Århus in Autumn

Flying over 3 continents, 4 airport, 2 planes, 1 bus and 34 hours later I finally arrived in Århus (or Aarhus), Denmark.

Once every year, all of the technologist (that's what we were labelled as, the food techie in the company)  gather together for the annual meeting. Since we are global company, naturally we have offices and labs located all over the world. This year the meeting is held at the main R&D centre in Århus, Denmark.

I was the only one that had to travel round the world, from one end to the other, why is Australia so far from everywhere else ?!?!

My body clock was very much confused upon arrival. Arrived on Sunday morning and by 4pm (Denmark time) I was dead, didn't wake up until the next morning :P

Though I was there a whole week for work, I still manage to do some data gathering for the blog (read : take photos of everything I ate, hahahahaha).

My colleagues are already used to me taking photos of food before eating (they were quite amazed last year when they first saw me with my camera ), so this time round, they offer their food first LOL 

I am so lucky to be working with such lovely people ^_^

I'll spread the food posts over the following weeks, so this one will just be on a quick intro into the city of Århus, the hotel food (buffet breakfast !) and foods at work.

L -R (clockwise)
Strøget pedestrian street, the main shopping street ; Danske Bank by the canal ;
 Aarhus Canal, an old canal lined with cafes and shops ; Store Torv, the city's centre square (deserted !)

Århus is the second largest city in Denmark, after Copenhagen. To find out more on the city, check out its information in Wikipedia :)

Believe it or not...no shops is open on Sundays !! >___< Except for McD, Burger King, 7-Eleven and a few restaurants along the river banks. Other than that, everything is closed - even the supermarkets !

That leaves nothing to occupy me in my attempt to stay awake during the day isn't it ?

So I just walked around the empty town centre, window shopping, take photos and manage to squeeze a late lunch in before collapsing on the hotel bed.

L - R ( clockwise) :
Århus Domkirke, the tallest and longest cathedral in Denmark, built around the end of 12th  century ;
Street sign across the cathedral ; Bicycles by the building ; Cathedral's main door 

Bikes and bikes and more bikes - everywhere you go

Hotel Royal

This time we were booked in at Hotel Royal right on the Store Torv (centre square) and right across from the cathedral ! The location is unbeatable, right in the middle of the town surrounded by shops and restaurants. 

This beautiful hotel was built in 1838 and the hotel's elevator was dated back to 1902. It was made of wood, a cushioned chair inside and the door that doesn't open as it should normally. 

You had to push the door out, instead of sliding it to the sides. I was jet lagged and panicking inside "Shooott !!! I'm stuck in an elevator ?!?!".

So had to go back down, stared out the elevator door (it had a window) helplessly at the front desk guy. He just cracked up laughing ROFL Then he showed me how it works, should have paid attention when he opened the door the first time shouldn't I ? *DOH*

Room key ;  Main entrance ; Aquarium reception desk ; Soft white leather armchair & footrest in the room

The room was very pretty, fine china vases by the windows, antique furniture and even the bathroom is fancy : gold lined, including the toilet brush !

Steps into Restaurant Queens Garden

Every morning we have buffet breakfast in the hotel's restaurant, Restaurant Queens Garden.

The restaurant was like a domed glass house complete with living trees and plants :)

Restaurant dining area

Milk Can !!

Everyday...like this....heavennnnn !!!

We have our own canteen in the office where the meals are cheap cheap as it is partially subsidised by the company. Usually we just go round the canteen and grab whatever we like, but one of the day we had a sit down lunch in one of the lunch rooms.  It was traditional Danish lunch, complete with pickled herrings and Frikadeller (Danish meatballs) - me love meatballs :D

Every Wednesday is fish day, so we also got crumbed fish that day.

Toppings platter, choose what you like and put it on your rye bread ; pickled herrings, prawns, pate, crispy bacon, boiled egg, mayo, sour cream, pickled cabbage.

Crumbed Fish ; My open sandwich ; Frikadeller

And the usual snacks during meetings , sometimes we have a tray of Danish pastries too, ehehehhee.

Something sugary, something healthy

And....we do this too in the meeting :

Confectionery of The World

Eating lots and lots of candy !!!  Hard to believe, but that is part of our job, working in the fruit & confectionery area, tasting new product in the market. If only every day at work is like this...*sigh*

At the end of the tasting session, we can take whatever we fancy back home, woohooo !! Took the M&M's Pretzel, Willy Wonka hard candies, salted caramel candies, and few other interesting sweets from all over the world \^o^/

Århus is only half an hour by plane from Copenhagen and are in close flight distances from other European countries surrounding it. So make Århus a stop in your itinerary ^_^ 

It is a quaint little city rich with arts, music and foods. There were many places that I'd love to try but just didn't have the chance too :(

To find out more about this lovely city, check out the Århus Tourism Website.

Shall leave you with a picture of empty street in the city...it was day time...and this is one of the many shopping streets, deserted on Sundays *I want to shop!! T__T*

Empty