Finally! We got snow, too!

Monday, January 22, we woke up to a beautiful layer of snow! It quickly cleared up to blue skies and sunshine. Here are some images of the morning with snow...

Looking towards the 'rundkoeresel' (round about) in Hammel.

This dude isn't very smart. He should have spent a little more time clearing the snow off his car.

Snow covered trees in the woods.

On the road towards Aarhus.

Snow in the woods.

The red barn of Frjiesenborg.

Frjiesenborg Castle...just up the street.

A Trip to Birmingham, England

Ryanair was having a fantastic special back in December on flights around Europe. I found a special of 1 kroner (not including tax) for a flight to London Stansted from Aarhus! So, I decided it was time for a visit to Birmingham to see my ol' friends Anne and Dave from the Copenhagen days! I left January 11th and took the night bus back to Stansted early the 15th. I had a great trip!

After a 4 hour bus ride from Stansted to Birmingham, Anne met me at the bus station and we took a Black cab back to her place not far from the center.

Just like when we lived in Copenhagen, Anne was great at whipping something together with the ingredients she had in the kitchen. She put together a cous cous salad with sateed zucchini, blue cheese, walnuts, salad, and a lot more! It was yummy!

Yum! I nice cool Strongbow and a Cadbury creme egg. Birmingham is the home of Cadbury, unfortunately, the tour center was closed while I was there. But, I enjoyed an egg even though it wasn't easter! They have these eggs in the stores all year round!

After dinner we changed into our comfy clothes and played a few rounds of Scrabble. Although I had some good words on the board, it was a tough competition with the a native Dutch speaker and the Brit!

Our first round of Scrabble was filled with lots of fun and naughty words! The second phase of Scrabble should be to use all the words in a story or Mad Libs...that would be funny!

A Friday in Birmingham

Friday morning, I went with Anne to the University of Birmingham. She was busy in classes, while I hung out around campus and explored the bookstore, drank coffee, wrote some postcards, and walked through the Barbar Art Musuem.

You are here. Anne points at the map of the University campus.

Looking down through campus.

This picture was taken for Kelli. She told me to enjoy beans on toast while I was in England, but although I didn't partake in this 'apotizing' cuisine, I kindly asked to take a picture to preserve the memory of just how great the English are at fine foods...and I meant that sarcastically.

Just as good as the English are at fine cuisine, they are as good at fine fashion. I felt like the many Dames and Ladies who attented the Prince Charles and Camilla wedding a few years back.

Ah, a bit of America. Inside the Bullring shopping mall was a full-sized Krispy Kremes...I didn't even have a taste!

More American imports...these producs were way too expensive to buy, and my stock of Hershey's syrup is doing fine at the moment!

A view of the Bullring from the outside. Quite the modern architecture, eh'?!

More Friday in Birmingham

I would like to be commissioned by Starbucks to create a book that is called "The views from Starbucks around the Globe". Then I could travel to all the Starbucks around the world and drink coffee for free and take pictures! :) This is the view from inside one of the many Birmingham Starbucks. I got a chai tea latte for 2.80 pounds...looks normal if it was $, but the exchange rate is about $2 to 1 pound, so it was an expensive drink, but much enjoyed!

The big bull in the Bullring shopping area in Birmingham.

Pretty fountain in Birmingham. I was being experimental with the manual feature on my camera...notice the movement of the water & background people, then the focused statue and buildings!
Dr. Who? Me and a British phone booth. I went in one of them and it smelled like piss. Thank goodness for mobile phones.

A Birmingham monument.

Along the canal in B'ham.

A truly British car in Britain!

Annelise and an "Old Speckled Hen" suggested by Dave as an appropriate local drink. It was served warm...and with an interesting flavor. Dave and I went on a "date", while Anne went to band practise where she is a back-up singer! We enjoyed gourmet burgers, the pub scene, and a hilarious movie in the theaters: A Night in the Museum. I definitely recommend everyone should see that movie! It was a hoot!

The beer tap.

Saturday morning in Birmingham

It was a wonderfully lazy Saturday morning where we no one was interested in moving very fast. But I was suddenly inspired by the many cooking shows on the teley and decided to whip together some big, flat pancakes, similar to the Swedish ones my mom makes, but without the cardamom. They were enjoyed by Anne and Dave with fillings such as peanut butter, lemon curd (which I later bought a jar of), bacon and syrup.

I had a feeling I wouldn't be served beans on toast at Anne and Daves, and wasn't surprised to find this typical Dutch breakfast sprinkles on the table. I had actually tasted it a few years earlier while visiting Marieke in Aarhus!

After breakfast, we headed into town where we visited the Ikon museum. It had several exhibits of modern art that were more and less enjoyable than each other. This shows some of the exterior (yet enclosed in the glass addition) of the museum building.

One of the exhibits included a game that involved the use of words and language. Anne got the point quickly being the linguistics expert she is. I liked the look of the green chalkboards and the neat writing of words in many languages on the boards.

Walking along the canals in Birmingham...the same one that goes by Anne's university! This is a very nice area of the city!

We ate lunch at this fine restaurant called Pennyblacks. Anne and Dave show their public displays of affection! :)

More Birmingham...

On our little Saturday outing, we stopped into a cheese shop in a very upscale shopping center called The Mailbox. Anne is a cheese fanatic, and should know a little about it considering she is from Edam and has worked in a cheese factory before as a tour guide!

Some of the fancy, up-scale places to dine along the canal in Birmingham.

Dave made a delicious Indian dish, that was amazing! We had nahn to go with it, too, and lots of rice! It was nearly as good as what I have got at Chutney's in Seattle!

After great Indian food, we got dressed up and ready to go out! Anne had a collegue who was celebrating her 30th birthday with a big party at her place. We took a taxi therer, who couldn't find the place and had to back-track, and then I left my wallet in the back seat and noticed that it was missing just as it drove off! Dave was quick and called the company to let them know, so a few minutes later, I had my wallet safely back in my hands! What an idiot I was! Agh!

One of the crazy Irish lassies at the party! She was thoroughly drunk and spilled several drinks before we got our taxi back home...but she was very nice to talk to.

I don't know why more bathrooms in the rest of the world don't have one of these contraptions. It is connected to the shower and the temperature is adjusted to where you want it and you just press the start button and on the shower goes! It saves so much time and water! I will defintely install one in my bath as soon as I can afford one!

This is where Anne and Dave live in Birmingham...the top floor to the left! It was very cute and cozy! I had a room to myself and a very comfortable bed! I also found out that I was guest number 13...this couple is definitely a popular one to visit, and I am not surprised why! They are very wonderful hosts. I felt more myself with them than I had felt in many months.

America has taken Britain by storm with such powerful stores as Wal-Mart. I actually was quite overwhelmed to be inside it with all those long aisles of food! I have gotten way too used to the tiny grocery stores here in Denmark, like Netto, Fakta, & Rema 1000.

A day in Tamworth

On Sunday, we took a little trip to the English countryside! Just outside of Birmingham about 30 km, is the town of Tamworth, which is where David grew up and where his parents live. So, I got the chance to see a real British home and enjoy a nice Sunday with some very wonderful people.

As a little gift for Anne and Dave for being my host while in Birmingham, I gave them the mixings for chocolate chip cookies with real chocolate chips. We brought the ingredients to his parents where we mixed them together and baked the cookies in his parent's new oven. Dave did a great job taking directions and mixing everything together!

Anne takes a picture of me, Dave, his dad Richard and his mom Penny and the fresh baked chocolate chip cookies that were a great hit! Yummy!

To work off some of the cookies we ate, we took a walk out to a local forest, which I forgot the name of, to see the Tamworth pigs. According to Penny, these aren't "the" Tamworth pigs, but we saw some very entertaining pigs anyway!

Some of the pigs enjoying some dinner time hay in the muddy fields.

A few pigs enjoying a "roll in the hay" in the muddy fields! This was a very entertaining couple and they went on for a couple rounds! It was a hoot to enjoy nature in action! :)

The outline of English trees in the twilight sky.

The very same canal that goes by Anne and Dave's place and the University right here in Tamworth!
Annelise and Anne enjoying a Pimm's and Lemonade at The Tame Otter in Tamworth.

Dinner at the Brophys! Dave's parents were awesome and very hospitable. It was nice to be around folks that were a lot like my own family. Penny prepaired some good English food for my last night in England. Then later that night, I took the bus from Birmingham at 00.30 back to Stansted airport to catch my 7.30 flight back to Aarhus. It was a long trip and I was exhuasted by the time I got home, but it was worth it. I had a fantastic time in England and really enjoyed seeing Dave and Anne again!