Newsletter 2003 - Trips
The number of business trips that I made this year meant that there was no great yearning to leave home and visit new places. There is something very pleasurable in just being able to be at home and enjoy the environment that you have created.
However, we did have one reason to leave home. We were invited to a very unusual birthday party in Denmark. It was a ninetieth birthday party, one of our friends was forty and the other fifty. A whole programme of events was laid on for us from the moment we arrived.
The main party was on Friday evening. To call the evening a party was an understatement. It started with drinks at 7pm. Each course of the meal was introduced by a Swedish A Cappella singing group, the speeches were mainly conducted in Danish and then repeated in English to make everyone feel part of a wonderful family occasion. Then midnight came and anyone might have expected things to be winding down, but then we were off to the next part of the entertainment. We were led outside and entertained to a display of medieval antics which culminated in a wonderful firework display. What a wonderful evening - as my thoughts started to turn to bed, it became apparent that the evenings entertainment was not over and we were led back inside the building to watch a rock band. I'm sorry to say that I left before the end. Obviously, the Danes have far more stamina than I.
Setting off on our Tall Ship excursion
The next morning, we were to go on a boat trip. Our hosts part own a tall ship and they wanted us to experience the enjoyment that they had found from sailing. There were far too many of us to fit on the one ship, so they had arranged for two more ships for the party. Our little flotilla made its way down toward Copenhagen and back for a five hour excursion, which included a very enjoyable al fresco lunch. When we returned to port, we decided to fill the next couple of hours laying out in the sun and enjoying the open air jazz festival.
The next thing arranged for us was a performance of Hamlet in dance in the courtyard of the castle where the play was based. We were extremely fortunate to be able to see this as the schedule had been changed and our hosts had persuaded the company to let us visit the dress rehearsal, so we felt extremely special as the members of a very small audience. The final official event of the weekend was to return to the harbour and watch the fireworks from the deck of a Russian tall ship whilst topping up on our food intake and enjoying shots of vodka.
Next morning, we packed and made our way back to Copenhagen for a little sightseeing before our flight home. As we only had a limited amount of time, we decided to spend it exploring the Tivoli gardens, which is right beside the main Copenhagen station. It was perfect for the couple of hours we had. We wandered around enjoying the atmosphere - it felt to me as if it was the forerunner of all the theme parks that Disney and its rivals have come to develop. There were all manner of pleasure rides, food outlets and shops, there was a certain old world charm about the place. After a bite of lunch, Brian convinced me to have a go on a rollercoaster. Then our time was done and we made our way back to the airport and our weekend in Denmark was at an end.