Monthly Archives: January 2013

Recap of first Twitter Meetup in Sonderborg

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:

Ice-skating under King Christian X’s bridge

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Every year an ice-skating rink is set up just below the King Christian X bridge in Sonderborg. Last year we didn’t get round to trying it out. However, when Sunday turned out to be a crisp and bright day we decided to drop by and check it out.

We arrived around 12:45 and it was already bustling with people. I was a bit concerned! Coming from an island with no snow, my skating skills are close to non-existent. Also, although I have been ice-skating twice in my life, both times were in indoor skating rinks that had a railing I could hold on to as a scooted around the perimeter. In Sonderborg the rink is surrounded with a low wooden bench on which parents typically sit and watch their kids.

I was concerned! But now that we were there I had to try it out. We got our skates (25 DKK, cash only, need to leave some sort of ID; if you have your own skates you can skate for free) and went to start skating.

I was terrible, to say the least! I was so pathetic that a young kid, maybe 6, came and offered me his penguin, and I took it! With the help of my new penguin friend I managed to make it round the rink. Go me! Leaving the penguin back with the kid I was, however, stranded again. Luckily I could be rescued by Michael who let me hold on to him as we moved around. The fact that the rink is sloping downhill at one point doesn’t help though!

So we were two adults scrambling around amongst kids wooshing elegantly. Not the most graceful view, but we did it! We treated ourselves to a hot chocolate with rum at the kiosk there (30 DKK – 12 DKK without rum) and decided to call it a day as the rink starting getting busier and busier. After all, I didn’t want to squash any little kid as I plonked myself down onto the ice!

Love Songs at Sonderborg Theatre

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Sonderborg theatre is one of the main venues of Sonderborg theatre union, an organisation set up to promote interest in theatre in the Sonderborg area and arranging performances with a varied repertoire in Sonderborg. One of these performances in the 2012/2013 season was Love Songs by Dansk Danseteater.

Dansk Danseteater is the largest contemporary dance company in Denmark. Its main 2012/2013 show is Love Songs, which will be touring first around Denmark and then internationally. The Danish tour started in Sonderborg and this is the performance we watched.

Loves Songs is “an intimate portrait of love…which is neither a dance performance nor a jazz concert”. It consists of 9 dancers playing around and showing the concept of love to a soundtrack of jazz classics.

I was a bit sceptical about a contemporary dance show, having seen and been utterly bored by such a show previously. However, during a chance meeting with a dance teacher in Sonderborg I was convinced that I should try it out and that my previous experience was not what I should expect.

She was right! The performance was lively, fun and, most importantly, accessible. Love Songs will be playing around theatres in Denmark for the next 2 months so do check it out at a theatre near you – they seem to be playing all over the country so that should be possible! They will be playing in Kolding if you are interested in checking it out and live in Sonderborg.

And if you live in Sonderborg and want something closer, don’t forget to check out the Sonderborg theatre union programme! There are a couple of other interesting shows coming up, including the dance show ‘Future Roads and Swan Lake‘ and Tosca.

Thrill your tastebuds at Trillen

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Trillen is the new lunch restaurant by Hotel Baltic in Horuphav. Opening on the 15th of January, it was perfect timing to try out for Michael’s birthday on the 20th.

The place interior is decorated similar to most Danish inns (kroer), hyggelig but dark. However, on the day we went there the sun was brightly shining outside and reflecting over the snow-white surroundings, making the restaurant nice and bright, unlike my experience of most such places. This made me a very happy Maltese guest!

The restaurant serves a traditional Danish lunch menu, mainly consisting of smorrebrod, or open sandwiches, with a number of other specialities. There were a lot of things that we would have loved to try but, of course, we had to limit ourselves! The waiters say that people typically order two pieces each, and that is what we did.

For our first round Michael tried the smoked eel and Ann the Gendarm salmon. I had never had eel before and for some reason I thought it would be much more fishy than it actually was. It was surprisingly delicate in taste. The Gendarm salmon was just as delicious. I particularly liked the combination of the smoked cheese and the salmon. They went together perfectly.

For the second round of dishes Michael went for the pot käse (pictured below) and Ann went for the old-days apple cake. Normally I would have a preference between dishes but these are two dishes that I would happily have eaten fully on my own (Note: the fact that I love cheese AND apple desserts definitely doesn’t hurt).

The pot käse is a meld of cheeses that is served with plum jam and toasted rugbrod. It was quite strong in taste, so if you are not a cheese fan you may want to skip it. I loved it. The apple cake, on the other hand, is not what I would call a cake. Maybe more of a pudding. It consisted of apple compote over which whipped cream was layered and then sugared breadcrumbs sprinkled over. If I had read that description I may not have opted for it, since I love my doughs, but this was absolutely lovely.

So would we visit again? If there is a special occasion, it would definitely be on our list of places to visit. The food was delicious, but the price is quite high. The quality of food was worth it, but probably not a regular Sunday (or especially weekday) lunch place.

Trillen is open everyday from 11:30 to 17:00. The restaurant is not in the main Hotel Baltic building but just opposite, maybe 50m from the main entrance.

Twitter Meetup Sønderborg #6400Tweetup

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.

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

Hej Sønderborg

Culture, food, events and life on Als, Denmark