Foliage

It's deep autumn now. We're in the last days of the gold and wintertime just happened, so here come the dark mornings and afternoons. It feels like forever since the night sky was not truly dark. The summer nights with blue streaks and promises of dawn approaching won't come back for long. Now, the nights are infinitely dark like a blanket wrapping itself around you. It's natural, I know, but it's still an experience every year.

Last Sunday, I had brunch at my uncle's place with him and the kids. It was quite the spread and it was the perfect way to start the day. I hung out with my cousins playing UNO by the kitchen table and laughing a lot.

On my way back from Vesterbro, I got a snap from Anna. She was at the playground near our houses (we live in the same block) with Kasper and Esther, so I swung by and drank up the season's magnificent display. The sun came roaring through the trees after having been in hiding all day and it was truly magical. The company wasn't bad either!

Later in the week, the sun came back and pierced its way through my living room. I can't get enough of the light this season.

The same night, I headed back to my uncle's house in Vesterbro for dinner. Again, he cooked up a storm and we were so full and got nowhere near eating it all. So I had plenty of leftovers with me back home.

This Saturday, I met with Chris for morning coffee on top of Illum. Normally, I wouldn't say that a department store is the cosiest place for a café. But Original Coffee has got the best corner. The place is full of light and the view is great. The coffee is as well so I can definitely recommend it.

On Sunday, I took the train south to visit my grandparents. They recently moved from north Jutland to south Zealand and I took advantage of the travel time to see them having been cut from 4,5 hours to 1 hour.

They showed me around their new town and although it was tricky finding our way sometimes, it was nice to see them not only adjusting but seeming to burst with new energy as they take on a new adventure. That's pretty remarkable when you're 76 and 84 years old!

And although I miss their old house and the area that I know so well, it was comforting to ease into their beautiful furniture. It made it feel just right even though it was a new apartment. They have the greatest taste.

20 years

This Saturday, I celebrated a very special event. This autumn, it's been 20 years since I met AnCa, one of my closest, funniest, sweetest and dearest friends. We were just 8 years old when we met in 3rd grade when I had moved back to Denmark from France. I was a goofy child, always up for making up stories and creating universes and laughing. AnCa was the same, she understood me and we spent the next 5 years playing, dreaming, laughing and getting to know each other with our guards down as children do. When I moved away, our friendship died out and we spent the next 9 years apart, growing up, going to high school and starting university in separate parts of the country. But luck would have it that we both wound up going to Berlin in August 2010. "Do you want to meet up for a coffee?" we wrote to each other on Facebook. When we met on Kauf Die Glücklich the night before starting our new jobs in the city, it was like hitting the play-button again, like we'd never been apart. Maybe it was so easy finding each other again because we knew each other as kids, as who we are instead of who we wanted to be as adults. We share the Berlin chapter and have been best friends since. I can't imagine not having her in my life, and I'm so happy fate made us both end up in Berlin in 2010. Here's to many many more years together with this cool, funky, hilarious, generous, supporting, creative, wonderful friend!

Malmö

To try and ease my restless mind, I decided to cross Øresund and pay Malmö a visit. Just a day trip, but maybe it'd do the trick and let me have a feeling of traveling. It did. I brought Kristiane with me, and despite picking a day that turned out to be immensely grey and drizzly, it was a very nice trip. We met Hanna for a fika and a catch-up - I can't believe it's already been almost three years since we last saw each other! I've been to Malmö before but it's been at least 10 years and it was nice knowing that it only takes about an hour to get there from my front door. I love Scandinavia like that.

The Malmö architecture reminded me so much of Stockholm's. The feeling of walking around in a 50's movie never leaves.

Gamla Staden (old part of town) was lovely and I took many photos of facades and houses and doors as you see...

This facade reminded me of Berlin.

Hi from Kristiane and I!

Gold

Yesterday, I spent the whole day in Fredensborg, a little town north of Copenhagen that I consider to be the closest thing to a hometown for me. I've moved around a lot, but I have lived in Fredensborg twice and 8 years in total, and I love that place. I went up there with Tine, one of my best friends. We go back to primary school and we spent the day at her parents' house. It was like being 15 again, and it was so magical walking around, seeing my old house, breathing the fresh air of the forest and just reminisce about the years I spent in Fredensborg. The leaves were on fire which only added to the magic.

Just look at those leaves...!

The castle is one of my favourites around because it's so simple and elegant.

Oh just look at that!

The park has changed a lot since I moved away from Fredensborg in 2007. It's been restored to its original state which means that lots of trees have been cut down or moved. I liked the more raw park from before but I guess there's a reason for everything...