Nice

We arrived at the Nice airport today around noon and the weather was beautiful. It seemed like there were palm trees everywhere, so I could immediately tell that I was experiencing a different side of France than I had ever seen before.

Since we’re staying in Menton, we decided to visit Nice for the afternoon. After grabbing lunch, we spent a couple of hours touring the old section of the city (Vieux Nice) and enjoyed the sunny day. I really liked the architecture and colors of the buildings.




























I came across the following local resident during our tour and think he's in desperate need of some nail clippers...

And here's a shot from a church that I liked. I wanted to go inside but it was completely full for a service.

After touring Nice we drove along the coast past Monaco to Menton. While we didn’t stop in Monaco, we were able to see the gigantic yachts docked in the harbor. It must be nice to own a yacht that is valued more than the net worth of +99% of the world’s population…

We arrived in Menton right before sunset and headed up to the suite where Emilie’s mom, aunts and uncle were staying. While I’ve had some “trial by fire” moments with the French language during my time in Switzerland thus far, nothing compared with what I experienced that evening during and after dinner.

It basically was like a French immersion course and by the time the evening ended I was exhausted. But I think I did a decent job. Fortunately, Emilie’s aunts and uncle were very nice and patient with my speaking abilities (or lack thereof). Plus we had a great view of the Mediterranean and the food was very good.

Emilie's B-Day

Today was Emilie’s b-day so we went out for a nice dinner to celebrate at the nearby Beau-Rivage Palace hotel. Here’s a picture taken after the meal.

We’re going to continue the celebration this weekend by heading to Menton, France, which is a small town on the Côte d'Azur between Nice and the French-Italian border. We’ll be joining Emilie’s mom, sister and aunts as well. Monday is a holiday in Switzerland – Whit (Pentacoast) Monday – so it’ll be a nice three day weekend.

Copenhagen - Part III

Our final day in Copenhagoen went quickly as we had an early afternoon flight. We decided to start the day with a second attempt at the canal boat tour, but it turned out that the return time was too tight to allow us to make our flight.

As a back-up plan, we decided to try to see the inside of the Amalienborg Palace. However, as we approached the line to get in we saw that it extended far beyond what was realistic for us to stand in before our departure. As a result, we headed back to the Marble church for a quick look inside before calling it a trip and heading back to the airport on the metro. Here's a view of the dome from below...

Copenhagon - Part II

Today we were greeted by rain to go alongside the cold weather. In order to stay dry, we spent the morning at the Danish Museum to learn a little about Denmark’s history. In particular, I liked all of the Viking-related artifacts and information.

We then headed to a restaurant called Noma for lunch. “Lunch” is actually an understatement, as it could be better described as a full artistic dining experience in which we were taken on a three hour culinary journey. Here are some pictures from the outside.



















And here's one of Emilie, her sister and her mom.

There was limited flexibility with the menu and you basically just relied on the chef for the various courses. And with each course came a thorough explanation from the waiters as to what you were eating, where specifically the local ingredients were from and any other pertinent information.

Rather than waste your time with my descriptions of the various courses, I’ll let the pictures below do the talking for me. That said, my favorite courses were the (1) ox cheek and endive and (2) pike perch. One of the deserts (there were many) was also a highlight – the caramel that was served as if it were bone marrow.

Quail eggs / radishes in edible "dirt"...










Can't remember / beets










Dried scallops and watercress / steamed oyster










Pike perch / pickled vegetables and bone marrow










Ox cheek and endive / celery and celeriac










Herbs and frozen milk / chocolate covered chips










Caramel

And here’s a link to the restaurant’s website for those who are interested.

http://www.noma.dk/main.php?lang=en

By the time that we finished up with our marathon lunch, the rain had finally stopped for a bit. After a quick stop by the Danish Design Center and Tivoli gardens, we walked to Christianshavn in order to visit the autonomous neighborhood of Christiana, which is a former military barracks that transformed into a counter-culture, bohemian commune in the 1970s. In many ways it operates as an autonomous economic system and even has its own currency (the Lon).










When we first walked into Christiana, I took a couple of pictures before seeing the many signs prohibiting photography. Although they apparently date back to a time when there was much more open drug use and sales (on the aptly named “Pusher Street” no less), things have become much more discreet over recent years – particularly following the eviction of the hash stands – so the signs are probably much less relevant today. Nevertheless, I saw no reason to risk ruffling any feathers.

We then walked over to the Kastellet (literally “citadel”), which is a well preserved fortification dating back to the 1600s. Today it serves as a park, but is still the site of some military activities. As can be seen from the pictures, the rain had returned at this point but fortunately wasn’t too heavy. Aside from the natural beauty, there were some interesting sites including an old church that also included a prison, the Gefion Fountain and a windmill from the 1800s.




























The famous “Little Mermaid” statue (related to the Hans Christian Andersen story) is near the Kastellet as well. However, she is currently in Shanghai for the 2010 Expo – this is apparently the first time that she has been moved during her roughly 100 year existence – so we were out of luck. In her place, the Danish government erected a temporary replacement that I found pretty amusing (see picture below). I guess they didn’t want to simply use a true replica.

It turns out that the statue has actually been through a lot – multiple decapitations, a sawed-off arm, being blown off her foundation, having a sex toy attached to her hand and multiple paint jobs. Perhaps the government thought the replica would be defaced as well.

We then walked back towards the hotel and saw the Amalienborg Palace, which is the main residence of the Danish royal family, and Frederick’s Church (also known as the Marble Church -- it's the domed building in the background of the third picture).




















We also tried to get a canal boat tour to take advantage of the remaining daylight, but the boat was fully booked so we went back to the hotel to relax before returning to Nyhavn for a light dinner.

Copenhagen

Today I arrived in Copenhagen, where I’m spending the (Swiss) holiday weekend with Emilie, her mom and her sister. The trip got off to an auspicious start, as the bags that Emilie and her family had checked were literally the first ones to come off the conveyor. We took the metro from the airport to city and it was very comfortable and efficient.

From the metro stop we walked the relatively short distance past the Nyhavn canal towards our hotel. The weather was a bit cold but fortunately it wasn’t raining. Supposedly, May is typically a good time to visit Copenhagen as the weather starts to get warmer and more stable. Perhaps not this year, though, I guess. Regardless of the weather, though, I was able to get some nice pictures.











We’re staying at the Admiral Hotel, which apparently used to be some type of factory / storage facility. As can be seen from the picture below, it definitely doesn’t look like your standard hotel. It’s quite nice, though, and in a way kind of feels like you’re on a boat given the small windows and proximity to the water (on the other side).

After dropping our stuff off at the hotel, we walked back along the nearby Nyhavn canal and found a nice restaurant to have lunch. There were plenty of outdoor spots available with space heaters and blankets, but we decided to find a spot inside instead. In warm weather, the outdoor seating would have been ideal but not so much when it feels more like winter.

Here are some more pictures along the canal...










...and from the restaurant.










After lunch we walked around the old town section of Copenhagen. Despite the cool weather, there were tons of people out. Here are some pictures that I took along the way.




























My first general observation about Copenhagen is that there are bikes everywhere. I had heard that it was a “green” city, but I was amazed at how many people were actually riding bikes for transportation – despite the inclement weather. I can’t imagine how many people use their bikes when the weather is actually nice. And as can be seen from the following picture, theft doesn’t seem to be much of an issue as no one seems to bother locking up his or her bike.

Here's a group of street performers that we saw during our walk. Without a doubt, the guy was playing the biggest guitar (?) that I'd ever seen.

For the evening we had tickets to see My Fair Lady. We made the quick walk along the water from the hotel to the new opera house and arrived with a couple of minutes to spare before the performance was set to begin. One problem – we soon learned that the performance was actually in the old opera house, which was a 10 minute walk away.

We covered the distance in about five minutes, but nonetheless arrived after the show had started so we weren’t able to go to our seats until after intermission. Instead we were escorted to a separate section where all the latecomers are herded in order to minimize the disruption to those who respectfully arrived on time.

The show was interesting, but there turned out to be another unexpected twist – it was in Danish. I’m not sure why we assumed that it would be in English. Perhaps because the whole premise of the play involves the English language! I’m just glad that I had read Shaw’s Pygmalion and seen My Fair Lady before during high school. Otherwise, I would have been completely lost. That said, it was still funny to hear Danish analogy of a cockney accent.