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.

Our first foray into the former Soviet bloc

At 30€ a pop, it would be wrong not to grab tickets for a birthday weekend abroad. And so I awoke to the last birthday of my twenties inside the former Soviet bloc. And it was awesome.

I didn't really know much about Vilnius. Heck, a few months back, I couldn't have told you it was the capital of Lithuania. And its status as an "undiscovered" tourist destination gave it a charm that may not last long as more people start to realize how surprisingly charming, vibrant, and affordable this little city is.

Wandering through the streets of historical Vilnius

As luck would have it, a street fair had sprung up across the city center on the weekend of our arrival. Around each twisting turn and street corner were more stands selling woolen slippers, bouquets of dried wild flowers, wooden carvings, and sparkling amber jewels. Block out the smart phones and you could easily imagine yourself transported back in time about a half millenium, when this city was the seat of power of the largest country in Europe, the Grand Duchy of Lithuania. UNESCO has recognized the well-preserved medieval town center, lined with a blend of Gothic, Renaissance, Baroque, and Classical architecture, as a World Heritage Site. Who knew a city could survive a half century of occupation and still look so good?

The street fair that just so happened to coincide with our weekend in Vilnius

That said, the most memorable part of our visit wasn't the charming narrow streets. In the middle of Gedminas Avenue, Vilnius's Champs Elysées, lie the former KGB headquarters, now the Genocide Museum. The museum was a powerful testament to the resilience and pride of a people oppressed by Nazis only to be "liberated" by a Communist occupation. This museum displayed the country's painful past while inviting visitors to connect and to see themselves reflected in the faces of those who had struggled through life in Lithuania in the 20th century. As I walked through the rooms, I kept wondering about the photographers who'd made much of the museum possible. Who had the presence of mind to sneak a camera into the woods and document the resistance movement of the 1940s and '50s? Who was brave enough, when faced with a mutilated body displayed by the Soviets, to document the horror for posterity? Who walked along the lines of displaced Lithuanians in their work camps and asked the workers to smile for a camera? And then, there was the museum basement: Here, the KGB political prison was preserved, complete with torture and execution chambers. To emerge from this museum and walk through the streets of Vilnius, suddenly appreciating that anyone just a decade older than me had real memories of these times, was eye-opening. The locals were so welcoming. The city was vibrant. The markets were bustling. These people had been through hell and back and here they were, cheerfully enjoying a weekend in what could only be described today as a charming little capital city. How privileged I suddenly felt.

"Even under total surveillance and brutal persecution of people with other convictions, there were those who risking their freedom or even their lives were determined to fight against the regime and protect human rights. Although there were not many of them, their resolute stand and activities served as a moral example for many others and helped to keep the hope for freedom and independence alive. [...] Lithuania is working for its future remembering the price of freedom and independence."

On a lighter note, we also explored Lithuanian culture through our stomachs. Local cuisine included lots of unexpected but surprisingly edible, even enjoyable, delicacies: acorn coffee, dandelion cappuccinos, sour dough flavored drinks, rye bread ice cream, and apple pie served in a bread bowl. There were lots of soups, especially a cold, bright pink beetroot specialty, and sour cream and potatoes were everywhere. Beer was cheaper than water-- can't complain there. And each meal finished with an embarrassingly small bill.

Lithuanian cuisine. Clockwise from top left:  a cold, bright pink beetroot soup with sour milk, boiled eggs, and dill known as saltibarsciai and a sourdough drink, kvass, in background; potato sausage and potato pancakes; fried cottage cheese dumplings with cherry sauce and sour cream; dandelion cappuccino and a typical Lithuanian tinginys (meaning "lazy one") chocolate dessert with cookie chunks; Nicolas with mini fried dough balls covered in powdered sugar; apple pie à la mode with cherry sauce in a rye bread bowl; beer: cheaper than water; a glass of surprisingly good ryebread ice cream.

In three days we had enough time to hit up most of the major tourist attractions: the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Lithuania, now a history museum; St. Anne's Church, the Gothic cathedral made of 33 different kinds of brick; the Gates of Dawn, once part of the medieval city walls; the remains of the old Vilnius castle atop a hill overlooking the old town; the self-styled independent Republic of Uzupis; even the Stebuklas ("miracle") tile, in the Cathedral Square, which marks the end of a 2 million person chain formed from Vilnius to Talinn (Estonia) in 1989 to protest Communism.

The tourist highlights of Vilnius. Clockwise from top left: Gediminas Avenue; the Stebuklas tile in the Cathedral Square; a university entryway; Castle Hill; The Republic of Uzupis; St. Anne's Cathedral; three displays of medieval Vilnius artefacts at the Palace of the Grand Dukes of Vilnius and the Cathedral doors bearing Alpha and Omega wreaths

Nicolas and me outside the Vilnius Cathedral and its free standing bell tower at the end of my birthday weekend abroad

Vilnius was an unexpectedly charming, vibrant, and fun little town. I hope it isn't the last I'll see of it.

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.

And the winners are...

If I wasn't already homesick for the City of Lights, this just did me in: last weekend, Paris hosted the latest international pole dance competition, Pole Theater Paris. And with the shotty internet connections which are endemic to Aarhus, I could hardly even stream more than a performance or two. Thank goodness for youtube.

If you aren't in the loop, the pole community has yet to come to a uniform consensus on how to categorize and judge their competitors, but they're working on it. Poleranking, which aims to bring together the international pole community, offers these categories: Pro and Semi-Pro, based on skill level, and in addition to an overall winner in each category, there are prizes for art, drama, comedy, and classique. This leaves space to acknowledge some very different performance styles, from those who perform vertical ballet/gymnastics to those who tell a story through their costume, music, and choreography, to those who adhere to pole's origins in the strip clubs ("pole classique"). Pole studios don't generally specialize in any one of these categories, leaving each athlete to develop his or her own style. You may even find, as I have, that one studio is home to several instructors with very different performance styles.

I'm excited to give a couple shout-outs to some of the winners from last weekend. First of all, Louise, who frequents my studio here in Aarhus, BPoleFit, took the Pro Category Pole Art award with this performance.

And secondly, one of my very first instructors from back in Paris won Semi-Pro Pole Classique with this beautifully racy performance.

It doesn't take long to notice this performance is more stereotypical "pole dance." Frankly, that doesn't make it any less of an accomplishment or an art. Deciding it isn't your style (or mine) shouldn't open the floodgates to moral judgment. This performance is an integral part, the heart even, of the larger pole community that exists today. A lot of controversy has built up over #notastripper, a popular tag polers like to use when sharing their photos and videos. This sentiment is problematic as it furthers the stigmatization of sex workers and denies the very origins of the sport itself. It's important to recognize, and certainly not ostracize, the women who helped found this sport. I'm not going to take too much time to hash out this topic, but if you're curious, feel free to check out what the Daily Dot has to say on the topic. 

1 month, 1 backpack, 4 countries: go!

Contrary to the exciting title, I'm saddened to admit that I don't have any new travel adventures to share this month. The spring round of postdoctoral fellowship proposals, aka trying to convince people that my fantastic research proposal will cure all diseases and save the world, has been keeping me way too busy. Instead, I figure I'll use this time at home to add my two cents to the world of backpacker blogging.

About a year ago, I found myself equipped with a roundtrip to Bangkok and no clue as to how I'd ever fit a month of supplies in just one backpack. For that matter, how did some people pack for much longer than that?? It turns out, the blogosphere is ripe with answers to that very question.

What advice worked best for me? Nearly a year later, there's no doubt in my mind of my #1 most important item: a comfy and durable pair of Teva sandals. These were worth every penny. From wandering down the streets and through the temple complexes of Bangkok to hiking through the jungles of Vietnam, these guys never let me down. And they even let you show off your pedicure, should you find yourself caving for their oh-so-cheap prices.

The Teva Kayenta sandal. Girly enough for a night on the town, tough enough for a hike through the jungle.

And for the rest of my top-ten pack list tips...

2. Pack light on the clothing, and clothing that's light (though at least one shirt with sleeves and a pair of pants that covers the knees). You don't need so many outfits, as you can hand wash things in hostel sinks or just pay around $1 per pound for laundry services. And if anything tears, new clothing is so very cheap. It's incredibly hot in March and April in this part of the world, so you don't want anything heavy or clingy. However, you'll need at least one outfit that covers your shoulders and knees in order to get in to certain Buddhist temples.

3. Don't bother with books. You can download things on a smartphone or buy the ubiquitous photocopied bestsellers anywhere. This is an easy way to cut down on luggage weight.

4. Buy an ultralight microfiber towel. These guys dry so fast, roll up tight, and feel feather-light. An excellent traveler's investment.

5. Get a waterproof bag. Especially if you plan to travel around New Year's in mid-April, which is celebrated in SouthEast Asia with massive city-wide waterfights. No mercy is shown. But barring that, you still never know when you'll want to take a camera or a smartphone on a kayak trip, or when the weather may turn.

6. Consider purchasing a tablet, a bluetooth keyboard, a travel-proof case if you don't already own these. Writing home is so much easier with a full keyboard and a proper screen, but you don't want to lug a laptop around all month.

7. Bring bug spray. Just make it a part of your morning and evening routine, like brushing your teeth. You won't regret it. Cinq sur Cinq tropic worked well for me. I went with a skin spray and a clothing spray, and never got too badly bitten.

8. Sunscreen, sunscreen, sunscreen. Enough said.

9. Stock up on any medications and get your vaccinations in advance. I was lucky not to need my stomach and gastrointestinal pills, but it was a comfort to know they were there. Taking a monster-sized malaria pill every morning might not be the best way to start your day, but it sets you up to enjoy the rest of it out and about.

10. Take one cozy sweatshirt and comfy pair of pants. You never know when a sudden cold snap may descend upon you, and you'll be very unhappy if you only have tank tops and tees to layer.

Who'd have thought that northern Vietnam would be a full 15-20 degrees Celsius (around 30 degrees Fahrenheit) colder than southern Vietnam? Thank goodness for my sweatshirt and waterproof jacket!

Don't stress too much, and certainly do not overpack. You can always buy things along your travels that you may have forgotten or didn't realize you'd need.


Finally, for anyone who really wants to dive into the nitty-gritty of it, here is my final pack list in all its glory:

Clothing

2 regular bras, 1 sports bra

10 pairs of panties

2 pairs of regular socks

Harem pants

5 t-shirts, 3 tank tops (non-strappy)

2 dresses

Fast drying shirt for hike

Fast drying pants for hike

3 pairs of hiking socks

Pair of shorts for campsite

Bathing suit

Sweatshirt

Shoes

Hiking boots

Flip flops for showers

Walking sandals

Toiletries

Toothbrush

Toothpaste

Floss

Soap (body, face)

Moisturizer

Razor

Antiperspirant

Shampoo

Conditioner

Panty liners

Band-aids

Hair ties

Minimal jewelry (1 of each item)

Nail file and clippers

Tweezers

Chapstick with sun protection

Birth control

Acne medicine and cream

Basic make-up (eyeliner, mascara, 1 lipstick, 1 eyeshadow)

Travel Gear

Microfiber towel

Sunscreen

Bug spray (skin, clothes)

Antacid/antidiarrheal

Headache medicine

Anti-malarial medicine

Small purse for day outings

Backpack

Travel pillow (inflatable)

Umbrella

Sunglasses

Light-weight foldable cloth poncho

Electronics

iPad, charger, SD card reader

Camera, charger, upload cable

Phone and charger

Headphones

USB key

International all-in-one adapter

Waterproof bag for electronics

Trapped

So much for New Year's resolutions: Not even a full month into my commitment to post every week and I'm already falling behind! But this is a blog about being a scientist with a serious case of travel lust (and a pole habit), and sometimes being a scientist means spending your weekends trapped inside furiously (not at all half-heartedly ;) ) reading and writing. 

With hardly a moment spent just relaxing, there was little hope for generating new content for this blog. What I lack in the written word, I'll compensate this week with some photography whose inspiration readily crawled across me while planted on the couch with a laptop. As the subjects of my "work" will readily attest, there are much better things to do with a keyboard than a scientific funding proposal.

A cat is never on the right side of a door.

A table (Lunchtime)

A good stretch

A study in feline sophistication

It's tough work being a cat

You're welcome.

Pole dance: a brief history

Let's face it: calling yourself a pole dancer still raises a few eyebrows today. But with pole athletes competing in national and international competitions, and studios popping up across the globe, it's clearly moved beyond the confines of the strip club. So how did pole expand from the red light district to the fitness studio?

Pole fun :)

Pole dancing has a colorful history which long predates its presence in gentlemen's clubs. Historically, traditional gymnastic-like performances on a pole were performed in both China and India since at least the 12th century, though in both cases this was a men's sport. The Chinese art looked more or less like today's cirque du soleil (performed on sticky poles), and the Indian art, mallakhamb, (performed on wooden poles) was originally developed as cross-training for wrestlers to develop speed, stamina, and agility. Mallakhamb was revived in the 19th century, and youtube offers a wealth of examples, like this one.

It should come as no surprise that cultures across Europe and Africa have also incorporated poles, as phallic symbols, into various fertility dances, perhaps the best-known of which is the maypole dance.

Most sources agree that modern western pole dance began around the turn of the twentieth century. One source traces its origins to the 1893 World's Fair in Chicago, in which Egyptian women performed a sensual, hip-gyrating dance called the "hoochie cooch." This style of performance was soon incorporated into traveling circuses as a regular sideshow act by the 1920s, performed around the pole that held up the side tent, which soon became a prop. From there, pole dancing was incorporated into the burlesque scene in the 1950s. A woman by the name of Belle Jangles performed the first recorded pole dance in a strip joint in Oregon called the Mugwump in 1968, but it wasn't until the 1980s that pole hit the strip club scene in full force across the US and Canada.

Just about every source I came across seemed to agree that the turning point in pole came in 1994, when Fawnia Deitrich opened the world's first exotic dance school in Canada, focusing on pole dance and fitness. From here, things snowballed. Pole studios began opening and classes were soon offered across the US, Canada, Europe, and Australia. Two decades later, you can read up on this history in official-sounding websites like United Pole Artists and the International Pole Dance Fitness Association. General news sources like mic.com even report on it. There is even a new movement led by KT Coates as an Olympic sport. Personally, I think this video from the International Pole Sports Federation does the best job summing up pole as I know and love it.