Trip to Spreewald and Berlin

We had planned a trip to Berlin during the second weekend of August to visit Nora, Simon and Holger (or Hølgær as he is sometimes known). And they had a great suggestion - let's take a trip to Spreewald - the home of the gerkin! Where you can hire a canoe and paddle around miles of canals in lovely sunny weather. Yep, my perfect idea of a weekend away! But we would also get to see Berlin (we love Berlin). We arrived Friday evening, and had a lovely catch up over good German beers, before setting off on Saturday morning to Spreewald. The train trip was a little over an hour, and we picked up Holger on the way. We were staying in a lovely apartment in a GDR-style building (oh so new for us, but brought back a lot of childhood memories for Nora and Holger), just a 5-minute walk from the town centre. On Saturday we did the important things - went food/drink shopping and book the canoe trip for Sunday. We managed to get a 5-seater canoe, so this was going to be a fun Sunday outing along the numerous canals, meeting at various intersections, and the possibility of following several routes along the way. 

After a fun evening of playing Sagaland (I won't go into it! Let's just say everyone had their own tactics, and we were all ruthless), eating homemade pizza and drinking beers, the next morning we picked up our boat at 9.30 and set off on an "adventure". The surroundings were beautiful: cozy houses and restaurants sitting along the river bank, which we stopped off at on the way. And at other times it was just the five of us in our canoe - pure silence apart from the noise of nature - wonderful!

On Monday it was time to leave Spreewald, and head back to Berlin - or from one lovely place to another! We met up with friends of Simon and Nora, ate ice-cream, relaxed in a lovely park area (which used to be an airport/runway!), and simply enjoyed the lovely sunny weather. And we finished the evening off with a visit to the beergarden - well, when in Rome :) Looking forward to the next trip to Berlin already (which is in November for Nora and Simon's wedding!)

World Championships Moscow 2013

Ireland has another world champion!! Rob Heffernan won gold in the 50km race walk competition - I'm so proud of him. He has improved steadily over the years, and it is about time that his hard work and dedication are rewarded. He came 4th in the London Olympics 2012, so winning today in Moscow is even more special after missing out on a medal last summer. I should also mention that is it 30 years to the day since an Irish man won a gold medal at the World Championships - Eamonn Coughlan in the 5000m at the first World Championships in Helsinki. However, we have had success in the women's competition since then - Gillian O'Sullivan (20km race walk, silver medal, 2003) and Sonia O'Sullivan (1500m, silver medal, 1993/5000m, gold medal, 1995).

I love to watch the World Championships and Olympic Games (well actually almost any sport), but these two are definitely in the top 5. In 2004 I went to the Olympic Games in Athens for my holidays - it was one of the best holidays ever, and that says a lot since I've been to many amazing destinations in the last 10 years. I guess being able to watch sports every day on your holidays is something I thoroughly enjoy, and having the opportunity to support Irish athletes at the same time :)

I was in Berlin at the weekend and I got to watch the 100m men's final - Usain Bolt did it again! But I was very disappointed to read today that RTE (Irish television broadcaster) did not show the World Championships at all - and therefore, missed the opportunity to broadcast Rob Heffernan winning gold for Ireland. Something is not quite right here, and I hope they realise their mistake.

Competing in sports is a really tough job - especially race walking, where the training is very intense and time-consuming. I'm just really happy that all this work paid off in the end. Well done Rob, and hopefully this is only the start of the winning streak!

 

(c) Getty Images IAAF.org

Of Monsters and Men

The evening had finally arrived - it was time for the Of Monsters and Men gig in Voxhall. They are an Icelandic band and we've been fans for around a year and a half now. So, it was great to finally see them live. And we weren't disappointed :) Voxhall is a great venue, as it's the perfect size - not too big, not too small - just right for that intimate gig with your favourite bands :) Another great thing is that they sell Murphy's on tap - quite unusal for a Danish or Irish pub (in Dublin), and it's one of Esben's favourite drinks. So what more can you ask for on a Tuesday evening - great live music, and all within 15 minutes of home. Nice.

Looking forward to the next album from these guys...

Baby Leo arrives

It's a boy! And his name is Leo :) Yep, today seemed like a good day to have a birthday (4 days after due date). And this means that I now have a nephew to oooh and awww over, in addition to my two beautiful nieces. I am so excited by the news - my sister is doing really well too :) We are going back to Dublin in July, so that'll mean we'll have a chance to see Leo as a new born. They grow so quickly, but I'm sure at 3 weeks old, he will still have the new born features! So, I'm off to go baby boy shopping...

(c) aliexpress.com

Sculptures by the Sea 2013 & 4:18:4

Soon after we moved to Aarhus two years ago, a really cool outdoor art exhibition began for the month of July - Sculptures by the Sea. Two years later it came back! Obviously with new pieces of art, and this time round they included some sound installations in the forest. As we were away on holidays at the beginning of June, and then at Northside Festival another weekend in June, we left it til the second last weekend to visit the exhibition. And we weren't disappointed one bit! Most of them were located along the beach or in the water, and then the others were in the forest. Even though there is a natural pathway to follow, it can be easy to miss one or two - especially if they are 'part' of nature. So I was pleasantly surprised when I went back a few days later to go swimming in the sea that I got to see the man clinging onto the tree trunk for dear life - he was pretty high up all the same (don't worry, not an actual human being clinging on for dear life for the entire month!).

We spent about 4 hours walking around the area, and it was a nice warm-down after the 4:18:4 triathlon I had completed that morning. Super happy with myself - I finished the triathlon in 1 hour 22 mins - and finally, the cycling event is not too bad after all :) I also took part in the triathalon two years previously - so these events marked our two year 'living in Aarhus' anniversary :)

DNA Dreams @DocLounge Aarhus

Yesterday evening we went to see a documentary called DNA Dreams written by Bregtje van der Haak and hosted by DocLounge in Aarhus. It was about a company in China called BGI who are the largest genome sequencing centre in the world (I think - they are pretty big in any case!). The documentary focuses on their aims to sequence human DNA with the aim of identifying the intelligence gene. In the documentary we are shown that BGI have opened their European headquarters in Copenhagen. Obviously the documentary raises many issues in terms of ethical issues and human genome sequencing, and we were lucky to be able to skype with Bregtje van der Haak on the night after watching the film. There was also a molecular biologist from Aarhus University in the audience, and he gave a little talk on the background of genome sequencing. After the documentary he reiterated his thoughts on this topic, and mentioned that he is very worried about what the Chinese company plans to do with their research. However, other audience members pointed out that genome sequencing of crops, for example, could help millions of people. But the main worry is in relation to genome sequencing and humans. It was an interesting documentary and definitely a good one to start a discussion afterwards.

What are my thoughts on genome sequencing? The idea that it could help with crop production seemed feasible, but trying to identify the intelligence gene is not something I would be in favour of in the future. Also research is one thing, but implementing results is another. I'm not sure if I would like to live in a world that had only 'intelligent' people (as defined by this research).

6 Nations Rugby here again

As I mentioned in a previous post, the RBS 6 nations rugby campaign for 2013 has begun, and Ireland started off well, but could not beat England today in a disappointing game. The bad, wet weather didn't help, but that wasn't the only reason the Irish team lost. England were definitely the better team on the day, and in my opinion look the likeliest to win the championship this year. We never really looked like scoring a try, and were busy fumbling the ball when it mattered the most. Oh well, hopefully we put in a good display against Scotland in two weekends' time. On the upside, Esben and I enjoyed a nice afternoon in the Irish pub Tir na Nog :o)

A busy month

As we spent Christmas and New Year's in Denmark, we both travelled back to Dublin in January. Esben went back for a long weekend, and I stayed on for a week (well including two weekends). It was great to be back home again, and I got to catch up with nearly everyone (it's just not enough time!!). During the first weekend my parents organised a family Christmas Day - it was fab. My dad had left up all the decorations so that it would feel like a real Christmas Day - thanks dad! My nieces were very excited about opening more presents, and it was lovely to be part of the excitement. The week continued to be full of get-togethers, dinners, drinks and catch-ups, which is what I really like about going home. I also got to relax at my parents' place and watch some Borgen episodes that my mum had recorded. I never got into that series before coming to Denmark, or while being here, but after 7 straight episodes, I was very happy to know that series 3 has started in Denmark already - I was hooked!

Unfortunately between burning the candle at both ends during the week and the flight back to Denmark, I picked up a head cold, which had me sneezing and sniffing for over a week. For once I stayed in bed a whole day, which definitely helped with the recovery process. Which was good, as I had planned ages ago to go to Hamburg with two friends the weekend after I got back.

The trip to Hamburg was a great success - we booked accommodation through Airbnb, and got a lovely 3-room apartment very near the centre. It was definitely a case of home from home. I travelled with Yana and Tuija, two friends I have met through my Danish course so we got to practice speaking Danish together for the entire weekend, do a bit of shopping, check out the local weekend-markets, enjoy lovely food, look around the beautiful city, and generally have a lovely relaxing time. We got the train there and back, which is a very easy 5-hour trip (each way). Before we got the train back, Tuija recommended a crime novel to me in the train station, and the 5-hour return trip went very quickly as I couldn't put the book down (The Nigtmare by Lars Kepler btw).

And we're off to Copenhagen next weekend for Esben's uncle's 70th. Hmmm...I'm thinking of taking a little time out next month - I'll need my energy for the RBS 6 nations rugby which is starting on Saturday. Although as I won't get a chance to watch the opening games, I can save some energy for the match on the 10th :).

Happy New Year!

And welcome to 2013! Wow, another year is over. But actually for once, I have to admit that 2012 was packed full of so many good things and fond memories. We got married and had brilliant celebrations in Aarhus, Copenhagen and Dublin (!), travelled to Africa, went to really good music festivals, got to know Aarhus better, made new friends, (I) learned more Danish and Esben's cooking just got better and better. It really was a fun-packed year, and I'm hoping 2013 is the start of many more good years to come!

We had a lovely New Year's Eve in Odense with our lovely friends (and family), Aine, Troels and Alexander. Alexander celebrated his first NYE, and wore a lovely selection of hats before retiring to bed at 8pm. We had a seriously yummy dinner and enjoyed the firework display which was on for about 5 hours in total.

While we were in Copenhagen for the Christmas period, we visited Tivoli - it has kind of become a tradition that if we are in Copenhagen around Christmas time, we have to go there at least once. And so while we were wandering around enjoying mulled wine and eating spanish churros, Esben spotted the shooting range and suggested we have a (friendly) re-match. The previous encounter resulted in Marian 1, Esben 0, so I think he was trying to win back some street cred. And so we played one round. It is the best of 20 shots. On the previous visit I scored 19/20, so that was going to be difficult to match or beat. I ended up with 14/20 this year. I'm clearly a little rusty at shooting targets. Esben finished with 4/20 (and I kind of shot 2 of them, because he thought his rifle was broken). Oh well, so it now stands at Marian 2, Esben 0. That said, Esben did beat me in the horse racing...until next time for our re-match!

Before leaving Tivoli, we enjoyed the fireworks display which is held every year from 26-30 December. It is really impressive, and it looked amazing as the fireworks shot up behind the Russian/Danish themed Tivoli 2012.