Michael Carøe Andersen

Tag: christmas

Christmas in Malta 2009

On the eve of the 22nd Ann and I made our way to Gatwick airport. We had a flight to Malta the next morning at 7.15 AM and didn’t want to count on public transport getting us out there in the morning as London was having severe traffic issues due to snow and ice. Lucky for us the the flight was almost and time and we made it to Malta without any problems.

While England and the rest of northern Europe was struggling/celebrating snow and ice we ended up in Malta’s warmest Christmas in more than 20 years with temperatures up to 24 degrees – nice!

On December 24th, while Ann was busy, I walked around the village she is from taking pictures of the Christmas decorated houses.

The last photo is a hand-painted picture on the back entrance to a bar that really have an aura of Christmas. As I walked by Christmas music was blasting out in the streets. Check out the front and side photos.

In the evening of the 24th we went to the village’s Christmas Procession where kids dressed as angels and shepherds walk the baby Jesus through the streets as they sing carols.

In the evening we went out with Ann’s siblings and partners to a nice restaurant on Vittoriosa Waterfront.

After that it was on to the university church where we went for midnight mass. The church was packed with people sitting outside watching the service on a big screen. We got a seat inside and watched the Maltese service which started with this kid retelling the Christmas story. Very cute.

Well I’m used to celebrating Christmas on the eve of the 24th but here it’s different so we had to let the gifts stay under the crib for another night before we could release the excitement.

The next morning we got stockings, opened gifts, played games, Wii and watched films.

An extra bonus is that Ann’s mum has orange trees in her garden so we could all start the day with a glass of fresh juice – delicious.

Merry Christmas!

December 27, 2009
Christmas and New Years in Denmark

Its long overdue with an update from me again.

At the end of December Kathleen invited a bunch of Prague friends over for a Christmas party with food, gifts and ugly hats. That kicked off my Christmas spirit and we had a great evening with lots of laughter and good times. Here is Antone, Sascha and Julie with big smiles:

The day after there was a flash mob event on Old Town Square in the center of Prague. The idea was that everybody should show up with a pillow hidden. At exactly 18.55 someone would whistle and a pillow fight should start.
I was at the square a few minutes before it started standing next to some tourists that didnt know what was about to happen. And then the pillow fight started. Several hundred people brought out their pillow and started whacking each other. Soon the air was full of white feathers and it looked as if it had started to snow with the fluffiest snow. Below is a video I shot 30 seconds after the started.

This is what the square looked like afterwards.

December flew by and I went home to my parents in Toftlund. Ann flew to Denmark and spent almost two weeks with me over Christmas and New Years. Needless to say I enjoyed it immensely to share our Danish traditions with her.

Christmas in Denmark is celebrated on Christmas Eve with a nice dinner, rice pudding game for dessert, dancing around the Christmas tree and opening gifts. This year we were my parents, my sister Majbrit, her boyfriend Mogens, my nephew Magnus, Ann and me.

On Christmas Day we didnt have any plans but to work some of all the good food off we took a trip to The Dear Park by Haderslev. Afterwards we went to meet my grand parents in Styding and some of the family that lived close by. Here is Ann and I in front of the view over the lake.

A few days later we had a dinner with my high school class mates. Every year we try to gather the class and this year we were 8 (with Ann).

For New Years we made a little trip where we first went a day to Aalborg where I used to study. We stayed over night with Peter my old neighbor and his family and had a great time with them. It was a year since I visited them last so I hadnt met the cute Oscar before.

The next day we went for brunch with Tomas, a buddy from university and then met some of the girls I worked with in ESN for a coffee.

Then we headed back south and ended in Skjoldelev where we celebrated New Years with my good friend Christian and his wife Louise. The live by the village square so we could see all the fireworks just outside. A really cozy night.

My parents gave me an early birthday gift and threw a party for me inviting the extended family. So January the 3rd we had the house full of people many of them I hadnt seen in a long time so it was really nice to see them before I took off again.

On the last day we had coffee with the neighbors and then it started to snow. We took a walk in the first snow of this trip and went to feed the ducks in a nearby pond. It was hilarious to see ducks try to walk on the ice

The next day Ann went back to London and I went back to Prague.

This was probably the best Christmas Ive had as an adult thanks to all the friends and family and, of course, Ann.

January 11, 2009
Christmas Markets in Dresden

Saturday morning early we started out in Prague. 5 people in a car and 4 on the train. The destination was the city of Dresden in Germany.

With Christmas fast approaching a trip was organized (Thanks to Sarah and Michael etc.) to check out the city and its legendary Christmas Market. The Christmas market in Dresden has existed since 1434 so its one of the oldest around. On every corner throughout the city booths offers Christmas decorations and other knick knack but more importantly glÃ¼hwein and all sorts of delicious foods.

After the Christmas market we continued on through the city. First through the Altstadt which is dominated by the newly restored Frauenkirche. The church was bombed during World War II and wasnt resurrected until 2005.Very beautiful both inside and out.

Later in the day we went to Neustadt on the other side of the River Elbe where a whole different revitalization is taking place. What used to be a run down area is now a busteling neighbourhood with loads of kneipen (pubs), cafes and cozy shops. A really cool place with a nice atmosphere, interesting people and buildings and businesses. Here is a picture from the Kunsthof Passage which is 5 backyards connected filled with shops and creative architecture. Have a look at these pictures to see what Im talking about. Here we are at a glÃ¼hwein booth at one of the backyards under the stars and red laterns:

Neustadt was also where our hostel was so we checked out the shopping, dinning and a drinking here before calling it a day. We had a really nice dinner at a Vietnamese restaurant. Here is the whole table (sans me).

The next day we walked some more in the town, did some Christmas shopping, saw the church from inside and headed back to Prague.

Thanks guys for a nice weekend!

December 15, 2008
Sweet Christmas videos

There is a Danish (or rather Scandinavian) tradition of making a TV show that runs every day of December until the 24th and the night of Christmas. For the past couple of years some of the Danish bloggers have made a similar thing with videos.

This year Emme has made her own show called Sweet Christmas with a story of a cookie called Mr. Nom Nom and his troubles. Here is episode 1:

For more check Emme’s blog or youtube channel. Happy December!

December 1, 2008
A weekend in London

Last weekend I went to visit Ann in London. It’s really nice to have her closer so we get to see each other more often. It does mean that I dont get the boost of sun a trip to Malta would give to a pale guy like me Hopefully we’ll manage to make a trip to Malta for Easter.Â

In the meantime we enjoyed the sprawl of London. The picture above and below is from the Portobello Market in Notting Hill. As you can see it was a great day for strolling and the market was bustling with people along the almost two miles the road stretches.

London is getting into gear for the Christmas shopping and and there where lights up a lot of places. Here we make our way down Oxford Street, the big shopping street, in a painfully slow tempo. Looking at the city as it slowly sail by makes up for it.

Saturday night we went to Camden Town to meet up with Jamie and Becky who used to live in Prague. They went back to London. (It was Jamie who had advised me on my Scotland itinerary and his parent’s house I stayed at in Glasgow).
Jamie is a folk musician so we went out to hear him jam at a very local bar called The Golden Lion. It was good to see Jamie and Becky again and to hear their take on London. Jamie is at the back of this picture in stripes – this night he was playing violin, flute and guitar.

While I was there I borrowed cousin Martin’s flat which was very appreciated. Ann has a lot more details about the weekend at her blog. The weekend was over fast and I’m now back in Prague.

November 26, 2008
Christmas videos

Pollas asked Danish bloggers to send in a video for a Vlog Christmas Calendar in the good spirit of Christmas. I sent in a video and it is hiding behind number 11th. Click here to see the Calendar. In the video Julia and my roommate Femi try some Danish Christmas food.

The video was made when Julia came to visit last week. Her traineeship in Frankfurt was over and she was on a last stint through Europe before going back to US.
It is always great to have visitors and we covered a fair amount of the touristy Copenhagen with Julia.

Looking for material for my video contribution I went through my unedited videos and came across some clips I made last year when I drove to Wisconsin for Christmas. So here is a newly cut video. My camera died on the way over so this video has a somewhat abrupt ending halfway through Chicago:

And finally there is the Christmas video I made in Danish from Ann Arbor last year. I will try and make something similar this year from Copenhagen.

Merry Christmas!

December 11, 2006