A bit from Jutland and some from Saturday

Last week, I spent a few days in Jutland at my mom's. Two seconds with her and I start knitting - which was actually great fun and super relaxing. Some days later, I roamed the streets of Copenhagen with 2/3 of the brothers. We were on a shopping mission for NP who was in dire need of T-shirts that fit his broad shoulders. I sent him back to Jutland the next day with 6 T-shirts and a jacket - mission accomplished. We also had time for catching 'Straight Outta Compton' in the cinema. I had very high expectations for the movie but was a little disappointed. The story was good, but it should've been told differently I feel. But watching it with a lot of males in their early 20s who were clearly fans was fun.

First I spent the weekend at my grandparents' in northern Jutland. It's always a pleasure and I love those two so much. They're full of fun and good stories, and it's something very special when I'm there.

My mom and I went out for brunch in her town. We were really disappointed until they started loading ham and cake on the buffet - that was after this photo. There wasn't time to take another as we indulged. But we had a good time there just the two of us.

On Saturday, before we hit the cinema, I took the brothers up in Rundetårn. I love the view from up there and it was a beautiful sunny day.

Copenhagen is extra pretty these days because we're having the most wonderful weather. Please stick around!

AMY

When I was in Berlin a month ago, AnCa and I went to the movies Sunday night to watch 'Amy'. I remember I heard the news of Amy Winehouse's death when I was driving home from Berlin with my family on the day I moved back to Denmark. I never really listened to her music, and to me she was just a sort of sad character with a very public deroute. But that night in Berlin as we watched the documentary about her, my opinion changed completely. I was so utterly moved by the film, I haven't stopped thinking about it since. I listen to her music and her incredibly raw lyrics and I am overwhelmed by sadness for her fate. If you haven't seen it, I highly recommend you to do it; not only is it well-told, it's also a warm, raw and very unshakable glimpse of a life that was all too short.

Now

The wind is playing, the light is sharpening and the leaves have faded just a little more each time I take the train. Here we are again, it's a new season and that always means an excess of thoughts. I want to write, and I contemplate the year that is sliding into its final months. It was a short summer. There were some very good moments, and I thoroughly enjoyed a lot of it, but mostly it just got a little lost in long days at work, moving and being back in the situation where everything is open. Autumn is a bittersweet season.

Currently

Yesterday, I spent the morning at Louisiana Museum of Modern Art, roaming around with fellow instagrammers (more about that later). I rushed home to finish a piece, and my editor said I was her favourite freelancer. I went to the movies with a friend and giggled in the red velvet seats. The evening was spent having dinner with some great people from work.
It was one of those days where I was so busy that I kept an adrenaline high all day, and then it feels like my skin is pushing in, like I'm going to float away. All my thoughts are stronger and clearer and sometimes even unbearable. I felt so incredibly happy and so lost at the same time; I am just anxious to get back to the city soon, to have a life where I feel like I'm in control and not being controlled by outside things. Today looks different; I got a good night's sleep and although I'm still busy, I feel like I have the upper hand. Maybe it's the seasons changing?

Monza / M I L A N O part due

So, the reason we went to Milan last weekend was to see the Formula 1 grand prix at Monza. My father and brothers have been following F1 since the late 90s, and my father's wife is also a big fan. They know practically everything about it. For 16-17 years I've listened to them talk about technical details on the cars, about which driver is best and why, about the circuits and their details, and just everything you can think of that has something to do with the sport. I know absolutely nothing about it apart from the few snippets I've caught over the years. So I was surprised to be invited along, but I happily accepted as I wanted to experience what makes them so crazy about the races.

The actual race didn't start until 14, but we were already at the track around 9 to see some other races. The sun was shining and we had croissants, whiskey and generally a good time.

The boys were excited and wore their F1 gear - like everybody else. My brothers thought it was hilarious that I looked like absolutely no one else that day because I was actually stylish, haha.

People gradually started to turn up and it ended up being completely packed. Let's just say that Ferrari was popular...

NP had the unfortunate seat next to me and was constantly bothered when I asked him about things like: "Who's in that car?", "Why are they clapping?", "So it was a good thing that he overtook him?"....

Sølve was there too. And the Italian photobomber that sat next to me.

To me, the race pretty much consisted of 1,5 hours of looking at cars that went round and round. I am told everybody thought it was a boring race...

Afterwards, everybody race out onto the circuit. My family wanted to walk all around, but I decided I had been scorched enough by the sun and needed a shower, so I made my way back to our flat. And I got completely lost on my way out. Let's just say I was a fish out of water in every possible way that day...

We wanted to take some band photos as per tradition, but there were so many people on the circuit that it wasn't the biggest success. However, here we all are.

M I L A N O part uno

On Friday morning, I found myself at the airport once again. This time I was headed for Milan with my family to see the Formula 1 grand prix in Monza. My family has been following F1 since the late 90s, they watch every race and have gone to see some of them live a few times, too. This time they'd invited me to go along. As a complete outsider, I went along for the experience and for sharing it with the others. I am not a fan and know nothing about the sport, which my brother, who had the unfortunate seat next to me at the race, found rather frustrating. On Saturday, while the others went out to the circuit to watch the qualifying rounds, I spent the day wandering around Milan. One day's race was more than enough for me.

Flying into Milan was breathtaking as the city lies just beneath the mountains.

On Friday afternoon, I took the boys into Milan. I had been there 10 years ago with my high school Italian class, and I wanted to show the boys the Duomo. Last time I saw it it was covered in plastic due to construction, so it was impressive to behold it in all its ornamented glory.

Naturally, we had to take some band photos as well...

On Saturday, I started my day with coffee and a croissant at Pavé (27 Via Felice Casati). The coffee was lukewarm at best and had barely any coffee in it, and the croissant was sugary and sticky. It wasn't exactly what I had hoped, but eating it on the street watching the city wake up was alright.

I walked through the old city centre, and it was very beautiful.

I walked down to the canals, also called the Navigli area. It was really pretty and I'm sure it's a hotspot for partying.

It felt a little strange walking around on my own but as I ate a very good and very fresh calzone by the water, the sun and the people made it all right.

I love the city's old trams. I so wish Copenhagen hadn't abandoned that system!

I ended the day at Bar Luce (2 Largo Isarco) which is the bar designed by Wes Anderson at Fondazione Prada. I had been looking forward to that place for months, but I was so disappointed! It didn't seem like Wes Anderson had had anything to do with it at all; all the attention to details and quirkiness that I feel embodies him wasn't there. It looked fake and if somebody had wanted to do a rip off and forgotten his authenticity. Plus, the service was bad and the coffee too. I did some writing while I was there, scribbling away in a notebook, and that felt good, but I walked away thinking it was far too hyped a place. Too bad!

B E R L I N

AnCa and I went to Berlin this weekend. It's sort of our city; we went to school together from age 8-13 and then drifted apart. In 2010 we both wound up in Berlin and went out for coffee. We've been best friends ever since, and she's one of my favourite people. Always fun, always deep, always the best. It was great being back in our city; we went to our favourite places and old hangouts, and it was a great break from stressful everyday lives. I haven't photographed much, mostly because we had too much fun, and because I was hungover and melting a lot of the time....

We rented an apartment in Bergmannstraße and enjoyed the walks to Gneisenaustraße u-bahn every day.

Friday night was spent at Manouche (Grimmstraße 23, Kreuzberg) near our old apartment on Urbanstraße drinking several Moscow Mules and talking for hours. We woke up to a sunny Saturday and decided to start the day with eggs and avocado at Melbourne Canteen (Pannierstraße 57, Neukölln).

Afterwards, we took the u-bahn north to Mitte. We were going to a festival but had some hours to kill and decided to spend them browsing the shops around Münzstraße. We are Danes after all, and a visit to American Apparel is mandatory when in Berlin......

But we both got such a bad headache that we didn't really feel like doing anything related to loud concerts. So we retreated to Father Carpenter Coffee for some banana bread and ice coffee. Such a nice place. (Münzstraße 21, Mitte)

So we ended up not going to the festival. Instead we went to Prenzlauer Berg to pay a visit to one of my favourite places in Berlin; St. George's English Bookshop (Wörther Straße 27, Prenzlauer Berg). We spent almost an hour browsing, and I picked up a copy of East of Eden. Can't wait to read it for the third time!

We spent some time at Kollwitzplatz looking at people and getting the aspirins to kick in and clear our heads. After some sushi we felt good again, and an ice cream at Kauf Dich Glücklich (Kastanienallee 54, Prenzlauer Berg) did the trick.

Rosenthaler Platz looked pretty in the vanishing sunlight. And the Fernsehturm just peeks up over the rooftops.

Saturday night started with drinks at Klunkerkranich on the rooftop (Karl-Marx-Straße 66) with Berlin by our feet and ended at another bar further into Neukölln. I didn't get more than an hour's worth of sleep so Sunday was a little blurry. We headed to Friedrichshain to meet Cordula for coffee at Silo (Gabriel-Max-Straße 4, Friedrichshain). It was 33 degrees and we were melting.

We took a trip around Boxhagener Platz to look at the flea market, and then we went home for a nap before spending the night at Babylon Kino watching 'Amy'. Such a good film! I do blame my sleep depravation as well, but I had to fight hard to keep the tears from bursting.

Monday morning I went back to Friedrichshain. Here I met Flora Amalie for coffee at Coffee Profilers (Karl-Marx-Allee 136, Friedrichshain). What a great place! Fine coffee, fine service and a very fine location. I love love love Karl-Marx-Allee and the grandness of that street. So sitting there talking was great. I could have done without the heat, though. 35 degrees is too much for me.

Later, we stopped by Hallesches Haus (Tempelhofer Ufer 1, Kreuzberg). It was far too hipster for me, but I was glad we saw it. It's a combined café and shop in an old warehouse building by the canal. Good idea, just way too cliché for me.

Before catching our flight back to Copenhagen, we made another trip up to Klunkerkranich. Mostly to photograph the view, but also for the atmosphere. Despite the insane heat, it was good to be up there.

A little glimpse of our apartment.

Thanks again for a great weekend, Berlin!