Back from Oz

In late August I headed to Australia to participate in the International Cup 2008. An Australian Rules Football tournament for the rest of the world. This time 16 teams competed for the trophy. We played against USA, South Africa, China, Great Britain, and Sweden. It went according to AFL's prediction and we finished 11 out of 16. A bit disappointing for us, as we had higher hopes. All in all it was a good experience, and it was great to catch up with mates now living in Oz. I also got the chance to visit the farm I used to work on - a trip down memory lane.

 

More photos here.

Hong Kong

Hey. Just came home from Hong Kong. Interesting city. I was there on business, but I did have some time to see the city. Above is a night time photo of the skyline from the peak.

Here I am on the peak. The weather was nice, but have a look at the amount of smog in the background. It was hard to see the city!

A few flamingo in the park.

More photos from Greenland

Finally got around to added some more photos from the trip to Greenland. Click the link to have a look

Stockholm

I have meetings in Stockholm on Monday, so I'm leaving tomorrow to have chance to see the city. I have been there too many times without seeing the city, so is the time.

By the way: had a good win against the Crocs today.

Ilulissat 3/8-7/8

The last part of my trip was spent in Ilulissat. We hung out and relaxed mostly, but we did find time for Emilie to give me a guided tour of the city and Sermermiut. Walking along the Icefiord in sunshine was breathtaking.






We also found time for a sailing trip on the ice fiord.

Helicopter ride 4/8

The day after we came back to Ilulissat, I was booked to go for a helicopter ride, and WOW what an experience. Below are some photos, but they do not do justice to the experience. If you ever get the chance, grab it!

Disko 1/8-3/8

After coming back from Eqi we went to Disko. We spent a couple of days hiking in the vicinity of Godhavn. Unfortunately it was very foggy for the duration of our stay, so we had to stay at sea level, i.e. no mountaineering. Luckily the coastline was beautiful and we saw lots of big ice bergs and more importantly ... whales!

Eqi 30/7-1/8

I finally met up with Emilie, and luckily she had
some time off, so we went on a hike to the Ice Sheet. We had a beautiful hike up there, and it was really fantastic walking around on the ice sheet. (Top to bottom: Us on the ice sheet, Eqi, Emilie, more lovely scenery).




The next day before we sailed back to Ilulissat, I had time for a short walk out to the delta (below).

Ilulissat 29/7-30/7

When we arrived in Ilulissat, we were picked up by Matilde and brought back to the guide house. Here we met Peter, who took us all shooting (Right: Matilde having a shot, Laust monitoring the accuracy, and Peter giving advice in the background). After that Peter, Laust, Ulf (Laust's father), and I went for a walk to Sermermiut and the ice fiord (below).

Matilde made an excellent meal for us in the evening including Greenlandic coffee at the end. Excellent! Next morning I had to get up early to catch the boat to Eqi where Emilie was waiting.

The trip to Ilulissat 28/7-29/7

I had high expectations for the trip on the ferry to Ilulissat, but unfortunately the weather was poor and visibility low. I did see whales on the second day of the trip. In the Aasiaat bay I saw two minky whales. The trip also had its share of ice bergs.

Sisimiut 27/7-28/7

I finally arrived in Sisimiut (photo on the right) a day delayed but still keen to head up Kællingehætten. On my way there I met Laust, and we decided to do the hike together. Although it rained on and off, and fog looked like it might cut our trip short, we did make it to the top (below).

The second day in Sisimiut I walked around and had a look at the city itself and Teleøen. In the evening I jumped on the ferry to Il

Kangerlussuaq 24/7-27/7

This snow scooter is looking a bit stranded, sitting on the gravel in the streets of Kangerlussuaq. Yeah, thats right. My Greenland adventure has begun. I arrived in Kangerlussuq on July 24, dumped my bag in Old Camp, and set off to see the area. First day I visited Black Ridge, hoping to see some muskox, but they eluded me! That didn't stop from having a good day however. The sun was shining and it was shorts and tshirt. Different from the Summer weather in Denmark!
The second day, however, the Danish weather caught up with me - rain! I borrowed a (rather run-down) mountain bike from the hostel and cycled to Sugar Loaf. I had an idea that I might go all the way to the ice cap, but the weather and poor condition of both bike and road changed my mind. I came back to the hostel in the early afternoon, and hung out hoping for the weather to change. After a few hours it became apparent, that that was not going to happen any time soon, so I jumped on the bike and visited the nearby mud flats, and tried my luck on Black Ridge again - still no muskox :-(
On day three I went to the airport to fly to Sisimiut. Unfortunately the pilot couldn't land in Sisimiut due to poor visibility so I spent most of the day circling above Sisimiut and waiting in the airport for Greenland Air to figure out what to do. In the end I had to wait till the next day to fly to Sisimiut. I did manage a shortish hike in the evening to Lake Ferguson.

Finally uploaded pictures from France

I finally uploaded some photos from our trip to France in January. I know it has been awhile, but better late than never. Photos from France.

The Giraffe

Drinking a giraffe with Laurent and PO in Liege on June 1...and there were many more beers to come. Excellent! We had a brilliant evening and ended up wasted at PO's place next to a station in the middle of nowhere :-) The rest of the weekend had a classic Belgian theme: BEER!

Skiing

Yes! I also got to go on a skiing trip in 2007. The first went down the drain when it collided with moving to a new flat. Bummer. Luckily my friends took pity on me, and decided to a second skiing holiday - even though they really hate skiing!

Above right : Me, myself and I.

Above left: The team -1.

Right: The -1.

Below: Nature!

This time we went to Meribel Mottaret, France. Lovely place, and the weather (as you can see) favored us. Although late in the season we still had enough snow to have fun.

Nice, Cannes, Monaco here we come!

Excellent. Finally some R&R. Looking forward to it. We're leaving tomorrow for Nice. We'll spend a few days driving around Provence and Cote d'Azur before going to Saint-Paul de Vence. Back later in January. I'll post some photos when I get back.

Mini-vacation on Fyn

We just had a mini-vacation on Fyn, and what a lovely place! The weather was beautiful, and we really enjoyed our two days on Fyn.
Day 1:
We drove to Svendborg and had lunch. From there we drove over Tåsinge to Langeland and went Swimming near Lohals. Back again to Tåsinge to visit Valdemar Slot (seen below). After a drive along the southern coast of Fyn we arrived in Faaborg and found a bed and breakfast, Johan Ludvigs, NE of Faaborg. We had a lovely six-course meal at Falsted Kro. Wow, what an experience. Definately recommendable!

 

Day 2:
After a lovely breakfast at Johan Ludvigs, we visited Assens and drove from there to Odense to have lunch. We also found time to stroll up and down the pedestrian mall and shop a little. From there we drove to Fyns Hoved, where we went for a sunny walk and saw porpoise frollicking in the waters of the coast. Excellent! After the walk we found a beach and went swimming. Drove to Kerteminde for a meal and then home.

Fyn is a lovely place. Lots of beautiful country-side towns and scenery. 

Videoes from Finland

I also made a couple of videos while holidaying in Finland using my digital camera. Using this cool video editing applicaiton I found on the web, www.eyespot.com, I've made a small videoclip. Check it out :-)

Back from Finland

We're back from Finland, and what a great place to holiday! We can definitely recommend it. Click on the title to see the photos.
  

Finland, Finland, Finland

Finally time for some R&R. Deserved I think and much needed. This Summer we're off to Finland, and who says it better than Monty Python?

Finland, Finland, Finland,
The country where I want to be,
Pony trekking or camping,
Or just watching TV.
Finland, Finland, Finland.
It's the country for me.

Link to complete lyrics
I'll let you know all about it when I get back, and I'll even post some photos.

Photos from Egypt

I know I promised to post photos ages ago. Only got around to it now. Anyway click on the link to see the photos from Egypt and Italy.
  

Back again

Just came back from Egypt yesterday after a weeks worth of excellent diving. I'll post some photos as soon as possible, but it will probably be a couple of days before I get around to it.

Skiing holiday

Just came back from an excellent skiing holiday in Avoriaz. Click on the title to see the photos.

  

Off on a skiing adventure later today

Going skiing in Avoriaz. We have a long drive ahead of us, but it will be an excellent holiday!

Conference in London

I attended a very interesting BI conference in London this week.

Cabo da Roca

Yours truly at the Westernmost point of continental Europe. Back in the old days, this was

where the land ends and the sea begins (Camões)

Palace in Sintra

After the conference all the antendees go on a bus tour in the area. Here I am in front of on of the palaces in Sintra. This is the main one where the Portuguese princes of yore had their Summer residence.

Estoril

We had some time to play tourists - Estoril race track. No longer on the F1 program unfortunately :-(

Visiting Lisboa

Nice view

Conference in Portugal

Today we arrived at the hotel in Sintra, Portugal where the conference will begin on Wednesday, and wow what a p(a)lace (Palácio de Seteais)!