Denmark, July 27-August 27

Please take your time browsing though the pictures from our vacation to Denmark. Each album and sub-album is linked below so you can look at as many or as few as you'd like. Enjoy.

Main Album Title: Denmark 2007

Sub-albums:

•Holstebro
We spent our first couple of days in Denmark recovering from jetlag and taking walks and bike rides around Morten’s hometown of Holstebro. The town is completely bike-friendly and also has many walking paths and green areas. During our four weeks in Denmark, I spent lots of time reading in Morten’s cute little house, sitting outside in the sun when the weather permitted. One day we went out to the golf course for a round of pay-and-play golf--my first round ever of regular-sized golf. After some driving practice, we hit the course for what turned out to be nine wild holes. I, however, kept the promise I made to Morten to finish with the same ball I started with. Another day we drove to a campground on the fjord whose website promised we could rent a small sailboat. We arrived to find the sailboat out of commission and rented a small motorboat instead. While Morten was slightly disappointed, we still had a great time puttering across the fjord. We ate sandwiches on the opposite side then dropped anchor just offshore on our way back for a chilly swim. I also tried my skills ‘behind the wheel’ where I proved to be a bit erratic.
1. Morten’s house
2. Boating
3. Golfing
4. Around town

•Skagen
After a couple days of jetlag recovery, we borrowed an old Volkswagen from a friend of Morten’s stationed in the States and drove to the very tip of Denmark to meet Morten’s parents, sister and niece where they were camping. We were able to borrow their bikes and have some nice tours of the area. We saw a church that’s slowly sinking into the sand, Skagen Museum, the harbour and town, a beautiful sunset, Old Skagen and the tip of Denmark where the two seas meet visibly in a crash of waves.
1. Camp
2. Sunset
3. Sightseeing
a. Harbor
b. Museum and town
c. Old Skagen
d. Sinking church
e. The strand

•Church, migrating sand dune and Lønstrup
On our way back from Skagen, we drove a different route in order to see a few more sights of interest. The first was a church and graveyard that is falling little by little into the sea as the cliff is eaten away by the water and wind. Many of the graves have already been taken, and the edge of the cliff is creeping closer and closer to the church. Just south of the church is a migrating sand dune which is where we stopped next. It is moving inland from the sea and has partially buried a lighthouse. Lastly, we stopped in Lønstrup, a small arts and crafts town full of galleries and boutiques. We looked into a few of them and saw some beautiful glasswork and pottery.
1. Church
2. Migrating sand dune

•Fyn
Since we both love boats and water, Morten has been researching the purchase of a sailboat for awhile now. He located one of interest on the island of Fyn, so we took a day trip down to check it out. It ended up not being the right boat for us, but the drive was incredibly beautiful, and we had a nice walk around downtown Fåborg.

•Copenhagen
My first visit to Denmark wouldn’t have been complete without a visit to the capital city. We saw a lot in only a couple of days and did a little shopping as well. Since Morten served two years military service with the Royal Guard, he was able to tell me alot of interesting things about them when we watched the changing of the guard. We saw a couple of the places Hans Christian Andersen lived in Nyhavn as well as the famous, though underwhelmingly small, Little Mermaid statue. We saw the crown jewels in the treasury at Rosenborg, but of course no pictures were allowed. Tivoli is an unexpectedly well-rounded amusement park for being in the center of a large city, and I had an unexpectedly good time. We started with a delicious bbq buffet and then walked around looking at the attractions and rides. We were not planning on riding any rides, but my enthusiasm for roller coasters overpowered Morten's lack there-of, and we bought single tickets for one ride. The post-ride photo at the photo booth was hilarious as I was beaming with thrill and Morten looked bored out of his mind. After a few more minutes of walking around and eyeing this specific ride, Morten decided we should go for just one more. It was basically a 65 meter free-fall. The car strapped us in, leaving our legs swinging in the breeze. It rose slowly to the top of the tower, hung suspensefully for a moment, then plunged to the ground, leaving our hearts and stomachs to chase us to the ground. I screamed and started laughing uncontrollably while Morten mumbled who knows what in Danish. It was our last ride of the night. There were fireworks just before the park closed, a lovely ending to a fun night.
1. Church, Amalienborg and changing of the Royal Guard
2. Harbor Cruise
3. Nyhavn
4. Rosenborg and King’s Garden
5. Round Tower
6. Thorvaldsen Museum
7. Tivoli

•Århus and Løgstør
During our last week, we drove over to the east coast of Jutland to visit Morten’s 90 year old great aunt in Århus. She made us a nice little lunch, and we had a good visit even though she and I couldn’t speak directly to each other. Then we drove to Løgstør where Morten’s sister lives. We visited the house she was in the process of purchasing, stopped by the harbour and ate dinner at her apartment.

Yeongduk Windfarm, July 24

For some reason, I can't get photobucket to post my album, so hopefully this link will work.

Just before we left for Denmark, Morten and I went to check on one of the windfarms on the southeast coast. While we were in the office, a couple of technicians were getting ready to go up in one of the turbines, and Morten asked me if I wanted to go with them. Of course I did! I got harnessed up and made the 80 meter ladder climb. At the top of the turbine, I climbed out of the shaft and down into the nose where I could see out into the blades. It was a very cool experience.