Monday morning saw me off to Copenhagen for a few days with one of Mom's oldest friends. Anni and Mom met in Edinburgh. Mom and Anni became friends and when Anni went back to Copenhagen in the mid sixties Mom went with her. Mom lived for two years in Copenhagen. Hence why Mom knew Danish before she ever met Dad! Mom and Dad actually met in Toronto. Go figure.

Anni met me at the bus stop and it was sure great to see her. The last time I saw Anni was for Mom's "big" birthday's which was a few years ago but I will not tell you exactly as Mom might have something to say about it! Rather than staying at a hostel while in Copenhagen I stayed at Anni's "summer house". A summer house is a very basic cabin. The houses can only be used during the summer as the city turns off the water in October.

Anni's summer house was perfect for me. There was no hot water so to wash anything I had to boil water. I absolutely loved it. If I could have something like this in Canada I would be very very happy. I loved the solitude. Anni only lives about 20 minutes away by bus and train.

In all the years Anni has been in Copenhagen she as never owned a car and gets around by bus, train, pedal power (biking) and foot power (walking) Anni is in her mid 70's and kayaks every week and is on her bike or walking everyday. The kayak club that she is a member of take weekend trips where they each stow their tent, food, clothes and water (and wine) in the kayak and then the group paddles away for 2 or 3 days. (Aug 24)

The next five days were a whirl wind tour of Copenhagen. The last time I was in Copenhagen was in 1977. I don't remember much of it but I do remember Tivoli Gardens, The Little Mermaid, visiting Farmor and Farfar (my grandparents) and seeing the Danish Queen waving from her balcony but that is about it. This trip was a whole new experience for me. I spent the days walking around and around Copenhagen just seeing the sites. Yes I did go back to Tivoli Gardens which as not really worth the 85DKK ($17 CAD) and the Little Mermaid (free). The Little Mermaid is going tto Shanghai for 6 months for Expo 2010. "The idea was to have the mermaid sit in a pavilion surrounded by a pool of sea water imported from the Copenhagen harbour (you can't find clean seawater in Shanghai, you see). Guests to the pavilion would be able to borrow swim suits, take a dip, and even ride bicycles on lanes similar to those you find in Copenhagen. Nice idea, but most of the Danes don't buy it, it seems. In an Internet poll of 5,647 respondents on the website of Danish broadcaster TV2, 69% of people voted against it." Another one of those things that makes you go hummmmm.

Anni took me out for dinner one night in Copenhagen to a restaurant that is located in a building from the 1700's. The food was very good and very traditional Danish. I had Bixamel (totally not the correct spelling) and Anni had fish stew.

Anni and I had dinner with her daughter Charlotte on Friday night and then I saw Susie (her other daughter) on Saturday morning to celebrate her daughters 1st birthday before I was due to head back to Orla and Birthe's. (Aug 28)

I took the train from Copenhagen to Horsens and Eric and Sun picked me up. I stayed with them for the night and we went to visit a friend of theirs. Lars has the best "man-cave" I have every seen. Part of his garage has been converted and there is a projection TV and surround sound that could really upset the neighbours if he had any close by and a pub sized refigerator. If you remember from another part of my blog I described a traditional Danish farm well that is exactly what Lars has. He is fixing it up and upgrading it to today's standards. From what I saw he is doing a great job. (Aug 29)

Sunday morning was very quiet at Eric and Sun's as some of us were suffering a bit from to much wine the night before. I am beginning to think that Eric is a bad influence or maybe it is me that is the bad influence. Oh well. We all survived. We are going to Orla and Birthe to celebrate Birthe's birthday tonight. (Aug 30)

While I was with Ase and Else they told me that they were going to come by Orla and Birthe on the 31st but not to tell them. It was a surprise. Birthe was on the phone when they arrived and she was very happy to see them. They stayed for lunch before continuing their trip to Copenhagen. Mona and Tasja came for dinner to celebrate Birthe's actual birthday.

Tonight is packing and then tomorrow I am heading to Aarhus to stay one night before heading to Spain on Sept 2nd to begin the rest of my adventure. (Aug 31)

The photo's for both the recent blog entries are in the Denmark 2 album. I have only uploaded a very small portion of the 650 photo's I have taken in Denmark.

Now it is off to Spain to see what adventures might come my way. Watch for more soon.

Love Tove