biking with vikings

Birkerød

... had to pick up my car on Saturday so spent a little time having a look at Birkerød which is about 20 km from CPH and about 10 km from my job in Vedbæk. It seems like a nice quiet little town and it is less expensive than the coastal towns, and there is a train station going directly into CPH so that might be an option for us.

Next Friday is house-hunting day, so with a little luck, by this time next week, we'll have a place rented and Kerry will be president! Fingers are crossed...

team offsite

Friday was an all-hands team offsite in Hillerød, a beautiful town once my coworker and I got there (late). Hillerød and Frederiksborg Slot (Castle) look really nice although I didn't have time to check them out today.

I learned a lot about my team here and met some v.cool coworkers, and we demo'ed the sample app that the devs I work with created last milestone. The day wrapped with dinner and drinks and several of us didn't stop there so we took the train into Copenhagen and closed the bar at The Globe, a fine Irish pub I can now add to the list of pubs to crawl in CPH.

This got me home around 5 a.m. which hasn't happened in a while. On the good advice of others we rode the train so I went back to Hillerød and fetched the car on Saturday, which is a segue to my next post on Birkerød.

Exploring 1

On a friend's advice I took a swing after work and checked out Kokkedal (Skovengen and Byengen neighborhoods) and then down through Horsholm and Rungsted and along Strandvel all the way through Vedbaek, Skodsborg, Klampenborg, Charlottenlund, Hellerup into Osterbro and CPH. I deliberately got lost just to see where I'd end up but I found the right neighborhoods anyway, it's quite easy :).

The Kokkedal neighborhoods were nice; Two-story row-apartments with some green space at back and pedestrian path separating blocks. Also there were some woods and field nearby that looked good for walking. It looked quite far away from transit though.

Horsholm looked very suburban. Rungsted was nice, very New England with older buildings and lots of deciduous trees. The drive down Strandvej back to CPH was also very beautiful with a big, red, full moon over the Oresund and Sweden on my right.

I can see why so many people have recommended Hellerup and environs to me - a really nice city neighborhood, that, but expensive.

Tomorrow I'll try Birkerod and points west and see what they're like.

RIP John Peel 1938-2004

BBC Radio One DJ John Peel has passed away of a heart attack at age 65. What a wonderful man. He introduced the world to the Smiths, Pulp, Blur and more, and championed bands such as the Pixies. His show went far afield to bring terrific music to listeners via the BBC World Service.

He will be missed. Read more here.

an impromptu Danish lesson

back in CPH yesterday after a nice hectic but nice week @ home with Susan and Malcolm, courtesy of an MBF PM Offsite held in Bellevue all week. I'm lagged but I can't complain, got to see my wife and son for a bit, a few friends, and helped Susan button up a little on the move.

Got back home yesterday and realized it was Sunday so *everything* is closed :) - major shopping trip for groceries after work today, then an impromptu Danish lesson to figure out the Danish instructions for the electric range top which was locked out. I guess that is good, Malcolm should not be able to burn himself on such a device :).

Seattle-bound

very excited to see my wife and son after two weeks here! I've loved my brief time here but of course it has been a bit lonely.... it is the longest that Susan and I have been separated in 13 years of marriage (if you can believe that) and obviously the longest stretch that Malcolm has gone without his daddy (although I videoconference with them and chat on the phone a few times a week which helps).

November and December are going to be a long-slog... nearly two months until I will see them again! Oh well, stiff upper lip and all that, it's best that I find a house first and then bring them over rather than moving everyone to a new place after a few weeks. It also makes the move easier on the Seattle side if Susan is there.

Back in CPH on Oct 23rd.

Smørrebrød is Danish Sushi

I'm probably not the first person to observe this but smørrebrød is essentially Danish sushi. At good places it is artfully prepared and presented and provides interesting combinations of high-quality ingredients, just like the Japanese form.

I had a good one at Frederiksberg Smørrebrød on Gammel Konigsvej near home last evening, I'm sure there are even better ones around - will have to investigate :).

Dinner with new friends and housing in greater Copenhagen

A good friend of mine in Seattle has a cousin here who graciously invited me to dinner with her family and offered to help me figure out housing alternatives here, both very helpful as I don't have a place for us to live nor have I made many new friends here yet (I've been here two weeks).

Dinner and meeting their family was wonderful and also eye-opening. They live in non-profit housing in Albertslund, a really nice development with row-houses separated with pedestrian lanes and parking on the periphery of the development.

This is of course exactly the kind of place that Susan and I (and many of our friends) have always wanted in Seattle but that's been hard-to-find: A place where your children (or your cat) can safely play/bicycle etc. (OK the cat can't bicycle) without fear of car traffic and also a place that maybe increases the likelihood of interaction with your neighbors. In other words, a classing 'cohousing' layout!

I'm told that to the west of Copenhagen (towns such as Albertslund) there are many 'planned' developments such as these, and there are some to the north as well nr Vedæk where my work is located. The key is to find this type of development, not 'andelsbolig' as such (although that would be nice) so I'm going to refocus my efforts around finding this sort of housing development as a place for my family to live for the next 3 years. Time to start looking around in earnest when I return from Seattle on Oct. 23rd.

World Cup qualifier v Turkey

... watched the WC qualifier v Turkey last night. The Danes tied 1-1 but only thanks to some great goaltending from their keeper, the Turks were clearly a slightly better team esp offensively.

We had thought we'd try for tickets in the afternoon, there were 1600 left (1100 for "Danish supporters" and the rest for Turks I imagine) but the queues were probably immense at Parken. It seemed like the whole populace was decked out in the national red and white (except for Turkish fans who were decked out in, erm, read and white :)). It would have been electric to be there for the game but I'll get tickets ahead of time in future.

Bannanas in Pyjamas?

"things that don't translate" part 1: A Swedish children's show, "Bannanas in Pyjamas" where two guys in giant bannana costums with, erm, pyjamas, have adventures.

trippy.