Author Archives: Michael

About Michael

I am a Dane who fell in love with a girl from Malta when I was living in Prague. We moved to Sønderborg at the end of 2011. I make web applications for a living and enjoy taking photos and riding my bike. Read more...

Guest blog: The 7 Prophets

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This post was written by Anette Linnea who went on holiday in Sønderborg with her son. Anette is a busy blogger and traveller. Go to her blog and read (in Danish) her blog posts from their visit:

She also wrote a great post about a sculpture named The 7 Prophets by Zeng Chenggang that she was kind to let us translate it for this blog.

Sønderborg 2013 – De syv profeter

The summer holiday also included a visit to Sønderborg. Here we are by a statue next to the university, Alsion.

The statue is placed with its back to the university and front towards Als Sound, where sailors have the nicest view of the statue. It will stay there only till September – too bad that it is moving away again – I think this is the perfect spot for it.

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Let’s take them in sequence – first we have Socrates.

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Confucius (I believe)

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Laozi (I believe)

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Buddha

The round stone in the background represents Muhammad – who we know can not be not be depicted – instead he is present without being shown. Clever.

I didn’t realise this when I took the picture, which is why two prophets got in the same shot 😉

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Jesus

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Karl Marx – I’m not sure he would be happy to be called a prophet 😉

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It was a good thing we could scan QR codes, otherwise we would have missed out on important information:

Infomation about the sculpture

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This is when we realised the low rock with a footprint that you can step into and become one of the great thinkers.

The role was done with great concentration by the youngest 😉

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“Bird pooping on prophet”

Even the birds appreciated the statue 😉

Just before we got on the train the last day we had to stop by the 7 prophets to give them a farewell.

Anette from the blog Linneas Univers blogs about creative works, geocaching, travels and a lot more.

Zulu Sommmerbio Sønderborg

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This year the touring outdoor cinema called Zulu Sommerbio is stopping by our island. In front of Sønderborg Castle there will be two films shown.

The Untouchable: Monday August 5th 9.30pm

A true story of two men who should never have met–a quadriplegic aristocrat who was injured in a paragliding accident and a young man from the projects.

The film will be shown in its original French language with Danish subtitles.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=H7g_OjLKeZ4

Skyfall: Tuesday August 6th 9.30pm

Daniel Craig is back as Ian Fleming’s James Bond 007 in Skyfall, the 23rd adventure in the longest-running film franchise of all time. In Skyfall, Bond’s loyalty to M is tested as her past comes back to haunt her. As MI6 comes under attack, 007 must track down and destroy the threat, no matter how personal the cost.

Remember to bring something to sit on (garden chair, cushion) and enough warm clothes (it will get chilly by the water).

Scenic flight sightseeing over Sønderborg

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On a clear blue June day we took the short ride up to the local airport just outside Sonderborg. We were meeting up with pilot Gudny Jakobsen who was going to take us on a tour around Als – by plane.

Gudny Jakobsen - the pilot that took us on the scenic flight

Gudny is doing scenic flights from Sønderborg all summer this year in a small Cessna with room for three passengers.

We went out to the plane, got it warmed up and off we went. And what a trip! – we both really enjoyed the views you get from the air. It was pretty amazing. We made this 2 minute video of the trip:

I think our region will be a pretty sight for everyone from the air. If you have some local sense of place it’s really amazing to see the well known places from high up looking like small Lego scenes. I couldn’t stop having a big smile on my face the whole trip 🙂

I took more than a 100 photos on the trip but here are a few of my favorites of wellknown places and new discoveries.

Summerhouses outside Høruphav where each house has a circular plot.

Toy houses in circles by Høruphav

Sønderborg on both sides of the sound looking amazing from the air with the old “Christian X bridge” and the new “Alssundbro”. You can also spot the new big mall Borgen, 

Beautiful Sønderborg

The science theme park Universe and the vast complex of Danfoss on North Als.

Universe og Danfoss

The village of Guderup and the production company Linak’s headquaters.

Linak from the air

Kegnæs “The quiet place” as I call it is a peninsula at the south of Als with few cars and nice views.

Kegnæs/Kegnaes the quiet peninsula

The first of the new buildings on the harbour is done and looks like white blocks on top of each other.

Christian den X bro og Jomfrusti

The quiet waters of Augustenborg Fjord with a solitary sailboat edging along.

A boat in Augustenborg Fjord

The Cessna 172 plane Gudny flies is from 1968 and the plane is really something special. I thought flying a small plane like this would be more bumpy but that turned out not to be the case at all. Take off and landing were remarkably smooth. It felt like being in a flying VW Bettle with leather seats wooden beams and cute round windows.

Us sitting in the flying Bettle (Cessna)

Check our Flickr for more pictures and we also made a timelapse video of the flight.

The flights are done every day of the week and tours start at 395 DKK for the shortest trip. To try it out you can just walk up to the airport and see if one of the two pilots are available. Or you can call ahead and book a flight on phone number +45 23 42 62 12. Read more.

Disclaimer: Our trip on the scenic flight was sponsored.

Alsie Express Sønderborg – Copenhagen flights

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A new airline is starting to fly from the airport in Sønderborg to Copenhagen.

After the collapse of Cimber Airline a company called DAT has been flying – but only during weekdays. Now Danfoss and Air Alsie have teamed up to give DAT some competition on the route.

Their joint project was first slated to be named “Mojn Express” but I guess that didn’t fly. So instead they named it Alsie Express. The name might not be edgy but the colour scheme is sure to make people do a double take.

Alsie Express

This week we were on a boat as one of the new planes were doing take-offs and landings and the comment from the skipper was: “That is a military aircraft – no commercial company would paint their planes like that”. Well Alsie Express did – and I like it! It looks a bit like a secret stealth aircraft. I’m hoping they don’t keep it a secret and keep it flying.

The new airlines starts June 17th 2013. Ticket sales start today.

Schedule

SØNDERBORG-Copenhagen Copenhagen-SØNDERBORG
Monday to Friday Monday to Friday
07.15 – 08.00 08.30 – 09.15
10.00 – 10.45 11.20 – 12.00
13.30 – 14.20 15.15 – 16.00
16.30 – 17.15 17.45 – 18.30
20.00 – 20.45 21.45 – 22.30
Saturday Saturday
07.45 – 08.30 09.00 – 09.45
09.00 – 09.45 17.15 – 18.00
Sundays Sundays
09.30 – 10.15 19.45 – 11.30
16.00 – 16.45 19.30 – 20.15

Ticket prices

Tickets start at 495 one-way.

Alsie Express looking cool

Go kayaking on Alssund

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Sonderborg is surrounded by a lot of water and it is one of the best places in Denmark to kayak as it is almost always possible to find calm waters to sail in.

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Before moving to Sonderborg I had researched what watersports there are in the area and had fallen for the idea of joining Sønderborg Kajak Klub the local kayak club.

In order to be a member you have to complete a “beginners course” which is done in the spring. There are limited places available for the beginners course so it is a good idea to sign up before April 1st.

The first test before you get in a kayak is a swimming test. You have to be able to swim 600 meters. After that the course starts on the water. The course is either done over 8 evenings or throughout a weekend + one evening. In the course of the programme you have to kayak at least 50 km and be able to perform different tasks in the kayak.

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Parts of the requirements are that you fall in the water a couple of times. And as our course was the first of the year we got our first dip in 7 degrees water in May. BRRRRR – that sure makes your heart beat!

Once you have completed the course and the tests you are allowed to take the clubs kayaks out on your own.

We did the course last spring and this year we have recently started to go out on our own. And it is a great experience to get out on the water.

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Sønderborg Kajak Klub

The club was started in 1938 and today it has about 250 members and 40 boats which means there is always a boat available when you want to go out.

The club house is right on the water close to the new bridge. This means that you just carry your boat out of the boathouse and into the water – very convenient.

Membership is 850 DKK per year, however the first year it is 1000 DKK including the beginners course.

Flights from Copenhagen to Sonderborg – More flights added

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From February 18th of this year DAT, the operator of flights from Sonderborg, is bumping up the number of routes that fly between Copenhagen and Sonderborg.

Flight Schedule

As of this month the weekly timetable looks like this:

Departing Sonderborg Arrival Copenhagen
06:20 (Monday-Friday) 07:05
09:15 (Monday-Thursday) 10:00
15:45 (Monday-Friday) 16:30
18:20 (Monday-Friday + Sunday) 19:05
Departing Copenhagen Arrival Sonderborg
08:05 (Monday-Friday) 08:50
14:30 (Monday-Thursday) 15:15
17:15 (Monday-Friday) 18:00
19:45 (Sunday Only) 20:30
22:50 (Monday-Friday) 23:35

Prices for tickets

Prices start at 499DKK per way if you book early making it feasible compared to the 419DKK you pay for the 4-5 hour train ride.

Book flight

You can book your flight from Sonderborg to Copenhagen on DAT’s site here.

Recap of first Twitter Meetup in Sonderborg

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hejsonderborg tweetup

Over on my personal blog I wrote a recap in Danish of the first Twitter Meetup in Sonderborg.
Panorama of the table

Under the tag #6400tweetup a conversation had been going on twitter about meeting up and putting faces to the local twitter users.

The meeting was a Thursday two weeks ago at Cafe Ib Rehne Cairo in Sonderborg and there were nine people who had signed up. We met at 18.30 had a drink and ate delicious burgers. The conversations were interesting as they always are when you have “known” people online and finally get to meet them in real life.

A great evening with a great bunch of people from all over the area.

Want to join next time?

Ann and I are tweeting as @hejsonderborg – do say hi if you are on Twitter.
If you are interested in receiving an email if another meetup is organised you can add yourself to the 6400TweetUp mailinglist:

Twitter Meetup Sønderborg #6400Tweetup

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Back in mid-december a discussion about cake got @dsh3 to posted a question on Twitter:

A “Friday Bar” for people on Twitter? Twitter is still a bit of a niche media in Denmark and although there is a small amount of local tweeps, not that many of them have actually met. So this would be an idea to see people face to face that you might just know as a username.

That was the start of it. Very quickly @kasper_roed @Casper_O, @wphilipsen and @Nickifynbo chimed in, I created a Doodle calendar and soon we had a group gathered with @HelleBach, @LeneNJ, @dennisoersted and @Captstulle.

What is a tweetup?

“A tweetup is an event where people who Twitter come together to meet in person. Normally we connect with our friends online after we have met them. At a tweetup you meet the people you might only otherwise know virtually. Like finally putting a name to a face, a tweetup is a great opportunity to really connect with the people in your network and share just a little more than 140 characters at a time.” — Cary Snowden

When we were living in London I used to attend the local #WhampGather and it was always a lot of fun, meeting a lot of good people there.

Price draw at #Whampgather at The Garden

There are tweetups across Denmark with #twedagsbar in Copenhagen, #twaalbar in Aalborg, #twodensebar in Odense, #twaarhusbar in Aarhus and now we are trying to introduce #6400tweetup for Sønderborg/Als/Southeast Jutland.

When and where?

The first edition of #6400TweetUp will be at Ib Rehne Cairo, Sønderborg on Thursday the 17th at 6.30pm (we plan to order food at 7pm so be there by then if you want to eat).

If you want to come please Sign up here.

Details in Danish

Holiday on Als

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18 year old Mary from Virginia, is in Flensburg as part of an US-German exchange programme. She lives with a host family and goes to a local Gymnasium. During autumn break she went with her host family on a vacation to Als and we got permission to repost her experience:

We had our fall break and my family and I, along with one of my newest closest friend, Ashlen, took a five day trip to Denmark. It was quite amazing. We visited Danfoss Universe. It is an amazing outdoor and indoor museum about physical science. We went on a 5D ride and drove bulldozers. Also we dashed through a laser room, and moved a ping-pong ball with our minds. Ashlen and I even tried our hands out at telepathy. We failed, but it was fun!

My host mom, Ashlen and I also went to see a show called “Flying Superkids.” It is a group of kids from about 4-19 (maybe) who do amazing gymnastics and are based out of Denmark. It was a great show, we had to work extra hard to get tickets since the show was sold out. But we got there first and pulled the exchange student card and were able to get in. It really was such a great show.

We stayed in a Summer house near Sønderborg, Denmark. It was super cool. On Monday we went to downtown Sønderborg and explored a little. It was super cute and had a ton of Chinese places. We also then went and visited a local castle and I learned some more about the war between Denmark and Germany. And of course, some more German words.

We also did a really cool game. We played soccer golf. It is very similar to Mini golf, but it is with a soccer ball and bigger holes. It was quite fun. I did not do well, and of course Ashlen won. Even in the rain it was SO MUCH FUN!

ALSO on our trip my host dad, Ashlen and I went on a two hour walk along the beach. We saw Kite surfers and went to the top of a lighthouse. What a pretty view! It was such a nice week.

Throughout the whole trip we learned new board games, which I am not very good at but love, and ate new foods. We tried Danish hot dogs. It was quite interesting, but so so good! I loved them! It was so much fun to bond with my family, and Ashlen as well.

You can read more from Mary on her blog at I Will Miss The Cow. As far as I know Mary’s blog is one of the few English language blogs in Flensburg.