2010.04.11 - Easter

Easter with the family

Paula and I have now officially taken to playing badminton once a week. We have done it three weeks in a row which must constitute regularity. We have been once with Tom and Noelia, once just the two of us and last week we played with Tom, as Noelia had come down with a cold. It's fun and Paula seems to enjoy the game as well, even though there is a small amount of domestic violence involved at times (I accidentally mistook her elbow for the shuttlecock!).

For Easter we jumped on the train to Fyn to spend the holidays with my parents. In Denmark we're off from Thursday to Monday, so there's time for a nice long holiday. We hadn't seen our parents (apart from on Skype) since we came back from Korea, so it was high time that we got a chance to beat them at some card games !! Unfortunately the weather wasn't so good, which meant more card games than normal. For once Paula and I had the upper hand in the games ....

Thursday we stayed close to the house, checking out the past projects of my dad (new garage and tool shed) and walking in the local forest.

Friday we went for a drive to the nearest town Middelfart, where we walked around at the shores of the Small Belt - the stretch of water separating Jutland and Fyn. This is a very pretty part of Denmark - especially on a calm day as we had. It is this view that our friend Ole Harrsen has from his grave site ..... it was good to drop by and say hello.

Saturday we drove up to see my sister and her family in Jutland. It was my nephew Silas' 18th birthday, so my sister threw a small party for the immediate family. As always she served up a hearty farm meal - much needed for the following farm walk. They have recently sold their farm to the municipality, as a new motorway will cut through their farm and the rest of their land will be used up for industrial purposes. While digging out for the motorway close to the house an ancient settlement was found. Apparently it was a site for iron extraction. We could still see where the house pillars had stood and where the fire places were. Old melted iron ore could be found also, when you looked closely.

Silas was off to celebrate his birthday with a younger crowd in the evening so we headed home to a date with the cards !! haha ...

Sunday we stayed around the house and the forest again. There are plenty of opportunities for a fresh walk in the area, which is something that Paula and I really appreciate - seeing that we live in the city.

Monday we were off to an early start as we were off to Jutland again - this time to pick up my motorbike at my friends place in Ribe. They had been kind enough to store it for me while we were in Korea, but with the weather warming up, it was time to bring it back to life. I still hadn't registered it, so we brought a trailer to bring it back to my parents place and we brought my parents to get them out of the house for a bit (actually, they were more than happy to come !).

Gitte and Peter have recently bought a new home. And what a home ! It's an old small farm with 9 hectares of land encircling the house. Here they have plenty of space for Gitte's two horses and her dog Buster. Peter bought a Massey Ferguson (tractor) so he is wearing the big smile also! Paula and I got the big tour of the house and land while my parents went their own ways. After lunch we dug in to the barn and came out with my bike. Got it on the trailer, tied it down and we were on our way again. We had to make it back to Copenhagen the same day. But first back to my parents house to offload the bike and start the battery charger.

Thursday we caught up with our friend Claudio, who was visiting from his (new) home in Barcelona. Claudio used to live in Malmö, where he still has a huge circle of friends. Somehow he still manages to connect people even though he is far away himself.

Saturday I got up early and caught a train back to Fyn to pick up my bike at my parents place. Now the battery was charged and the bike was registered, so after checking the air in the tires, the coolant, the oil, oiling the chain and checking the brakes, i was ready to set off (well, after helping my dad a bit in the garden and meeting the neighbor over a cold one). It turned out to be a pretty windy ride and halfway across the Great Belt (the stretch of water on the opposite side of Fyn from the Small Belt), between the two bridges, I had to stop and rearrange the baggage a little, so that the bike was less sensitive to the side wind. This turned a shaky ride into a more agreeable one.

In the evening we met up with Claudio again - this time to watch El Classico with him at one of the Irish pubs in town. Neither Paula nor I are very keen on soccer, but I guess that once in a while is OK. And seeing that we won a bit of money in the tables bet on the result of the game, it was all in all a great night!

Sunday (today) was reserved for my cousin Ingerlise, Matthias, Lisa and Matthias' parents, who came over to see us from Copenhagen (well in fact, the parents came from Bonn). Huge lunch followed by a good talk while Lisa had a little nap, and then out to play in the streets ! Well, not really - just a good walk along the Western harbor. And then an ice cream at the Italian ice cream parlor at Drotningentorget - mmmmmm!!!