The Canadian Perspective

One of the best things about having visitors from Canada is hearing their perspective on how they view life in Denmark. It is funny to find patterns... for starters, they are blown away by the deliciousness of the baked goods. Forget French pastries and Belgian chocolates - the Danes have got it down pat. And they keep it a secret. Everyone that has visited has insisted on going to the bakery every day to get treats... despite the calories!! The other refreshing perspective is to hear how relaxed everyone seems... especially in the way they dress. You don't really see women wearing huge high heels and everyone dresses for comfort (while maintaing that chic Scandinavian style!) These are some of the points my Canadian friend Izzy and I discussed during her recent visit. Still a popular chocker: a mother leaving her baby in a pram on the sidewalk while she goes inside to have coffee. That often gets the most reaction... ha! ha! I can't say I will be the most comfortable practicing that habit, I am just not wired the same...

I also had the chance to visit the zoo. Having visitors allows you to do these things that you generally wouldn't do in the city you are living in. I am still not sure how I feel about zoos and their captivity of animals but I need to do some research on this first before I make any judgements on animal welfare. The zoo was definitely entertaining simply because of the small size of it. I could almost reach the brown bear that was only a few feet in front of us and the hippo the size of a truck was an arms reach away when it decided to yawn. Wow, do they have large teeth!! The local aquarium left much to be desired... I think they are just letting it fade away until they open the new and beautifully designed aquarium in 2013. The Ny Carlsberg museum proved to be quite impressive, especially their winter garden. This is just a small snippet:

A night out with the girls:

Chris looking very happy with his galette - another little gem in downtown CPH:

Us in front of the galette restaurant:

Shopping for shoes and dinner.

Funny how the pregnant mind works... tonight, just as I finished cooking dinner, I decided to cook another. The first dinner, a frittata and salad, just didn't cut it, so I spiced it up and decided to go for a full on Indian dinner with tikka massala, cumin-seed rice and naan. Mango chutney and all. It helped that I have a grocery store right next door so that I can just pop down and grab items as the cravings hit. The grocery store could improve its hours though... they are closed on Sundays, and they close at 7pm during the week. But I guess these limited hours are what give it that market feel... I also just recently found out that if you find an expired product on the shelf, you can trade it in for a free grocery item. This apparently is quite common in Denmark and people have been known to walk around the store to check dates and get their free grocery item in return. There is also a mama-papa shop across the street that is usually open on Sundays. This is a really cute place to shop... the store keeper offers all kinds of services... including holding your baby while you shop. I've actually seen this happen several times... mom walks in and says, here can you hold him while I shop. I have also seen the store keeper help the elderly by carrying their groceries out to their car or even going into a lady's purse to get her money out, pay himself what's due and put her change back. I guess this is a task that gets tough as you get older... much older.

Shopping in Denmark can be quite a different experience. Shopping for shoes the other day, I was still amazed at the lack of customer service. You usually need to go up to the cash register (and wait in line if there is one) in order to ask if they have the shoe in your size. Makes you want to NOT shop, really. It's effort and hard work. Clearly they don't work on commission.

Some snippets of our latest ins and outs:

Making plans for a Royal Wedding Party... and showing my latest proportion.

At the Royal Wedding Party... special attention to the wedding hats I made for everyone.

Late night pizza craving... notice Chris' home made drink - a margarita in a jar.

Our Danish friends trying Mexican cooking for the first time!