Hello from the land of many islands!
We are at our fourth stop: Karin & Jesper Skovsgård's house. (I am typing on a Danish keyboard, so I can use all the interesting Danish alphabet letters: æ, ø, å, €, µ). They, and their three kids- Morten (17), Simon (15), and Anne (12) - were all in CA this past July.
First, my aunt Carol and my Mom picked me up at the Kobenhåven airport (that's Copenhagen to you Americans) on Friday afternoon. My flights were smooth, but a few minutes late. They did not even look at my passport, much less stamp it!
We stayed in Kobenhåven one night, walking down the Strøller, or the "walking street". The hotel was a very old building downtown. The walls were so thin that we could hear everything people said on our floor all night long! Good thing there were no honeymooners!!
Everything is compact here: the shower, the bed, the room, the elevator, the CARS!
We met up with my Mom's cousin Holger's second son, Jan for Saturday breakfast at our hotel. He is 42 years old, but looks 29 at the most! He has a website for his acting career in Denmark that I will search for when I get home. He was very nice and funny. He even drove & walked around Kobenhåven with us for the day. We saw the oldest operating fort, the queen's residence, the little mermaid statue, and the new opera house. There is a very beautiful walking street with different colored buildings and a harbor, and tons of restaurants where everyone is eating outside and sitting to drink beer and wine.
Later we drove to Sweden to stay with Lone and Thomas Lundquist. (They didn't stamp my passport, AGAIN) They are so funny and really welcoming - just like everyone! Their kids are Patrick(20), Camilla(17), and Madeleine(5). We walked around the neighborhood to see all the different, as well as typical, Swedish houses. They made a huge dinner, gave us Swedish cards and t-shirts, and stayed up late talking with us. We all invited Milla to come and stay with us this summer to practice english and see California.
We slept very late on Sunday, ate another huge amount of food at their house, then drove into Malmo (population 300k) to see the Twisting Torso building, and the awesome shoreline walking street. We walked in downtown, too.
Also very late, we left Sweden after dinner with the Ludquists. We drove into Denmark to mom's cousin Andres Peter's house. He looks very much like my Grandpa! I remember meeting him a couple of times when he vistited my Grandparents. He remembers everything! He thanked me for letting him sleep in my bed when I lived with my Grandparents and he visited. He was wonderful, as was his lady friend Hanne. He had just finnished renovating the entire house! he said "I made it new for you".
WE spent the day with the two of them. later, AP's sister Hanne also came over! It was wonderful to be treated like royalty with all the food laid out all the time- We have to be careful not to gain a hundred kilos while we are here!
Then, we arrived by 6pm at the Skovsgård's.
Whew, I guess I should update more often to save you from reading this long long letter.
I did keep it short, so I will have to remember the details of the amazing landscapes, expensive toll bridges, and Strong wind!
Remember: left is venstre and right is højre. (I am trying to learn Danish...ha.)
