Photos of Denmark

I am almost halfway through my stay in Denmark.  It has been really amazing.  I'd like to share a few photos of some places I have visited.  

My department (IP rights) includes people from Houston, Denmark, Singapore, and China.  Because there is no one time we can all meet without disturbing someone's sleep, we all get together once a year for a big meeting.  I think it is usually held in Denmark because that is where most people in the department work.  This week we had the meeting at a conference center called Fuglsøcentret just north of Aarhus.  Here is a bird's eye view of the conference center (the group of buildings just above the golf course).  After the conference I played the nine hole golf course, which afforded some stunning views.

The day before the conference I got to travel to the west coast of Denmark and climb up into an actual wind turbine.  (They turn it off while people are inside it.)  Our guide started off with a strict lecture on safety, then smiled broadly and said, "Welcome to the V112 wind turbine."  The 112 part of its name means the blades sweep out a circle with a 112 meter diameter.  I didn't go into the blades but some servicemen with us did go inside one of the blades to install some sensors.  I just walked around in the nacelle (big rectangular thing on top of the tower) and sat inside the hub in the middle of the three blades.  It is among the largest turbines you can find on land.  Our company is currently developing a new off-shore wind turbine with a rotor diameter of 164 meters.  It's a behemoth.  Also, in just a few weeks I am going to visit a factory where they are developing floating wind turbines for use in the ocean far away from land, which were considered unthinkable just a few years ago.

Here is my office, which I travel to and from each weekday either by bus or bike (once I even walked home - a bit far but doable).

Much of the architecture in Denmark is minimalist, but also somewhat unique.  Here is a building near my office that I bike past.  Notice the interesting arrangement of windows.

I have a shopping market near my apartment.  I thought I'd snap a photo so you could see what a typical shopping market looks like here.  You have to put a coin in the shopping cart to release it from the queue and you get the coin back when you're done-- I think -- so far I've just used a handheld basket to shop.

One day I was waiting for the bus and an emergency vehicle pulled up right in front of me.  They were assisting with clean up of what appeared to be a big oil spill from a broken down bus just down the street.

Here is a view of the skyline of Aarhus.  They don't have any really big buildings.  The gray rectangular shaped building jutting above the others is the town hall and nearby is the steeple of a large church.  My apartment is on the fifth floor of a building that looks a lot like the ones in the foreground.  Apartment buildings of this style are all over.

A lovely beach near my apartment.

 Lots of people go sailing in the bay near Aarhus.  

On Saturday I took a bike ride to see the royal family's summer house.

Here is the harbor near my apartment (sorry it's skewed, I took the photo while riding my bike).

That's all for now.

New chapter of life in Houston

We recently moved to Houston so I could start a new job.  I now work for Vestas, a wind turbine company based out of Denmark.  It was a somewhat stressful time while we moved, as can be expected, but thankfully the company paid for the move.  In addition, although we initially didn't like the idea of renting our house, we ultimately decided to after seeing how low the offers were on our beloved house in Utah. 

We now live in the house the Rowbothams used to occupy.  They briefly considered moving into our house, but ultimately decided to move to Heber.  I got to help them load the truck with their stuff a couple weeks ago. 

Everyone is pretty happy about being here in Houston.  Erika and I are excited about the warm winters.  The boys and I were bummed about leaving the beloved mountains of Utah behind since we were just learning how to ski.  On the other hand, now we can golf year round!  Emmy loves to go swimming at the neighborhood pool near our house.  She also likes to look at the lizards the boys catch and put in the terrarium on our back porch.  Matthew is starting to warm up to tacos, I'm told.  Good thing, because every Tuesday at his school cafeteria is Tex Mex day.

As part of my new job, I have the pleasure of spending six weeks in Europe for job training.  I will be in Denmark for the next few weeks and then in the UK for one week.  Right now I am in Copenhagen, where my boss and some co-workers work.  Next week I will go to Aarhus where a lot of the engineers work.  During the brief time I had in Texas before coming here to Denmark, we did some child-friendly sight-seeing in Houston.  For instance, we went to the Johnson Space Center and Erika took the boys to a science museum that had the original Star Wars costumes and other Star Wars paraphenalia on display.  I also got to celebrate Erika's birthday with her--I took the family out to eat at a restaurant called The Hobbit, which was actually quite delicious despite the silly theme.

Now for a brief travel log of my trip so far.  I took the following photos of Copenhagen just walking around my hotel tonight:

Here is my hotel (Clarion Collection 27)

Every few blocks you encounter an open plaza like this one

My boss took me to dinner last night at this french restaurant in the Latin quarter.  Being in Copenhagen is like being in a little bit of every major European city.  Also, my boss is a really nice guy.  He is part Spanish, part French, so he's cool and classy (French part), but the opposite of snooty (Spanish part).  

Most people in Denmark do not have a car.  For example, last night my boss got to my hotel via metro and bike.  Apparently, Denmark imposes heavy taxes on the purchase of a car.  Consequently, most people get around on bikes, as demonstrated by the bike parking lot shown above.  And because there are so many bikes, many of the roads have two sidewalks -- one for bikes and one for pedestrians.  And heaven help the pedestrian who accidentally walks in the bike lane--that's a great way to end up in the hospital.  Also, many bikes are equipped with passenger seats, as show below.

Copenhagen is a group of islands and so canals such as this one are a common sight.  The canals are contiguous with the North Sea.  I plan to take a canal tour this weekend.
 

A conveniently located toilet I ran into on the street.

 Absalon is a famous figure in Danish history and I thought this statue of him wielding an axe while riding a horse was ultra-cool.

 I found this uniquely titled store while walking to the metro my first morning here.

Although it's a bit cliche, the only word I can think of to describe how I feel about being in Denmark is "unreal."  I really miss my family, but being in this unusual place has distracted me from that feeling for now.  I will enjoy that while I can.