Copenhagen Eurocon (Sept 21-23)

[Dharma]

This guy

No no, his first name is Ötzi...

[Happy Ent]

Did people know that GRRM was the GoH?

I guess not.

[The Iceman of the North]

There was a flat by the hotel which, according to the sign on the door, was the residence of one J Nygard.

I have completely forgotten about my Køben flat. Thanks for reminding me.

[mormont]

It's a bit late, but I can present a summary of the main events from my POV:

First, trip to Copenhagen. A saga of cancelled trains, too much drinking, getting up far too early, and trying to figure out how to make my phone work in another country. (I'm such a n00b.) Thanks to Vestrit for putting us up and Happy Ent and TC for rising unreasonably early to meet us at the airport. Prod met us on the way, occasioning a slight delay as I was so keen to greet him I got off the train he should have got on.

Then, Friday. The canal tour was first, and that was fun, even though I hate boats. We talked books during the boring bits. Highlight was discussing Danish beer - your choice of Carlsberg or Tuborg, apparently - and MJ in all seriousness declaring, 'no, there's Tuborg Classic as well!'

Then, off to the hotel, with the (slightly scary) landlady/manageress, and from there to the Con. I wasn't expecting WorldCon standards, but still... the organisation left a LOT to be desired. I'd had forebodings when we go as far as a week before and no programme had manifested: these were confirmed by the low standards we encountered on the Friday. Small but telling example: con passes were tied on the crappiest quality string you can imagine. Nobody thought to order lanyards? They're not that expensive. (Not that it mattered, since I did not see anyone check a pass the entire time I was there. I freely wandered in and out with my pass in my pocket, after the crappy string had snapped.)

The first speaker didn't seem to have prepared a talk, and was left to his own devices by the con organisers - a problem, since he hadn't a clue how to work the display equipment. The main Friday night party somehow didn't happen (this remains a mystery to me. They had a room, and a bar. How can you not make a basic party happen, given these?) The Finnish party happened, at least, and thanks to Happy Ent it even had music. Extra geek points for improvisation there. But at this point, I was not a happy con-goer. Happy Ent reported that the Svend Aage Madsen events he attended were at least slightly better, to be fair.

Then, off to the Irish pub where (at last!) I discovered some cider and bought many in celebration. I also had a good time chatting to TC and others. And that was Friday.

Saturday went better, con-wise. Many more people, and the events went off well, on the whole. We didn't stay there long though, as the brewery tour had to happen. It was interesting enough, from a non-beer drinker's point of view, and I had fun - the company was good. We went back to the con for the McAffrey signing (I got her to sign my copies of Legends I and II: she peered at George's signature, and asked 'who the hell is that?' I told her, she signed and handed them back, saying 'at least you can read mine'. )

Dinner was a nice Indian place (I don't think I actually ate any Danish food the whole time. )

Prod took us to a charming bar (read: student dive), where we played drinking games and did shots. We lost the Ent, TC and Lupigis at this point, which made us sad.

I insisted we had to go dancing, which was hot and sweaty and fun. I was absolutely drenched in sweat by the end though, so we found another Oirish bar to recover. Except they had a band, so I started dancing again. We got chucked out about 5am. I suspect the other con-goers were nicely tucked up in bed by then... the BwB are made of sterner stuff.

Sunday - well, we HAD to go to the Museum of Erotica. I wanted to see if there was anything there that could shock my jaded old heart. (Only the entrance price, unfortunately.) It wasn't bad, though. Prod took us to Christiania, which was lovely - the weather was great, the place was beautiful, the atmosphere was lovely. Then a little sightseeing of the n00b's home, a true Copenhagen landmark, complete with leaky roof.

Then dinner at an Italian, during which we disposed of several rival genres (famous fictional detectives are all gits, fantasy fans could probably take horror fans in a straight fight, etc.).

And our blackest hour, as the n00b disgraced himself. :mad: Winding up our poor waiter. 'How are you finding the Danish language?', indeed. You, sir, are a cruel man.

There was some more drinking (during which the Star Wars films were ruthlessly excoriated), but only Luz was sufficiently hardcore to really indulge. We wussed out and went to bed around midnight.

Monday, and after Lux left there were just three. We tried to get into some cultural stuff but it was all shut. Monday, Copenhagen closes. We did the botanic gardens instead.

In all, it was one of my favourite meets ever. Lovely people, excellent food and drink and entertainment. Shame to go home, really.

[Maester Joergensen]

Who's J Nygard?

Jesper Nygard is the name of one of my professers at the nanotecnologycenter at the uni of copenhagen. He is also the candidate to become the first danish astronaut and the nicest guy ever.