are a few photos of what we have seen so far.
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Kat’s 7th Birthday Party – February 2004
Kat celebrated her seventh birthday on February 29, 2004. LisaDiane and I drove to Ross and Kat’s house in Fort Worth to attend the party. It was good to see them – we don’t manage the trip often enough. The party was the right kind of low key – friends and family – and everyone took a swing at the Piñata.
- Abroad, Chambersburg, College Park, Emily and Scott, Friends and Family, Laura and Jason, Maryland, Pennsylvania, Philadelphia, Ted and Becky, Woburn
A Wedding, Our Nation, and The Frog
Our good friend Scott Howard and Emily Lovejoy were married on Saturday the Twenty First of February at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer in Woburn, Massachusetts. Scott had just come to serve at the Lutheran Church of the Redeemer when he and Emily met (she drove Scott to the pot-luck dinner held to welcome him to the church). Ever conscious of propriety, Scott attempted to conceal his attraction to Emily from Emily and the congregation for months (after-all, he is a priest and she was a member of the congregation). Of course, Emily, being the perfect match for Scott (and a member of his evaluation committee), attempted to conceal…
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The McNay – January 2004
Kay and I drove down to San Antonio to see the Nightmare Before Christmas exhibition at the Marion Koogler McNay Art Museum. The exhibition had original models and artwork from the stop-motion animated film “The Nightmare Before Christmas”. The museum is housed in a 24-room Spanish Colonial Revival smansion set on a manicured twenty-three acre lot. The collections include works by Cézanne, Picasso, Gauguin, Matisse, O’Keeffe, Cassatt, and Hopper. Kay and I spent the day touring the various collections on display.
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San Francisco – November 2003
LisaDiane and I popped out to San Francisco for the weekend. We spent Saturday morning at the Cable Car Museum and then we walked over to Japantown for sushi and shopping. On Sunday we drove down the valley to visit Kyle in Mountain View, shop at Kepler’s Bookstore in Menlo Park, and take a tour of the San Jose Museum of Art.
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Bamburg – September 2003
After our visit in Copenhagen we road the train back to Germany to visit Kerstin in Bamburg. Kerstin, who is attending university in Bamburg, took a couple of days off from school to show us the city, lead our tour of the monastery and cathedral, and introduce us to her new beau Michael. Kerstin is a wonderful host – I hope she and Michael can come join us in Austin soon. At the end of our stay in Bamburg, LisaDiane and I made an anxious train trip back to Frankfurt to fly home. Two train delays – one a complete shutdown – meant we had to think on our feet…
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Botanisk Have – September 2003
The University of Copenhagen Botanical Gardens are AMAZING! Over a dozen large greenhouses are surrounded by acres of outdoor annuals, perennials, ponds, rock gardens, and lush trees. Our day in this garden was a redolent treat. After the garden we met Ellen and Søren at the Canal Kafeen where they treated us to a “traditional” Danish lunch – herring, cheese, and beer 🙂 The curried herring and smoked herring were particularly good. Refreshed, we walked past the Caritas Well on Gammeltorv and took a tour of the Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Factory (souvenirs!).
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Nordjylland – September 2003
Ellen’s mother’s parents, Gert and Karen, invited us to visit their Summer House in Nordjylland (the northern tip of Denmark). Ellen drove us from Copenhagen to the Summer House. Along the way we went on a walking tour in Vejle, visited the Skagen Museum, played in two oceans, and visited Ellen’s parents in Aalborg. You can make your own Jelling Stone! (For more info on what the Jelling Stone is, look in the album for the Midgard Fountain that we saw in the pedestrian area in Vejle.) Click here to download the Jelling Stone kit as a PDF file. I found the PDF at http://www.runsten.info/
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Rosenborg Slot – September 2003
We spent one morning at Rosenborg Slot, the castle in the center of Copenhagen which houses the Royal Danish Collections and the Crown Jewels. The castle is surrounded by the Rosenborg Castle Gardens (commonly referred to as the King’s Gardens), which are the country’s oldest royal gardens (established in the early 1600s). We toured the castle and had a nice lunch at the little cafe on the castle grounds.
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Roskilde – September 2003
Roskilde, generally recognized as Denmark’s first capital (ask someone from Jelling and you may get a different story), is home to the Vikingskibsmuseet (Viking Ship Museum). We took the train from Copenhagen to Roskilde and enjoyed a vikingtastic day this city by the fjord. The museum was hosting a special exhibit titled “The Vikings in Ireland” which included artifacts from dig sites in Dublin on loan from the Irish government. As we left the museum we were treated to the beginning of the Roskilde Universitet Årsfest – the annual commemoration party and semester kick off at RU. The “You can’t use your hands” wrestling on a floating platform was tremendous…
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København – September 2003
On our second day touring Copenhagen we decided to walk from Ellen and Søren’s’s apartment to the Danish Royal Residence of Amalienborg and then on to wherever we might go. That made for a little bit of a walk. Fortunately we got a chance to use some of Copenhagen’s ‘City Bikes’. The city of Copenhagen operates a generous scheme, called Bycykler (City Bikes), by which anyone can borrow a bicycle for free. Motivated in part by a desire to limit motor-vehicle traffic in the city center, private businesses and the city council sponsor approximately 2000 bikes for the Bycykler program. The bikes can be found at hundreds of bike racks…
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A quick stop in Sweden – September 2003
Ellen and Soren drove us to Lund – where Søren was working for TetraPak and Ellen was attending university. LisaDiane and I spent our day exploring the monuments, the university, the cathedral, the bookstore, the fabric store, and a very pleasant Thai restaurant – nice call Ellen. The picture is of the main building on the campus of Lund University.
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Hamburg – August 2003
In the middle of our stay in Copenhagen we all took an overnight trip back to Germany. Søren drove us all down to the ferry terminal and we sailed to Hamburg to visit Mauren’s family. Mauren and Stephan took time out of their busy schedules to be our tour guides in Hamburg. Their young son Felix led our expedition. Felix is quite a charmer. We visited the Hamburger-Kunsthalle, explored the waterfront, and saw the ruin of the Church of St. Nikolai.
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Copenhagen – August 2003
We took the night train from German to Denmark, arriving the next morning at Københavns Hovedbanegård (Copenhagen Central Train Station). Ellen met us and led us back to her lovely apartment. Ellen and Søren were wonderful hosts – I hope we can return the hospitality in the future. Ellen and Søren’s apartment faces the Søerne. The view out their windows is spectacular, as you can see in the picture. LisaDiane and I spent a few days exploring the city. We visited the Round Tower, shopped along Kobmagergade, and explored Nyhavn.
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Rothenburg ob der Tauber – August 2003
Kerstin met us at the train station in Rothenburg ob der Tauber and stayed to tour with us the couple of days that we were there. After traveling for 22 hours we were ready to take it easy for a bit – so we took a stroll through the city, spent some time catching up with Kerstin, and had a relaxing dinner. After dinner we took the “Night Watchman’s Tour” of the city and went back to our inn, the “Altfränkische Weinstube” and had a couple of beers with the Rothenburg English Conversation Club. The three of us spent most of the next day exploring the city. We visited St.…
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Denmark and Germany – September 2003
LisaDiane and I celebrated my graduation with a trip through Denmark and Germany in August and September of 2003. We visited Ellen and Søren in København (Copenhagen), Kerstin in Bamburg, Maren, Stephan, and Felix in Hamburg, Karen and Gert in Nordjylland, and Nina, Ejnar, and Anna in Aalborg. We played the part of backpacking, camera toting, Rick Steves guided, train riding tourists the whole way. I can’t wait to go back. (Note: The trip began on August 26, so I’m placing this post on that date.)
