Part 4 Of Our Most Recent Adventures - Baltic Cruise with A Couple Of Extra Days In Copenhagen

In this last part of our most recent adventure we spent a couple of extra days in Copenhagen after our Baltic cruise had concluded. Here are some photos of our time spent in Copenhagen:

   

Below are photos of Freetown Christiania. Here is a little history about this unique location. This information was obtained from the web site...theculturetrip.com

Christiania is a former military base that sat abandoned for many years before becoming the neighborhood we know today. In 1971, a group of hippies broke down the barricades and began squatting there. Nowadays, approximately 900 people live in the area, comprising a community that has its own rules and regulations completely independent of the Danish government. During its relatively short history, Freetown Christiania has faced a certain amount of turmoil. This is mainly due to the cannabis trade taking place in its famous “Green Light District.” At one time, police officers regularly invaded the neighborhood, occasionally arresting dealers. In August 2016, a shooting in Christiania injured three people, including one police officer.

Christiania has been famous for many years thanks to the permanent stalls along Pusher Street—or ‘The Green Light District’, as it was once known—that sold all types of cannabis (illegal elsewhere in Denmark).

Prior to our visit to Copenhagen and specifically to Freetown Christiania I had done some research and was well aware of the no photograph rule in and on "Pusher Street". Upon our initial arrival into Freetown Christiania, I spoke to the owner of one the the businesses that was outside of Pusher Street. After introducing myself I asked him if I could take photo of the areas outside of Pusher Street. I told him that I would not be taking photos of any people or faces out of respect for their privacy. I was told that I could take as many photos as I wanted but that he strongly suggested no photos at all in the Pusher Street area. I happily took photos outside of Pusher Street making sure that even in those areas that there would be no people photographed. When we did walk into Pusher Street and the immediately surrounding area I made sure that my camera was put away. As we walked through Pusher Street it was obvious that the drug trade on this street was going strong. They were several cannabis sellers that had high top tables with their products laying out in the open. I was invited over to one of the sellers table but casually declined. There were lots of cannabis plants growing everywhere both in planters and wild all over the place. Some of the plants were 7-8 foot tall. It was different seeing all of the cannabis sellers with their various products selling out in the open. You could see certain individuals were walking around making sure that there was no trouble in the area. Everybody was just doing their own thing and not bothering anyone.  

  

Unfortunately Tivoli Gardens had just closed for a couple of weeks in order to prepare the park for the Halloween festivities.

Below are photos of Nyhavn. Nyhavn is a 17th-century waterfront, canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen, Denmark. Stretching from Kongens Nytorv to the harbour front just south of the Royal Playhouse, it is lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century townhouses and bars, cafes and restaurants.

  

As this adventure comes to an end we begin to look ahead to our next one and the one after that. In April we will be returning to Venice to see a friend of ours there and a few months after that we are looking into the possibility of doing what we call a traincation. An independent train vacation riding on 5 different trains as we make out way through Switzerland and spending a night or two in some of the various cities before we board another train. That will be something totally different for us but should be loads of fun. 

Harvesting The Gardens And Other Odd Jobs

Well the 2019 sweet pepper harvest has come and gone. This year I had the healhiest plants that I have ever had and they were all grown from seeds.
I grew some sweat hot peppers that were supposed to be mild as far as their heat. Unfortunately they turned out to be a little hotter than what I am comfortable with so I gave my neighbor approximately 10-15 pounds of sweat hot peppers.
That still left us with plenty of regular green peppers, sweet red peppers and sweat yellow Italian peppers.
We ended up with about 31 vacuumed sealed "save a meal" bags of assorted peppers in our freezer along with giving away numerous pounds of assorted peppers to our neighbors. All in all it was a great pepper season.
Yesterday I picked the last of the peppers and cleaned out and stored the large planter pots for next year.
I have been trying to stay ahead of my list of things that need to be done and so far I am ahead of schedule.
I "pressure" washed the siding of the house. I use a soft pressure wash technique after spraying the siding down with a store bought product. I spray it on, leave it set for at least 10 minutes and then soft wash it off. The product kills and removes stains and mold. So that job is off my list. I have been busy doing some planting and landscaping around the house.
I have prepared the back deck to be completely removed and replaced with a TREX composite deck. We are extending our deck outwards by 1 foot all of the way around. That project will be starting at the end of October.
The last big job I have on my list this year is re-fill the cracks in the driveway. I already did it once, which was a big job because the cracks had not be filled for years and had got big in some locations. I was able to fill the cracks up but with the heat and normal wear and tear some hairline cracks developed where I had filled the big cracks in originally. I will wait for a day when it is a little cooler and fill those hairline cracks in. That should last me until next year when I will probably have to do it all over again.
I would rather do it that way than have a concrete company come in and tear out the driveway and pour a new one in. I just don't want to spend the money on that job nor have the yard messed up along with possible issues with the irrigation system. I can live with the brighter colored concrete crack filler and having to do the job every year.
Here are a couple of photos of just a few of the sweat peppers harvested this year:

The smaller peppers on the left are the so called sweet mild peppers. They are supposed to be sweet when they turn red and not as hot compared to picking them and using them when they are green. I tried a red one and yes it was a little sweet but did not take long for the real heat to kick in.

 Below are the last of the peppers that were harvested yesterday. These were given away to the neighbors except for a couple of the red ones which I will use on my pizza in the next day or two.

The Heat Wave Is Upon Us

It has been a while since my last post. I have been busy doing quite a bit of outside yard work. I ended up re-doing all of the landscaping bricks and also started putting some plants in the backyard flower gardens that line the fence around the property. There is so much garden space to fill in that I will be putting in certain plants that will fill up the garden areas.
My corn season is finished. It was not the greatest crop I have had. After looking at the corn stalks and noticing how small the ears of corn were I came to the conclusion that my soil didn't have enough nutrients that it needed to sustain a good corn crop. I did some research that backed up my thinking. So next Spring I will have to add to the existing soil so that it will give me a much better corn crop.
I put some landscape weed barrier down in the corn garden so that the weeds won't take over and it will make things easier for me in the Spring when I start to prepare the garden for next years crop.
My tomatoes have done pretty well this year. I have harvested quite a number of tomatoes and have shared them with our neighbors. I still have quite a few left on the plants that I am waiting on them to ripen up before harvesting them.
My pepper plants are looking great...best plants that I have ever had and they are full of peppers. I am just waiting on the to get bigger and turn red. I will have plenty to harvest, cut up and freeze.
Every day I have been doing something outside and have been checking the things that need to be done off of my list.
I filled in the cracks in our driveway and I have sprayed the siding of the house down to rid it of any signs of mold. I still have to do the back of the house but I will wait until the pepper season is over with. I don't want to spray the house down with the pepper plants being on the back deck and I have no where else to relocate the potted pepper plants.
I am glad that I have been able to get a lot of my outdoor chores done because the temperatures are really getting up there. Today it is supposed to be 99 and tomorrow 100f and that is the actual temperature and not the "feels like" temperature.
It is only 10AM here and it is already 88 but "feels like" 100.
Today I plan on staying inside. Whatever small outside jobs I have to do can wait for a couple of days until this heat wave breaks a little.
Below are some photos of my garden and that work I have done:

A lot of space to fill in with plants

My 2 corn gardens after everything has been harvested and stalks pulled out. I put another layer of landscaping weed barrier down so it would be a little easier next Spring when I prep the garden for next years crop

There used to be an old Bradford pear tree here. The tree was leaning over from past storms so I figured it would be best to remove it before it decided to fall on our fence or on my garden. I replaced the tree with 3 peony bushes. It will be a few years until the bushes will be big enough to fill in the space. 

I put in rose bushes in front of the taller shrubs. They are doing pretty well there.

My tomato plants did very well this year

My pepper plants are full of peppers. Just waiting for them to turn from green to red and let them sweeten up

These are the latest batch of tomatoes that I have pulled. Besides this batch, I had already given away a good 2 dozen tomatoes and there are still lots more ripening on the vines. Time to give away more to our neighbors.