After Sarah arrived with her daughters, we drove north of Copenhagen to Helsingør to visit Anne’s and Sarah’s cousins nearby, their children and grandchildren. We were invited to a garden party to celebrate a baptism. We toured the famous Hamlet castle, Kronborg, in Helsingør which Shakespeare used as the setting for his play in 1602. It dramatically sits by itself on an island with impressive spires, moats, and walls.
We then drove to Marielyst, a beach town, where my daughters had spent time with their father every summer. The water was cold but the girls played in the water, and I swam. One day there were many iridescent jellyfish floating up on the beach. At first the girls were afraid of them, but eventually they were poking and prodding them. We drove to the southernmost part of Denmark by Gedser where the paternal grandparents had lived.
We sought out four of the huge trolls by Thomas Dambo, made of recycled wood. They were great and the girls enjoyed climbing on them. One you had to access by pulling yourself across a small body of water on a raft. Another we searched for because it was not easy to find. He recently constructed six trolls in Detroit Lakes in northern Minnesota.
From Marielyst on the way to Jutland, the westernmost part of Denmark, we stopped in Odense, the birthplace of H. C. Andersen. The girls had an exciting time in the kids section of the museum trying on different stunning costumes and then “performing” on stage.
We drove west to Jutland, crossing some very impressive bridges. Our destination was Billund where Legoland is located and legos were invented in 1932, and the first factory built. Legoland is a big amusement park where everything except the rides are built of legos. The heart of Legoland is from the 1960’s with knee-high Danish towns and cities. This is what I saw in 1962. It’s amazing all the lego structures: animals, villages, waterfalls, mountains and people. The girls went on a number of rides and the adults went on several. The next day we spent the morning in a water park and in the afternoon went to Lego House where in different stations you are provided with an experience which encourages creativity. In one area they built custom mini-figures with appropriate clothing and props. The creations were then scanned and animated on a tv screen.
Danish town of legos.
From Billund we drove north on very narrow country roads with 90 degree turns to arrive at the summer house where we would stay five nights. Once close to the coast, we saw endless sand dunes that followed the coast. We got to our spacious house with four bedrooms and the bonus, an indoor swimming pool, just the right size for four little girls. The girls ended up spending a lot of time in the pool - the temperature was definitely warmer than the ocean. We walked ten minutes on a road, over a sand dune, and to the beach several times a day. There were some lovely flowers and wild rose bushes with huge rose hips. Because of the wind there were waves. Mostly Anne and the girls held hands and jumped the waves. Great fun! There were many attractive summer houses with thatched roofs. Besides swimming, the girls painted rocks they had found, played with their new legos, and of course were on their iPads. The Olympics were on so the adults watched them. One day we climbed the Lyngvig Lighthouse - a great view, but very windy. At each of the houses where we stayed, and all over Denmark, food compost is collected weekly along with the trash.
We ate a lot of ramen, pizza, spaghetti, french bread, and bakery goods. The girls also ate "chocolate sandwiches," a thin piece of chocolate on bread. Everyone consumed huge quantities of yogurt with muesli; the yogurt is so much better than American yogurt. It comes in a liter carton, as do other delicious dairy products. All plastic caps are attached to the spouts so they aren’t loose. We also consumed gummi candy including strong salty black licorice. On several occasions when we were out and about we treated ourselves to “gammeldags is” old-fashion ice cream in crispy waffle cones with whipped cream on top.
Everyone left and I had made arrangements to take the bus to Aarhus, the happiest city in the world, and the second largest city in Denmark. I went there especially to visit the ARoS Art Museum which has an upper floor with a skywalk with multi-colored glass, a fun way to view the city. I also wandered in Old Town with structures from three different eras. After Aarhus, I returned to Copenhagen and to my friend, Corinne, always a gracious host. I also had the opportunity to visit my other friend, Jacqueline. I went to several museums, and Corinne and I went swimming again in the harbor. With Corinne and Jørgen I watched part of the official PRIDE parade, and then people parading by themselves in wild and crazy costumes. Thousands of people were out and about.
All in all it was a fun holiday with great weather, but sometimes challenging for the moms, but I was impressed with the patience of each of my daughters. I was well taken care of. It was nice not being in charge. In our self portraits there was often a child missing. They took turns being mad about something (hunger, cold, wrong clothes, broken rock) and therefore refusing to be part of the photo. The cousins got on really well and had fun together. It was an adventure for all of us.
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