Saturday, February 28, 2015

A Love Letter to Aarhus

Dear readers, we intended to celebrate Valentine's Day with a love letter to Aarhus.  But we were laid low with a vile virus, so... better late than never!

Some of you know we were thinking about moving back to the US this summer, and some of you already know that won't be happening.  It's OK, though, because as you'll see, there's a lot to love about our new home.


Tangkrogen.  Simply the best beach in town.  It's Aarhus Bay, which feeds into the Baltic Sea.  The Baltic Sea, guys!  We live by the Baltic Sea!  We like to walk there when the weather's nice, and also on Christmas Day (when the weather usually isn't nice).


Sculpture by the Sea.  A weird Australian-Danish collaborative outdoor art exhibit.  (I guess it's not so weird if you remember that the Crown Princess is Australian).  Sculpture by the Sea happens every other year in June, and we're already looking forward to our 3rd! 



Mindeparken.  More specifically, our favorite trees in Mindeparken.  The whole park is right by the Queen's palace in Aarhus, and is full of lovely gardens, fun playgrounds, and generally delightful spots.


Ingerslevs Torv Farmer's Market.  We go here every week!  We went this morning and all the flower vendors were back so we know that spring is actually coming. 




Aarhus Hovedbanegård.  The train station.  It's walking distance from our house.  How cool and European do we feel when we just grab our baby and our wheely suitcase and waltz right over to the train station to go to ANOTHER COUNTRY?  Very, very cool and European.



ARoS Art Museum.  Also a short walk from our home and full of interesting and weird art, it's most notable for "Your Rainbow Panorama," the giant glass rainbow tube on the roof.  Everyone who has ever visited us has taken pictures of it.  (Hmm, I think that may be the entire readership of this blog).  But like I said, usually some neat stuff inside too, including, currently, one of our very favorites-- "Your Atmospheric Colour Atlas."  What can I say, we're Olafur Eliasson fan-boys and girls.


Aarhus River.  It goes right through the middle of town in a most picturesque fashion.  So picturesque, in fact, that this very location was featured in the SF Chronicle's travel section.  Recently the city has uncovered some more of it so you can walk along the river all the way down to the harbor.   Also, for about half the year there are ducks in the river-- C's a big fan.



Ballet Akademiet.  The ballet school where I work.  Danes all want to exclaim about how amazingly lucky I was to get a job there, doing what I do, so soon after moving to Denmark.  I want to exclaim about how it's the best teaching job I've ever had.  And yes, I do teach in Danish.  In an upcoming post, I'll tell you about some of the more amusing mistakes I've made.




Møllestien.  Probably the most adorable and cozy little street in all Denmark.  Looks great in summer and winter.



Hovedbiblioteket.  The main library.  I first succumbed shortly after moving to Denmark, when I discovered that not only was it basically across the street from our then-apartment, but they have a whole wall of English literature.  And some knitting books are in English too.  Now we mostly visit the children's section, where there's lots to play with and a tempting selection of picture books for C.



Aarhus Universitet.  Where B works.  Hey, it's why we came!  And B often says that he wishes he could just keep his same job and magically transfer it to the US when we leave.   


Riiskov.  The forest north of town.  It's pretty, and we like to walk there.  B trained there for his first DHL-Stafet (a seriously big-deal Danish race), C took some of her first steps there, and there are great views out over the bay.




Fika.  The cafe we go to on Tuesdays.  The staff is awesome about explaining what's vegan or gluten-free, and everything is delicious.  If I get a sandwich there, I get the roasted beet sandwich.  Think about that, guys.  I go to a cafe and order their ROASTED BEET sandwich.  That's how good they are.