What? No Little Mermaid?

I just now (this very second) discovered that one of the things I didn't even know I wanted to see while in Copenhagen was the Little Mermaid statue, inspired by Hans Christen Andersen's tale.  I am totally bummed that I missed it!  Oh well.  Now I have one more reason to go back to Denmark!

We were invited to Denmark by our friend Jens Rekling.  I love Jens.  He was there the night I met Christopher.  In fact, it's through Jens that I met Christopher.  It was also an opportunity to get to know Christopher's new boss, Gilles Fortin, who also stayed with us in Denmark.

We had a very fun four days.  We spent an afternoon sightseeing in Copenhagen and then took a ferry to Denmark's northen most city, Skagen.  We stayed in a little cabin near the sea, nestled in the woods.

best cabin ever

Gaius was sick when we left Paris and I was hoping that he was getting better.  It turns out, he got worse before he got better.  He woke up the first morning in Skagen with a really bad ear ache, and we decided to take him in to see a doctor.  Luckily, Jens is an MD who speaks Danish and so he was able to set up an appointment for us AND get it all for free.  The ER in Denmark was so different than in the US.  When we arrived, there was one woman with her baby in the waiting room.  There was one doctor in an office connected to the waiting room.  We waited maybe 5 minutes and the doctor saw us.  He took a very brief look in Gaius' ear, phoned in three prescriptions to a pharmacy in a neighboring town, and we were outa there.  One funny thing, the pharmacy on a Sunday is only open from 11-1, so, luckily our timing was right and we got to the pharmacy right when it opened.

Waiting in the Danish ER with Jens in the background

On our first day in Skagen, we went to visit Sct. Laurentii Kirke (St. Laurence Church), the Sand Buried Church.  The wind is so strong in Northern Denmark that most of this church (except the tower) has been buried in sand.  One benefit of the wind is that it really volumizes straight hair.  I was very excited to buy a floaty pen as a souvenir.  Most floaty pens are manufactured in Denmark and now I finally have one from there!

from the mother land of floaty pens!

you can't really tell, but there is a whole lot of church underground

We visited the northern most point of Denmark called "The Branch" where you can see the North Sea and the Baltic Sea crashing into one another.  It was SO WINDY, and the sea was so violent!  It reminded me a lot of the ocean in Monterey.

walking out to The Branch

Where the 405 and 101 meet (North and Baltic Seas)

so windy

Jens makes a great wind break

We visited an aquarium, went for a bike ride, visited lots of playgrounds.  The guys spent their mornings discussing science while Gaius and I went exploring around our little neighborhood.

North Sea Aquarium

checking out the seals with Uncle Jens

to the sea

work in the morning

They have really cool playgrounds in Denmark.

While in Skagen, we had the BEST DINNERS, the best wine, the best excursions, and the best company.  Gilles is an excellent chef and fed us very well.  Although he relies a lot on the bechamel sauce, he's still number one in my book.  It's a wonder he doesn't weigh 300 pounds, his food is soooooo good.  Here he is in action.

making a delicious dish with scallops (and bechamel)

ready to tuck into the best lasagne (made with bechamel) that any of us ever ate

And, since many of my facebook friends have expressed a curiosity about the cute shoes I bought in Denmark, here they go.

à bientôt!