Brent Cyclists and David had organised another bike ride out of London and I join again. And this time Ann joined us as well She only started cycling after she moved to London so it was great that she was now up for trying something longer.
The weather looked decent (typical London weather – it wasn’t really sunny or really cloudy but somewhere in between that made it really comfortable for a bike ride).

Ann, Chris and I took the tube to North Harrow were we met the other cyclists. We were a group of 12 in total as we headed off into the suburban sprawl of north west London.

We mostly drove on quiet streets and through a couple of green areas with more or less clever ways of making us get of the bikes and duck, crawl or lift our bikes over obstacles.

We also went along the canal and through the lovely Langley Park.

We were getting hungry as we got Windsor on the horizon. With the goal in sight we made a last stride to our designated pub in Windsor for a well deserved meal and a pint. Ann was reaching her limits but for a first bike excursion 32 km is very impressive.

After the refueling the rest of us continued back more or less in the direction we came. With a stop for tea (and ice cream) in Langley Park. Before making it back to Uxbridge were most of jumped on the tube to take us home.

Another nice ride with the people from Brent and Harrow.

Head over and read Ann’s account of the trip.

It was a perfect day for a bike ride. Clear skies and 18-20C and a light breeze. We were 4 cyclists from the Gladstone area and 5 from Kingsbury making it a good size group and with very interesting stories and chats as we went along the route.

After a steep climb in Kingsbury we made it up some of the local legendary architect Trobridge unusual houses.

Ernest George Trobridge designed some of the more unusual houses in Kingsbury, North West London. His buildings are striking and are either thatched elm wood cottage style or ornate houses with twisted chimneys or turrets and battlements. There has recently been an exhibit about Tronbridge at the local library. Unfortunately most of his amazing houses are in rather poor condition.

After Kingsbury we started to make our way out to the “green belt” with gates and bridges to cross in various parks.

We made it to an aerodrome to see a couple of small planes take of and someone getting lessons in flying a helicopter.

As our bellies were starting to growl we headed for The Battle Axes to quench our thirst, stretch our legs and fill our stomachs.

Before heading homewards we made a slight detour to see Grim’s Dyke Hotel where David could enlighten us in the story of how W. S. Gilbert lived and died here (trying to save a lady from drowning). There was the most beautiful cherry tree in the garden of the hotel.

We went to see the grand view of London from a viewpoint called “The City” end then made the trip back to London. On the way passing by an enclosure with deers that seemed even more curious about the bunch of us, than we of them.

David Arditti had done a wonderful job of planning the trip and could tell stories of the places we passed on the way – a few of them mentioned here. Apart from David the other lads also knew a lot about the places we passed and I thoroughly enjoyed the day in the saddle. Hopefully I’ll be able to join for more of the rides this season.

The trip for the Gladstoners (heh) was 49.43 km – the route is up on EveryTrail, GPSies and Google Maps.

UPDATE: David wrote a great report of the ride and more of the stories connected with the places we went.

In London
5th of November the Brits celebrate the Guy Fawkes failed attempt to blow up Parliament. We went to the local Roundwood Park to see a the fireworks. Before the show we grabbed some hotdogs and looked at all the kids fighting with light swords.

Trips to Denmark
In November I went on a round trip in Denmark partly for business but also to see friends and family. In Copenhagen I stayed with Mikkel who loves to cook (and I love to eat his food).

In Aalborg I visited Peter, Maria and little Oscar and met Martin for a beer or two at my favorite classy and trashy bars.

In Odder I had a playdate with my nephew and ended up at my parents place for a couple of days.

This Denmark trip ended with a big Christmas celebration in the barn of my aunt Solveig where the three cousins were celebrating Christmas big style. Always a big, fun party and this year cousin Rasmus was home on leave from his soldier duties in Afghanistan. Here are the three brothers Rasmus, Mogens and Christian.

Three weeks later I was back in Denmark again – this time with Ann. Since Ann and I are spending Christmas in Malta we went to exchange gifts and celebrate a mini-Christmas with my family with a nice dinner, gifts unwrapping, Lego building with Magnus and cookie making with my dad.

After the family stuff we went for a trip to Ã…rhus to see Christian, his wife and 6 month old son. Before that we went to The Old Town an open air museum where they have old buildings from all over Denmark that has been disassembled in their original spot and rebuilt in the museum.

Visits in London
Ann’s mum and sister came to visit us in London at the end of November. With them we went to see the musical Blood Brother with Melanie C. One of the other days we walked along Regent’s Canal to Camden Market.

My cousin Rasmus the soldier and his friend Daniel was passing through London so I spend a day walking around London with them and catching up.

A friend from high school Jan and his girlfriend Kristi came to London this weekend and I had a great time playing guide/discovering London with them as we walked through town on a nice winter Sunday.

With Jan and Kristi we made it to an evensong at Westminister Abbey. For the first Sunday of Advent, Ann and I had gone to St. Paul Cathedral (pictured above).

Getting out of London
We went to Canterbury in Kent for a Sunday to meet a friend of Ann. The weather was not the best but we got to see the medieval town and huge cathedral where the Archbishop of Canterbury resides.

With Ann’s family in London we took a trip to Oxford where we did Ashmolean Museum, Museum of Natural History, Museum of History of Science and Pitt Rivers Museum.

That was it for the highlights. As mentioned Malta is coming up for Christmas and I’m really looking forward to that Hopefully I’ll get around to writing another update or two before – if not – Merry Christmas!

The title refers to the activities in my last weekend Don’t say I’m not trying to diversifying. But more on that later, first let me catch up.

Since I got back from Denmark I’ve been quite busy with work but have also had time for some other activities.

First Mikkel, one of my thesis buddies from Aalborg, came to visit. It was a long time since I had had time to catch up with Mikkel so it was great to have him in Prague. Mikkel is an avid cook and took over the kitchen a number of times to great delight for me and some friends.

While Mikkel was here I finally got around to go on a city tour of Prague with Helge who I have know for most of my time here. I should have done it a long time ago because the tour covers a lot of Prague history and the central areas and buildings. I’d recommend it for any Dane going to Prague and for English speaking people they do private tours.

After Mikkel left I took it easy for a weekend and only got out to go to Bohemian Jazz Festival on Old Town Square. To my surprise the first band playing was Magnus fra Gaarden, a danish band dressed in cow and 80s costumes playing jazz mixed with electric guitar. Interesting combination. The next act, Josefine Lindstrand was also really cool.

on to the last weekend which started out Friday night at a friends place. He had just gotten back from a visit to his native Hungary and had brought some homemade wine and grappa, which kept us entertained for the night.

Saturday I went to another friends place were we had a sushi party spending all night rolling and eating sushi till we were rolling ourselves.

Sunday I tried to combat the overeating from the night before by watching other people sweet it out as they were engaged in real combat.

An hours drive south of Prague a 9th century festival called Rogar – Blood of the North was taking place. They had set up camp and was living in tents making food over open fire and creating weapons and jewelery in the styles and methods of the era.

The highlight of the festival was the battle. Around 40 guys were suited out in body armor, helmets and weaponry and went at it in full force for about an hour. They fought until everyone was “killed”, then got up again and started over. (here’s a short video)

After the battling we went on a hike by the nearby Slapy Reservoir. The picture at the top of this post is Leigh holding up some of the mushrooms we found. Simona is Czech and she knew what was edible and here is some of the stuff we found.

I have never seen mushrooms as big as a plate before and I would have never dared to touch them if it hadn’t been for Simona. It seems to be a national sport in Czech Republic to go mushroom hunting. Yesterday Simona cooked they ones we found and I must say it was very delicious and I see why its fun collecting mushrooms.

That was sort of a brief overview of what I’ve been up to.

I haven’t mentioned it on my blog before but I will be leaving Prague in mid-September to move to London. And last week Ann and I signed the contract for a place near Willesden Green where we are going to live So with less than two months to go I will enjoy Prague and surroundings as much as I can.

Saturday 9 of us started out at 8am from the bus station in Prague. Our goal was a small town called Mseno where the hike would begin. Throughout the week leading up to the trip we had watch the forecast go from good to decent to sketchy. But most people were still psyched for a hike so we set out anyways. 

As we got in the bus and set out for the hour and a half bus ride it started to rain. It hadn’t stopped when we got out of the bus and as we started out for the walk everyone was in an overly cheerful mood as if the sun would come out if we just kept smiling.

We started out down the path through a small alley in Mseno and soon we found ourselves walking in splashing mud across fields. Luckily we later got on to paved road for parts of the trip.

The rain finally stopped as we made it to the first lookout point on our route. Further along we came to a part leading through something out of Lord Of The Rings with narrow passageways through the sandstones covered in bright green moss. 

Staying in fairytale world we later came to the castle of the day Kokorin Castle where we took a break.

After a late lunch we realized we still had 10km to go before we would get to Melnik so we tried to pick up the pace. At the same time the sun came out and we were walking along a beautiful path up and down hills past lakes on a river.

Leigh Anthony Dehaney one of the other guys on trip (and an artist and wizard with film) made two really cool films of our trip. The creepy flick below and the one with people here (you need a facebook login).

 

We made it to Melnik at the other end of our route in time to catch the 18.40 bus back to Prague. It ended up being a trip of somewhere around 20km and the first time this year I experienced two digit temperatures, saw flowers, deers and heard bird song Finally spring is here.

Thanks a bunch to Grace for organizing.

Dominic who organized the event had with the help of his Vietnamese friend Mickey found this delicious drink. It is snakes and some other unidentifiable animals soaked in vodka – yummy! Some of the others tried it out. I was a chicken but tried a sip of one of the others when they didnt colapse after trying it.

One of the new faces at the trip was Karen the blogger from Empty Nest Expat. It was really cool to meet her as I have been following her blog over the last six months. She had never been to Prague until 10 days ago but since she saw pictures from the Velvet Revolution 19 years ago she knew she wanted to go here. So she waited until her daughters went to college, sold her house and all her stuff and moved here to become a language teacher. Way to go!

First video is from a boat trip I did with my parents, sister, Mogens and Magnus. Its by Fårup Lake where our parents invited us for dinner and afterwards we went for a trip on the lake.

Second video is from my parents neighbours party. The parents of my old friend Johannes was celebrating their birthdays with a tent party in the garden. Here its the daughter Agnethe, wife Lotte og husband Johannes doing an a cappella version of Stand By Me.

Check out Agnethes own songs on MySpace or Johannes music-comedy group.

Venskabet mellem Eckardts- og Carøe-familien gÃ¥r en del Ã¥r tilbage. I ‘67 var min morfar pÃ¥ rundtur i USA med hans lokale afdeling People to People, og de kom blandt andet forbi byen Sheboygan, hvor han mødte Myrtle og Gene for første gang. Siden har mine bedsteforældre og Eckardts-parret besøgt hinanden flere gange. Det blev starten til et livslangt venskab, som vi er mange, der har nydt godt af. I halvfjerserne var først min onkel et Ã¥r pÃ¥ en farm uden for Sheboygan, og siden var min mor og senere min moster et Ã¥r i huset hos Myrtle og Gene. Senest har bÃ¥de min søster og jeg rejst rundt i USA med stor hjælp fra Myrtle og Gene, som har gjort alt hvad der stod i deres magt for at hjælpe os. Nu er jeg i USA igen og bor, efter amerikanske forhold, i rimelig afstand fra Sheboygan. SÃ¥ jeg var glad da jeg fik invitationen til deres guldbryllup – og jeg havde som hÃ¥bet en rigtig god weekend med nogle dejlige mennesker.

Jeg tog AmTrak toget til Chicago og skiftede der til et nyt tog mod Milwaukee. I modsætning til DK er der stort set kun et tog om dagen hvis man skal fra Ann Arbor til Sheboygan, sÃ¥ det er med ikke at misse det. Ellers gik togturen fint selvom vi blev forsinket 40 minutter med begge tog. PÃ¥ bÃ¥de turen ud og hjem havde jeg nogle spændende sidemænd at snakke med. Den ene vej var det en kvinde sidst i tredvierne der var pÃ¥ vej til hendes 20 Ã¥rs highschool reunion. Hun havde ikke været til tidligere reunions, men hun havde søgt pÃ¥ internettet og opdaget at det i Ã¥r var 20 Ã¥r siden, sÃ¥ nu mÃ¥tte det være. Den anden vej snakkede jeg med en mand pÃ¥ næsten 80, som snart skulle til Europa. Han var dÃ¥rligt gÃ¥ende, men det skulle ikke stoppe ham – som hans 80 Ã¥rs fejring ville han og hans kone rejse til alle de steder i Europa, som de tidligere havde rejst. Med start i Stockholm ville de over Gøteborg, igennem Danmark og videre ned igennem for at ende i Barcelona. De kommer forbi Danmark i starten af maj, sÃ¥ han var ked af at høre at jeg ikke ville være i Danmark pÃ¥ det tidspunkt.

På banegården i Milwaukee blev jeg hentet af Mark Schultz, som var naboens søn. Mark har også rejst en del og blandt andet besøgt Carøe-farmen engang da han studerede i Stockholm (så jeg skulle hilse!). Mark bor i dag i Japan og har gjort det de sidste 12 år, hvor han underviser i engelsk på tre forskellige skoler.

For tre år siden flyttede Myrtle og Gene fra Koening Dr. til deres nye condo i et nyopført seniorområde. Fredag aften var der vej-fest hvor vi barbeque-ede med naboerne og jeg tog panoramabilledet her, så I kan få en ide om hvordan det ser ud. De nyder det nye hus rigtig meget, og hvis familien i Danmark vil se flere billeder derfra kan I kigge her.

De ville ikke holde en stor fest, sÃ¥ i stedet havde de inviteret den nærmeste familie og lejet en bus, som kørte os til Fireside. Ca. 2 timers kørsel fra Sheboygan ligger Fireside Dinner Theater. Jeg har ikke hørt om sÃ¥dan et sted før, men det er en bygning som indeholder bÃ¥de restaurent og et teater, og hvor der altid hører en forestilling og middag med. Efter en super middag, sÃ¥ vi musicalversionen af Beauty and the Beast og det var rigtig godt. Publikum sad pÃ¥ alle fire sider, sÃ¥ meget af handlingen skete i og omkring en stor lem i gulvet. Det var en flot produktion med store kostumer og gode skuespillere. – En rigtig god dag og busturen frem og tilbage blev tilbragt med snak.

Myrtle og Gene havde ikke-ønsket sig gaver, de synes ikke de manglede noget. Istedet havde deres familie lejet en stor Cadillac til dem, så de kunne trille rundt i i en uges tid og rigtig nyde det. (Og jeg må sige det er noget af en drøm at flyde afsted i sådan en.)

Til Carøe’erne derhjemme kan jeg sige at jeres post er nået frem og vi gav dem denne rød/hvid bukket:

Udover en god weekend fik jeg snakket med nogle folk fra andre steder i landet, så når jeg engang får købt mig en bil kan besøge folk i Madison, Idaho og Atlanta

Når jeg kommer til staterne denne gang vil jeg ikke have den samme frihed, men jeg regner med at købe mig en bil, mens jeg er der, og komme ud på nogle landeveje i weekenderne.

Der er noget helt specielt over road trippin’ i Guds Eget Land, som man ikke kan opleve pÃ¥ de europæiske autobahns – eller jeg har i hvert fald ikke oplevet den samme feel pÃ¥ de europæiske veje.

Afstandene ret ubegribelige, nÃ¥r man sidder i Jylland og kan køre til alt pÃ¥ et par timer – det er let at sidde og kigge pÃ¥ et kort og tænke “Ork, sÃ¥ kører vi bare herfra til dertil“. Derudover er der trafikken og landskabet. Start i Shreveport, Louisiana om morgenen og kør ind i Texas. Kør pÃ¥ Interstate 20 sæt den pÃ¥ cruise og fortsæt der i 14 timer. Landskabet ændre sig igennem Texas fra de grønneste marker og plantager i det østlige Texas om morgnen, over prærielandskab om formiddagen til ørkenlandskaber med rokkende oliepumper om eftermiddagen. En gang hen ad aftenen nÃ¥r du El Paso, Texas en rigtig moderne western-by. Hvis du kører op pÃ¥ bjerget ved byen, kan du se ind over byen med alle dens lys. Og der hvor der ingen lys er i en flot bue i horisonten, der løber Rio Grande, floden der danner grænsen til Mexico. En dag pÃ¥ en vej i en stat. (Se ruten pÃ¥ et kort)

Trafikken på de amerikanske interstates glider ofte i et forbavsende roligt tempo, sjældent mere end 5-10% over maksimal hastighed og når alle køre med cruise control kan en overhaling nemt tage ½-1 minut.