A chateau and some French dogs

About 15 minutes drive from here is the town of Clermont L'Herault. Clermont has a cinema, a hypermarket, a McDonalds, a wool shop and various other necessities, so we go there quite often. Every time we go, we see a pretty cool castle looming over the town, but until now we've never taken the time out from our shopping schedule to take a look. Well, today we felt like a bit of an outing so we drove around, trying to find our way up to the castle. No luck. No signs, nothing. So we thought we'd try on foot, calling in at the Information Centre on the way. Aha! They had a booklet with the walk to the castle highlighted, and we found it with no (well, not many) problems. Considering that it was built in around 1130 by the first known member of the Guilhem family, it is in very good shape. You could clearly see the bases of the several towers around the outside and the donjon (high tower) still stands about 10m high. There are passageways under the ground and lots of old walls and gateways and you can walk around what is left of the battlements. The picture above shows part of the town from the castle, and below is the base of one of the towers.



Here's the donjon



On a weekday morning, the place was deserted except for us and a guy with four dogs. They were pretty interested in us, and not in a good way, at first, with lots of barking and defensive behaviour. We tried to ignore them, and their owner was not really bothered to control them. No-one wants to get bitten by a dog, but worse - they have rabies here, so we are very careful when we are around strange dogs. Eventually the older black one ambled over and gave me a sniff, and that seemed to reassure the others a bit. However the shaggy mottled coloured one, on the right in the pic, was still really worried and came over and gave us a long talking-to. Eventually we realised that she had a pup - the little dude in the middle, and that was probably what all the noise was about. After his mum and his aunties had all had their say, he romped over and indicated that he was ready for a game. (Owner still talking on his cellphone at other end of field).



Actually he (the puppy!)was pretty cute.

Whew. Made it.

Our luck continued, and we found a taxi to the station in Aarhus, AND our train arrived and left on time. That's it in the picture above, arriving at the station.

We had time for dinner at Hamburg Hbf station, and I have to say that Hamburg looked really pretty from the train. We were used to the routine on the nachtzug (night train) by now, but didn't sleep any better unfortunately. That thing rocks and rolls around on the track and screeches to a halt just as you are falling asleep ... well, been there, done that, as they say. Hopefully never again! It was delayed (due to 'delays' on Belgian railways, according to the announcement at Montpellier) and I got really travel sick. Luckily we still had time, once we got to Paris Gare du Nord, to pick up a pack of travel sickness pills before the frantic dash on the metro to the Gare de Lyon and onto the TGV to Montpellier. The travelsick pills sent me straight to sleep (I did wake at one point with drool on my chin ... aaargh!!) but I was awake enough at Valence TGV station to notice the cherry trees in blossom all the way down through Nimes to Montpellier. Oh boy! Spring!!

So here we are back in Aniane. Even after a nights sleep, E and I still feel like we are in a centrifuge - we can still feel the old train rocking under us! Now I guess I should start on that huge pile of laundry ...

OK, that's enough snow ... really, that's enough ...

Well, the promised snow arrived in Aarhus. It was a bit wet yesterday morning so we went out and took a look at a small Viking museum in the basement of a bank (the artefacts and remains of a village and road were excavated while the building was under construction), and checked out the cathedral. The weather got worse and we shelved our plans to go to the old town, and spent the afternoon around the hotel, frolicking in the snow and racing inside to get warm. By evening, it was snowing quite hard. Still, we managed to get a taxi without any problems to take us to our friends' place about 7km from the centre of town. The taxi driver joked that the weather was forecast to get worse, but we still didn't get it.



However, after a good dinner and lots of catching up, we were ready to hit the hay back at the hotel. So we tried to call a taxi. There were none. The weather had turned really bad and it wasn't safe for our friends to drive us back in the dark. So we stayed the night there, hoping for a break in the morning, but starting to worry about making connections with trains etc today. When our friend tried to open the front door this morning, knee high snow was backed up against it - and he had shovelled the path last night before going to bed. Uh oh.

We couldn't even get through by phone to taxi, bus or train companies or connect with any websites. Our friends gave us a good breakfast and then we decided to take a walk down the hill to see if there were any buses running. A few intrepid people were out, walking and in cars, and lots of people were out shovelling snow off driveways and footpaths. Snowploughs were also on the road, - those things go fast and you just have to get out of the way!



There was a lot of discussion among pedestrians as to whether there would be any buses, and a man gave us directions to walk back to Aarhus (2 hours estimated). We trundled up the road, past another bus stop, and discussed hitching a ride when suddenly a shout from Al, walking behind. He'd flagged down a car ... NO... A TAXI!!!

We couldn't believe our luck. We jumped in that taxi so fast, and were in Aarhus within about 15 minutes, just in time to catch the last of the buffet breakfast at the hotel! (After all that snow-walking, we were ready for a second breakfast).

Now we are sitting tight for a couple of hours until checkout time. Rumour has it that most trains are running late, but they are running. Our train for Hamburg leaves just after 2pm, and we have a 3 hour wait in Hamburg for our connection, so hopefully we will be lucky again.

I notice work hasn't stopped on the building site over the road, although the builders succumbed to temptation yesterday and had a snowball throwing competition.

Aarhus

Rain today in Arhus (pronounced Or-hoos). Al went off to the University to give a talk and have meetings, and E and I went across town to the Kvindemuseet - the Womens and Children's museum. What an interesting place. The children's museum part was really small but kept us amused for a good hour and a half. It's divided into sections - 'family', 'body', 'school', 'work', 'play' and 'clothes'. It's like a treasure hunt - you take a laminated card, which gives basic biographical details of a real Danish person, some dating back into the 19th century, and some still alive today. Alongside each statement on the card, such as 'he worked as a grocery delivery boy' is a number in the colour that corresponds to one of the sections above. You go to the section and search through the display cases, crawling under some, climbing over others, to find the artefact that relates to the statement. The clothing exhibits were encased in plastic bags, hanging from the ceiling, as were a number of other things such as garden tools, and toys. It was a great way to get children to really look at the exhibits, and relate them to a real life.

Tonight we feasted on cup noodles in our hotel room in front of 3 back to back episodes of the Simpsons in English! It doesn't get much better than that!

And the weather forecast for tomorrow is snow!

I'll have a beer thanks

Here in Denmark beer is the drink of choice, it seems, and we always like to do as the locals do so we have been doing a little bit of beer tasting. And to make sure that we are never caught short, that is, caught without a BOTTLE OPENER, the hotel have kindly provided us with one, attached to our key. There's no coffee-making facilities, no face cloths, no laundry and no iron, but by golly we can open beer.

It seemed a bit down-market though, and this little fellow below caught my eye in Illums Bolighus yesterday. I had to overcome quite a lot of husbandly opposition to the purchase but eventually I triumphed and he came home with us. Cute or what?!

Flowers in the frost

By the time we finished at the Glyptoteket and wandered through town, stopping for a hot-dog from a stand (a delicious proper sausage with warmed bun and condiments)and for hot sugar-toasted almonds, and then for more almonds ... it was 3pm when we got to the Botanical Gardens. Which is a shame because although the garden itself is open until 4pm, the winter garden closes at 3. Still, we weren't disappointed - despite the cold, there were some lovely surprises -
...hellebores


... golden crocus


... tiny purple cyclamen


... snowdrops


... and several of these golden carpets of crocus underneath the bare-leaved trees


We had no idea WHAT to make of this statue!!

Three days in Copenhagen is not enough!

It's not cold enough for the locals, but it is pretty cold for us. It was 3 degrees Celsius early this afternoon in the centre of town, but despite that we have had a great time here in Copenhagen. We are staying within walking distance of the main shopping street, the botanical garden, and many other interesting places. Yesterday we trolled the Stroget (main shopping street), ogling the beautifully designed objects for sale and dropping a bit of cash at Illums Bolighus on Arabia Moomin china.

The weekend before Lent appears to be a time of celebration here in Denmark and we watched some of the festivities - a small childrens' parade, a childrens' concert and 'barrel beating' (actually we missed the barrel beating but I suspect it's a bit like a pinata...).

This is the Round Tower. It was built by King Christian IV, completed in 1642 and stands 36m high. The interesting thing about it is that inside, instead of steps, there is a 210m long spiral ramp, constructed so that the aging King could get to the top in his carriage. It's much easier to climb a ramp than stairs and any child will tell you that a ramp like that is an irresistable challenge to run down ....



There's a very old toilet in the tower - it was built so that 'waste' would empty into a humus pit under the ground at the base at the tower. Various famous people have used the latrine, including Hans Christian Anderson - we know this because he used to spend hours studying at the University library that used to be housed in the Trinitatis church building that connects to the tower.

Today we headed back into town to the Ny Carlsberg Glyptoteket. This is an extensive collection of ancient art, from cultures around the mediterranean, acquired by the brewer Carl Jacobsen and donated to the people of Denmark between 1888 and 1899. As well as the most interesting collection of Roman statuary I have seen, there was Phoenician, Etruscan, Mesopotamian, Palmyrian, Egyptian and Greek artefacts and artwork on display. The piece de resistance was a marble staircase leading down into a dimly lit room containing two wooden Egyptian sarcophagi (one dating back to the time before mummification was practised), three magnificent mummy cases and two wrapped mummies. Wow. There was also a collection of French and Danish impressionist paintings and sculptures from the late 19th century, including Rodins and Gauguins (who had a Danish wife, apparently) but the building housing the paintings was closed until March ... But wait, there's more ... an elegant winter garden with full-sized Phoenix palms and a well-appointed tea room, where we played ladies and had a cup of tea and a dainty cake (see below).

Pictures of Copenhagen

Changing the Guard at Amalienburg Palace

A bus tour this morning - the Grand Tour of Copenhagen. The highlight was watching the changing of the guard at Amalienburg Palace. Danish royalty are very popular, and it's easy to see why. There were no iron bars keeping people out of the palace complex here, just some burly Danish policemen, and a couple of mounted police - and of course quite a few armed soldiers on sentry duty. The policemen directed the crowd of a couple of hundred people to the best positions to see what was happening, plus our guide was very pro-active at getting good viewing spots for her busload (I would highly recommend this tour!).



The soldiers march from their barracks across town, preceeded by a marching band The palace complex is octagonal in design so that the acoustics were considerably enhanced.



After marching 360 degrees round the palace complex, with no stamping and the minimum of shouting, the band performed a handful of pieces, then the sentries were replaced. Photos were permitted with the sentries, but please stand no closer than 1.5 metres.

Getting to Copenhagen

After a last feed of German sausages (mmm ... German sausages ....) at Hamburg station, we boarded our train for Copenhagen. It was an interesting trip, although outside was dull, wet and cold-looking, because the train crosses the sea from Germany to Denmark on a roll-on/roll-off ferry. We slid onto the large vehicle deck, along with all the big trucks, and then climbed upstairs to spend the 45 minute journey in the lounges on the upper decks. It was windy outside, and very foggy, but we couldn't resist spending the time out in the fresh air, along with the smokers and dog-owners. Couldn't see much though ...

Here's our train, arriving at Hamburg station



Passing another ferry mid-journey

Last glimpse of Hamburg

A small old-style building in the midst of a very modern area



Boats along the river Elbe



Hamburg's a trading port, and maritime imagery and decorations are all over the place. For example, this ship-shape roof-top ornament..

An old friend and the perfect present

There was a reason we came to Hamburg, and that was so that I could finally meet my German penfriend, Gila, after 36 years of correspondence. We arranged to meet for lunch in the lobby of the hotel. I was nervous and excited, I think she was too. But we recognised each other straight away and embraced like the old friends that we are. We had lunch in a traditional-style Hanseatic restaurant overlooking a canal (6th house from left in the photo below) and then retired to the hotel room to chat. The afternoon went quickly but the memories will last.



I want to show you the present that Gila gave me. It's a necklace made of Baltic amber. Lovely, isn't it. But do you know, she collected the amber on the beach while on holiday in Denmark, cut and polished it herself, drilled the holes to make it into beads, then assembled the necklace. How clever is that!! She also made a necklace for Em with lots of smaller beads on a silver chain. Mine is the top one - the big bead is 2cm long, Em's necklace is below.

Churches of Hamburg

For some reason Al loves to visit churches. He's not religious at all in the conventional sense, but he loves churches, so we go and see them wherever we go. Today did a bit of a church=tour, starting with the stark beauty of St Nikolai. This was a beautiful gothic-style Lutheran church that was destroyed by aerial bombing during the second world war. It has been left in its semi-demolished state as a memorial against the war. There was something very sad about walking through what would have been a beautiful building and beloved place of worship - the bare window frames at the end of what would have been the nave, and the spire and main entry, complete with heavy wooden doors which still stand at the other end of the huge church, pictured below.



Inside the building we found this eloquent memorial to the victims of the Third Reich. It's "The Ordeal" by Edith Breckwoldt and conveys a feeling of helpless, hopeless distress and regret.



The bricks it is set on were collected from the ruins of a concentration camp (by schoolchildren!!) and the plaque is enscribed with a quotation from Dietrich Bonhoeffer:

"No man in the whole world can change the truth. One can only look for the truth, find it and serve it. The truth is in all places."

(Dietrich Bonhoeffer was a German Lutheran minister who died at Flossenbürg Concentration Camp).

Next stop was St Petri. The facade of the church was covered in construction paper, but you can see the spire of the church in the background of the next photo, behind the Dr Seuss tree.

I loved this church. It was very simple and plain inside, but was also obviously well-used and loved. There was a contemplation area in a quiet corner - pottery bowls of sand sat on a bed of sand, enclosed by bricks on the tile floor. Cut logs to sit on were arranged around it and there was a box of candles to light. It felt very peaceful...



However, we were there for another reason - to climb the tower. 544 steps up to the highest row of portholes. I was keen to go all the way up but after the first hundred or so stone steps, we found ourselves on wooden slat stairs - you could see through them all the way down to the previous level, and while I can stand on top of the edge of very high hills without a care in the world, on a man-made structure my legs turn leaden only a few metres above the ground. So I stopped at the bottom row of portholes - which was 400 odd steps up. Al and Em continued but he gave up as well - she made it to the top though. What a trooper!



The last church we saw was St Michaelis. This one was completely different from St Petri. Where even the candles in St Petri were free of charge, we were asked to pay to enter St Michaelis. We were told that it was not an entry fee, but was a 'donation' towards upkeep of the church. ...And the difference is? Photos were also not allowed in case they disturbed people who had come to pray, but there was a film crew inside, and noisy guided tours, and certainly no-one was praying. We were told we could BUY postcards of the inside of the church. This was undoubtedly the worst church experience of the trip - the interior was like a concert hall, although the pulpit was outrageous (can't show you a photo though...). It was made of marble and looked a bit like a half open clam shell ...

After all this spiritual tourism, we decided to head for the mall to relax a bit. Imagine our surprise when we saw this...

Parking, Hamburg-style

In contrast to the Lyon shunt-park technique, here we see a gentler way of fitting into a parking space. This wee smartcar could easily have fitted into the space between the two larger cars without any shunting at all, but obviously the owner couldn't be bothered/didn't have the time/etc etc and the advantage of owning a car that is not much longer than it is wide, and probably not as wide as many of the utes and SUVs that people drive back home is that you can park perpendicular to everyone else and no-one really minds...

Nachtzug to Hamburg

Some people call the night train a 'sleeper', but I think that's a bit of a misnomer. You do get a comfortable bunk, and all the (very compact) amenities you need, but sleep - not so much! The gentle rocking of the train was pleasant, although rather noisy, but every hour or so we would (literally) screech to a halt, which had the effect of a very efficient alarm clock. Never mind, the breakfast was delicious and there was plenty of it, and for once, not getting a good nights sleep didn't really seem to matter, expecially when we staggered dazed out of the station in Hamburg, complete with lavish orchestral music emanating from a speaker somewhere attached to the station building, to SNOW!!



Our hotel room wasn't ready so early in the morning so after a fortifying coffee we set off to find something to do (most things are closed in Hamburg on Sunday). We found our way to a canal boat tour, which took us up the Alster, to see where the rich people live. Gluhwein and hot chocolate were on sale in the boat, and while it was -7 degrees Celsius outside, it was nice and warm in the boat.



Check out the cute moomin-style bathing house!









It was lucky, really, that the shops were shut as we found lots of cute things in window displays, including this must-have man-shaped cake tin!! How have I lived so long without one (and will go on living without it too ..)

Chocolat et la roule de la fourtune

As you can see, night closes in and things look nice and cosy here in Aniane. E and I made chocolate brownies this afternoon from a recipe on the internet. We had to make lots of substitutions and didn't have proper measuring equipment, plus we had to cook it twice as long as the recipe suggested but it turned out delicious - gooey and chewy on the inside and crisp on the outside. Now we are watching French 'wheel of fortune'. It's rather lively - the host has a dog, and is shorter than the female contestants and doesn't care. He flirts with the letter-turning girl - 'there you are in your little violet top - is it violet?' 'Well it's soft' she replies, stroking her chest ... One of the contestants has already cupped her breasts and compared them with the lettre-turners! Now the host is carrying the dog ... the audience is clapping and someone is dancing ... oh - Gilles has won 14,800 euros!! Cool!

Barcelona

We went to Barcelona for a few days at New Year. I kept putting off posting about it because I had so many pictures and it was quite a full-on experience.

My overwhelming memory of Barcelona is of the architecture of the city itself. The overwhelming attention to detail, balconies beautifully tiled underneath so that if a passerby looks up they will be rewarded with a lovely sight, building facades as intricate as wallpaper, wide, generously proportioned streets with each paving stone on the footpath individually patterned... it is as if no surface has been left untouched by the artists' eye. We stayed in the Eixample, which is where the modernist influence is most obvious.





Then there is the natural beauty of the city. It's a harbour town, with the Port Vell (old port) developed into a pedestrian precinct including an excellent aquarium, a marina, shops, restaurants and plenty of places to stroll and sit. There are some large parks, some on hills with beautiful views, and of course the beaches. We were really impressed.



There is one drawback however, and that is the huge numbers of people there. In 8 months last year, more than 4.4 million tourists visited Barcelona - that's more than the entire population of New Zealand! I'm not good in crowds, and I found it really off-putting.

We did visit the aquarium, and the zoo, but spent most of our time just wandering round looking up at buildings, oohing and aahing. Catalan seems to be the language of choice in Barcelona, with most restaurant menus in Catalan rather than Spanish. We found this difficult!

A point of interest to any railway enthusiasts out there - the rail gauge in Spain is wider than that of the rest of Europe, including France. In the old days you had to disembark at the border, and change trains. However, now they use these 'Talgo' trains (pictured below at Barcelona station), which have a special mechanism in the undercarriage that changes the position of the wheels while you wait. Just across the border, the train stops and after some creaking and groaning from the nether regions, off you go.