Contrasts

When I told Victoria this morning I was going to Aarhus she started singing an old Madness song. I think my pronunciation may be suspect...

It's the first time I've been here. I had to go to Oslo first, then flew here in a little propeller-driven plane and landed at the smallest airport I've been to in ages. First impressions were the more than knee-high grass on either side of the runway and, on leaving the plane to walk across the tarmac to the barn-sized terminal, a strong country smell of what we from North-East Scotland affectionately refer to as sharn.

I got here mid-evening so I had the chance to wander around, and I must say I really like Aarhus. There are winding streets, cafes and restaurants around the riverside, and a great mix of imposing modern architecture and nice old buildings.

They don't seem "fussy" about the old buildings here, unlike some places where you get a strong impression of efforts to jealously keep them "preserved in aspic". I love how the old and new mix in the city centre, and when I spotted this I thought it summed that up nicely: a quaint old timber-framed framed building, exterior unspoiled, but housing a very modern shop. (While they're reasonably discreet about they type of shop this is, if you look close up you might just be able to make out, in the bottom right, what kind of socks they're selling! ;)