Cold Copenhagen

Super cheap airfare led us to Copenhagen, Denmark for President's Day weekend.   In the normal pre-trip preparation it became clear that the trip would be a relaxing one (read: not much to do!).  Copenhagen is a cute, colorful city with some grand buildings but lacked that sort of ‘wow’ factor for us.  Admittedly, the harsh weather and our uncharacteristically low energy levels probably had a big part in that… the city would probably be quite charming in the spring and have a much more exciting nightlife in summer.   Winter did allow us the chance to see the mini icebergs that filled the canals and port.   We’d stop to marvel at it and Chris would have this mischievous look in his eyes like “I want to try to run across that” or “I want to pee on that” or “I want to throw something on that.”  I’m not entirely sure that one of those things wouldn’t have happened if I wasn’t there.  Haha!

Ice filling the inlet.

(I got 7 inches chopped off my hair!)

A favorite part of the trip was talking to our 25-yr old waitress about Denmark’s social system, youth, and medical care.  Quick synopsis: they earn a lot (she made ~$30/hour as a waitress in a sports bar) but pay really high income and sales taxes, medical care is socialized, and dental care isn’t covered.  We asked her what we should see in Copenhagen and her response was “Go HOME! There’s nothing to do here in the winter!  Come back in the summer.”

The next day we walked to see the Little Mermaid, a statue that has sort of become the symbol of Copenhagen.  

The Little Mermaid looking out to sea

Sooo cold.

 I usually try to see and experience everything a new city has to offer but completely gave that up this trip.  After taking a quick picture of the statue, I kissed Chris goodbye and retreated to our cozy hotel room, got under the down blanket, and watched reruns for a couple hours while he went to the changing of the guards at the queen’s castle.  He was really impressed with their 30 minutes of showmanship and massive hats! 

Changing of the guard

There's a cutout for the hat!

That afternoon the sun finally came out and convinced us to do a bit more sightseeing.  The Nyhavn (New Harbor) area was quite colorful and pretty!

New camera trick - the panoramic shot of Nyhavn

Chris in the Nyhavn (New Harbour)... with his twin?!

Having fun with statues

Pretty church, too bad the spiral tower was closed until April

Our sweet neighbors the Fewells watched Bailey while we were gone.  With all the love and walks she got from the four of them I think she had a better time this weekend than we did!  Hopefully she’s not too disappointed we’re home…

Working on the farm and discovering new English veggies has me SO excited about our garden this year.  We spread a half ton of compost the other day and I spent the entire afternoon buying seed packets and seed potatoes to plant! 

Bailey's Arrival!

Love that ear!

Chris got Bailey as a four week old puppy during his first year of dental school, so she’s known him  way longer than I have!   We decided to wait to bring Bailey over to the UK until we were settled and traveling a bit less, so she’s spent the past six months in the doggie resort that is Chris’ parents’ home.   A few weeks ago we arranged her flight to London and it was so very exciting (for us – Chris’ parents were sad!) Bailey handled the flight fine and has settled into the English life very well!  She’s curious but not scared of the cows, still madly obsessive over her tennis balls, and likes to greet anyone coming to the door with barks and tail-wagging. 

She found the doggy door before we even saw it!

Wintertime on the River Ouse

Walking through the cows.

Bailey at the entrance to my running field.

The first weekend she was here we took her on a hike a few hours north to what is known as the Peak District.  Chris and I were miserable because of the cold, gusting wind and pouring rain.   Bailey, on the other hand, could not have been more excited!  She went swimming, explored a cave, figured out some dog stiles (gates), and generally ran circles around us.   She snored literally the whole drive back.  Hilarious.

The dog stile on the right and the human stile on the left.

One of the rare sunny moments of that cold, windy, wet hike.

The winter had been extremely mild until two weeks ago when we were slammed by a couple snow storms, the first of which was particularly exciting.  On the morning of the Superbowl about four inches of perfect packing snow came down fast.  The neighborhood kids (and parents!) were out in force building snowmen and having snowball fights.     Chris and I decided to forfeit our weekly long run (too much ice) and instead played in the snow all afternoon. 

Riding our neighborhood brontosaurus!

We were proud of our snow lizzard/monster.

After two glasses of wine... #1

#2

#3

Our winter wonderland.

The Superbowl kickoff was at midnight, so after playing all day we slept a few hours and then prepared for some company.  I don’t know how, but the guys all stayed awake the entire game.

Chris has been content at work and I’ve been making (slow) strides to get credentialed and cleared to start volunteering as an optometrist at the base hospital.  I’m also currently applying for an absolutely un-eye-related job on base, but that’s still in the earliest of stages. 

Ironman training is coming along quite nicely.  It’s officially less than six months away!  Thanks to some stellar coaching by our friend Andy we’ve both made progress in our swimming.  This past weekend we were signed up for a formal 30K run that was cancelled due to the weather.  Although I wanted to sit by a fire in sweatpants, we joined up with a small group and ran from Andy’s house, through the snow, for those 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) in what amounts to the longest run either Chris or I have ever completed!

 Our next big event is about a month away.  It’s a 112-mile cycling sportive that I REALLY regret signing up for this early in the season!  I’m not sure how we’re going to complete that ride considering it has been too icy and cold to get out on our bikes at all in the past month.  Unfortunately, I’m thinking the hour of spin class we do every week isn’t really going to be adequate training…

The combination of Bailey’s arrival and spending time with new friends has made us feel a whole lot more settled in our new life here.  Next trip is to Copenhagen, Denmark this weekend!