the sea cottage

Last friday when I got home from school at 6, I hopped in Laila's little tiny black car with Flemming, and we headed up to northern sjaelland near a small town called Nykøbing where their sea cottage is located. It was rainy and cold, but when we arrived, Laila came out to greet us and had a fire inside and dinner ready!  After dinner Tine insisted that we go for a walk on the beach. It was not raining at the moment, and the moon was bright through the clouds, and with all of the wind, the ocean was crashign on the sand, and it was really great. we made a small loop and came back through some woods for there cottage is in the woods that lie just behind the sand dunes, about 80 m from the ocean down a little boardwalk.
    They had made it sound like a very quaint little cabin that was drafty and not at all as nice as this was. It was tiny, 2 little bedrooms plus a little guest gazebo and a small living room and kitchen combined, but they had renovated it 8 years ago, and it was so cozy and adorable. and in danish terms, Hyggeligt! and dinner was fabulous too. I got to sleep in the little guest house with a tin roof, and with the rain pouring down, it was the perfect place to fall asleep at the end of a long week. Tine had her friend Anthea over, and the next morning after breakfast, we all went into town with Laila and did a little grocery shopping. when we came out of the store, there was a big truck pulled over on the side of the road with a police car stopped, like he was getting  a ticket, except that he wasn't in his car. It was definitely not too exciting, but everyone coming out of the store and in the parking lot was entranced. It was hilarious really. Laila also took us to a spot with a huge rock from Viking times that is apparently the center of Denmark (if you fit all of Denmark inside of a circle).
    When we got back and later that afternoon Anthea's parents came up and we had hot chocolate and a pastry and then went for a long walk on the beach. For dessert later, I made apple crisp, and it was fabulous! we had it with their version of vanilla ice cream and Anthea helped me with it, and it was so delicious--it really hit the spot and made it feel like fall. so great.
     Then next morning Flemming took Tine and me to this part of the shoreline that is all round pepples, and behind the shoreline, some very steep ridges and hills, perhaps the only ones in Denmark, that are from glaciers that pushed up dirt to make way for themselves to slide into the ocean. we climbed up them and had a great view of the foggy and completely glassy sea.  Then we went to the shore where people have built hundreds upon hundreds of cairns everywhere. A german guy started it apparently, and Tine and Flemming had never heard of it outside of this area and thought the German guy had invented it. He certainly did for Denmark. Tine and I each made our own, and then we headed back to the cabin for some more hot chocolate. I went straight to the beach when we got back, so I could go for a run, and ended up staying out for an hour, and i even worked up the courage to put my feet in the ocean. never again. it was so so cold that my achilles tendons and the arches of my feet cramped up instantly. but after about 10 seconds everything went numb and it felt okay. I saw a man go swimming while on my run, and I was very impressed. according to laila and flemming, its the viking blood. True vikings can swim in the ocean anytime. they are all just so proud of the vikings. : )  Sadly we had to go home that afternoon, but not before stopping by this funny country shop that was already selling christmas ornaments etc. since they don't celebrate thanksgiving or halloween, they get out christmas stuff months in advance. crazy. I am already in the mood!  So even though it rained all weekend, it was so relaxing and peaceful, and also beautiful, I just wanted to stay up there forever.

On saturday I am taking off on our two week break of traveling to Greece, Italy, and Switzerland!