Reconnaissance: DK

Today I had the pleasure of getting (purposely) lost in downtown Århus. I met first with a fine gentleman named Brian, the only other American on the team. He is pictured in the bottom left below, on his iPhone.


Brian is cool for several reasons:

1) He is a well-to-do businessman (his name appears on the sign outside his office).
2) He is a self-proclaimed "Swiss Army Knife" on the gridiron, in that he can play any and all positions (and he comes equipped with a can opener).
3) He offers great tours of Århus (for free).
4) He looks a little bit like Aaron Eckhart (before he got half his face blown off and turned into the nefarious Two Face).
5) He introduced me to Shawarma (keep reading).

Brian picked me up at the Hotel Atletion and we cruised into town, stopping first at his office briefly before heading to lunch. He asked me what I was interested in eating and having already experienced the finest American cuisine Denmark had to offer, I kind of wanted to try something a bit more "Danish." Naturally, we then went to a Turkish restaurant.

Denmark, like many other European countries has a strong Muslim influence; a lot of these folks being from Turkey. Our particular selection for lunch is a favorite around the nation. When I asked Brian what a "Shawarma" was, he very quickly responded, "It's like a burrito!" If you know me well enough, you'd know there are very few things in this world that strike my fancy quite like a rolled tortilla filled with meat, rice, veggies & fixin's (preferrably one the size of a mortar shell). That being said, I was s-o-l-d.


Brian went on to explain that a shawarma is a Middle-Eastern pita wrap with vegetables, a creamy garlic dressing and lamb or chicken that is thinly shaven off a spinning rotisserie ("shawarma" is actually derived from a Turkish word meaning "turning"). When we arrived at the "Shawarma Bar," I was practically giddy when I stepped in to find the man behind the counter artfully pruning a side of lamb roughly the size of a human torso (see above). We ordered and watched the staff quickly and deliciously assemble two very generous wraps. We sat down and dug in. I can honestly say that the marinated lamb in this pita was probably the best I've ever had. It was flavorful, not overly salty and had a distinct barbeque taste, really good stuff. After lunch, we went to Baresso (like a Danish Starbucks, but with a soul) to grab a coffee and Brian released me into the wild for a few hours to explore on my own.

Downtown Århus has two main walking streets that were mighty crowded for a Thursday afternoon (must be a long weekend). People were clammoring in, out of and around the various shops, storefronts and street vendors, just like so many movies about Americans getting lost in Europe have already shown us. In truth, it was pretty much like that, except Tom Green was nowhere to be found.

There was a lot of really neat stuff to be seen in these places, none of which I was willing to spend any money on though. One United States Dollar is equivalent to roughly five-and-a-half Danish Kroner (they're not on the Euro). On top of that, things are pretty expensive to begin with. It looks kinda funny to walk into a music shop (an awesome one at that) and see CDs marked 99.99; about $18, roughly what an (insane) American would pay at FYE.

After a few hours, I started to get a little tired so I swung by Brian's office and he brought me back to my room. All in all, it was a great day and I don't see myself getting bored with so much to see and do (and not buy) in the Downtown area. Huge Kudos to my "Amerikansk Big Brother" Brian for carting me around; hopefully he'll take Sam Elliot's advice and stop working as a shill for Big Tobacco ("Thank You For Smoking"). That's all for now. Farvel.