The Royal 69 party

Ok you're probably thinking this is some pervy party, and this being Scandinavia you might almost be right. But believe me, the royal69 is just good clean fun. Its actually an annual party at the Royal Medicine University about 20mins from here. The idea behind this is to have the bar open for 69 hours straight... Thursday til Sunday... so as you can imagine thousands of students flock here for some good mid-term partying.

As soon as we walked in, you could tell that it had been open for a long time.. The stench of beer and partying was everywhere and the floor was a puddle of sticky mush so thick it could hold cigarette butts upright. They had this really cool thing going, where they change the theme of the bar every 2 hours, and along with the theme was a change in music, the type of drinks serverd and the barmen's costume. We drank and danced all night.

We finished off the evening at Mexibar, a 30-somethings bar which makes great cocktails. In fact, they're so good that you ignore the horny old ladies eyeing you as you sip your strawberry daquiri...

Cognac night

When i got to know that the wine club at work was organizing a Cognac tasting night, it was an immediate merci beaucoup. Now i know i'm not too refined when it comes to my booze, but its never too late to culture oneself innit? I never really liked brandies and Cognac, so i thought this will be a good opportunity to learn something new and taste some of the most elegant drinks around... for a fraction of the price.

The event was really well-organized, with a number of small tables with ready-filled cognac glasses and fresh French bread. Cognac guru Thierry Giraud, straight from Martell in France, came to educate us in the art of cognac. He quickly took us through the history of Martell, the oldest Cognac house in France, as well as the ingredients, process and different qualities of Cognac. We also got to taste some eaux-de-vie (water of life) which is a 70% bullet through the head, and is the product of distilling the wine and the main ingredient which the cognac "Cellarmaster" will mix to make the perfect Cognac before shoving it into the warehouse to age for a number of years. We got to taste most of Martell's range, some of which i must admit were really really good, even though Thierry didn't bring out the top of the range stuff which comes in designer 24-carat gold/glass decanters and costing as much as 2000EUR.

I am now a convert and will start ordering Cognac at any posh event. I also found out that i am an X.O. man. More of le X.O. garcon... The evening ended with a French snack of bread, cheeses, veggies and hams. Parfait.

Car show in Aalborg

Damnit, Niels got diahorrea and couldnt drive us to Aalborg for the car show (i thought i'd tell the whole world...). So instead, i'm having a bunch of friends over tonight for some drinks before heading the the Halloween party and then the city. Sounds like a good start to an electric weekend...

Never too late for a Housewarming party

Seeing that i've been here for almost 8 months and still haven't got down to organizing a housewarming (or houseleaving soon) party, the guys urged me to get one done asap before i have to move out. The girls on our floor did a housewarming party in the kitchen the week before, but i wanted to do something a little bit different, so i chose to do it right in my 14m2 of room.

Somehow, 8 hungry people, table and chairs squashed into my room for an evening of fun and laughter. With the big speakers pumping out the party tunes and the bottle of port quickly diminishing, we ate some tasty shepherd's pie which yours truly conjured up a few hours before, and tried not to get sauce on the white carpet.

My neighbours also got me some little presents which were quite fun. I got 2 small plants to decorate my room, both of which are called Bob (just like their ancestors for countless generations), and a cool magic mug which they all signed. Oh and i almost forgot the final present which was in the fridge.. a tub of my all-time danish favourite: leverpostej (liver pate). Mmmmmmmm leverpostej.


Thanks alot guys, it was fun :-)
Next up will be the housewarming party for my new apartment... when i find one.

Carlsberg Tour

In Denmark, beer is a way of life. Every celebration revolves around drinking heaps of beer. If your grandma died, you all get together and drink. If you just got married, you all get together and drink. If you visit your parents for the weekend, you get together and drink. If the Pope is visiting Botswana, you get together and drink.

So no visit to Denmark is complete without a tour of the Carlsberg empire. They've got a special tour going where you can visit the brewery itself as well as a walk-through museum taking through the entire history of beer. From the mead-guzzling Vikings to modern-day brewing, you are taken through the process of making beer and how the Danes consume it. Apparently, the Vikings used to get totally faced before battle. No wonder they used to roar and make animal noises and scare the shit out of the brits. And no wonder they died out at some point.

Next, you move onto a room containing a jaw-dropping collection of bottles. An entire room lined with shelving containing thousands of bottles, some dating back to the early 19th century. They had some Carlsberg beer labeled "Malta", but it turned out to be because its made of malt, not from Malta. They also had some interesting Satan beer and bottles from the second world war with big swastikas demanding that you salute and down the bottle in 2.5 seconds.

Anyways, after the museum itself you get to see some parts of the brewery. Not the top-secret parts with the recipes of course, as those remain shrouded in mystery and heavily guarded. They also have stables with about 20 Belgian-bred horses the size of which i have never seen before. You turn the corner and see 2 massive beer carts the size of a bus, made of wood and metal and used to carry the big barrels of good stuff, and suddenly you understand why the horses are so big. I swear a hoof that size can punch a hole through walls.

Finally, and most importantly, the tour ends in the bar where you get to try out any Carlsberg brewery currently in season. I say in season because they have a number of brews which only appear on the market for a very short time, such as their Easter and Christmas beers, brewed specially for those festive seasons. They had a wonderful selection of their 4 Jakobsens beers, named after the founding father, and the creme de la creme of Carlsberg's brewery as far as i'm concerned. With my 2 free coupons, i ordered some Saaz Blonde and Brown Ale and sat down with the lads.

Twasn't too long before our 2 coupons were up, and we were sad to find out that you couldnt purchase any more. There is always a workaround. So 4 of us headed back to the reception to order another "tour" of the brewery to get our next 2 coupons. we also realized that you get a group discount if you're 10, so we ordered tours for 10 people... 20 beers. The screw-up was it was 3:15 and the bar closes at 4....

- pic - The Carslberg elephants guard the entrance

Read the next post to see how i got plastered by 9pm thanks to Carlsberg's brewery tour and Isabella's birthday party the same evening.

MS Offsite event

Every year, Microsoft in Vedbaek organizes an off-site event which is basically a full day of seminars, teambuilding events, workshops, and socializing... as far as possible from the office. This year's off-site was held at Lo Skolen in Helsingborg, a large place for conferences and weekend retreats with a breathtaking view of the channel. Of course, no Danish gathering is worth its salt unless it ends in a big party.. or twice as big since it was also Microsoft's 30th Anniversary!

After the champagne and cake to celebrate MS's birthday, and a good dinner, we grabbed a few bottles and headed underground to this labyrinth of halls and rooms with pool/billiard tables, bars, and even a mini bowling alley. It was a night to remember and everyone had so much fun. We were meant to leave by 11 to catch the last bus to the train station but time flies when you're having fun and we left at 4am by taxi, all rather drunk. I think this calls for a liver break.

- pic - Ruth and I at the dinner
- pic - Gary still alive, returning home on the train
- pic - Rehan: "Onward to party-town, driver", still in partymood

Louise and Sidse's Housewarming

Even though Louise and Sidse (2 of the girls on our floor) have been here for well over a month, they finally decided its time to have a housewarming party last night. They cooked up some tasty club sandwiches followed by a whole array of tasty nibbles and some Berry/Vodka cocktails. The lucky girls also got a DIY model car and Barbie doll as a welcoming present (teehee).

And this got me thinking... I've been here almost 8 months now. I never did a housewarming when i moved into room 213. I never did a farewell party when i left 213. I never did a housewarming party when i moved into room 219....

Check this space for an upcoming Hjemfest (houseparty) at Chez Mike's.....

Team System Team Dinner

Now that I was no longer going to work on Visual Studio Team System, i thought it would be a good idea to organize some event as a team. After all, i was working with these 5 persons so intensely over the past 7 months, and we never ever did any informal get-together.

The event included, of course, meat and beer. We all went down to Bryggeriet Apollo near Tivoli, which makes some tasty steaks and even better local brews. The fact that no one seemed to want to leave probably means we really had a good time. The beer was flowing as well as the stories.. it was great to be able to have a conversation which had nothing to do with work for a few hours. I'll definitely be organizing one again in the near future, and maybe for the new team too ;-) As for the old team, i wish all of them the best of luck in their work and hope to remain in contact. Cheers guys.

Ulrich's Fodselsdag

To celebrate Ulrich's 25th, we did the usual: drank from morning til morning next day. In the evening we cooked up some big cow for dinner followed by a trip downtown. All i remember is that we played foosball and drank more. The rest is blank :)