Aarhusian Summer!

After six years of Daring Adventuring, in which we have doubled the size of our duo (not by gaining weight), the time has come for us to say goodbye to Aarhus. This is our last summer living here, so we have been trying hard to do most of our favorite things again. Fortunately, the weather has been pretty cooperative!

These are a few of our favorite (Aarhus) things:

1. Going to Tangkrogen beach on a nice summer day, or a different kind of day

2. Going to Your Rainbow Panorama at Aros

 3. Wading in the pool in front of the music house

4. Going to other beaches, like Åkrogen. On days that are nice. Or not.

5. Running through the forest, here, Moesgaard, but any forest will do.

6. Walking through the forest is also okay.

7. It's especially ok if the forest leads right down to the beach. Nice work, Moesgaard.

8. Going to Tivoli Friheden

Bonus Dane-points are awarded for any of these activities if done while:
1. Eating strawberries
2. Eating peas
3. Taking all of your clothes off (maybe not at Tivoli)
4. Drinking beer
5. Not wearing sunscreen

More of the Four!

A nearly wordless post today, because, believe it or not, some of us are tired!

The Daring Quartet toodles all around town.  When we're not being cozy at home, of course.

 

 

  

 

  

 

 

A Daring Adventure for Four

We made another Danish baby! Little J is five days old and doing great.

The Lifeys 2015!

Happy New Year! We once again find ourselves with a bunch of good memories from the past year, so it's time to celebrate with the Lifeys!


Best Date: Dinner at India Oven and walking around Winterhaven.
Runner-up: Jægergårdsgade take away, eaten at Sculpture by the Sea

Best News: We're expecting a baby in February!

Best Month: July

Best Book: The Storied Life of AJ Fikry by Gabrielle Zevin
Runner-up: Love and Treasure by Ayelet Waldman

Best Summer Activity: Tie - Strawberry picking and Going to the beach

Best New Thing to Eat: Vaca (pretty good burritos have made it to Denmark!)

Best Movie: Kings of Summer
Runner-up: Safety Not Guaranteed 

Best Performance: The Tallest Man on Earth, at Voxhall

Best Fountain (C's pick): Boxhagener Platz in Berlin

 Runner-up: Princess Diana Fountain in Hyde Park, London

December 24-- Advent at ADAFT 2015!

Så er det Juleaften!  Merry Christmas and Glædelig Jul from the Daring Trio!

December 23-- Advent at ADAFT 2015!

Because we live a car-less life in Denmark ("car-free" depending on who's talking and what the weather's like), we ride the buses and trains a lot.  We also walk a lot, but that's not very interesting.

Trains, though, trains are very interesting!  C is a consummate train connoisseur, having ridden both small local trains--they're green-- and long ICE trains that take you right out of the country.  She's a star traveler and reminds us to stamp our tickets and to remember all our bags when we get off.

Besides riding trains basically every time we go on holiday, we like to watch them drive past on their regular routes.  Since our apartment is near the train tracks and on the pedestrian path to the main train station, we have lots of opportunities for train-spotting. Most of the year we see the small green trains, the long grey trains, and occasionally freight trains, if we're up early.

But at Christmastime we also keep our eyes peeled for "the pink train!"  As an advertising stunt, the Danish chocolate company Anthon Berg pays for several weekend trains to take students and elderly people home for Christmas-- for free.  Also to be nice, of course.  Notably, though, Anthon Berg also arranges for several of the local trains to be fully covered in advertisements, such that the train closely resembles one of their famous chocolate-marzipan confections.

C adores the pink train and strongly feels that we should ring B up and tell him about it every time we happen to see it.  She's pretty much a sucker for all trains, though, and was possibly even more delighted to ride this little number at Zoo Lights tonight.

It actually looked even cooler, since the whole train was festooned with Christmas lights, but I don't have a photo of that.  I think C will back me up, though, when I say that it was most definitely a...

December 22-- Advent at ADAFT 2015!

Danish grocery stores close for various holidays, both major and minor (like Store Bededag and Second Easter day). This leads to what we call "food droughts", which requires careful planning, especially since our kitchen has enough storage space for about 2 cans of beans. So, for us, Danish holidays are always preceded by frantic list-making and hauling home a bunch of groceries from various stores.

Before we learned about some of the more obscure holidays (and in those days, stores were usually closed on Sunday), we'd often find ourselves cobbling together a day's food out of rice cakes, half a jar of peanut butter and some leftover broccoli. There was a Thai place by our first apartment that was usually open during food droughts, and they also saved our Pad Thai a few times.

December 21-- Advent at ADAFT 2015!

For the first time in a long time, E, C and I aren't in the (approximately) darkest place in the world on the darkest day of the year! Aarhus will have a 6 hour and 54 minute day. But it's all downhill from here!

December 20-- Advent at ADAFT 2015!

Cinnamon is a big deal in Denmark, featuring prominently in baked goods. This caused a friend from South Africa to comment on how Danish baking all tasted like Christmas baking. A year or two ago, this proud tradition came under threat when new EU policies (based on some evidence that eating too much cinnamon can cause some health problems) limited the amount of cinnamon that can be put into baked goods.

Fortunately, member countries could apply for exemptions for seasonal items and cultural significant baked goods. Denmark sought an exemption for their cinnamon snails. We all breathed a big sigh of relief when it was granted.

Anyway, this time of year, some baked goods use a bit more cardamom. That follows in a tradition from Sweden, where cardamom features heavily. I had the opportunity to try a Swedish cardamom bun a while back, and let me tell you, it's not for the faint of heart. After eating it, I felt like I had a cardamom pod tucked into each cheek for the next three hours. Crazy.

December 19-- Advent at ADAFT 2015!

You might have been worried, after that last post, that C is not enjoying our trip.  She is, though.  I present photographic evidence:

December 18-- Advent at ADAFT 2015!

As if jet lag on its own weren't enough, our tiny C is suffering from "nothing is familiar and I don't know how things work" syndrome.  We know it well from our first days in Denmark.  Of course we speak English at home, and she's been to the US before, but she was too small to remember it.  And anyway, it's the little things that get you.

I recently asked another American-in-Denmark friend of mine what she most looked forward to about her upcoming trip home for Christmas.  She said, "Grocery shopping.  Just buying the things I know, and eating food I like...."  That's really something, since Denmark is assuredly a first-world country, with plenty of well-stocked supermarkets.  There's no shortage of good food.  But I can understand the desire to wander in and buy a granola bar or maybe some Grape-Nuts or even just a can of root beer.

For C, everything is wondrous and new and mystifying.  Why does the kale look different?  Why do the toilets all have handles, instead of buttons, for flushing?  Why are the light switches so small?  What happened to the electric sockets?  What is a drinking fountain?  What's a stop sign?  What are mountains?  Why are the plants so prickly?  Why isn't anybody speaking Danish?

I couldn't help but think of this last night as we wandered through Tohono Chul park, enjoying the Christmas light displays.  For B and me, it's lovely and familiar and delightful in every way.  For C, it's fascinating yet foreign.  And no wonder, when comparing what we saw last night to what she's used to seeing at Christmastime.

 

December 17-- Advent at ADAFT 2015!

Danes love the sun. It's clearly a case of "absence makes the heart grow fonder". The best way to enjoy moments of sunshine it to run out into your garden and take off all (or most, if you're shy) of your clothes. It doesn't matter if it's only 50 degrees and weak, watery sunshine.

So, imagine our parental pride this morning when C asked what we were going to do today. We told her that it would be warm and pretty sunny, so we might spend some time in the garden. C thought about it a bit, and said: "And we'll take off our clothes!". She's leaps and bounds ahead of us in adopting Danish culture.

December 16-- Advent at ADAFT 2015!

Santa Claus (or, the Julemand) comes to Aarhus every year on a boat. C and I went down to the new library at the harbor to watch his arrival, along with hundreds of other people. It was pretty cool! And after that, he leads a parade through town. It looks something like this:

December 15-- Advent at ADAFT 2015!

ARoS is a modern art museum in Aarhus that often has cool stuff. Here are some of our favorites from years past:

How to Hunt - Trine Søndergaard & Nicolai Howalt

 

Your Atmospheric Color Atlas - Olafur Eliasson

New Nordic:  Flickering Lights by Nathalie Djurberg and Hans Berg

Pas de Deux Royal by Dronning Margrethe II and Prinsgemalen Henrik

Cardiff and Miller (especially the Cabinet of Curiosities)

The Golden Age (especially P.S. Krøyer's Skagen paintings)