New chapter of life in Houston

We recently moved to Houston so I could start a new job.  I now work for Vestas, a wind turbine company based out of Denmark.  It was a somewhat stressful time while we moved, as can be expected, but thankfully the company paid for the move.  In addition, although we initially didn't like the idea of renting our house, we ultimately decided to after seeing how low the offers were on our beloved house in Utah. 

We now live in the house the Rowbothams used to occupy.  They briefly considered moving into our house, but ultimately decided to move to Heber.  I got to help them load the truck with their stuff a couple weeks ago. 

Everyone is pretty happy about being here in Houston.  Erika and I are excited about the warm winters.  The boys and I were bummed about leaving the beloved mountains of Utah behind since we were just learning how to ski.  On the other hand, now we can golf year round!  Emmy loves to go swimming at the neighborhood pool near our house.  She also likes to look at the lizards the boys catch and put in the terrarium on our back porch.  Matthew is starting to warm up to tacos, I'm told.  Good thing, because every Tuesday at his school cafeteria is Tex Mex day.

As part of my new job, I have the pleasure of spending six weeks in Europe for job training.  I will be in Denmark for the next few weeks and then in the UK for one week.  Right now I am in Copenhagen, where my boss and some co-workers work.  Next week I will go to Aarhus where a lot of the engineers work.  During the brief time I had in Texas before coming here to Denmark, we did some child-friendly sight-seeing in Houston.  For instance, we went to the Johnson Space Center and Erika took the boys to a science museum that had the original Star Wars costumes and other Star Wars paraphenalia on display.  I also got to celebrate Erika's birthday with her--I took the family out to eat at a restaurant called The Hobbit, which was actually quite delicious despite the silly theme.

Now for a brief travel log of my trip so far.  I took the following photos of Copenhagen just walking around my hotel tonight:

Here is my hotel (Clarion Collection 27)

Every few blocks you encounter an open plaza like this one

My boss took me to dinner last night at this french restaurant in the Latin quarter.  Being in Copenhagen is like being in a little bit of every major European city.  Also, my boss is a really nice guy.  He is part Spanish, part French, so he's cool and classy (French part), but the opposite of snooty (Spanish part).  

Most people in Denmark do not have a car.  For example, last night my boss got to my hotel via metro and bike.  Apparently, Denmark imposes heavy taxes on the purchase of a car.  Consequently, most people get around on bikes, as demonstrated by the bike parking lot shown above.  And because there are so many bikes, many of the roads have two sidewalks -- one for bikes and one for pedestrians.  And heaven help the pedestrian who accidentally walks in the bike lane--that's a great way to end up in the hospital.  Also, many bikes are equipped with passenger seats, as show below.

Copenhagen is a group of islands and so canals such as this one are a common sight.  The canals are contiguous with the North Sea.  I plan to take a canal tour this weekend.
 

A conveniently located toilet I ran into on the street.

 Absalon is a famous figure in Danish history and I thought this statue of him wielding an axe while riding a horse was ultra-cool.

 I found this uniquely titled store while walking to the metro my first morning here.

Although it's a bit cliche, the only word I can think of to describe how I feel about being in Denmark is "unreal."  I really miss my family, but being in this unusual place has distracted me from that feeling for now.  I will enjoy that while I can.