An Australian friend, Cameron, whom I met in Malaysia happened to be visiting Copenhagen for a 4 month secondment. This proved to be the perfect opportunity to visit the Danish capital for the first time.
The first thing that strikes one about Copenhagen is the cycling! Like some other major European cities, the Danes have gone to town for bikes. Just stepping outside the station one will become engulfed by a sea of parked bikes. Yes, it is the perfect cycling city... well much better than London. Upon arriving home to the UK, cycling deaths have hit the news big time with 9 deaths in the month of November alone, all attributed to junctions. It doesn't surprise me that there are deaths on UK roads, as a cyclist myself, I often note at least 2-3 people who are not adequately kitted out for cycling. The culprits will not be wearing hiviz clothing of any sort, some without any lights and the worst offenders will not be wearing a helmet. I'm sure there is enough out there bemoaning cyclists for not wearing/using the correct equipment and this is a huge element of the problem but the difference in Copenhagen is the dedicated cycle lanes in the city. Like a second pavement, the cycle lanes cover the city making it very easy to navigate and feel safe. Even at junctions, dedicated traffic lights for cyclists make it incredible easy to cross and car-road users appear to be exceptionally understanding of cyclists (including tourists like myself).
My second trip to the USA, again for a second wedding, was with Dave Clarke for the wedding of our other housemate Matt Welsford. We flew to Detroit (the first bankrupt city) and onwards to Chicago where we were treated to Lou Malnatis Deep Dish Pizza (in my opinion better than Gino's East) with Will and his wife Kelli. It was only then, speaking to local resident Kelli, did we realise the extent of the drive awaiting us the following day. Could Welsford have picked a location harder to get to than Petosky, MI?? He could have least picked a more amusing location such as Gaylord, MI.
An 8-hour drive followed including an hour break to pick up the wedding tuxedos in Traverse City, MI. Fortunately I was just a passenger as Dave and Graham did an equal share. But my god was the scenery repetitive. What looks like a coastal drive along Lake Michigan on the map was actually a drive through trees and endless signs for fast food chains. But we made it in the end, pulling up in our hired Dodge Charger to the Days Inn, Petosky.
The trip was a hit and run for me, having not much holiday banked up for the year I flew in Wednesday night and my flight home was the Sunday night - back in work Monday after lunch. But I still had time to enjoy some golf at the Bay Harbor Golf Club - which gave me an introduction to American golf courses. The joining fee alone was in excess of $30,000 and it is closed 6 months of the year. But it sure was some golf club, immaculate! A real treat for the 50 odd dollar green fee we paid.
So the real event on the Saturday was to take place in a Christian commune church which only weds people from inside the community. They initially refused this marriage on the grounds that the church is only used for the local community. But the tenacity of the Brides father came through and he layered on the fact that Matt, in a previous life, was South African and was travelling thousands of miles to get married in this church etc etc... won the local pastor over. A bit of a soft touch if you ask me! But the whole event was, in American terms, picturesque and a fantastic occasion to celebrate and catch up with old friends.
My first trip to the USA for a wedding in 2013 saw me greated by a giddy looking Will 'Sappers' Jones at O'Hare airport - Thanks Saps, followed by a short introduction to Chicago and the formiddable skyline. It's not until you get here and read the local news do you appreciate the scale of the gun crime culture. Fathers day weekend - 7 Dead, 41 Wounded in gun shootings in Chicago alone!
Moving swiftly on, Chicago was a great city to visit with some interesting history of the development of the city, the Great Fire of 1871 and the birth of the skyscraper. It's evident that they got carried away constructing skyscrapers as they are packed into the downtown area, out-competing one another for sunlight. Most notable are the famously tall John Hancock, Sears Tower (or Willis Tower if you prefer) and Trump Tower buildings, but more interesting are the Carbide and Carbon building (now the Hard Rock Hotel) and 35 East Wacker Drive which was formely the known as the Jewelers building with the innovation of an elevator to ferry cars up to the 24th floor so users could load up vehicles with gem stones without the hostile environment of the streets below. The building was also known to house a speakeasy run by Al Capone during prohibition era.
So partying was good in Chicago and the groom, Will Jones, enjoyed a good send off into married life from a number of old house mates and Nottingham friends. I'm sure as soon as he has established his career in the American education system he will feel right at home (Now we know why he did a degree on American politics - to become like Arnie and govern a State for himself). Many great friends made the trip over to celebrate with Will and Kelli and the event was held in a fantastic mansion in the prison town of Joliet - i believe the location of the TV show Prison Break.
Having just started my first post-doc in February, I wasn't expecting a meeting abroad so soon. Myself and colleague Sofia travelled to the 2nd HHDP meeting in Jena to present some of the work previously done in the lab in Leicester at the Institute of Photonic Technology, adjacent to the one of the Max Planck institutes in Jena.
Our stay endured one of the wettest months in Eastern Europe with torrential rain and flooding causing havoc across the continent. A little bit of sun wouldn't have gone amiss. The conference itself was very good, small enough to meet everyone and discuss work and ideas. Having only just started in the field it was good to get to meet some of the big names - Steffan Heinemann and Toshi Hoshi, the latter with a fantastic appreciation of 70's rock music discussed over a few beers at the conference dinner.
Jena itself is a small enough place to randomly bump into your old colleagues and I did so in the local shopping centre. The bizarre encounter results in several beers in the local bars with some students - lovely German hospitality and strange combinations of wheat beer with banana.
The main reason for travelling to Prague was to see the Boss play as I wouldn't get the opportunity to see him in London two days later. It turned out to make the perfect opportunity to meet up with my brother. Apart from seeing Springsteen, we took a walk around the old city and bumped into an American tour guide doing a free tour of the old city. If anyone reads this and is visiting Prague I can't recommend the free city tour guides, which start in the main market square under the cuckoo clock, enough. The guides show you around (depending on which tour you do) Prague and work only for tips. With only really 24 hours to see as much of the city as possible, this was the perfect way to see all the hidden gems of the city.
In mid-September myself and colleague David Richards attended the 17th Meeting of the European Section of the International Society on Toxinology. We were invitied and funded by our PhD supervisor Dr Ian Mellor who was an invited lecturer for the event. The conference itself was fascinating and well attended by many top academics from around the world including David Warrell, Bryan Fry and Glenn King.
The conference itself was in the impresive City of Arts and Science complex designed by Santiago Calatrava - who is currently designing the new World Trade Centre transport hub in New York. It really was a cracking venue (photos below). The city of Valencia also offers plenty for the tourist to see. The old quarter of the city is definitely worth a visit as well as the aquarium - the largest in Europe housing Beluga whales. The evening conference dinner was held at the 'Botanical Gardens' in the North West of the city. A beautiful setting which warrented a return visit in the day to wander round the hundreds of plant species.
A road trip to Ireland took in the sights of Northern Ireland and Dublin. This encompassed a trip following the Giants Causeway Coastline and a good look around the city of Belfast.