Euro-vision 2012: Denmark and Berlin

For some crazy reason Timon and I decided we had enough money and were sick enough of New York to spend a month in Europe. There were a couple of really good excuses - Ida was celebrating her 30th birthday in Copenhagen and Timon's friend Tom was available for a boys trip to Amsterdam. But really, were we mad?

On the 7th Jan I saw my family off as they went on their way back to Australia. I cleaned the apartment for the impending arrival of our sub-letters (some lovely Ballarat ladies Anna and Tiffany - small world right?) and squeezed 3 weeks worth of clothes into my hand luggage. The lonely trip to the airport was made even worse by the ever frustrating subway diversions but I made it and boarded my Icelandair flight to CPH (via Reykjavik). Ida's brother Jakob collected me from the airport and we went directly to the party which was being held in the middle of the city. It was awesome to see Ida and her friends and family again and to enjoy some tasty Danish cuisine. After a good 36 hours of awakeness I crashed into bed and didn't rise until 2pm the next day. We had some cosy dinners, saw The Girl With The Dragon Tattoo and had a delicious meal at Pastis with Ida's parents over the next couple of days. I even walked my way to the kindergarten where Ida works and spent an hour scaring tiny Danish children who thought I was speaking an alien language.

Unbeknown to me Ida had planned and booked a mid-week trip to Berlin which luckily coincided with the arrival of Tom and Timon. We flew out of CPH late one night and spent a few hours failing terribly at German public transport. We spent our time relaxing, drinking cheap wine, eating massive schnitzels and enjoying the winter sun. One day Ida and I ventured out to the old Olympic Stadium but missed the final tour of the day by 10 minutes. We went to the top of the TV Tower and watched the sunset, went on a tour of an aboveground bunker that's now a private art gallery and climbed to the top of the Reichstag on a miserably rainy day. We met up with Hannah and Jack (from IMAX) who were living in Berlin and went bowling and cocktail drinking.

Timon, Ida and I flew back to CPH and spent a couple of days eating frikadels and shopping for shoes. OH, I forgot to mention that I rode a bike, in the bikiest city in the world, in the rain. I hope you're impressed.