Sorry Viewers, if there are any of you left...

I did talk up the big talk of how I was going to post about my last trip. however after spending an entire weekend sharing it all with my family and then doing much of the same with my friends and going through the exhaustive 1700 pictures, I was not really in the mood. So considering most people I am aware of that still read my blog new enough and saw enough that I would only be repeating myself I lost hope for the few that missed out. For those of you in the group if there are any, I am sorry. You can ask me in person and I would be happy to tell you all that you want to know. However at this point in the game you should assume that I will not be doing that promised write up, It seemed daunting then so you can imagine what I feel about it now. However, that does not mean my blog is done, as I mentioned I do intend on keeping it updated. So now that I am back from cape cod I got something to talk about. Also I am starting to prepare for the up coming school year so I will fill the blog in every now and again. For those of you interested in my travels in the future I will continue to use this blog as my means of communication so keep that in mind. If you do not know I do plan to do a 6-8 week trip to France, Italy, Portugal and Spain next summer...

So the Cape was great. It was my family and I just relaxing for two weeks at our beach escape. We spent some time with out family friends the Buttons who also rent a house in Truro with us every summer. We also caught up with some friends who live on the cape and got to have a great dinner from the sea. My uncle paul came and visited us as well which was fun. I spent most days waking up late, going for a run or mountain bike ride or somedays both, then making lunch and spending the rest of the day at Longnook Beach. So not a bad life for two weeks. Not much eventful happened and we didnt do many of the traditional activities like renting a sail boat, or surf boards or playing mini golf. But that was okay we had a very mellow two weeks.

Now I am back in Burlington and getting ready to ramp up the intensity for the school year. I will not have much on my blog since I will not be traveling much. However I can and will likely use this as a ski journal of sorts when winter rolls around which is going to be very soon!! I know many of you cant bear to think about that but winter starts when the first snow graces the mountains in early October and this year is gonna be a good year (I hope, especially after the epic year that I missed a lot of in Denmark : (...) That is all for now, pictures from my big trip in Europe are going up on facebook as I write this... I amazingly took no pictures in Cape Cod except for a few on my cell phone which I will send to FB

Back in the USA

So I am currently writing this message from America... I have returned but so much to tell, it will likely be at least 10 posts because I did and saw so much in the last two weeks. I will do my best to write one or two posts each day to recount the end of my trip, although I know I will be seeing my family this a lot starting today and on Sunday so some of you will learn the details of parts of my trips prior to my posts. Overall I had an amazing time albeit exhausting....However traveling to six countries in two weeks is quite a lot and then to finish I returned to Aalborg with just enough time to pack up, clean my room and say my last good byes before an early plane ride the next day.

I do have to say it is ridiculously hot today and yesterday here in the US. And the humidity wow, not like it was in europe, much more temperate due to being farther north... I would also like to comment that I legally purchased my first beer in America today, Long Trail Belgian White for those who care, and I was super excited because the liquor store had a great selection of imports including some amazing beer I tried in Belgium. For those of you who are unaware Belgium is more or less the undisputed country that is the king of beer... And they had for a measly $5.50 a bottle one of the best ones I tried in belgium sitting on the shelf which made me happy until I saw the price and that made me sad but in the store in Belgium it was slightly more than 3 Euro ($~4.50) so that made me think that it was not a horrible deal...

It is sad and happy to be home in America, for many reasons, most of which are rather obvious. Although after traveling for weeks in countries where they do not even speak the same language I had the most stress in difficulty in Newark Airport... Gotta love America... I will explain the specifics later but I just wanted to say a quick hello world..

On my way!!!

So yesterday I finished my project!!! I gave a 35 min group presentation and then a 45 minute individual Q and A session with my adviser and a gentleman from Vestas (One of the worlds larget Wind Turbine Manufacturers). The presentation went very well and both of the guys really liked our written report especially the guy from Vestas. He in fact wants to put a Windspire in his garden but the town planning commission wont let him because it would be too tall or something like that. I scored well getting the best grade in my group which was a 10... (Ok the do grades weird here in DK -3 = you did nothing, 0 = failure but at least you tried, 2 = just barely passing, 4 = you passed but you need some work etc then there is 7 10 and 12 which is exceeded expectations and went above and beyon) With that complete it is officially summer!

So now time for my trip. I am starting in Amsterdam then traveling to Antwerp, Brussels,Rotterdam and back to Amsterdam. Then I have a transition day in Copenhagen, to Prague, Vienna, Budapest and back to Prague before returning to Aalborg. Then I have one night in Aalborg before returning to the US. I do not know if I will have time to post on my blog until I return to the US. But if I do it will be without pictures. I will finish the posts for my trip once I am home.

One last note, please keep this blog address. I will likely add posts from time to time while I am back home in the US, but far more importantly I will continue to use the blog whenever or where ever I go in the future. So keep it in mind when ever I will be going on any more trips. I will try to have pretty regular updates etc. You may notice some changes as I will likely change the "Danish" theme to another theme.

Dublin

After all the fun in Galway we returned to Dublin for one day before returning to Denmark... We were both pretty tired and it is not the most special city in Europe but it was nice. We took the free tour which was fun, informative and the tour guide was really awesome. We got to see the sights like the royal "castle" and city hall, Christchurch, O'Connell street, Temple Bar, Temple University etc. Below are some pictures of what we saw. We only had one day in Dublin because we had to get up at the crack of dawn to get to the airport and repeat the crazy trip back home. Luckily there was no rushing and we took the bus from the Arhus airport. However it was super hot in Denmark on that day so the train ride was like living in a moving oven. But by 6:30 we were safely back at my apartment.

Picture tour of Dublin:

City Hall, now it is more of a museum but it used to run the city of Dublin and therefore really the country of Ireland

The "castle" and royal apartments

The Royal Church, attached to the apartments so they do not even need to go outside...

"The nicest Helicopter pad in the world" no seriously it is, but it is also the way Dublin got its name. It is where an underground river came up and created a pool of mud and water. The ground was always black from the mud at this place and so it got the name "Blackpoole" which in Gaelic was translated to Duvlin which became Dublin overtime

One part of Christchurch, it was perhaps too big to capture in one picture

The Temple Bar at Temple Bar

Temple Bar, a young vibrant community of musicians etc. The place where U2 grew up became famous and inspired so many others to do the same

O'Connell Street one of the main thoroughfares in Dublin

The library at Temple University, home to the Book of Kells

Irish Parliament is now in a house that used to be owned by a very bold Earl who built his house on the other side of the river(Dublin is split north south by a river)  from all the other wealthy nobles and then caused a shift of power an wealth to the area surrounding his house...

Part 4- Connemara and Kylemore

After the great success from the bus tour on day one we decided to do it again for day two this time northward bound. It was become a beautiful day and already the sun was poking through the morning clouds. I have to say, Wow Connemara is amazing. It reminded me of traveling out west near the Tetons or elsewhere in Wyoming, except he ground here keeps all the water unlike the Burren so the rolling plains are still rolling and filled with grass, but below is more like a bog than a desert. The mountains were far more substantial than the mere hills in the Burren, however they were still round, still completely treeless, and still had rock walls on them. But they were covered in far more vegetation. Also the stone in Connemara is granite and in the Burren is limestone. We learned that the locals farm the peat moss and burn it in their fireplaces for heat and cooking. And in fact this is still a practice done today. So we say lots of peat farmers. I guess the best way for me to write this post is to just talk and then at the bottom show pictures with extensive captions.

The mountains in Connemara, the "fields" you see below are actually bogs and if you jumped in you could quite easily sink and get stuck

Connemara is dotted with lakes and ponds which adds to the picturesque landscape

This is peat that has been cut and now must dry for almost 2 months. however once it dries it can never absorb water again so it is a great source of fire fuel especially in a wet climate like Ireland.

The main destination of the day was Kylemore Abbey. It was originally a house a very romantic Irishman built for his wife and it included an extensive Victorian walled garden. However when Mr and Mrs Kylemore passed away the house was claimed by the church and became an abbey and was a girls school until 2009. It was an incredible place and you almost want to say it is perfect...

The beautiful Kylemore Abbey, on a lake, in the mountains, in Connemara Park, in Ireland... pretty much perfect

One part of the walled garden, with the gardeners house in the background. There used to be greenhouse but they were in disrepair after being neglected for some time. However there is a new owner of the Abbey who is reinstalling them.

The main entrance to the Abbey

At the Abbey there is also a small Gothic church, however interestingly it only has one nave so it is not in the shape of a cross like most Gothic and other churches.

After Kylemore the day was not over. We still went to Killary Fjord (the only Fjord in Ireland) and the Inagh Valley. These places were even more incredible. Connemara is owned by the government but the land is called commonland. Which means that the land is owned by no one but everyone can use it. And there were literally sheep everywhere grazing up in the mountains free to roam where ever they wanted. They were just marked with colored paint on their wool and ID tags. We also met a friendly pony...

Killary Fjord, The things in the water a for farming mussels

Killary Fjord, approaching the town of Killary. This area of Ireland was one of the hardest hit by the potato famine and a mini Irish trail of tears incident happened here walking along this Fjord

The Inagh Valley, if you look closely you can see the sheep dotting all the mountains etc

Inagh Valley from the valley floor

Or friend who lives in Inagh Valley and is very fond of apples...

Our last destination was the ruins of a old friary. It was really cool to see this building and imagine what it looked like when it was lived in.

The remains of the friary

Inside the main hall where the monks studied

Stairway to nowhere?

One of the naves of the church part of the friary where commoners came on sunday etc

Hello Friend, sorry they sheep proofed the friary entrance...

Ireland Part 3 - The Burren and Cliffs of Moher

So the fun stuff to do in Galway, is not actually in Galway. They are about an hours drive north and south of Galway. So we decided that we were going to take bus tours to those places (because that is the thing to do if you dont have a car). We would do one tour to the south to the Burren and the Cliffs of Moher and one north to Connemara National Park and Kylemore Abbey. Because the weather was not nice we decided to try the Burren trip the first day and hopefully the weather would get better the next day. We chose the particular company because it involved a unique stop at a family farm that involved learning about Irish farmers and hiking in the mountains in the Burren which was unique to that tour. The Burren like most of the natural beauty in Ireland is not government owned and part of a national park. Instead it is privately owned by the local farmers.

The tour was awesome. While we hurtled ( I mean it literally, we were on a large coach tour bus and the speed limit on many windy roads barely wide enough for two vehicles was 100km/h (60mph) and the drivers took it seriously...) though Irish countryside we learned a lot of interesting facts and before long we were at our first stop at the farm in the Burren. Along the way we had passed several castles one of which we would check out later. They were tower castles which means that they were a tower usually 4 stories high surrounded by small courtyard that was walled in. We learned later that there were literally thousands of the little guys in western Ireland ranging in condition from currently lived in to crumbling and covered in moss. Every noble or person of wealth owned one in Ireland as it was the only way to live safely...

One of the larger and still livable tower castles as you can see by the size of the people in front they are not that small

The current condition for many more of the castles looked like this, still standing but other than that just a neatly organized pile of rocks... Apparently this castle and most of the other ones like that we saw on the Burren trip we owned by the sane family.

So the farm part of the trip was awesome. We got to stretch our legs and climb a privately owned mountain in the Burren. How? well our took is part of the Burren Wild Tours which a guy set up on his family's property using his grandmother's old house as base of operations. His family still lives next door as they have done for hundreds of years. The primary form a wealth and occupation in the Burren is farming livestock, mostly it seemed like cattle. But the Burren was an amazing sight to see. Rolling treeless hills that covered in grey rocks and at the bottom were lush green fields. All divided by rock walls. I have never seen so many rock walls in my life... It was awesome to get a more personal aspect of the tour. I will let the pictures show you what the Burren is like, it was truely amazing though. Due to the type of soil and rocks even though it was misting all day the ground was completely dry, yet still there was a huge bio diversity and it was a very fertile area...

Lyndsay was so happy to bottle feed a lamb at the farm

The Burren more or less looked like this everywhere. White houses sounded by green grass fields that were walled in, surrounded by rolling gray mountains without an trees

A famine wall, built by irish peasants during the potato famine. The weatlthy said if the built rock walls over the mountains (something boring but easiysh to do) they would be paid, seems ridiculous well it was because they barely got paid at all and now most mountains in western Ireland are covered in walls.

A view from the farm land

After the Burren were the cliffs of Moher. They are the longest sea cliffs in Ireland and perhaps even Europe stretching 8 km. They are all over 200m (700ft) tall and the tallest part is around 250m. They are only the third tallest sea cliffs in Ireland, the tallest is in the north east near Belfast and are nearly three times taller ~600m... (over 1/3 mile). The cliffs were amazing although the fog was really thick so often hard to see. But in the brief moments when the fog cleared they were amazing.

The Cliffs of Moher, one of the most interesting parts of these cliffs is that with the exception of where I am standing and a smal stretch of the cliffs that extends north, they are privately owned. In fact all of the cliffs you see in this picture is private farm land.. And the cows are grazing with no fence at the cliffs. I do hope they are smart enough to stay away from the edge....

 A Full view south of the cliffs

The surf is very rough and cliffs are always being battered from below

After the large cliffs we had lunch at an Irish pub and then got to travel to some smaller cliffs before heading home... They were possibly more interesting because you could walk right up to the edge... (Mom if you are reading perhaps now is where you stop.... There are only edge pictures and then this post is over...)

Up close and personal in these cliffs, however they are not quite as impressive at a mere 35-40m tall

Yes mom, I did walk right to the edge and look down, it is quite a view...

It is nice to know that even though I am so high up above the ocean at any moment a wave could come and smash against the cliffs and travel up and over them (taking me down with them...). The tour guide said there have been days when the waves hit the bus at these cliffs which is about 50m inland from the cliffs and higher up....

The Irish countryside on the way home

Some of the best surfing in the UK and apparently in the world is on the beaches of western Ireland. They get overhead and double overhead waves on a regular basis. Interestingly enough some of the best fishing is there as well and the fishers have to be attached to the rocks in some places for fear a huge wave will smash over the cliffs and pull them in.

Oops I forgot the pictures from the last post

Here are the pictures I meant to add....

A Galway Hooker at low tide... Sorry folks a hooker it a type of sail boat the runs hooks off her sides to catch fish. We say the boats at high tide and the water is really where the green is on the rocks, crazy how much the tides change in Northern Europe

Welcome to the Latin Quarter

The King's Head, still with its original facade from the 1500s

Galway harbor, although not the part with the larger industrial fishing boats etc, that part was elsewhere

Ireland Part 2 Galway first night

So as a continuation of the previous post....

After we had checked into the hostel and put our bags down we decided to check out downtown Galway. We asked the girl at the front desk where to go eat and if there were any good pubs to check out. We both decided on the bus we really wanted some greasy food like hamburgers and what ever we ate must involve fries. However we were on the coast of Ireland so we also realized the possibility of some very good fish and chips. She gave us suggestions for both places that we should see. So we start to walk around the city, with dinner as the final destination. Galway is a small but nice looking city, with a mix of old and very old buildings in the downtown area often built with dark grey rock (mostly granite) that is native to the area. 

After wandering around for a while we ended up in the cultural part of the city called the latin quarter where most of the good restaurants and bars were. It was getting late and starting to rain so we decided to look for the restaurant we were told to go to. On the way we look at other restaurants and a lot of them are surprisingly expensive many charge 20 Euro ($30) for a standard dinner, which was interesting because I thought Ireland was a cheaper place to visit and our 3 hour bus ride to Galway from Dublin round trip only cost 23 Euro each...  However despite the price we found the place and it looked to have good stuff and so we decided to check it out. We had not really gone out for a nice meal since Lyndsay arrived (not that there is anything wrong with my cooking) so as we are waiting in what looks like the line to be seated a host comes up to us and asks us which restaurant we want to eat at. Turns out there are two restaurants in one... A sit down restaurant with Wine and expensive menus and fried seafood restaurant that is far more affordable with indoor pick-nick tables and a much better fish selection. Since we wanted greasy we opt for that restaurant and get two dinners and drinks for the price of one on the other side, and oh it was delicious. She had fish and chips and I did as well except my fish was entirely cod and hers a combination of cod, haddock and sale.

After stuffing ourselves we decided to check out more of the city. We went to a famous place called the Spanish arch which was actually very boring.. It was just a 500 year old tone arch all by itself that was not really that impressive but I am guessing it is part of the original wall around Galway. And we saw the coolest thing, a Grey Heron was standing on a handrail outside the window of a Thai restaurant looking in very hungrily. It was almost pacing back and forth hoping that a patron would toss some food out to it. And it did not mind us standing quite close behind it watching it in amazement.

We eventually found ourselves back in the latin quarter because it is the cultural hub of the city and went to a bar called the Kings Head. It is a pretty unique place. Story has it that the original owner was given the property and a lot of other property with is as a payment from Oliver Cromwell. What was the payment for? We when Cromwell took over England he set out to execute King Charles but no one had the guts to execute a King. He sent out messengers far and wide and finally found a guy who would. As payment for beheading the King, Cromwell gave him the building in downtown Galway and several large tracts of farmland. And that building has still been there for almost 500 years, also hence the name of the bar... We sat down and got a drink. Apparently there is live music every night but it wasnt for an hour so we decided we would wait and chat until the band came. I got a pint of a beer called the Galway Hooker. It was fantastic, and I will show you a picture of a Galway hooker in the bottom of this post...  Lyndsay got a Carlsberg and I can confirm that the rumor is true, Carlsberg outside of Denmark are not as good as Carlsberg inside Denmark... Finally it was 10:00pm and the band had arrived, just a guy on an amplified acoustic guitar and a girl with a large African drum. After playing one song of their own the starting asking for requests. And boy they were good, he was asked to play everything from Britney spears to Eminem to U2 to foo fighters and he was really good at all of them. He often new many songs from each band and he could just play it. The girl was mostly for back up vocals as he was lead singer and guitarist but some people requested she do a song, and it was clear she was a great singer as well. We were going to leave after 1/2 an hour but instead we decided to stay until the band called it quits around midnight. All in all it was a very fun first night in Galway.

Ireland Part 1-We Made It!

So after recovering from Karneval, I had to quickly study for an exam on Monday. I was taking it on Monday because on Tuesday morning Lyndsay and I were heading over to Ireland for five days. This is the tale of the very long and exciting first day of the trip...

At 7:00 in the morning on Tuesday, Lyndsay and I are walking out my front door to walk to the bus stop. We are packing only what can fit in our carry on back packs, since Ryanair charges ridiculous fees if you have checked luggage etc and we already had spent well over $100 on fees after purchasing the tickets(Moral of the story: dont ever use Ryanair, it is not as good as it may seem... EasyJet is a much better option for cheap flights) However to get to Ireland the easiest way was to fly from Arhus, DK to London to Dublin so that is what we did. We catch the bus into the center of Aalborg where we travel to the train station (80 to 90 min travel time to Arhus) to take the train to Arhus center from which we will take a bus to the Airport (~45-50 min bus ride). At 7:45 we have our train tickets and are sitting in the train station looking for the train when I check our plane tickets...

OH NO!!!!!!!!!!!!! I had mixed the tickets up! I thought that we were supposed to take a flight from Arhus to London with a take of of 1:35 pm but instead that was the ticket from London to Dublin. Or Arhus flight takes off at 10:30... Thanks to Lyndsay we decided to take the 8:01 train to Arhus so after the train and bus ride we would arrive with plenty of time... Even worse was there is only one daily flight from Arhus to London so if we missed it we would have been screwed....

Lyndsay tries to calm me down after I am freaking out.. We decided we would give it a try and maybe if everything worked out we could catch our flight... If the train departs Aalborg at 8:01 and it is an express it should arrive in Arhus at 9:20. If we catch a taxi instead of the bus (which would be far more expensive..) then maybe if he drives fast then we could make it to the airport by10:00. Ryanair however requires a check in procedure where the check your passport and they say that the desk closes 40 minutes before the flight. And the gate closes 30 minutes before the flight. So we knew it would be close but maybe if we called the Airport we could ask to check in late. I asked the woman at the train station if she had a computer with internet but I had no luck. Luckily I had my cell phone and so I knew I could call a friend at home, but it was still early in the morning so I decided I would wait until 9:00 before I called.

Then 7:55 rolls around the corner and a train pulls into our track, however it is not ours and it leaves and by 8:00 our train still had not arrived. Then at 8:01 a train arrives, everyone on board gets off and they say that that train is the end of the line... Where is our train??? Every precious minute counts and we need to be getting to Arhus. At 8:02 a train pulls up to the adjacent track but it was traveling other way and is supposed to be the train to Fredrickshavn a city north of Aalborg unlike Arhus which is south. So I am freaking out even more...

At 8:04 we notice that some of the people waiting for the same train as us are heading to the other train that is bound for Fredrickshavn but both trains are just idling in the station. We follow them and ask where the train is going, they say that there was a mix up and this train is bound for Copenhagen and Arhus is a stop on the way and it is an express!! Excited we jump on board and the doors close right behind us and the train departs at 8:05! Well we succeeded at step one...

As the clock struck 9:00 we were hurtling through the Danish countryside and making great time. We had already passed Randers and it looked like the train was going to make it to Arhus shortly before 9:20. I called up Vincent to ask for the telephone for the airport. No answer! I didnt give up so I called Kathi hoping she was awake... No answer!!! Now as I am looking through my contacts about to call Sandro, I get a call from Kathi, "you rang?"!! So I tell her quickly the situation and she says she is going to look for the number and text me it.. By 9:04 I am on hold at the Airport. I talk to the guy who had this very interesting mix between a Danish, Middle Eastern, and English accent. He tells me that if we get to the Airport by 10:05 he can check us in and we should make our flight! Awesome that extends the check in by 15 minutes, a window large enough for us to just make it if the taxi ride is only 40 mins.

At 9:17 the train rolls into Arhus station. Lyndsay and I are impatiently waiting by the door.We hop out onto the platform and run to the stairs and through the station. I have been before so I know where the taxis wait. We go over to them and I ask "how long to get to the airport?" They respond 45 km and I ask how long in time and they say with luck 40 mins. So we hop into a nice Mercedes Benz taxi and by 10:22 we are driving the streets of Arhus. I try to explain to the driver we are in a hurry but his english is not great, but it was shortly evident that he understood.

In the city we hit literally every light, but the driver made every possible move to speed the trip up. Unfortunately we end up on a highway with lights and literally every single one was red. But before long we are on the main highway. He is where I knew he got the picture. the speed limits in Denmark are generally low and I believe this highway was alternating between 90 km/h (~55mph) and 110 km/h (~70mph). However on one straight away we hit 150km/h (95 mph)... At 9:55 we rolled into the airport. The ride cost exactly 500 DKK and I didnt even think about a tip (oops) I just handed him the even 500 and we booked it into the airport. We may make it!!!

Unfortunately there was no one at the Ryanair desk. But there is someone at the adjacent Cimber Sterling desk but she is with other people so we decided to wait because they are the only ones in line. (Arhus Airport is very small it is even small than Aalborg Airport) Finally at 9:59 she finishes with them and we explain our situation. She tells us to go over to another desk and we do. There we meet the guy I spoke to on the phone and he quickly stamps us through so we can get to security. And by 10:05 we are standing in the line getting ready to board the airplane!!!

Phew!! amazingly we made it. We cut 3 hours out of the travel time to the airport and by shear luck we were there.  A few hours later we experience another snafu because we didnt factor in the time difference so we just had to wait an extra hour for out plane to dublin, no big deal. And by 4:00 we were on the bus from Dublin Airport to Galway where we were going to spend the next few nights. What and exhausting trip....

In 12 hours our trip consisted of a crazy amount of transportation:
Foor-City Bus-Train-Taxi-Plane-Plane-Bus... Luckily the hostel was literally right next to the bus station so that was easy. And we put our stuff down after some room confusion (We ended up paying for a 8 bed dorm but sleeping in a 4 bed dorm ensuite and no one joined us so we paid 10 Euro a night each for a private hostel room...) we decided to go downtown for dinner..

The beginning of the Galway story will begin on the next post..

Karneval!!!

So for those of you who don't know Karneval is a festival held in many cities across Europe as a celebration of spring. However my small city of Aalborg does it bigger and better than anywhere in Northern Europe. In fact the Karneval in Copenhagen and even in London pale in comparison to the one in small little Aalborg. Over 100,000 people flock to a city of about 120,000 to take part in the festivities so it is a pretty big deal.

So what it is exactly? Well imagine the wildest and craziest Halloween party you have ever been to or seen on TV. Then add in all of your friends and over 125,000 other people and it goes all day long from 10:00 when the parade starts until people are passed out from drinking when ever that happens but long into the night and really the next day. The entire city is shut down and the streets are filled with people in costumes carting around little carts full of beer etc. The festivities began around 7:00 am when people start to wake up, eat their only real meal of the day and put on their costumes...

Most people start drinking early in the morning and have stocked up enough that they can keep going all day long and into the night. There are floats and bands playing live music and trucks with speakers playing other music. And everyone starts at a place called NordKraft and walk through the city and end up at a park. At the park there is a area that you can enter for  a small fee of 100kr ($20) where they have more live music and food and drinks for sale.

It was one of the craziest things I have ever seen the streets were completely packed with people, a surprising number from the UK, I guess it is really popular for them to come to Aalborg since it better then the one in London... Everyone was in costumes and some of them were very elaborate, and many times there were groups of people that had a theme of sorts. The theme of this years Karneval was called Sex Zoological, I do not know what that means but most people dressed up as some type of animal... It is what I imagine Mardi Gras in New Orleans to be like but instead of it being warm and sunny it was unfortunately cool and misting rain all day. However that did nothing to kill the mood and every had an awesome time. Most people I knew returned home from exhaustion in the evening but a few strong soles stayed downtown until night time.  Below are some pictures that try to capture the madness...

Waiting at NordKraft for the parade to start, only a few people participated this year...

Yep the buses tried to get as far as they could but the gave up and were shortly overwhelmed my throngs of drunk people who not surprisingly found it a great idea to be on top of them. I will note that the driver is still in this bus at the time... As for a police presence to end the fun, non-existent, pretty much they just let everything go as long as it is not too wild.

One of many group costumes that were quite impressive, this one is obviously a caterpillar

Down by the Fjord is where we began to encounter the floats, you can see some in the background above the heads of the people

On of the live bands on the back of a truck, they were actually a very good rock/ alternative rock band...

On the main street of Aalborg it was craziness...

The very last float arrived at the end around 3:30 considering they only had to travel 1 maybe 2 km from the start it was impressive the achieve such a task in 5 1/2 hours...

All in all it was an awesome day....