No more Noma

 

I see Noma is about to close. That's the restaurant in Copenhagen that's normally reckoned to be the world's best. There's all sorts of blather about why from the chief chef, but nobody doubts that it's down to money - running costs, of course, but also the fact that eating a meal there will cost you at least £415. Each. Plus wine. 

So it's no surprise that the first time I was sent to Copenhagen for, er, work, although I stayed in a (charming) hotel just across the harbour from Noma, I was sent elsewhere for my dinners. I still wasn't slumming it, though, gastronomically speaking - one restaurant, Koeford, that I ate at featured foods from the island of Bornholm, imaginatively served like, for example, in a preserving jar full of smoke. Yes, yes, pretty standard stuff these days, but in 2011 it was strikingly innovative.

It was ages since I'd been to Denmark, and I was so delighted to get to walk around Copenhagen's gorgeous streets, soak up some of its history, go ga-ga over the Lego - it was late November, and the Santa was very impressive - and generally have a lovely time over my all-of-three-nights visit. But, maybe before flitting back again down to the opposite end of the planet, instead of publicising that new flight route, I should have paid a bit more attention, eh, to the protest that was taking place in the town square. About climate change...

Musing

Here's a New Year gift for you, if you're already beginning to feel that all those wishes you gave and received, about 2023 finally being a better year, were somewhat fatuous. For a soothing, beautifully-filmed, amusing and reassuring escape, go and watch the BBC's 'Gone Fishing' with Bob Mortimer and Paul Whitehouse on YouTube. It's only partly about fishing (and the fish are normally released again straight away) and much more about enjoying nature and friendship and sharing the experience of getting older. It's usually filmed around the UK but the Christmas special I watched last night was located in Norway, specifically the Lofoten Islands.

Now, regular 😊 readers will recall that I have been to the Lofoten Islands, in 2018, on a 14-day Silversea cruise from Copenhagen. We moored off Svolvær and hired a car with an Aussie couple which I (!) drove around for the day, over soaring modern bridges, past racks of drying fish, through colourful little fishing villages, and under towering rocky peaks. It was just gorgeous, and I was delighted to see it all again in the programme, looking even more beautiful than on the low-cloud day when I was there.

That whole cruise was somewhat muted by bad weather, which meant that we had to spend extra time sheltering from a storm in Tromsø and had to miss out on three ports of call, Ȃlesund, Olden and Hammerfest, which was really disappointing. But that's cruising for you - always at the mercy of the weather and the sea conditions. As, for today's connection, the Silversea passengers guests currently stranded in Auckland on board Silver Muse have learned, if they didn't know already. Quite honestly though, on such an unseasonably grey, wet and windy day, I would rather be stuck in Tromsø than in Auckland, which (understandably) has much less to offer indoors-wise. Although, in my opinion, our museum is heaps better than Tromsø's main one. Go to their Arctic Museum instead.