Saturday morning, we woke early again, bloody light shining through the windows, and it was already warm. Summer, it really feels like it now. Will and I just slothed around, had a couple of cups of coffee, and waited for Thomas Tour guide, and Camilla to come tell us what we're doing. They arrived about 9am, and we all headed off to the local beach to meet up with Jesper, Bettina and Elias.
Wow, is this really Denmark?
It was going to be a hot day, we could all feel it as we walked to the beach through town. By the time we got there, Thomas was keen for a cool down, so didn't waste any time stripping down to boardies and heading into the water......where he promptly stopped dead in his tracks. It is bloody freezing. Not cold, bloody ice cold. We were all cracking up as he was doing the whole shrug your shoulders tip toeing, cringing thing, until we got our feet in and started doing the same thing.
"It's so freakin hot!" Says Thomas
The boys had made a pact to have swim, so while I stood knee deep, they urged each other into it, and Will was the first to take the plunge into the ice bath. Camilla had braved it too, and gone out with Will and Thomas, and she was second in, so what choice did Thomas now have, but to get in. So he did! With plenty of whooping, and whistling, they were soon on their way in to shore. Ha ha ha, well done team.
And he's in! What a champion of team Wiljen.
One in all in, challenge complete.
Jesper and his family arrived soon after, did I mention that Bettina is due to have their second baby, like now, any second now? Well, she came down, on the hottest day so far for their summer, and played frisbee with the boys, and took a quick (very, very quick) dip.
What is that mystery marine mammal? Oh it's Jesper!
It's been a long time between sun bakings....
After a couple of hours on the beach, in the sun, we Aussies declared ourselves done, and moved the troops back into town for some brunch. Thomas had promised us he'd cook brekkie, but I think we were all still full after yesterday, none us needed it. Now we were hungry though, and went in search of something not too big. A nice break for food, some mixed language conversation (they are all great with their English, and use each other if they get stuck on a translation). After that, we all went our separate ways to relax out of the sun for a while.
The original Aussie childhood sun hat...
Back at Thomas' flat, Camilla left us to visit her family, and we just chilled out watching a movie. Well, Will did, Thomas and I had a quick nap to get through the next half of the day. Jesper had invited us to BBQ at his new place, "in the country". Last time we were here, they lived in an apartment in the city centre, but have moved to just out of town, to a house on a half acre block, surrounded by farms and bush. It was great. The house itself was built in the 17 hundreds, but almost completely new on the inside. Jesper has also built an awesome deck to enjoy these gorgeous summer evenings.
The Outdoor Area at Jespers, it was a beautiful night.
So Jesper comes in and collects us, and takes us to his place. It is great. Quiet, scenic, and not very far from town. Bettina and Elias have gone to another BBQ, for family, so it's just us. The Danish Dudes cook us up an awesome dinner, and we have some drinks, then Jesper gets the call to collect his family. On returning, Bettina hands over a game called "The Kings Game ". Very basically, a bunch of blocks, that each team has to knock over by throwing sticks, until there is only the biggest one (The King) left to knock over. Once all six blocks have been knocked over, you can go for the King. Sounds easy, right? Ha ha ha, the first person to actually knock over a block, was Elias. He is six, and about 120cms tall.
Jesper is collecting the throwing sticks after the other teams go.
The old softball arm was no use to me in this game, more Boule style was required.
We managed to get through three rounds of The Kings a Game, and Thomas's team (Will was on that one) won two out of three. Bugger! So now we were onto the dice game 10,000. Gees, this could take a while, rolling dice and trying to get the high scores to add up to the winning 10,000 points. Another very simple game, that can easily take many twists and turns before a winner emerges. Around the 7,000 mark, the players had separated into two clear ends. Camilla and Will tussling for number one, Jesper and I battling not be last, and Thomas stuck in no mans land. On the last round, Will scored his required 350 points with the opportunity to go further to secure a definite win, but opted to play it safe and hold (Everyone gets equal rolls, so Camilla had one more). Camilla rolled carefully, and played with caution, rolled her second roll and got a total of 450. Winner, winner, chicken dinner. I think there is a valuable lesson there for us Will, the time for playing it safe is over!
It was after eleven, so Jesper took us all home, and we went to bed happy and exhausted. Got to love the summer Danish Games.
Sunday is Copenhagen day for us, and after another morning resting, we all piled into Mollivan and Jespers' family wagon, and headed for the big city. Another warm day, with the temp on 30C by the time we arrived, which was about 11am. People, people everywhere, and a zillion bicycles. The streets are wider, with big cycle lanes, and a nice mix of old and new architecture. I really liked this city last time we came, and I still do. We walked the length of the mall, which I am sure is one of the longest (over 2kms long by my vivofit) in the world, to the Canal area of Christianshavn. Lined with restaurants and bars on the South side (The sunny side) and old maritime buildings on the north side. It is beautiful, and as the Jazz festival was on, full of people relaxing and enjoying.
I wish I was 6yrs old, it looks like fun.
God, look at all these people.....
Interesting artworks throughout the city.
We're not the only ones enjoying the summer Sunday.
The Dudes organised us a canal boat tour of this area, and while we waited our turn, Will and I enjoyed one Denmarks famous hot dogs (Google told us they are known as sausage wagons, it is wrong!) they are great, and a nice snack. The tour was spoken in English, German and Danish, and was fantastic. Bloody hot, but fantastic. Poor Bettina looked like she was physically melting, and I was sure that baby was going to come out to cool off, but she is a trooper, and just kept smiling.
Yummo, the famous Danish Sausage Wagon....
Here we go, here we go, here we go......Don't mind Thomas, his finger is broken.
The Sunny Side of Christianshavn.
We had to get under 16 bridges, and some were quite narrow and low.
The old Stock Exchange building.
What a ripper. They were doing a tour also, but it is lovely.
The Little Mermaid - famous figure due to all the vandalism to her more than anything else. She's been be headed, arms cut off and painted pink.
After the great canal tour, we walked back down the long mile, I mean mall, trying to find an icy cold drink to cool us down, it was now a balmy 34C. We had to settle for cool, as everyone in the city was feeling too hot. Thomas kept us moving to the famous amusement park and pleasure gardens, Tivoli! It was built in 1843, and is the second oldest amusement park in the world, we went to the oldest one last time we were here. Cool hey?
The entrance to Tivoli.
There were heaps of rides and attractions, but we were all tuckered out from the heat, so we're pretty content to just walk around and enjoy the atmosphere. During special days, like Easter, Halloween and others, there are shows and music and fireworks, and the park is always changing. It is a real spectacle. From here, Thomas had booked us into another great concept restaurant, called Flammen, which is a chain that is spreading like wildfire (couldn't resist the pun, sorry), in Denmark.
Jesper and Elias taking a drive through the gardens.
It is all you can eat, grilled/BBQ'd meats of all kinds, including good old kangaroo, and accompanied by a huge variety of Danish foods. Potatoes, salads, breads and desserts. It was great, although we all ate way too much, and hence got sleepy. Thank god I'm not driving, wrong side of the road, tired, beers, it would be game over. But, we did get to try Koldskål, which is a cold buttermilk dessert, served with little round sweet biscuity things. I really liked it, it tasted like French vanilla yoghurt, but thinner, with nice crunchy biscuits in it. Will wasn't into it though.
Flammen Restaurant.
Koldskål. Nice.
Hans Christian Anderson. He was from here.
We all waddled (Like we were all needing to give birth) out to the street, and it had cooled off and there was a nice breeze. This helped us waddle to the cars and enjoy a quiet ride home. Wow, another jam packed day! Tomorrow we are taking a rest day......knack-ered!
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