Summer vacation - Part I

Marianne:
This year our summer vacation is split into several bites. After the first week, it´s nice to being able to looking forward to more to come in August.
On Monday July 13th we drove to the small island Fejø, where Caroline and Michael has their summerhouse. Søren was on a school camp, so we had to do without him. He was missed a lot!. Sisse had a friend, Lea, with her. Monday night was very relaxed and dinner was lots of good cheese, sausages pâté and red wine. The night was finished off by Irish Coffee.

Tuesday morning, we woke up to the most beautiful weather. Breakfast was served outside on the terrace.

It didn´t take us lone to decide to walk to the beach, which is very close. This is a place with very calm water, so we brought kayaks and small dinghies. We spent most of the day on the water. It was absolutely wonderful. The girls were sailing the dinghies and the rest of us were kayaking. It was definitely better to be on the water, as the water is still chilly after a cold and windy summer. I, however, manged to end up in the water - not voluntarily since I fell. Not an experience anybody wanted to copy.

By lunch time, Caro´s father Bent came sailing from the town on the mainland, where he and his wife lives, Sakskøbing. He was sailing a motor boat that usually is by the summerhouse during the summer. Astrid, his wife, joined us later - she came by the ferry, which brings you to the small island. We had lunch and after that, Michael took a nap in the shadow. That´s vacation!
We went back to the beach to go on a trip in the motor boat, but the motor wouldn´t run. I did after some tries. The clue of the day would probably be that after the motor started, it died again. Caro had to tow them toward the shore - after her kayak. What a sight!
Dinner that night was boeuf Bearnaise and new potatoes. For dessert we had apple sherbet from the local cidery. Yummy!
Caro and I took the bikes to the mentioned cidery to buy some "Gastrik", which is a syrup made from caramelized apple cider vinegar. It tastes heavenly and can be used as an alternative to balsamic vinegar and other things.

The next morning Michael and I had an early departure from the island. Still Caro baked home made rolls for us. The girls were sleeping in while we had breakfast and we left right after.

We took two ferries before we reached Germany. From there we drove to the city of Goes in the Netherlands, where we were going to visit José and Theo. They were with us in Utah the first 4 years we were there and became close friends. Unfortunately they had to leave Utah a bit earlier that planned, since Theo was diagnosed with esophagus cancer. We have been in contact on a regular basis, but this was the first time after we all got back to Europe, that we got to meet. We had been looking so much forward to seeing them. And it was exactly as nice as we had hoped for. You culdn´t tell that so much time had passed. Theo has almost lost his voice due to treatment and he has lost some weight - but Theo is fortunately still the same Theo. There was plenty of room for laughter and also a few tears - we simply had an absolutely wonderful day together. We completely forgot to take pictures, but fortunately Ingrid and Dominique took some when they were visiting a few weeks earlier. Here Ingrid took over the wheel chair while Theo got some exercise.

From Goes we drove to Belgium, where we were going to visit Ingrid and Dominique in Bilzen. They are also very close friends from our time in Utah. When we arrived, it was extremely hot - 90 degrees F/32 C. When it´s humid it feel very warm indeed. And none of us are used to temperatures like this, since it´s been a rather cool summer.
Ingrid and Dominique are living in a new apartment in the city center in walking distance to most things.


The next day we went for a walk in and around the city. We drove to the castle Alten Biesen, which is very close. An amazing place owned by the Belgian state. Today it serves as a cultural- and conference center. Ingrid told stories from when she was a kid and the castle was still own by one man who lived there by himself. He was a very special character who didn´t enjoy the children playing there.They dared each other to knock on the door and he came out on the balcony and fired his shot gun. Into the ground - but still!

After the tour we needed refreshments.


We visited the city of Tongeren, where we saw the beautiful basilica and the old tall city wall. Another very charming place. We drove on to Brussels and checked in at the hotel. The guys went to the airport to pick up Ingerlise and Øystein who flew in from Norway. More good friends from Utah days. We had dinner at the hotel and after a couple of drinks, we went to bed.

Saturday it was sightseeing in Brussels with Dominique as the guide. Of course we went to the Grand Place/Grote Markt, which is a place you have to go in Brussels.

We walked the narrow streets in that area - ans also saw more of the city. We had Belgian beer at the bar called Delirium Tremens which is just by Jeanneke Pis. She is the female counterpart to Manneken Pis (VERY famous little landmark statue from 1618). Of course we also had to go and see him. This day he was dressed as Pierrot, since there was a Pierrot festival going on in the city.
We saw the king´s castle and the senate before we went back to the area around Grand Place to have moules et frites (mussels and French fries) - something you simply HAVE to eat while in Brussels. It´s SO good!
Michael and I drove back to Denmark the following morning (Sunday). It was supposed to be a 10 hour drive but due to traffic and road work around Hamburg and delays from the ferry to Denmark, it took us 13 hours. But we made it safely.
Now we are going to work for a couple of weeks before our next vacation adventure.