Madrid, Denmark and more!

I realize I've gotten increasingly sporadic with blog posts - down to about once a month. For my modest readership, this may be a relief/disappointment/completely irrelevant. For my own personal sense of continuity, I feel obligated. So, onward we go.

We've been traveling heaps this year, already. In addition to a winter tour of northern Germany and Egypt (see earlier post), we've also been to Madrid, Spain and this weekend we spent several days at a beach house in Denmark. As Gina says, it's a 'pinch me' moment for sure.

Madrid was for work, which I am mixed about. I mean, I love it. Don't get me wrong. It is just so damn cool; however, I don't get to see much. The routine is usually arrive Sunday afternoon and prepare for work. The week is fairly busy and we are largely confined to the hotel until about 6 or 7. So, we go to dinner and then pretty much call it a night. But the break from routine is really nice - I like it. And there is always time to sqeeze in a grocery store tour (my top 5 favorite thing to do in a foreign country).

Anyway, Madrid is downright opposed to catering to any sort of dietary anomolies. I got mushrooms (with ham), roasted red peppers (with fish). Even the seemingly safe salad came with a big scoop of tuna on it. Empanadas labled as 'vegetarian' featured fish. I guess it's all relative. Another part of the usual travel routine is that a couple of cultural activities are scheduled - often historical, usually very cool. In Cairo we toured the pyramids, in Madrid we went to the Prado museum and then dinner. The museum was great and so was the dinner - lots of tapas, wine and (for the meat eaters) about half a cow followed by delightful cake.

This week, we took a couple of days off work and headed north to Denmark. Our friends rented a house on the west coast of Denmark (Rinkobing, to be precise - although in the interest of full disclosure, the 'o' should have a little diagonal line that doesn't figure in on my keyboard but still manages to imperceptibly change the pronunciation). All told, there were 10 of us - 9 adults and one 9 year old girl that was completely crazy about Stella. The reverse is a little less clear, but Stella tolerated her well.

We had a really nice time with everybody. We all took turns making dinners and breakfasts. Of course, there was lots of beer drinking and relaxing. Stella sort of capped the event by maiming a seagull on the beach. David and I were walking with Lilith, the girl, on the beach when we saw Stella pouncing on something at the water's edge. So as to minimize the emotional impact on the kid, I fished the bird out of a very rough sea just as it was about to give up the ghost. In thanks, it bit me. Damn. I was really hoping it was bird-flu-free.

We gathered it had a broken wing. Thanks, Stella. And David and I just weren't sure what to do. So we hauled it back to the house to fret there. The whole time we were anxious about what to do in large part because we thought Lilith might freak out. As it happens, she pretty much forgot about it as soon as she told her mom and went inside to color. Given that we were in another country and didn't speak the language and the contact number for the house was going unanswered, David and I decided to put the bird out of his misery. Ugh.

The bird-indicdent behind us (but not forgotten), we took advantage of the jacuzzi and sauna. Man, I love Denmark. Even the stores were nicer - all of the products were somehow shinier, neater, cleaner. Albeit, more expensive. The houses were tidier, even than Germany, which is no mean feat. I guess in a country with a few million people and outrageous taxes, everything just should look nice.

Next on the travel agenda is NY (for both David and I) followed by S. Africa (just David). There are other trips in the pipeline, but I'll save that for posts closer to the event. For the near future, we are in Hamburg and I'll be more regular keeping friends and family abreast, whether you like it or not.

Even though there are no saunas, I still love Hamburg.