Christmas Dinner with the Danes!

       Danes spend the entire month of December celebrating Christmas, and they have Christmas dinners throughout November and December with their different groups of friends. Yesterday I got to experience one. Laila, Tine, and I picked up Tine's cousin and aunt from the train station sunday morning, and we all drove up to Nykøbing, the small town by the ocean where their sea cottage is located. We went to a Christmas shop and looked around, and it was really festive and a lot of fun. Then we went to another Christmas sunday market consisting of local artists and all kinds of art for sale. That was a special treat. We stopped by a fabulous  metal sculpture art gallery in a house that was in itself a piece of sculpture right next to the harbor, and sculptures no large than a human head would cost over 1000 dollars. It was crazy, but they were beautiful. By mid-afternoon we drove down through the countryside for about an hour to the Tine's cousin's house. Sadly the day itself was very gray and cold and almost rainy, and we watched the sun set through the clouds around 3.45. At Rekke's and Anetta's (cousins) house, we had all kinds of little Danish Christmas chocolates before sitting down to appetizers of appelsquer with jam and sugar, and its basically like pancake dough in a ball. pretty tasty. We had Gløgg to drink with it, which is a Danish hot wine with raisins, almonds, and spices in it, and they drink it at Christmas time, and actually it was really good. During this time, Anetta and Rekke presented me with my birthday present and my going away present. I was amazed that they had gone to the trouble of buying me a present when they hardly knew me, and it was exceedingly generous of them. They got me some warm purple yarn (because she had seen me knitting one time) for a scarf, some Danish homemade candy, and a calendar for next year with pictures of meaningful places in Denmark. It was great!
       We had some time to wait before the boys in our family drove down for dinner, so they broke out the Christmas crafts. They taught me how to make these beautiful origami paper stars, which they make hundreds of to decorate their houses and Christmas trees, which they go cut themselves. we also made some beautiful jewelry, and it was extremely hyggeligt. (cozy)  Det var Hyggeligt. Then came the real Christmas dinner. Pork roast, with crispy skin on top which the Danes love (skin=disgusting, I tried it) red cabbage slaw with almonds and mandarin oranges, caramelized potatoes,  cooked red cabbage, and gravy. The entire meal was delicious actually and extremely Danish. For dessert we continued the traditional food and Anetta served us rice pudding. They buy this special rice and cook it in milk/cream and then add vanilla to it, and it is served with a cherry sauce on top. It is traditional that in the bowl of rice pudding you place one almond, and whoever ends up with the almond wins a prize. we were all eating and eating and no one had yet discovered the almond. Tine and Rekke had already spread out the rice on their plates to check for it, and as I got towards the end of my serving I kind of stuck my spoon all around in it, but I didn't find anything either. As I was taking my last bite, I bit down right onto the almond and was so startled that I just exclaimed to everyone that I had found the almond! they made me spit it out to prove it, and then I got a prize of 3 chocolate santa clauses. So exciting. We stayed for another few hours relaxing, drinking tea, and watching the proposal before we drove home. It was yet again an amazing time. Danes are very good at having parties.
     And actually I attended another party on saturday in celebration of Thanksgiving. Lizzy's host sister Anne Sophie spent a year in the U.S. (she's 17) and wanted to celebrate her new favorite holiday this year after having such a good one last year, so she invited 10 of her friends and told lizzy that she needed some americans to complete the experience. So several of us made our way to Lizzy's house saturday with our pots and plates of food (on all the transportation--I just know the people around me on the trains wondered why I smelled like green beans.  All of the Americans sat interspersed among all of the Danes and we ate an amazing stuffed turkey with a layer of bacon on top (Dane put bacon on everything), 2 types of mashed potatoes, including purple sweet potatoes, green beans and cranberry sauce (which I made) and then tons and tons of dessert. The meal and company were fabulous, and we had  cookies, cheesecake, fruit tart, pumpkin pie, and fruit in cream for dessert. we were stuffed to the brim. we were there for like 5 or so hours and eating for most of it. Danes really are awesome. They are so eager to show us their culture and help us experience the important parts of ours.
   I haven't seen the sun in 8 days because the sky has been covered in a thick blanket of low lying clouds that sometime rain and sometimes snow. we got our first snow this weekend, and it lasted for 2 days, so I got to have snow at my Thanksgiving, and I also got to celebrate Christmas and Thanksgiving within 24 hours of each other, which was awesome.

Switzerland Pictures

The view from our hostel window

some swiss flags in Lauterbrunnen

A beautiful church in Lauterbrunnen that we passed on our walk on our first day

One of the largest of the 72 waterfalls that fall into the Lauterbrunnen Valley

A glacier way up above the valley

Still Lauterbrunnen

from the train up Jungfrau the second day

Wengen, a small town above lauterbrunnen on the way up jungfrau. it snowed the night before, but Lauterbrunnen is just low enough to get rain instead, at least for now.

train ride to the "top of Europe"

Me at a stop on the way, with the North Face of the Eiger in the background.

Anya and me on the train.

A stunning view from a look off point directly on the north face; the train tunnels through the mountain behind it.

From the station at the top. the Highest railway station in europe, at 3,454 meters, and 11,333 feet above sea level.

fearless birds

The backside of the Eiger

The Eiger in the background, the north face is just on the other side of it.

Anya and me with the Eiger

Bowdoin Polar bears in the ice palace that exists beside the station.

it was really cold outside, somewhere below freezing and very windy. glad I brought the down jacket even though it felt ridiculous to have it when in Greece

The side of the Monch peak.

The three famous peaks from left to right: Eiger, Monch, Jungfrau, and the train station is some where up there between 2 of them.

The Lauterbrunnen Valley from Wengen

Our rainy hike to Murren; we passed at least 20 streams roaring from the night's snow and rain.

Lauterbrunnen our last evening with the waterfall in the back and 2 more behind it and 1 barely visible on the far left

Our dear hostel. if you ever go, stay here.

me on the train with my bar of chocolate that the hostel gave me. But really, I was very sad to go, but the chocolate helped a little bit.

Switzerland draws sadly to a close

We did in fact go to Murren the next day. We had a good breakfast of yoghurt and scrambled eggs with onion, tomatoes, red peppers, and bacon, and then we headed out for the mountains, despite the chilly air and drizzling rain. We knew the hike went straight up for a while, but we didn't realize from the map that it went actually straight up for almost the whole hike; we gained 3,000 feet of elevation in just two hours, and we crossed over 20 streams and waterfalls, and through the evergreens and fog, we occasionally caught glimpses of the valley or the waterfalls and mountains across the valley. The hike was beautiful, and we eventually hike up hi enough to be walking on snow, yet it continued to rain. at the top we arrived at tiny little murren, which was pretty much closed down since we are in the opposite of tourist season. We did find a cafe though, which was great because we really needed some water and a hot drink. So soaking wet, we walked into this little cafe and got coffees and bottles of water. Little did we know that the water cost 5.00!!! for half a liter. it was definitely the most expensive water I have ever bought and hopefully ever will buy. but it was delicious.
    A little while later, we caught the train over to the cable car station and took that down to Lauterbrunnen, where we headed back to our room only to realize that I had left the key in the room and we were locked out until the receptionist desk reopened in an hour and a half. this was pretty bad on my part because we were cold and wet and wanted to shower. so we made some hot chai tea and played scrabble and chess until it opened again, when we happily went to our room.  I don't think I mentioned it yet, but last night after returning from the cafe, we made pasta for dinner and drank some wine and watched the sound of music in our loft while snacking on apples and Gruyere cheese. We both happen to love that movie--in fact we both remember it being our very favorite movie as children, and with a tiny little bit of help from the wine, we enjoyed it just as much as ever! plus it was totally fitting considering that we were sitting there in a loft nestled in the Alps, surrounded by the very mountains they hiked over to safety.  
     The next morning we packed up and very sorrowfully left our hostel, but upon leaving, the owner gave us each a bar of swiss chocolate, and mine had hazlenuts! so so nice, we were just thrilled. Upon arrival 4 hours and 3 trains later in Geneva, we were picked up by Anya's college friend's mother and her sons, and they took us back to their house where we had a delicious lunch of fresh french baguettes (because were no longer in Geneva but just across the border into france) with a cheese plate, including my favorite, very fancy Gruyere.  we had a nice afternoon until we heard a crazy crying noise outside, either a bird or a small child, only to find that it was a deer being attacked by someone's husky. really sad, but luckily, I didn't see any of it. The deer did survive, but the boys doubted it would last too long, although it had enough energy to run away. After a delicious dinner of melted cheese, mushrooms, salami, and potatoes, we hopped in the hot tub! and we had a desert of this special french plum pie which was spectacular.  From the hot tub I saw a shooting star and the Alps in the distance. It was a beautiful evening. I am now back in Copenhagen which is cold and rainy, and although its 3.30 it is getting dark. oh well. My adventures were more exciting and more beautiful than I could have possibly imagined, and I am so so so thankful for these opportunities that I have had.

Italy photos!!

Tower of Pisa

Pisa

Anya and me at Le Cinque Terre

the first small town in the Cinque Terre Park

Same small town

we had to hike all the way up here to get around the landslide that blocked the trail.

us with the ocean far below

Corniglia, the third coastal town