Like llamas at the garden center.
And a froggy on the pool flusher-thingy.
My driving a stick is back to normal. John left the car for me out at the airport, which is south of Copenhagen, when he left for Baku the other day. I couldn't take him, and keep the car, because I had to go into the city with a relocation assistant, to get my resident permit stamped into my passport at the same time he had to leave.
I managed to get out of the parking garage with no stalling, but the GPS didn't pick up a signal until I was out of the garage and on my way. Of course, my way was the wrong way and the voice in the box thought it expedient to take me through downtown Copenhagen before putting me on the motorway. And here I was with a rare and fresh Starbucks coffee and no free hands. The true meaning of irony.
But....I made it. I wasn't even nervous. I suppose not having access to my caffeine helped with that. Maybe, just maybe, we should have taken a manual transmission auto after all.
Wait, there is that coffee thing to consider....I suppose....considering we dumped the Audi for a shortage of cup holders.
Another normal thing...this is John sending an email in bed...this is not some UFO.
I try to get us out of the house, when he isn't at the office, to do something. ANYTHING! I'm content to have him drive while I shoot photos from the passenger window of the car. John is getting a lot better at not pulling up adjacent to lampposts since we've been doing this, as a couple for a long time. He definitely gets it now, and when he hears that familiar heavy sigh, he just asks, "Which way?"
Sometimes I drive since it gives me better control and I don't drive so fast that I miss something good. The only trouble is that if John's hands are free he's thumbing out a message to someone....and wouldn't you know it.... his new phone has a QWERTY keyboard. Since his Blackberry's global plan was too expensive to keep up, he keeps that on the side of the tub, so he can practice typing on those teeny tiny keys while he is otherwise indisposed.
Here are a few samples from our latest tours of the neighboring countryside. In our travels we've learned some very important things, not the least of which is that there are a few grocery stores, tucked away here and there, that are open on Sundays and holidays. They aren't big grocery stores but the have enough to ensure we have a decent salad for supper and microwave popcorn. Up in Helsingor, I found the number one item on my list of "must haves". Too bad they weren't open.
Skumgummi is probably Danish for Walmart. I cropped that photo of the broom-that-dreams-are-made-of to see if I could afford it.
YES!!! 58 kroner (roughly 10 bucks) but I don't think I should tell anyone that I'm driving 20 kilometers to buy a broom.
The government mandated closing hours in Denmark are a bit of a hardship on us North Americans who are used to all night Walmarts and Krogers. Most stores, including the grocery, are closed by 6 PM on weekedays (8 PM on Fridays) and 5 PM on Saturday. Forget Sunday....only small places are allowed to open.
After we left Helsingor, we took some small back roads to Hillerod which turned out to be a much bigger town than I thought it was. It isn't BIG big, but it's definitely got way more to offer than a village! We parked the car under yonder tree, on the right, and got our first parking ticket.
Actually, WE weren't driving, so I guess WE didn't get the ticket...technically. Not sure why he/we got the ticket. All of the Danish cars were conspicuously absent, couldn't see a "No Parking" sign anywhere....but I have to assume we broke some sort of convention like parking on a pedestrian mall on a holiday. Holidays are serious business here. Come to think of it holidays were serious business in Azerbaijan, too. You know, I think that North Americans are definitely not getting enough....more holidays....might fix that.
Not sure it is a pedestrian mall. Don't see any pedestrians. Everything around here looks like a pedestrian mall on holidays with everything shuttered and dim. And we did see a few cars driving along the empty street, earlier....we think. We are perplexed and we can't seem to find a due date on the ticket. Parking tickets seem to be serious business here as well, since our little foray into law breaking is going to cost 500 kroner!
John made us drive around for a bit in hopes of finding the person who gave us the ticket, but there was no sign of anyone, on this, or on any of the neighboring streets. My theory is that parking enforcement buddy sits in the window at the local Ale-hus waiting for hapless customers, then he pounces.
I hope this view was worth it. Of course, it was one of those rare times when I actually got out of the car to take a picture. What is a zoom lens for anyhow?
That castle's pretty impressive and all but I think I like the Extreme Home Chocolate Make-Over version myself.
We ate dinner at the Chinese restaurant (it has the red awnings in the crime scene photo above). It wasn't busy (probably because there is no freaking place to park) and the food took a little while to come. I managed to keep busy taking pictures from my seat.
There were these 3 really cool looking painted Buddhas on the bar that I really wanted to take a picture of, but by the time we were finished our meal there was a family sitting in the way, so I let them eat in peace.
I didn't stay disappointed for too long because the best thing that's happened to me a long time was looming right around the corner! On the way back to the car (which we had moved to a mutually agreeable location between John and the municipality), I spied in the window of Outdoor Living my Columbia flip-flops....my beloved no longer available in the US or Canada Columbia flip-flops! I have been looking for these for almost 2 years. I haven't even been able to find them online, and here they were all along....hanging out in Hillerod waiting for me to walk by. Too bad they were closed.
I don't think he was trying to burst my bubble, but John (still clutching his 500 kroner parking ticket) suggested they might be a quite expensive, here, in a little specialty shop window. Like I care about price where my feet and the best flip-flops in the world are concerned? Like the man who wouldn't give me a foot rub, if his life depended on it, should care either? This is Thursday, in 2 more days I will have my Columbia flip-flops!
All in all it was a pretty good day, despite the parking ticket. We discovered a pretty good Chinese food restaurant, discovered after we ordered that they had a Mongolian Buffet at the back, John only had one 45 minute conference call on the side of the road near Allerod, and I programmed my flip-flops into the GPS.
Later that night, when I caught John sending emails in bed again, flashed him.
I used the camera since this was for posterity, not old times sake.
And a froggy on the pool flusher-thingy.
My driving a stick is back to normal. John left the car for me out at the airport, which is south of Copenhagen, when he left for Baku the other day. I couldn't take him, and keep the car, because I had to go into the city with a relocation assistant, to get my resident permit stamped into my passport at the same time he had to leave.
I managed to get out of the parking garage with no stalling, but the GPS didn't pick up a signal until I was out of the garage and on my way. Of course, my way was the wrong way and the voice in the box thought it expedient to take me through downtown Copenhagen before putting me on the motorway. And here I was with a rare and fresh Starbucks coffee and no free hands. The true meaning of irony.
But....I made it. I wasn't even nervous. I suppose not having access to my caffeine helped with that. Maybe, just maybe, we should have taken a manual transmission auto after all.
Wait, there is that coffee thing to consider....I suppose....considering we dumped the Audi for a shortage of cup holders.
Another normal thing...this is John sending an email in bed...this is not some UFO.
I try to get us out of the house, when he isn't at the office, to do something. ANYTHING! I'm content to have him drive while I shoot photos from the passenger window of the car. John is getting a lot better at not pulling up adjacent to lampposts since we've been doing this, as a couple for a long time. He definitely gets it now, and when he hears that familiar heavy sigh, he just asks, "Which way?"
Sometimes I drive since it gives me better control and I don't drive so fast that I miss something good. The only trouble is that if John's hands are free he's thumbing out a message to someone....and wouldn't you know it.... his new phone has a QWERTY keyboard. Since his Blackberry's global plan was too expensive to keep up, he keeps that on the side of the tub, so he can practice typing on those teeny tiny keys while he is otherwise indisposed.
Here are a few samples from our latest tours of the neighboring countryside. In our travels we've learned some very important things, not the least of which is that there are a few grocery stores, tucked away here and there, that are open on Sundays and holidays. They aren't big grocery stores but the have enough to ensure we have a decent salad for supper and microwave popcorn. Up in Helsingor, I found the number one item on my list of "must haves". Too bad they weren't open.
Skumgummi is probably Danish for Walmart. I cropped that photo of the broom-that-dreams-are-made-of to see if I could afford it.
YES!!! 58 kroner (roughly 10 bucks) but I don't think I should tell anyone that I'm driving 20 kilometers to buy a broom.
The government mandated closing hours in Denmark are a bit of a hardship on us North Americans who are used to all night Walmarts and Krogers. Most stores, including the grocery, are closed by 6 PM on weekedays (8 PM on Fridays) and 5 PM on Saturday. Forget Sunday....only small places are allowed to open.
After we left Helsingor, we took some small back roads to Hillerod which turned out to be a much bigger town than I thought it was. It isn't BIG big, but it's definitely got way more to offer than a village! We parked the car under yonder tree, on the right, and got our first parking ticket.
Actually, WE weren't driving, so I guess WE didn't get the ticket...technically. Not sure why he/we got the ticket. All of the Danish cars were conspicuously absent, couldn't see a "No Parking" sign anywhere....but I have to assume we broke some sort of convention like parking on a pedestrian mall on a holiday. Holidays are serious business here. Come to think of it holidays were serious business in Azerbaijan, too. You know, I think that North Americans are definitely not getting enough....more holidays....might fix that.
Not sure it is a pedestrian mall. Don't see any pedestrians. Everything around here looks like a pedestrian mall on holidays with everything shuttered and dim. And we did see a few cars driving along the empty street, earlier....we think. We are perplexed and we can't seem to find a due date on the ticket. Parking tickets seem to be serious business here as well, since our little foray into law breaking is going to cost 500 kroner!
John made us drive around for a bit in hopes of finding the person who gave us the ticket, but there was no sign of anyone, on this, or on any of the neighboring streets. My theory is that parking enforcement buddy sits in the window at the local Ale-hus waiting for hapless customers, then he pounces.
I hope this view was worth it. Of course, it was one of those rare times when I actually got out of the car to take a picture. What is a zoom lens for anyhow?
That castle's pretty impressive and all but I think I like the Extreme Home Chocolate Make-Over version myself.
We ate dinner at the Chinese restaurant (it has the red awnings in the crime scene photo above). It wasn't busy (probably because there is no freaking place to park) and the food took a little while to come. I managed to keep busy taking pictures from my seat.
There were these 3 really cool looking painted Buddhas on the bar that I really wanted to take a picture of, but by the time we were finished our meal there was a family sitting in the way, so I let them eat in peace.
I didn't stay disappointed for too long because the best thing that's happened to me a long time was looming right around the corner! On the way back to the car (which we had moved to a mutually agreeable location between John and the municipality), I spied in the window of Outdoor Living my Columbia flip-flops....my beloved no longer available in the US or Canada Columbia flip-flops! I have been looking for these for almost 2 years. I haven't even been able to find them online, and here they were all along....hanging out in Hillerod waiting for me to walk by. Too bad they were closed.
I don't think he was trying to burst my bubble, but John (still clutching his 500 kroner parking ticket) suggested they might be a quite expensive, here, in a little specialty shop window. Like I care about price where my feet and the best flip-flops in the world are concerned? Like the man who wouldn't give me a foot rub, if his life depended on it, should care either? This is Thursday, in 2 more days I will have my Columbia flip-flops!
All in all it was a pretty good day, despite the parking ticket. We discovered a pretty good Chinese food restaurant, discovered after we ordered that they had a Mongolian Buffet at the back, John only had one 45 minute conference call on the side of the road near Allerod, and I programmed my flip-flops into the GPS.
Later that night, when I caught John sending emails in bed again, flashed him.
I used the camera since this was for posterity, not old times sake.
3 comments:
Where is the picture of the flip flops? I want to see them. LOL!!
Looking forward to seeing you in at the Gala.
Camille
I sure am enjoying the adventures of good ol' Sally. Great entertainment. Hope you are used to your new digs now.Love the photos; please keep them coming.
Can you believe it? My battery died!! I'll definitely take a picture of them when I have them on my feet tomorrow...have to prove that they're not that ugly.....my feet, that is.
Post a Comment