Summer in Denmark - right after Mariannes return. Written June 27th 2014

Marianne:

Dear friends from all over the world.

This is our new blog - in English. While we lived in Utah, we wrote our blog in Danish so that our friends and family back home in Denmark had the opportunity to follow our American adventure. In order to keep our English updated, we figured it would be great practice to write - and why not continue documenting our lives? If you guys wish to follow, you are more than welcome. If not, that is perfectly okay too. If you are so interested, that you actually want to receive an email whenever we have updated the blog, please let us know. You can let us know by email: marianne@mbofriis.dk Then we´ll take care of the rest. Don´t expect this to be a regular event - for some reason everyday life takes over and not so many exciting things goes on. On the other hand there is nothing wrong with everyday life!

We have previously written a few ”newsletters” in order to let you know what was happening after we returned to Denmark. They will be the two first postings here - for those who haven´t seen them yet.

Hereby a little album with pictures from Denmark. I have tried to give a small explanation on every picture. Hope it does not get too boring!

This is our summerhouse – and where I am currently staying. It is by the North-Western coast of Denmark in a small place called Nørre Lyngby.

As you can tell, I have not been working all the time. I have also taken some time to relax. The hammock has come in handy - especially the first days, where I still had some jet lag.

 

From the nearest ”bigger” town, called Løkken. This is a place visited by a lot of tourists. Germans in particular. The picture was taking during Pentecost, where all Danes have a day off on Monday.  

One of my absolute favorites. The mill was built in the middle of the 1800´s. Now the blades are set as a cross, which they are usually not, as a memory of a Danish freedom fighter during WW2. To the right of the mill is an old monastery built in 1220. It is now privately owned but is open to the public.

The local church – 5 minutes walk from the summerhouse. It is a small church – seats 120 people. It was built in 1814, so it is relatively new. The old church was right by the coast and in danger of sliding into the water, so it was decided to move it.

I often go to the beach right before sunset. It is so amazing at this time. These pictures are taken around 10 pm. That day I brought my bike. The sand was nice and firm so it was fun to bike.

Yet another house is getting VERY close to the edge. The ocean eats part of the sand every year. I am pretty sure that two houses were lost since we were here last time; two year ago.

  

I am not sure if this is part of the foundation of one of the lost houses or if it is from a shelter from WW2. The Germans built a lot of these concrete shelters along the west coast of Denmark. You see them every where.

This is the remains of and old well – the house is totally gone. It looks like a tower – but it used to be dug down in the ground. Wild nature!

The sunset at Antelope Island is pretty spectacular. But there is absolutely nothing like watching the sun go down in the ocean.

Because of the steep sand cliffs, conditions for hang gliding are often perfect at our beach.

I made elderflower lemonade. It is really yummi. And very special, since you can only make it around Midsummer. To me, it is the taste of Danish summer!

I had to stop the car when I saw these beautiful poppies.

 

June 23rd is Midsummer Eve. We typically celebrate with BBQ and when the sun sets, a bon fire is lit. We have special songs that we sing and it is always a very fun event. This year is was REALLY special since Malou, the daughter of some of our friends, graduated from high school (in Denmark she became a ”student”). All the students wear the white hats you can see on the picture. As you can see, the desert was a cake decorated as the hat. (And yes, I still have mine!)

 The bon fire and the amazing Midsummer sky

The next day, I drove back to the summerhouse. It is a 5 hour drive that takes me from one end of the country to the other. I pass this beautiful bridge, which connects Zealand (where Copenhagen is) with Fyn, which is another island. From there you pass yet another bridge to go to Jutland, which is the mainland - connected with Germany and the rest of Europe.