Thursday morning we were up at the crack of dawn, packed and in the taxi, heading for Gatwick airport. Sue told us it would take about 45 minutes, but we had good traffic, and made it in 30. It is a huge airport, but we managed to locate the help yourself check in machine. Super quick and easy, then through security. I had to take of my walking sandals for them to scan, what? Can't you see there is nothing stashed in them, they're sandals? Then I had to undo my belt for the lady to scan me because I beeped going through the machine...ugh....this is usually what happens to Will, not me...anyway, all through and now we are super early and just have to sit around for over an hour watching the trillions of people going to and fro to their flights all over the place.
The flight was quick, an hour fifty, and security and customs on the other end was super light. As we only had carry on luggage, we got through in no time, to find Thomas waiting for us. So good to see him again, and he hasn't changed a bit. We all walked out to his new car, a black van....ha ha ha, it's for his work as a builder. We squeezed in the front and headed off to Helsingor, 45kms North.
Thomas has a new van, and we are all getting in the front...nice to see you again.
Look out Helsingor, Straya Animals are almost there.
It is another awesome weather day, with the temp in the mid 20's, and it is a very pretty country. Thomas took us to his flat in the old town, an old style, red, timber frame building, that used to be a barn. It is really cool. After dropping our gear, we went for some lunch at a little cafe, then walked to the Naver Gaarden, (a men's club for people who have worked outside the country) to catch up with Bent, who is Will's step Uncle. It was great to see him again, and we had a couple of beers and found out a bit more about the club before heading back to the apartment.
They've all ridden their bikes down to the beach.
Thomas and his digs. Lovely little house.
The man cave, where we'll find Bent.
Will and Bent, happy to say hi again. It's allowed in the man cave.
Jesper (the other half of the Danish Dudes), his wife and son came over to catch up. They are all doing really well, and last time we saw them, they were not married, and Elias was very small. We all went out to Spare Ribs Grill for dinner. It was awesome. Ribs were great, and there were heaps, and the spicy chicken wings were delicious too. Once we were chockers, we headed back to the apartment to rest and digest. Thomas left us with his apartment to ourselves and stayed with his friend Camilla. Wow, this was unexpected and beyond the call of duty. We watched a movie, and went to bed .... Late night AGAIN ... Ugh!
We took a short walk through a small forest. It was really pretty.
Jesper, Bettina and Elias arrive to say hi. They are due to pop out their second any day.
Give me dem ribs, baby back, baby back, baby back ribs.....
Friday morning we are up early, as the bloody sun stays up even later, and comes up even earlier than the UK. We relaxed in the flat for a while until Thomas had finished in the gym, then we piled into the molester van again and went sight seeing. On the program for today is a ruin, a palace, a castle and a beach. It is another awesome day, 28C and clear blue skies.
First the ruin, Gurre Slot (castle in Danish), which was a royal castle, built in the 12th century, now in ruins. It was quite small, and hard to imagine what the castle looked like. In the middle of a field, close to a small river, it was a strange place for a castle, but cool to see.
Thomas in action as our history teacher.
Inspecting the stones. This part has been restored.
Next was Fredensborg Palace. This is the Danish Royal Families Spring and Autumn residence, and is the most used residence. Our tour guide, Thomas, knew all the info, and told us that if the guards are out front, then royalty is in residence. We were in luck, so we walked up to the gates, and yelled out for Mary to come say hi. Then the clock struck twelve, and the guard, who had been stone still, started patrolling the gate. Oops, must be time to shoot off before we find out if those guns are loaded.
Hey Mary, are ya home love?
He looked about 15, and so serious. It felt weird taking a picture of him.
Not very much further, (nothing is that far apart here), Thomas took us to an awesome castle. It is called Frederiksborg Slot, and houses Denmark's Museum of National History. Again, we were grateful for our tour guide and interpreter, Thomas, who explained what the rooms were about, and some of the amazing paintings depicting battles and other scenes from history. He knew heaps about his Danish history, and it is actually pretty interesting, even for me. The museum contains Denmark's most important collection of portraits and history paintings and illustrates their history from 1500 up to present day. It was a beautiful castle and well worth the look.
The first glimpse was just the beginning of an amazing couple of hours.
There it is...
The muscle is here, we'll guard this entrance.
The sculptures were very detailed.
The Church was a huge Wow! So much detail.
Some of the paintings were amazing...
Depicting scenes from Danish history.
Oh, and the Ballroom, double Wow, wow, wow!
The Danish are well known for their beer, is this the first on tap keg?
We walked back to Mollivan (short for molester van...ha ha ha) through the maze of gardens, then Thomas took us for Denmarks best Burger. And it was The Best! Not only because we had not had breakfast (after those ribs last night, we really didn't need any), but because it was really, really good, all home made fresh ingredients.
The manicured gardens, we walked through on the way out.
Such a big wow, Will couldn't hold it in anymore.
Thank you again Thomas Tourist guide, now give us our camera back!
Can you spot the two froggies? There was heaps, but not easy to take pics of.
On our way back to Helsingor, we stopped in Hornbæk to check out one of Denmarks best beaches. As it was a beautiful warm day, everyone was at the beach. But it is a gorgeous beach with soft white sand, and crystal clear water. So we walked down to the water passed all the bikini clad women (not all of them with bikini bodies, but not a single one piece on the beach), and into the water. Whoah, whoah, whoah, it was like doing the ice challenge. Frickin freezing, and there were plenty of people fully submerged and loving it. In and out a couple of times and I couldn't feel my feet. We walked back up the beach, and noticed a sign telling us the water was 17C, and the temp was 28C. Brrr and excellent.
Yes, this is a proper beach. Really proper!
Come in Jen, the water is fine.....if you're a beer wanting to get icy cold maybe!
That's it people, as close to swimming as I'm getting in this freezing water.
We thought that was the end of our day, so we all relaxed in Thomas' garden enjoying the peace and trying to comprehend all the info Thomas had given us. Mind overload, for sure. Then, he tells us we are off again to catch up with his dad, swap cars, pick up Camilla and head to the Northern most tip of Zealand (that is the name of this island in Denmark), and a place called Gilleleje. This is an old fishing village, and we had fish for dinner, along with heaps of other people out enjoying the best of the summer. This was not the end either, as Thomas had decided that we needed to have a mini golf challenge in order to have an ice cream. We're in, for ice cream!
Thomas was feeling nervous and thought to give Camilla some advice....
Thomas was deep in concentration, and whooping our butts.
I'm trying desperately to remember my few golf lessons, and be relaxed. The pressure!
Will and I were off to a good start, with low scores for the first few holes, but that didn't last long with each of us scoring tens on a couple of holes. Thomas must come down and practice the course in his time off, scoring some very specky holes in one. Poor Camilla, had a tough run, and team wiljen emerged the winners, after a very close finish. The reward? The biggest ice cream I have ever seen. OH MY GOD, I hope we have enough toilet paper when this gets through my system. Three scoops of proper ice cream (normally one is enough for me), then completely covered in soft serve, a smidge of raspberry topping, some runny strawberry marshmallow, whipped cream and finished off with a chocolate covered marshmallow biscuit thing, all in a huge waffle cone. Holy crap! No way! I can't eat that! We had one each! In this contest of "Man verses Food", Camilla trumped us all, eating almost all of it. She only left a small amount of soft serve. Thomas came in a far off second, leaving Will then me. Wow, we may need to cycle home to Australia if we keep taking part in Thomas' competitions.
Camilla is looking confident, she's tackled this before.
There is no way in hell I'm going to survive this one....ugh oh!
Go Will, take it for the team.....get to it!
Yep, we are gone, completely beaten. Enough ice cream left for an army.
It was an awesome day, and we are exhausted. It is 10:40pm, the sun has just gone down, and we're doing it all again tomorrow.....
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