More Denmark

Since my stay was over the weekend, I looked up the local Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints.

Or Jesu Kristi Kirke af Sidste Dages Hellige

It was amazing.  I sat by a saintly Danish woman named Malena who volunteered to translate the entire service into English for me.  I was SO thrilled to not only feel the Spirit of the meeting (and it was so strong!) but to also know what was being said.  It was also neat to see the the worldwide church in action.  It really is the same gospel and same testimonies and same good people trying to do the Lord's work all the way across the ocean.  Loved it.

Jayne told me that while I was there I HAD to ride the train.  It's a part of European culture I just needed to experience.  So we did.  

 

I am SOOO glad I had Jayne with me

because I would have had NO idea what to do.

I couldn't even read the schedule.

Or figure out which platform we were supposed to be on.

She was an old pro, though.

We rode about an hour to a neighboring town called Arhus.

One of the reasons we chose that city is because they

have a really cool art museum, ARoS.

That's it behind me with the giant rainbow on top.

And...

You can go out onto the roof and INTO the rainbow.

Where you can take strangely tinted pictures of the city below.

So, so cool.

I am sure Andrew would have HATED it because you can look

right over the edge, down nine stories to the street below.  Yikes.

Jayne and I also hung out on the roof just enjoying the view of Arhus

while the wind whipped through our hair.

The art was great.  I wondered if it would be a little too risque for me (judging by some of the things I'd seen in store windows!), but it was no worse than US art museums.  They had a collection of beach/sea/boating paintings by Skagen artists that were my favorite.  

After that, we walked a few blocks to Old Town Arhus.  It's a collection of old building from around Denmark that they have moved across the country into this little town.  Very cool.  We got there just before closing time, so had to hurry through a few of the homes before they locked us out.

It was SO charming.

Loved walking the narrow cobblestone roads.

We made it into a couple of the homes.

Look how ornately this room is painted!

I also liked this symmetrical hedge garden.

Loved taking in the history of this place.

Next, we walked down to the part of town where the canals run.

Loved this white gauzy street covering.

Downtown Arhus looks like a postcard.

This was the moment I felt most European of the whole trip:

standing in front of the canal eating gelato.  Yes!

We got a seat at a little canal-side cafe and just soaked in the ambiance.

Nearby, they had these capsules where you could
"walk on water."  It reminded so much of zorbing,
one of my bucket-list activities.  I was tempted to try it.
But I couldn't see Jayne doing that with me.
And wasn't up for trying it by myself.

On my last day in Denmark (already??),
we decided to visit a nearby Viking museum.
Lots of Viking heritage in Denmark.

On our way to the bus stop, we saw some
live archeology in action!  Wow.

Jayne and I enjoyed a nice long walk through a
super-cute neighborhood on our way the museum.

(That was code for "we got lost.")

But it was a beautiful day for walking!

 Once we found it, we had a great time looking around the museum.

Great exhibits,

cool artifacts,

and some illustrations that cracked me up.

Times haven't changed that much.

This reminded me of giving Andrew his monthly haircut.

Maybe I should invest a barrel so he can soak his feet.

Outside of the museum is a Viking burial ground.

 It is set on a hill, with the oldest graves at the top.

They date back to 400 AD.

Four. hun. dred.

Isn't that incredible?

Some of the graves were marked with 

stones all around, like this.

And then it was time to say good-bye to Jayne and her family.  Darn.  I wish I would have had one more day.  I would have liked to do more shopping.  Or at least window shopping.  Stupid cancelled flight.

On the way home, I overcame the airline curse and caught all three of my flights.

Miracle.

 Our flight path took us over Greenland!

Loved the rugged, arctic landscape.

I even saw several icebergs sticking up out of the ocean.

Awesome!  I had the line from Titanic stuck in my head,

"Iceberg, straight ahead!"

And I was grateful I was in the air,

not the water.

 

It was an amazing trip and I'm so thankful to Andrew for proposing the idea and holding down the fort while I was away.  He and the kids had a blast.  The kids are already wondering when I'm going on another vacation.  :)