Denmark

(I'm writing this from California with no access to my photos from the trip for the moment so I'll come back and add photos later.)

We spent a fantastic week in quiet northern Denmark June 27-July 4 at a holiday center thing called Skallerup Klit. A klit is apparently a dune in Danish and we had much fun calling out all the klit names on the signs as we passed them in the car. I loved this place because it was beautiful, nestled in the sand dunes by the beach, and totally kid friendly. Aside from the miles of beaches, it had its own farm where the kids could milk cows, collect eggs and ride Shetland ponies; an indoor waterpark, bowling alley and playland; outdoor playgrounds and obstacle courses; a roman spa; and a terrific activity center for arts and crafts that was open 8-8 every day where the kids could make candy or soap, paint a T-shirt or generally wreak havoc with a glue gun and glitter pen.

Denmark is really beautiful except for the Danish language, which is really sort of startling and absurdist. I mean, any language where the number 70 translates to something like "half of 4 20s" should be voted off the island due to complexity. Tor tells us that Danish children take longer to master their native language than any other children in the world and I take this to mean that Danish is difficult and not that Danes are dumb. It certainly sounds like a train wreck after the lilting sounds of Swedish and Norwegian. I say this with only love of language in my heart.

We went to Denmark with our friends Gen and Tor and met up with Tor's childhood friend Dag (everyone calls him Daggi which sounds just like Doggie in English and I always avoid saying it because I just can't call a grown man Doggie) and his family. So there were lots of communal dinners on the porch where the kids tramped around the dunes and we ate and drank a little too much on the long Scandinavian summer evenings while the world cup games buzzed in the background. Pretty nice.

There are some beautiful small towns a short drive away and we visited windy Lokken, touristy Skagen (where the Skagerak and Kattegat seas bump into each other), and cozy Lonstrup on some day trips. Then it was back on the ferry to Gothenburg, where the mad rush to moving began.