And so to Odense...

Wow. Has it been that long since I last posted on here?
Anyway.
For the 3rd(for me) and final(for everyone) time, I have been invited to exhibit in Odense. Funds and work means that we won't be able to make it across there this time, but it is still an honour to be allowed to show some of my photos.
I only have one drawing this year, of my bosses, daughters ex-dog. It's not quite finished yet though (I'm about to go and put the finishing touches on it now) so I won't post it here, however, pictured below are this years photographic entries.
*Cue 'Gallery' music from Vision-on*

Two Left Feet

Up North

Into The Light

King Penguin

Lost Religion

Neptune

Remote

A couple of days ago, I caught a little doodle-bug and came up with this. It kind of ties into the Denmark thing, as it was copied from a photo taken in Odense. It looks a bit dark just now, but I might try to take a better snap later.

Odense. Day 6. Pictures

Flying home. Day 6. (18th June 07)

A lazy morning this morning to ease us gently into the idea of coming home. As it was dry, I nipped out to take a few last pictures.
Our check-out was 11, but we had arranged to meet Becky at the station at 11 for a farewell coffee so we were out by about half 10.
The train was on time but some ignorant woman had taken my seat opposite Suzanne, across a table, but rather than cause a fuss I just sat next to my lady. I didn't want to fluff the end of our holiday. (That was about to happen anyway).
We looked for our flight when we arrived so we could check in and get through search as soon as we could, but it wasn't there. I double-checked the e-ticket and realised my glaring error. Instead of our flight being at 17:45 like I thought when I booked the train, it was 7:45, so we had an extra 2 hours to wait. In my defense, I had booked the train from memory, pre-8am on a sudden spur-of-the-moment. After a coffee our check in was ready, so we joined the snake and got our bags dumped.
Security was nice and easy and we had a wee look round to see what we could remember from last year.
It was about half past past lunchtime, so with a sandwich and a 'Yankee' bar, we were left with 2DKK in our pockets.
An uneventful plane home and we were back around 10:30 with a million or so great memories once more.
Roll on 'Memories 5'

Odense. Day 5. Zoo pictures.

Odense. Day 5. (17th June 07)

Up and breakfasted, we helped Becky to the gallery with her suitcase before we skipped onto a boat headed to the zoo.
It was a fine morning, and all the animals seemed to want to come out and play. First stop was at the main entrance to get a map of some sort and we wandered round a-while, taking many pictures and just watching the animals do what animals do. Then it rained. Not just a bit, but a deluge! As luck would have it, the first time, we were just at the flamingo shed where their food had been left out. Some chancing ducks had ventured inside first though and were scoffing away nicely as the flamingos daintily approached. Most of the ducks left, but as the pink blob with a thousand legs approached with what seemed like intrepredation due to the duck infiltration, one of the group of food snatchers got a bit spooked and tried to fly off. BANG! straight into a plexiglass window. Unhurt and still needing to get out it tried again. BANG! same thing again. Third time lucky? The duck didn't seem to think so, and tried his best 'I meant that' swagger out the wide open door. All this kerfuffle had sent the flamingos to the safety of a nearby tree. The rain abated for a while and we made a dash for a nearby watering hole. We sat and had some coffee and watched a couple of small boys play in the puddles and skite down the chutes. After another wee storm we went round the places we hadn't seen before, without the annoyance of too many people around due to the previous wetness.
Too many animals to list, but amongst the highlights were the manatees, penguins, monkeys (including the bug-eating one) and the prairie dogs. That duck was funny too...I hope he wasn't too embarrassed...
Off to find the last boat home, as we had stayed longer than expected, but it was a really great and full day. Just as we were making our way to the dock, it happened again, but this time worse! Loads more rain, stair rods and big ones at that, so we were more than just a little bit moist when the captain and his vessel showed up.
We stopped off at our friendly neighbourhood pizza shop to grab some dinner on the way back to the hotel to dry off.
It would be a long day travelling, so early to bed after packing as much as we could.

Odense. Day 4. Pictures

Odense. Day 4 (16th June 07)

We both woke up a little worse for wear (see yesterday), but a hearty breakfast and a couple of painkillers helped a little. Todays plan was to re-visit the gallery, Hans Christian Andersen's house and check out a photo exhibition called '100 shots' that we were told should be a good one.
The downside to all this was that it was raining although it wasn't as cold as our day in the wet in Copenhagen. Kenneth (our host) even offered us a loan of a brolly on our way out the door, but we declined as, well, we're from Scotland so we're used to the rain.
The HCA museum/house was as I remembered. and we enjoyed the exhibits and a couple of storys each. In the 'Hall of Memories' there was a separate wee exhibition about a new edition of Thumbelina that had original concepts and drawings. It looked much fun, but Suzanne was disappointed that there wasn't an English version she could buy.
It was still raining outside when we had finished, but we soldiered on to Brandt's Passage where the photo exhibition was. The concept was that 100 people (some photographers, some actors etc) had been asked to submit one piece that suggested 'Humour'. Now, some of these worked easily and were laugh out loud funny, but some....well, I couldn't see humour in them anyway, but perhaps I was missing something. It took a good hour or so to get through the exhibition and by the time we ventured back outside, the rain had stopped. We moseyed on to 'The Irish Pub' where we had a pint of Guinness or two and figured on catching a snack (we were due to go for a meal that evening) on the way to have another peek in the Gallery.
Due to the need to lose some of the Guinness, we went to the gallery first and were enthralled by a choir that was singing in the room which held our pictures. We wandered around the rest of the gallery again, and once the singers had sung, sneaked back into 'our' room to try to observe peoples reactions to our pictures. One guy stood for ages looking at a couple of both our pieces - which was nice.
Again though, it was nearly closing time (5) so we left and headed back to the hotel to freshen up, change, and get ready for the evenings proceedings.
We got to the gallery bang on half past 6 and met with friends, both new and old. Of course, discussion seemed to centre around what a Scot wears under his kilt, but that soon passed and we were chatting like old friends to everyone. We all got on a boat for a trip up the canal and chatted some more about mostly everything. Our transport puled up at the Zoo stop, where we were met by the waiter for the evening and led through the zoo to the 4* restaurant we were going to eat in. Some of us who had brought cameras kind of got held up taking some pictures of some of the animals, and a few others just watched the antics of the prairie dogs and monkeys. Suzanne and I decided there and then that we needed to come back the next day to check out the rest of the zoo. Into the restaurant where we were seated round 2 big tables and the buffet started to arrive. Being a fussy eater, I was a bit wary of what there might be for me, but there was enough to keep me happy although we found out afterwards that there should have been dessert too. Beer, juice and conversation all flowed and it seemed like only a brief time later we had to go to catch the boat back.
Becky was feeling really tired so we decided we would walk back to the hotel with her (she was in our hotel for one night, and had been given - by chance I think, the room which shared the balcony with us). So we said our farewells to everyone, except Jeanette(sp?) who lived nearby and walked with us to the door.
Up on the balcony we gave thanks for the 5DKK coffee from the vending machine and this time toasted Becky who had done an even more remarkable job this year in getting everything sorted out.
It was about half 11 when we got to bed and had pre-booked a breakfast date before Becky had to check out and we set off for the Zoo.

Odense. Day 3. (15th June 07)

The Train got us in on time to Odense, and we hardly needed the map to get us to our hotel as we reminisced most of the way with 'I remember that bit' and 'It's a right turn here'. When we saw 'our' church, we knew we were right on track.
We had stayed in The Ansgarhus last year and were impressed by the kindness of the host and the general feel of the hotel. The only bad thing is that he doesn't have any double beds in the place, but we can rough it for a few nights. We actually tried the mattress toppers together on the floor for the first night, but in the morning our backs were in a state of rebellion, so we didn't go there again.
Anyway.
We checked in and were given our room, #15, a little smaller than last year, but we had a balcony, and the rain that we had left in Copenhagen hadn't followed us here, so we could sit outside if we wanted.
A quick freshen-up and the 5 minute wander to the gallery (which we could actually see from the balcony) to get a first look at our pictures.
Again, we never managed to sneak in as Becky was there and caught us. We chatted briefly and walked into the room with our art. The big room on the top floor.
It was awesome, again. It is a really special feeling you get when you see your work hanging up in a public gallery. I couldn't begin to describe it, but I felt it last year, and we both felt it this year too.


The gallery was closing up, so we just had a quick shimmy round the rest of the rooms, and then we left in the direction of the park, HCA's house and some food.
We happened upon a nice looking Mexican place and settled in. The nachos were amazing! Mostly over here it's like someone has heated up a plate of Doritos or something, but these were freshly fried and smothered with all the good stuff (and no guacamole! :oD) The main courses were very tasty also and were really filling. No refried beans though :o(
After a wander back through the city and a pit-stop at a 7/11 for sweeties, beer and cake, we arrived in time to sit out on the balcony where we raised a toast to the gallery, and ourselves of course.
A couple of movies to help us chill out for the long day ahead and we drifted off (as well as we could considering the above mentioned sleeping arrangements.

Travelling to Odense. Day 3 (15th June 07)

The train to Odense was booked for 10 to 2 so we had a chance to see some more of Copenhagen, and so we had a chance to check in at the other end and have a sneaky peek into the gallery before it closed.
I didn't manage to sleep much for some reason and woke up at about half 4. We weren't overly keen on the weather outside as it had changed from a pleasantly warm and sunny (Suzanne had a little sunburn already) into a cold and wet Edinburgh type day. Never mind though, we
were to try for a different bus tour to see things we hadn't before so we could keep dry while not being stuck (too far) inside.
It was just after one drove off that we discovered that actually the garish purple and yellow buses are part of the same group, so we could have got on them also. Oops. Not to be beaten, we proposed to try to see if the boat tours were covered. They aren't. On they way back from Nyhavn we scored one of the garish buses that was running a bit late on a tour passed the Zoo and the Carlsberg distillery.
It was a good wee tour, off the beaten track a little through 'proper' streets that hadn't been too touristified (yet), and on the way we passed some lovely gardens, one resplendent with a maze and decided that next year we would definitely hop on and off this tour to see more. We didn't have the time by now to get off and explore so we sat on till the end and made a bee-line for 'The Scottish Pub' for some refreshment, but it was closed, so we made do with the coffee shop on the corner instead.
Time to go to the hotel to pick up our bags and the 2 minute walk to the station where the train was due. We discovered that our reserved seats gave us a window seat...well, two window seats actually as for some reason they had placed us behind each other! A swift trade with a charming old lady, and we were sitting together while she had a window seat now so her escort could wave her goodbye properly.

Copenhagen. Day 1& 2. Pictures

Copenhagen, Day 2 (14th of June 07)

Up a little later than we expected, but still in plenty of time to shower, breakfast and be out by 9. I had been out a little earlier to buy the train tickets for Odense, to make sure we got seats booked, so that we didn't end up in the doorway like last year.
We went first to the information place to see what was happening, and Suzanne suggested a combo ticket that gave us 2 days of being able to hop on and off the tour buses and boats. The plan was to go round the 'red' tour to the mermaid and back first, see what we wanted to look at more closely, then go round again and hop away. When we got to the Mermaid though, we missed the same bus back into town, but as luck would have it, a boat arrived just as we were preparing to sit and wait. We just went one stop to the Amaliehavn where we enjoyed walking round the little garden. We waited for a red bus which took us to Nyhavn, and having caught the hop on and off bug, jumped on a different boat for the full duration. Lovely waterways and a different way to see the city, but beware low bridges! Even our guide was ducking, so we knew it was serious. There was a 73 point turn at one point where the canal was a bit of a squeeze for the boat. It obviously wasn't the first time they'd needed to perform such a maneuver either as there were some handy tyres and guards in place. Suzanne also seemed to be starting a bit of a wildlife sanctuary with 3 spiders and a ladybird making an appearance on us ad different times on the journey.
Back in Nyhavn we decided on lunch at one off the water-side bistros and found one that looked the very job, with bottles of water on the table and a menu that featured something other than seafood. It was a bit pricey, but very nice indeed with what tasted like a freshly made burger rather than mass produced nonsense. The water it turned out cost us and a pint was the dearest so far at 50DKK (just shy of a fiver). During lunch we realised how close we had came to visiting Geffion when we had been at the mermaid, so we jumped back on a boat where we thought we could walk down to the statue. As it happened, a bus (that stopped at the statue) was about to leave, so one stop later we were there.
We took many photos and had some ice-cream there. We also saw a couple of herons fishing, and one catching its prey.
Eventually a bus arrived and took us back to Nyhavn where a different tour boat was about to set off. Waiter service to the boat from the bar produced the cheapest beer so far at 'only' 40DKK. This time, we noticed a sign about an underwater statue at one of the bridges, so we made a note to try to spot it on our next time passing. Walking back to the hotel happened to take us that way, but the water was too cloudy and the sun too shiny to see anything. A few tourist type shops on the way back to the hotel, to arrive about 8pm to have a nice quiet evening after out 11 hour, tourist-tastic day.