The adventures continue...

Yesterday I donned my last pair of lab gloves and pipetted my last as a postdoc. Tomorrow evening I'll leave Aarhus, Brighton bound. I have no idea what's waiting for me, but can't pretend I'm disappointed to be moving on. Join me for the next chapter of my adventures, post academia, at the new blog I'm building up: leftattherabbithole.blogspot.com

"Les soldes" come to Denmark

Like Santa on double-duty, les soldes (the sales) come but twice a year. Any Parisienne can tell you that these are the times to hit the stores without breaking the bank: January-early February, and July-early August. So what's a displaced Parisian with a thing for shoes to do in a city with a disappointingly drab sense of fashion? Let me introduce you to my new favorite way to lose (at least) a half hour: spartoo.com.

This French shoe site sells every sort of shoe you can imagine, from bargain basement to runway fashion. The deals come January/July (or better yet, tail-end super mark-downs in early February/August) are unbeatable when it comes to massive selection and bang for your buck (or euro, or kroner, or whatever your preferred currency). This site became my favorite way to blow off steam (and spare euros) when I discovered it while writing my doctoral thesis. What really did me in this year was my recent discovery of spartoo.dk. (And don't think you're immune, dear non-French non-Dane reader: there's spartoo.co.uk, .de, .es, .it, etc, but if you're still not covered, spartoo.net offers free delivery to over 150 countries.) With over 1000 brands, free returns, free exchanges, and customer advice on sizing of each individual shoe model, what's not to love?

An assortment of Spartoo goodies to have greeted me in Denmark

And now that I'm gearing up to become a businesswoman, scouring this site has become a gleeful obligation! This season's July "soldes" have officially launched this week, and I was all over them. From the confines of my damp and chilly Scandinavian country, I just had to share the joy that came with these little parcels of Parisian pleasure. I might not be able to step foot in Paris these days, but my feet have Paris all over them.

The Michelin tour of Aarhus, Part 3

Having tested Aarhus's Michelin Bib restaurants in March and April, we readied ourselves for the big league. Aarhus's Nordisk Spisehus is one-of-a-kind, a restaurant that collaborates with Michelin starred restaurants around the world to craft new themed menus every two months. I'd first been introduced to the concept during my university job interview at the start of last year, and had been itching to take Nicolas here ever since.

I've been hanging on to the cards that came with each course of the tasting menu during my interview dinner, until the day I could finally make it to Nordisk Spisehus.

Finally, the time had come. With lunch menus literally half the cost of dinner, we decided to bump our dining time slot up to early afternoon. We arrived with just a light breakfast in our stomachs, ready to dig in. Today's menu theme: Copenhagen.

The meal began exquisitely with delicious dark bread to rival the likes of that in Tallinn, accompanied by a whipped butter-yogurt blend that was light in texture but rich in flavor. For starters, I had a shrimp and asparagus dish, and Nicolas a salad with ham and fresh cheese. We followed this up with fish and chips for me (much to my surprise to see this on such a fancy menu), complete with lemon, estragon, and cucumber dipping sauces, and a chicken dish with peas and garlic for Nicolas. Finally, we both enjoyed a light dessert of rhubarb and anis covered in almond ice cream, topped with thin sheets of rhubarb- and anis-flavored candies. (My Danish server did not pronounce "anis" correctly and I had to fight to hold in my laughter. I am not yet a grown-up.)

Lunch at Nordisk Spisehus, Copenhagen theme

The ingredients were high quality, the flavors balanced well, and overall we were very pleased with the meal, perhaps our best in Aarhus to date. The visit served as a delicious way to start to say goodbye to this city, revisiting the first restaurant that welcomed me in.

The Michelin tour of Aarhus, Part 2

Continuing our quest to find the best eat in town, we visited Aarhus's other Michelin "Bib Gourmand," Hæværk, last night. The restaurant can best be described as cozy, intimate, informal, and trendy, in short, the definition of the Danish concept hygge. The restaurant recently changed their tasting menu to pre-dinner snacks and 5 courses including a choice of dessert or cheese platter for 450 kroner (approx. $68 US). Going meat-free (but still eating fish) was easily accommodated.

Seating along a raised table at which parties were separated by stacks of cookbooks

Hæværk isn't your usual restaurant. There is no menu, and your chef will surprise you dish by dish. The restaurant works with local ingredients that may be limited in quantity, so you might not even be eating the same thing as your neighboring table. Course after course continued to surprise and impress us with the expertly balanced blends of flavors, textures, colors, and spices. We found the service to be friendly, if a bit slow, and (as per the Danish norm) very skilled in English.  No longer the novices in tasting menus that we once were, we restricted our wine pairing rather than trying to keep up glass per course. This way, we and our wallets can really appreciate every last course, and can even afford to add on extra sweets and coffee/tea guilt-free.

Our Hæværk tasting menu

Overall, I was very impressed, and frankly surprised that Pondus and Hæværk had even been placed in the same category. No question as to the winner of my Michelin Bib Gourmand competition. The only thing left to ask is when we can make our next reservation!

The Michelin tour of Aarhus, Part 1

The little city of Aarhus is a foodie destination, and it's finally earned its Michelin seal of approval. Just last year, in Michelin's first Nordic Cities guide, Aarhus received its first set of stars, one each to three high-end restaurants, and two "Bib Gourmands" for notable restaurants in a more affordable budget range. To begin our exploration on the wallet-friendly end, Nicolas and I made reservations for each of the 2015 "Bib Gourmands," Pondus and Hærværk.

This weekend, we sampled the Pondus package: appetizers and sparkling wine, 3 courses paired with wines, desserts, and coffee for 575 kr (approx. $72) per person. Things started off quite well with the snacks, whose flavors were complex and nicely balanced.

Unfortunately, the selection went downhill from here. Full points for presentation, but that's where the high praise starts and ends. Between Nicolas's carnivorous and my pescatarian menus, we tasted nearly everything the restaurant had to offer, but our experiences generally matched: The flavors were consistently oddly paired and unbalanced, with one individual flavor (like seaweed) strongly dominating without presenting anything particularly interesting or appealing. It's not that any dish was awful, but nothing worth writing home over (despite the fact that I'm doing just that).

Dishes from our tasting menus at Pondus, one of Aarhus's two Michelin "Bib Gourmand" restaurants

The deconstructed crumble topped with chipped blocks of meringue wrapped up the meal with no more talent than what I enjoy on a daily basis at home. I certainly wouldn't want to downplay the skills of my wonderful personal chef, but I do expect something more at a Michelin-noted restaurant.

Deconstructed crumble and coffee/tea wrapped up our mediocre meal at Pondus

No need to rush on making your next Pondus reservation. I'd hardly call myself a foodie, but still I wasn't impressed. We walked away with a mutual shrug as to how it'd earned its rating.

The romantic side of Aarhus

If you've known me for more than a minute, you've probably been informed that I find Aarhus dull. But in honor of Valentine's Day, I thought I'd take a moment to explore the softer side of this little city I now call home. After all, such an occasion is a fantastic excuse for a nice meal out.

There may not be much going on here, but this city has no shortage of dining opportunities. In fact, the Telegraph recently named Aarhus the culinary capital of Denmark! In 2015, for the first time, restaurants in Aarhus received Michelin stars. Three of them, even—one star per venue. The city is also home to Nordisk Spisehus, an amazing concept: this restaurant partners with Michelin-starred restaurants across the globe to create regularly changing themed menus. If I hadn't been sold on Aarhus University, the trip here at the end of my interview for their five-course tasting menu with paired wines sealed the deal. While our budget these past few months has been too tight to splurge on the fancy places, stay tuned for a 2016 tour de Michelin-starred-restaurants starting this spring.

For some charming lighter fare, we settled on A. C. Perch's Tea Room, a Danish tea merchant who first set up shop in Copenhagen in 1885, and has added tea rooms to its shops recently.

Our little table at A. C. Perch's Tea Room

This tea house has venues in Copenhagen and Aarhus, and offers over 150 varieties of tea, finger sandwiches, cakes, scones, and sparkling French wine. It turned out that Nicolas wasn't even aware of the concept of high tea, so the decision was simple really. After many years of putting up with French culture, which mostly enjoys its blissful ignorance of the existence of Valentine's Day (despite the best commercial efforts of French merchants), I forced my Frenchman into a (belated) Valentine's outing.

Overall, the food was nice but simple. The tea room is small, with just about a dozen tables, and it's a good idea to book online in advance. The atmosphere was charming, at once elegant but also intimate, cozy in that way the Danes have perfected. The scones were the highlight, warm, soft, and oh-so-buttery. Served with a selection of fresh jam, creamy lemon curd, and clotted cream, they were just the perfect accompaniment for a warm pot of tea. And the selection of tea was enough to excite a tea enthusiast such as myself.

The "classic ceremony" high tea for two at A. C. Perch's Tea Room

I suspect we'll return, at the least to test some more teas and to slather a few scones in clotted cream.

A new year, a new look

Happy new year from snowy Aarhus!

After a couple of weeks back stateside, exchanging presents, testing apple cider mimosas, and camping out with cousins,

Family Christmas 2015 (including the family trip to the Franklin Institute)

having survived a bus trip up to frosty Toronto to catch up with friends and family,

Toronto, until we meet again

and even squeezing in a day-trip through the Big Apple,

There's nothing quite like Rockefeller Center and the windows at Saks Fifth Avenue at Christmastime.

I've dived back into the Scandinavian winter, which is finally more wintery this side of the new year.

Mars couldn't quite decide if today's snowflakes needed chasing or were fierce enemies to run from.

And in keeping with the fresh starts that come along with the new year, I'm going to be striving for something new when it comes to this blog. For now I'm thinking of rotating weekly updates on my four favorite themes: science, pole dance, Aarhus, and travel. I'm not sure yet just how I'll spin it, but keep an eye out.

Our first Christmas in Aarhus

As Christmas seasons are wont to do, this year's in Aarhus flew by. Being our first in Denmark, it was filled with cultural discoveries, from the charming to the somewhat disappointing. To lay it out there, the Danes aren't big on lavish holiday displays. Unlike New York or Paris, Aarhus doesn't light up for the holidays. Beyond a few major shopping streets and the mall, the streets were as dark as ever, which is saying something given the amount of daylight this far north at this time of year.

It felt like I scoured the entire city to find this much outward expression of holiday cheer. Showy is one word you can't put on the Danes.

The Christmas markets also weren't something to write home about. If it hadn't been for the mulled wine, "gløgg," which the Danes have really mastered, I'd have been hard-pressed to find much to tempt me past the first couple of disappointments. France spoiled me, in more ways than one. But then again, there were the æbleskriver, the puffy bite-sized pancake balls that the Danes dip in powdered sugar and jam around the holidays. I guess there were a couple things to keep me coming back.

The Christmas markets aren't all they're cracked up to be in Aarhus.

Luckily, you can forget about the Christmas markets over a gløgg and some æbleskriver.

All this is hardly to say that the Danes don't do Christmas. Far from it. The entire month leading up to the holiday is filled with Christmas parties for offices, departments, clubs, teams, and friends. These epic all-night parties (which is saying something, since the sun sets before 4pm and doesn't rise until nearly 9am) are called the Julefrokost, or Christmas lunch, though I still haven't figured out why they call an evening event a lunch. Perhaps it's just typical Danish modesty, as calling it a dinner might sound haughty. Who knows? Regardless, the julefrokost does include a large sit-down meal loaded with all sorts of typical Danish foods: liver paté, lots of red cabbage, "sweet potatoes" (literally potatoes coated in caramelized sugar), duck, and the classic Christmas rice pudding with whipped cream, almond slivers, and cherry compote, the risalamand. Lurking in the depths of the risalamand is a whole almond, whose discoverer is rewarded with prizes like sweets or small gifts. The trouble with trying to slip in a whole almond in a dish packed with almond slivers is that finding the fugitive isn't always so easy. Mix in a few shots of schnapps and the whole almond can go down all too easily, leaving everyone's stomachs packed with the rice pudding— it absolutely had to be searched— and the prize unclaimed, as happened with us this year. (A subsequent dance-off seemed the only logical way to resolve the issue of who should take home the prize.)

Mmm, risalamand. (Prize not included.)

One of my favorite touches of a Danish Christmas is their advent calendar. It's got to be one of the most simple yet charming interpretations I've seen so far. Very fitting for the Danes in their constant quest for hygge, or cozy charm.

Nearly done counting down the days!

And with all that, it's time for me to call it a night. From the Billund airport, where I await my absurdly early Christmas Eve flight home, I'd like to wish you a very merry Christmas.

A Danish Expat Thanksgiving

The Danes may do the Fourth of July, and they've even imported Black Friday, but Thanksgiving has yet to cross the pond. And so I was pleased to induct a large group of newbies into my favorite American holiday this weekend. This year's grand challenge was the turkey, a responsibility I'd managed to hand off every year since I'd begun finding the bird in Paris. There was simply no more dodging the bullet. Luckily, my househusband*'s master culinary skills (I think the French are just born with it), finely honed over the past few months, came to the rescue. Wrapped in aluminum and stuffed with herbs and lemon for flavoring, our turkey came out surprisingly moist and flavorful. (*Nicolas is at home now while in professional transition and I'm affectionately calling him my househusband. You haven't missed out on any surprise wedding.)

A Thanksgiving turkey success thanks to Nicolas

Allrecipes.com was our best friend this weekend. Besides the turkey, we tested out a collection of recipes: gravy with a hint of tomato paste, buttermilk cornbread (with wholewheat flour), a "Thanksgiving turkey" bourbon citrus cocktail, sweet potato casserole, pumpkin pie cheesecake, and a traditional American hot buttered rum. Coupled with our friends' salads, curry, cheesy bread snacks, mashed potatoes, brownies, and sugar pie, we had ourselves a proper feast.

Our Thanksgiving feast

Our guests hailed from places as diverse as Germany, Denmark, France, Hungary, Ireland, Canada, Honduras, the Faroe Islands, and (if you want to count country of origin) even Bosnia and Iraq. By comparison, Nicolas was a seasoned veteran clocking in his second Thanksgiving. In all, it was a real melting pot of a Thanksgiving which, in a sense, couldn't have been more American, in spite of the total lack of American guests. It didn't take much arm-twisting to convince our foreign friends that the Americans have a few good ideas when it comes to this celebration.

The Thanksgiving bouquet brightened up our windowsill to bring some extra holiday cheer.

All in all, it was a wonderful Turkey Day.

A snowy championship weekend

If you know me or you follow this blog, you've probably realized that pole dancing is not just restricted to night clubs, but it also a sport. And, where first comes sport, next comes championships. And that's what happened in Denmark (and not for the first time) this past weekend.

My friends and I ventured down to what the Jutlanders call "Sweden" (a proper Danish insult), and what the rest of us would call Denmark's capital city. And, from our front row vantage point, the competition was way more exciting than YouTube. Still, it's worth a share. The highlight of the night was the guy who literally backflipped off the pole. None of us had ever seen anything like it.

Bjarke Hellden Pole DM 2015

And of course, our own lovely instructor put on quite the performance too! Another girl in our studio took second overall. It's worth checking out if you've never seen a pole choreography before.

By the time the excitement was over, we emerged from the theater to discover that the light dusting that had begun outside had sped past "charming": there would be no getting home that night.

Snowed in at the Danish pole championships

But a snowed in camp-out in Copenhagen with your pole girls isn't the worst way to spend a Saturday night. And after all that fun, I got to come home to this guy discovering the cold white stuff.

An extra weekend highlight: Mars learned about snow.

Another Copenhagen Chi Connection

Chi Connection: what we sorority girls call it when Alpha Chi's got together, preferably somewhere faraway and exciting, and certainly outside of the confines of campus life.

Another AXO reunion in Copenhagen!

It's been a few years since I've left my dear old alma mater, but it hasn't stopped the most welcome visits to my corner of the world from some of my lovely sisters. Back in August, I was thrilled to cross paths with Amy when her Euro-travels and my summer training course brought us both to Copenhagen. This time, in our first reunion since we'd both been French residents, I finally had a chance to catch up with Minh!

Nyhavn in November: we won't be seeing much sun in these parts until next spring

Our weekend together was standard Copenhagen: wandering along the canals, through the park-like Assistens Cemetery, around the 17th century military fortress Kastellet, past the Rosenborg Castle, and of course down to Mikkeller & Friends for some Danish craft beer. There was good food, great company, and wonderfully delicious Danish cuisine. We even discovered that the Danes serve their take on mulled wine, gløgg, complete with sliced almonds and raisins that puff up plump with spiced wine. Another check in the plus column for Danish cuisine and for tourism in their capital city.

Gløgg: Danish mulled wine. At Cafe Gavlen. Delicious.

Official business in Copenhagen

It seems my new lab will involve the occasional business trip, to which you could say I'm not entirely opposed. ;) This past week, I enjoyed my first professional travels as a post-doc: a trip to Copenhagen for my Danish animal experimentation certification course at the university. While it involved a lot of studying and even a proper classroom-based written exam (something I thought I'd put behind me years ago), the time in the capital wasn't entirely tedious.

Art spotted on Copenhagen U campus. Top right is a real special piece. Taxpayer money at work.

By chance, the trip coincided with the separate travels of two of my friends, Amy and Ally, who made the weekend a lot more fun.

Group shot at Nyhavn! We all managed to cross paths over the weekend in Copenhagen.

We checked off a few of the requisite tourist stops, from the underwhelming Little Mermaid of Langelinje Pier to the military-occupied Citadel to the Botanical Gardens where we found a wandering barefoot flutist to the hippy commune Christianshavn to the Assistens Cemetery-- as surprisingly cheery and family-friendly picnickers' paradise.

Hitting up the tourist sites across Copenhagen under perfect blue skies. Is this really Denmark??

Copenhagen's charm doesn't come so much from its must-see tourist attraction as from the spirit of the city, which you'll find in the impromptu concerts in the park, in the random weekend attractions like Cardboard City, where everything down to the participants clothes and the water in which they swam was of the aforementioned material. You'll see Copenhagen best by admiring the zany outfits you may spot on public transport as well as the total lack of reaction they garner from the locals. Go to a bar and enjoy a craft brew. Sample the Mexican food from the street trucks, the new Vietnamese restaurant, the small Italian take-out joints, and the charmingly decorated cafés. (Who knew a Nordic city could be so diverse?)

What makes Copenhagen so great may just be its perfect blend of Danish hyggelig*, cosmopolitan energy, and international flare. Or not. Luckily, this was just our first real chance to get to know the city. And it certainly won't be our last, now that we've planted ourselves in Denmark for the next few years.

Craft beer bars with accompanying Mexican food trucks, full grown (apparently sober) men walking the streets in hot dog, hamburger, and flamingo hats, hyggelig cafés, and wise-crack chalkboards outside stores. All in a typical Copenhagen afternoon.

*Hyggelig is an atmosphere or mood which the Danes strive to achieve, and in which they take great pride. The Urban Dictionary translates the concept as "cozy, homy, delightfully intimate, a genial moment or thing, often at home with candle lights and warm blankets."

Or maybe it's the fact that a random Elvis impersonator just might show up at the train station at a moment's notice that gives Copenhagen its certain charm.

Where East meets West

This is the city that straddles Europe and Asia, where East meets West. Welcome to Istanbul.

Begin with a stroll. Pick up something light like a simit, the wanna-be-bagel sesame roll that the street vendors sell on nearly every corner. Maybe take a walk through Gülhane Park for a peaceful start.

A street vendor outside Gülhane Park selling simit (rolls).

Fill up on something hearty to prepare yourself for the day of touristing. You won't have trouble finding a rich, meaty dish, and normally there is at least one eggplant-based meal for the vegetarians among us. (Plenty of fish, too, if you are so inclined.) If you're traveling on a moderate budget (let's say mid-range hosteling or low-end Airbnb-type travelers), you won't be disappointed at the Sultanahmet Gulhane Kebab House (and the location in the heart of the tourist district isn't too bad either), just don't take a seat if you're stomach is rumbling or your watch is ticking. In Turkey, no one is ever in a rush.

After you've capped your meal off with a Turkish tea, if you have time for just one stop, the Hagia Sophia should probably be it.

The Hagia Sophia!

This singular building encapsulates so much of this land's history. The Hagia Sophia, whose name means Holy Wisdom, was built in 532 AD under the rule of Emperor Justinian I. It was built over two earlier Hagia Sophias, that latter of which was destroyed in the Nika Riots during which angry, overtaxed mobs tried to run Justinian out of office. The threatened emperor ordered this incarnation of the Hagia Sophia just a month after the riots, a masterpiece designed to show off his prowess. It was built in only six years. The architecture is a unique blend of Greek, Roman, and Asian that defined the Byzantine era. Stones were brought in from Egypt, marble from Greece, and yellow rock from Syria for the construction of the cathedral. At the time it was built, the central dome was the world's largest, amazing visitors with its seeming defiance of gravity. The Hagia Sophia rivaled Rome, standing as the world's biggest cathedral for nearly a millennium. Over the centuries, emperors continually added their own touches, as can be seen in the crumbling tiles of Christ, the Virgin Mary, and various Byzantine heads of state.

In 1453, the Ottomans conquered Constantinople, and the ageing cathedral was converted to a mosque. Mosaics and paintings were covered in plaster, and minarets and medallions displaying the monograms of the four caliphs were added. Though it was not originally built as a mosque, the architecture of the Hagia Sophia was so admired that it served as a model for many mosques built in the Ottoman Empire, including the Blue Mosque.

In 1934, the newly secularized government of Turkey converted the Hagia Sophia from a mosque to a museum, as it is to this day. By law, it is illegal to use the Hagia Sophia as a place of worship.

Inside the Hagia Sophia

You could probably wander around the Hagia Sophia for hours, but a peek out one of its windows reminds you that there's still much to be seen.

Looking out from the Hagia Sophia onto the Blue Mosque

From the Hagia Sophia, it's just a short walk across a little grassy park to the Blue Mosque. Built in the early 17th century upon the grounds of the former Byzantine emperor's palace, the Blue Mosque occupies a historically significant site in downtown Istanbul. One of the features that makes this mosque so extraordinary is its minarets. Specifically, it boasts six, whereas the standard is four, sometimes less. In fact, this was rather scandalous at the time as the mosque in the Ka'aba at Mecca boasted just the same number. Ultimately, the Turkish sultan had to send his architects to Mecca to build them a seventh minaret just to smooth things over. For your average tourist, especially someone not so familiar with mosque architecture, the most memorable feature is hardly the minarets: the interior is lined with 20,000 blue tiles from which the mosque gets its (English) name. So line up, grab your gender-appropriate covers from the tourist counter, and take a peek inside.

The Blue Mosque

So you've wandered through architectural feats with walls tickled by the sun's rays. By now, it's late afternoon and the sun is bearing down. How about a monument further from the sun's reach? Just round another corner and descend a flight of stairs to discover the Basilica Cistern. You'll wander along planked walkways between seemingly endless rows of columns, whose reflections against the watery depths only extend the apparent size of the place. Slow-moving carp slip in and out of the patches of the light rising from the water. The dim lighting produces an eery, ghostly atmosphere, which you'll have to enjoy without sharing on social media: the light levels render it nearly impossible to photograph. 

My best shot at a photo of the Basilica Cistern

The cistern was built in the 6th century from recycled Roman monuments as a water storage facility for the emperor's palace and the local populace, who were always at risk of siege. The cistern builders repurposed a variety of sculpted and carved Roman columns, including two Medusa heads now serving as pedestals (one on its side and the other completely upside down!) through which water still trickles today. You'll be surprised to find something so calm and mysterious right in the heart of Istanbul's tourist district.

Emerging into the sunlight again, you'll quickly be reminded of the summer temperatures in Turkey. It's time for an afternoon snack. So take a stroll down to the harbor and grab a seat overlooking the water at Hafiz Mustafa. Enjoy a lemonade or a tea and something sweet. Have a drool over their dessert selection at their photo gallery, or don't take my word: Trip Advisor currently ranks them at #45 of 11,427 Istanbul restaurants.

A much-needed break at Hafiz Mustafa

Rejuvenated, why not do some late afternoon shopping through the typically Turkish markets? And you can't go to Turkey and not admire at least one Turkish lamp store. Personally, I had to hold myself back. We'd already stocked up on goodies back in Selçuk, where we got a finishing touch for our entryway and a fifth lamp to bump up the count and add some more color to our bedroom chandelier, which I'd purchased in Grenada earlier this year.

In Turkey, we got the finishing touches for our apartment: a lamp for our entryway, and a fifth (purple) lamp (and green replacement) for the bedroom chandelier.

And speaking of goodies you can pick up in Turkey, have you heard of zultanite? If not, do we know the salesman for you. That lampseller in Selçuk sure knew how to make a sell. Zultanite is a gem found only in the Turkish Anatolian mountains. It is very unusual in that it undergoes a striking color change under different lighting, from a bright kiwi green in sunlight to a champagne shade in intermediate lighting to a raspberry pink under evening or indoor light. Needless to say, I couldn't resist. If you pick one up yourself, I think you'll be just as entertained to watch it change throughout the day.

Zultanite, a fancy color-changing Turkish gem stone

As the night falls and the calls to prayer from neighboring mosques compete for Istanbul's airspace, take a moment to enjoy downtown Istanbul and the lively Sultanahmet district.

Istanbul by night

This is a city where you'll never have enough time to explore every corner.

The Sultanahmet water tower by night

Soon enough, the trip to Istanbul will inevitably draw to a close. Drag your suitcases back down to Taksim Square and catch the bus to the airport.

Leaving our corner of Istanbul behind.

Say güle güle, or farewell, to Turkey for now, with wishes to meet again soon.

Güle güle, Turkey!

Enjoy a quick lunchtime layover in Copenhagen...

Calm, quiet, clean, and traffic predominantly of the two-wheeled variety. Yep, we definitely made it back to the right country.

And even if you wish you could still be back in that sunny, exotic, and welcoming land in which you had awoken, it's safe to say someone will be happy to see you return.

Happy to be home

A visit to the queen's place

A week filled with curry, boeuf bourgignon, barbecues, and beers zipped past. Before we knew it, my parents' last day in Aarhus had arrived. And what better way to spend it than with a visit to the beach and a local palace? We kicked things off with a visit to Bellevue Beach. Because yes, I may have made the inexplicable decision to live in Scandinavia, but it comes with proper sandy beaches, so ha!

Bellevue Beach

And then we swung by Marselisborg Palace, Queen Margrethe's summer residence. 

A tour through Marselisborg Palace grounds

As the queen wasn't in residence, we had the opportunity to spend the afternoon wandering the grounds. And, as you can see from the bottom right corner of the above collage, security at this royal residence wasn't exactly White House style. 

The grounds of the Marselisborg Palace haven't always been the territory of the royal family, but they did have some history as royal grounds in the 17th century. Then, in 1661, the seriously indebted King Frederik III of Denmark was forced to surrender this palace, among other properties, to his Dutch creditor, a certain Gabriel Marselis. Marselis's sons managed to upgrade the grounds from a manor to a barony, but the family couldn't keep their hands on the land. The last private owner was Hans Peter Ingerslev, who decided to offer his lands for sale to the city council of Aarhus, and then suddenly died two days later. (Not at all fishy...) The town council decided to build the palace, which was completed in 1902. The palace and its surrounding property was returned to royal hands as a wedding gift for Prince Christian and Princess Alexandrine, Queen Margrethe's grandparents. The palace has since been a secondary royal residence.

We were surprised by how freely we were allowed to wander around, touch the sculptures, picnic on the lawns, play in the guard stands, hike through the woods, or even take a nap in the gardens should the mood strike. It was definitely a memorable way to spend our last afternoon of a visit together.