Hostel

from danhostel.dk

What a great hostel in Helsingør!  The main building is a 100-year-old former summer house and is right on the water.

According to Google maps, Højstrup is the closest train station, but it is very small and does not seem to get much use.

After exploring we tried to walk home along the shore because all beaches in Denmark are free and public, but not always easy to access.

The view a little to the left shows Kronborg Castle.

And this view shows how two kids with the same parents react differently to the same temperature!

Yet another swimming post

I am squeezing in as many dips in the fjord as I can.

This was the view this morning at about seven o'clock.

 Some people get in the water by climbing down the steps at the end of the dock.

 I prefer to take a running jump or dive.

Today I brought the Gammel Dansk and we had a final skal, until we meet again.

I'll drink to that

I didn't quite understand what we were celebrating (the five-year anniversary of something), but after our morning swim the skinny dippers broke out the 2cl shot glasses

 and we all had a little drink.  And then some people had another one.  Skal!

photo from SuperBest ad

I am very sorry I don't have a picture of the flowers, snacks (chips and carrots), and people gathered by the dock next to the water on a beautiful, sunny morning.  Just imagine us at the end at the far left of this picture, near the little building.

No translation

There are few things that don't seem to translate.  A friend was explaining his son was comfortable swimming on vacation because it was shallow enough to stand up or touch bottom, but the Danish phrase is uses bottom as a verb, "He was comfortable because he could bottom."

The same family asked me our word for the 12 1/2 anniversary.  Here they celebrate the 50th/golden, the 25th/silver, and the 12 1/2, or copper, anniversary.  It is a big event that people start planning far in advance.

Of course there is hygge, which translates as cozy, but is more of a feeling.  When A. was playing miniature golf near the fjord on a very green course

I explained to the parents of A.'s friend that the course close to us has a view of eight lanes of traffic on I-10.  "This is much more hyggelig," the other parent said.

Evening on the fjord

Last fall David met an expat local artist and when she was over for dinner in the darkest part of winter she invited us for a boat ride on the fjord.  It seemed so far in the future that it was hard to imagine, but summer arrived and we have taken turns joining Jane for a little tour.

First the guys had a chance to enjoy a beautiful evening.  A. tried fishing for the first time and was disappointed not to catch anything, but I was relieved!

R. and I had wonderful weather for our outing.  If you click on this on this photo you'll be able to see the Viking ship and windmills near Risø.

We were able to get a different view of the cathedral from behind the sailboats.

The woman in this video is the woman from the bank who was so kind to Arlo.

We heard live music on the way to meet Jane and went to investigate after our tour.  We found a band of about five accordion players and maybe ten fiddlers playing Danish folk songs for at least forty dancers.  I could have spent all evening watching the smiles and being amazed how everyone knew the steps to each dance.

Recipe failure

I knew the recipe was a failure when one of the kids said, "Well, I am glad you liked it," when I took another leaf.  I had thought since people rave about kale chips that I could use celery leaves the same way.

I had been so proud when I figured out that the translation of bladeselleri was leaf celery, as opposed to sellerirod (or rodselleri?), which is celery root.

And they really mean it when they say leaf celery.  I didn't want the leaves to go to waste and I wasn't making soup, so I tried the roasted leaf recipe.  I am sure they will compost well.  Maybe next time I'll dry them and save them for a seasoning.

the leftovers

quick visit to Norway

our boat

We feel like we ran out of time for a long trip to Norway, but we decided to take a weekend to see a bit.  I thought we were taking a ferry to Oslo, exploring a bit, and taking the ferry back, but when I saw the boat had eleven decks and room for over 2000 passengers, I understood it would be our first cruise.

the view as we approach Oslo

The ship had indoor and outdoor pools,

several entertainment areas for children, a casino, duty-free shop, and a nightclub (right below our room - I had wondered what they meant when they said it might get a bit loud).

The best part was being able to walk around outside and see the coast as we cruised through the Oslofjord.  I could imagine spending the summer along the water with the woods in my backyard.

Knowing we had less than seven hours to see the city, we signed up for a bus tour.  If we went back we would explore on our own, but it seemed like a fine way to see a lot in a short time.  

Our first stop was Frogner Park, also known as Vigeland Park because all the sculptures are by the artist Gustav Vigeland.

The artist made the statues naked because he thought clothing would make them look dated.  Maybe if we had just arrived in Denmark we would have felt uncomfortable, but after a year of nudity it seemed natural.

Our next stop was the Holmenkollen ski jump, which looks even bigger and scarier in person.  This jump opened a little more than a year ago, but 12,000 people watched the first jump on this site over 100 years ago!  Almost as amazing is that the first women's ski jump here was only ten years ago!

do you think the trolleys really drive through here?

Afterward we drove around town, learned some history, saw a few sites, and visited a couple museums.  Oslo has some nice trams, but we were surprised to see a bike lane only on the outskirts.

on a house near the train station

After getting a few postcards, we found a place to buy food for dinner (wow!  At least seven kinds of Norwegian goat cheese instead of just one!), and headed back on board.  It was hard to have such a short visit, but now we know what we want to see next time.

off-shore windmills by the Copenhagen harbor

Arriving back in Copenhagen we were surprised to find that the trains were not running from Østerport.  We hopped on two more busses to get to the main station and were surprised to find half the trains to Roskilde cancelled.  Apparently we had missed a major rain storm, which had flooded many roads and train tracks.  We were happy to have taken the trip, but we were also happy to get home!