We are now in AArhus, the second largest city in Denmark and a University town. There are thousands of bikes (the city is mostly flat) and most major streets have designated bike lanes on the sidewalk level, so pedestrians must be doubly careful at intersections. Everyone, including cyclists and pedestrians, obey the traffic signals.
There are several festivals going on now. Besides the arts festival that "Best Before" is a part of, there is a childrens festival and at least three music festivals that I am aware of. Tuesday night I took a three hour walk through town and saw seven bands playing at six venues. Five of the venues were outside in various squares in the downtown.
As we knew it would be, Denmark is expensive, especially if you eat at restuarants (the further north you go in Europe, the more expensive it gets). Arjan estimates that it is 30% more expensive than Germany. We have the advantage of having breakfast provided by the hotel (the Radison Blu) and the rest of the meals supplied by the festival, so we haven't needed to spend much money.
I don't usually get involved with the blog, but Ken suggested I (Ellen) make a few comments. Opening night exceeded all expectations. As we were integrating a new character (James) to replace Brady who is not longer with the play, things could have been rough. As it was, James, who in addition to being a technical director, is also now on stage, was a real crowd pleaser. All in all a fun night. THREE curtain calls and flowers, followed by a wine reception provided by the German consul to Denmark. Does it get any better? Stay tuned.
Now about our trips here. Ellen flew here via Vancouver, Toronto, Copenhagen, AaArhus. This in 24 hours with one overnight flight. (Can you say "jet lag"?) I (Ken) could only make a continuous trip with two successive overnight trips since I am flying standby on Continental. So I left two days earlier and spent Friday night and Saturday with my son Gabe in Houston. I caught a 6AM flight from Houston to Newark (the only possible flight I could get on, since Houston and Newark are Continental hubs and standby between these cities is like a company bus). I was #36 on the standby list.
The flight from Newark to Copenhagen arrived about 15 minutes after Ellen's Air Canada flight and parked at the next gate. I caught up with Ellen and the rest of her crew in the line for immigration (a mere formality when arriving in Europe from North America). We had time for a quick kiss before she went for her connecting flight and I went to the train station. I got to Aarhus about an hour and a half earlier than Ellen because she had to wait for her flight.
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