It's Hot in The City

05/07/15 Helsingor, Denmark

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!

The Danish Dudes Revisited

03/07/15 Oud Manor to Helsingor, Denmark

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.....