Flying ?East?

Jan 2nd
New years day I did something I have never before done in my life. I flew east out of Boston! After the shortest overnight international flight of my life (a mere 7 hours.. hardly time for the snack, dinner, lights out time, breakfast, beer and wine!) I landed in Frankfurt, Germany. In Europe for the first time it was awesome to hear dual language announcements that were not entirely of a foreign nature. I would have loved to wonder around the airport and gawk at all the "oddities" and funny words but it was actually about 1am EST and I was exhausted. Our flight was delayed and I was worried about staying awake or when I did doze off if I was making too much of a scene snoring over my protectively craddled luggage (there are pickpockets in Europe you know!) But somehow I managed to catch my flight.

We left from the tar mat and I have to say this was one of the most bizarre boarding experiences I have ever have. We gave our tickets at the desk, like normal, walked down the ramp, again, totally expected, and then went down some steps, out some back door and boarded a bus waiting for us. We took the bus on seriously a 20 minute ride around the airport, past the cargo planes and airline hangers and then there was our plane. Sitting out alone in the middle of the tar mat. The bus half followed some painted red line to what I hope was a safe unloading zone and then we boarded the plane like celebrities.

I arrived in København (Copenhagen) at about 11am local time (Boston's 5am) and was picked up at the airport by the director of my lab. In Denmark I am working at the Danish Building Research Institute which is Statens Byggeforskningsinstitut in danish and refered to as SBi. (www.sbi.dk) The lab is located about 25km north of København in a town called Hørsholm. When the lab director dropped me off at the guest house on the research campus (there are many other lab facilities up there as well) I decided to go for a walk into the town to check it out.

Hørsholm has it's own Slot which means Castle!
Right near by is an old windmill that has been turned into a museum/performance center.

Few pictures of the town itself. It was a nice walk, only about 15 minutes to the outdoor mall shown in the first photograph..















My jet lag was wearing me out, plus it was freezing, so I didn't stay long but I did manage to find one snack bar I definitely had to try out. Its the danish hotdog.. an obsession the danes themselves can't even explain. They asked me, "You call it a hotdog too?!" because I think they thought it was such a weird name. And yet they have taken our American hotdog and gone over the top. The standard fixings are relish, onions, mustard, ketchup and a secret sauce. But I went with the "fransk dog" style instead. It comes baked in a bun (most come bun in one hand, dog in the other) and the hotdog is at least 4" too long for the thing anyway. They squirt a little sauce in before they add the dog... I have to say, it was quite delicious.