Michael Carøe Andersen

Tag: visit

  • Bloggers passing through and the story of the lost rugby tickets

    A couple of weeks ago David from Malta was at a conference in London and with phones running out of credit and communication through his wife back home we managed to meet up in central London one evening. David is a thoughtful guy – as you can tell from his blog – and I always enjoy talking to him about politics, life and anything in between.

    The week after we had another blogger passing through. This time it was Karen from Wisconsin. She had to leave Prague prematurely due to visa issues but was heading back to try again. On the way back to Prague she was making her way through Europe and London was the first stop. We had some entertaining days with Karen who was excited to be here. Here she is at Covent Garden with a Jack Sparrow look-a-like (and smell-a-like).

    Karen and Jack Sparrow

    This weekend we again should thank a blogger for the entertainment. At the Blogger Meetup in February there had been a competition for rugby tickets and although we didn’t win (Ann got really close). However Peter – one of the winners – wasn’t going to use his tickets and gave them to Ann. I was soo excited about the chance to see a rugby game and had been looking forward to it for weeks. But yesterday as we were starting to get ready to get out the door we couldn’t find the tickets… We looked everywhere and got the room cleared out but the tickets didn’t appear.

    I grumped about the lost tickets for a couple of hours but luckily enough we had an alternative event to go to. Instead we went to The Barbican for a show called the The Manganiyar Seduction where a group of 43 folk musicians from Muslim region of India was sitting in boxes as they played. A very impressive show as you can see in the clip below – but still a poor replacement for a rugby match.

    Anyways big thanks to Peter Marshall for the rugby tickets, that was a nice gesture. He blogs about photography at Re:Photo and writes about the many protests and walks he photographs in My London Diary. Peter has been walking around London taking pictures since the 70s and has some really interesting stories and observations.

  • My parents visit London – and us

    London skyline

    I’ve been in London for a bit over 3 weeks now and I really enjoy it. These past days the weather has been so-so but otherwise it’s been remarkable good weather.

    The group ready to take off from South Kenton

    Two weekends ago we went on a walking tour organized by Walk London where we joined a route close to our place. The route we were walking was the 10th segment of a walking path called the Capital Ring which goes through the green belt all around London. It was a really nice walk and nice to see that there is lots of green patches around us.
    At Welsh Harp we met up with the chairman from Welsh Harp Conservation Group who told us about the area that sees a lot of migrating birds. The conservation group had two hides from where they can sit and look at the birds. Below is a picture of how it looks inside the hide and here is the view you can see looking out from the hide.

    Looking out

    This past weekend my parents came to visit us. And as I am still very new to London I got the chance to explore a lot of new places myself. Friday we took a tour in open doubledecker buses around London to see the famous landmarks in central London.

    My parents in front of The London Eye

    In the evening we went to my first West End performance to see a musical called Jersey Boys about a band from the 60s. I really enjoyed the music and the production with the way the stage kept changing into so many different sets throughout the show. This is definitely something to do in London and I hope to see more shows while I’m here.

    Saturday we went to Notting Hill for the Portobello market to look the stalls, stuff they were selling and the atmosphere. Later we went to the Science Museum.

    Crowds on Portabello Road

    Sunday we went to Little Venice which doesn’t really look like Venice but is a very nice place none the less. From here we took a canal boat to Camden Lock where we ran into another market with great food stalls and loads of people.

    Looking down the canal

    It was nice with a visit from home and now that I have come closer to Denmark it will be easier to travel back and forth to visit friends and family and get people to visit me 🙂

  • How to spend 4 days in Prague

    Daniel was one of my house mates from Joint House in Ann Arbor. We had not really been in touch since I left Michigan but last week he contacted me through Facebook and said that he would come to Prague.

    Its been a while since friends has stopped by Prague *hint*hint* so it was a great surprise to hear Daniel was coming. I had a great time hanging out with him for a couple of days talking about old days of Joint House and the cool parties we had as well as what we had been up to the last couple of years. I realized that Daniel and another house mate of ours live in Berlin now, so I should try and see if I can make a proper trip up there.

    Palav Akropolis - music venue and theatre

    Daniel did 4 days of Prague right after my head, plenty of culture and plenty of beer. We started out Sunday night at Akropolis with reggae. Monday he did the the city center with Old Town Square and Charles Bridge etc. At night he went with another friend to see some underground stuff at the skate ramp on one of the islands and ended up clubbing at Roxy. Tuesday he did the Museum of Modern Art and the Prague Castle. In the evening I went with him to Laterna Magika (Magic Latern) to see a play and later on we continued to a basement bar with dressed up people in Malostranska for the rest of the night. Wednesday he saw Museum of Communism and the beautiful cubist museum. At night he rocked to two live bands at the very unique and wicked Cross Club with another friend. Thursday we went for breakfast together before he headed back home.

    If I were here for a few days Id do something like that :)

    One thing I hadnt done before and hadnt thought of before Daniel mentioned it was to check out some Black Light Theatre. Czech Republic and Prague became famous for their pantomimes using mixed media in the sixties. They even built a special stage for these plays at the national theatre in this building called Laterna Magika that looks like its wrapped in bubble-wrap.

    Czech National theatre - Laterna Magika

    The show we went to see was Wonderful Circus which turned out to be hilarious, partly intentional, partly because the show is some 30 years old. I cant really explain it but this is the start of the show;

    Two clowns are hatched out of two eggs washed ashore by the waves. Before they know where they are, they are confronted by the Tempter, the symbol of the snares and deceptions of life, and by Venus, the vision of mysterious beauty, which leads them to set out on a pilgrimage.

    The show uses pantomime and black light theater on a background of three projection screens. Parts of the storyline is going on in the film clips projected and parts on the stage. The characters would jump from one media to another in a quite imaginary manner.
    I think the price is a bit steep at 730czk for regular tickets but I must say it was good entertainment. Here are the two clowns trying to catch the fleeing Venus:

    Wonderful Circus

    Two weeks ago I was also in the theatre to see an English play. I didnt get around to blog about it but Karen did.

    To hint some more at those people that could be tempted by a trip to Prague I might add that Daniel found a hotel room for 15eur(!) per night on HRS.de. It was quite basic but it was 5 min from my place, clean and included breakfast. For a better alternative try and get in touch with Laus for some Prague Apartments.


  • 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.

    A Garde in front of the Queen's Palace

    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!