Hals

Thursday:

Woke up at noon! We had breakfast of bread and cheese and meat and then drove off to see the town of Hals.

After walking along the water and down some streets, we found the library! It was small, but still quite nice. We got to talk to the librarian, and she was telling us that it was open for certain times of the day, but at any other time, even without a librarian there, anyone with a library card could use their card to enter the building, use the self check-out, and return or take out stuff! My gosh! I thought that was an awesome idea. She also told use that anyone in the world could get a library card, so naturally, I got a library card. It'll probably expire and I'll probably never use it, but hey, I have a Danish library card now.

While leaving the library, it rained. But it only rained for maybe 5 minutes. It was incredible how quickly it passed. Apparently it's quite common. Also, some of the older houses have the year they were built written on the side of them. I saw a 1899 and a 1905. We went to a grocery store and it was neat because the price signs were all digital. I thought that was just so smart. You can change all the prices through a computer rather than having to use more stickers for each change.

We next went to a beach. 6 year old Sören would start talking to us and of course, I could never respond in German, but that never stopped him. Who knows what he's said to me. I sure don't. We collected some shells, the boys tried to fish, the youngest ones dug holes in the sand, and we finished the cake.

Back at home we made skewers, grilled, played around the yard, and eventually got to bed, despite it being light out for a very long time. Waaay too tired to blog that night.

Friday:

We had decided the day before that we would visit Skagen, the northernmost tip of continental Europe. It was about an hour and a half drive from the cabin in Hals, so after breakfast, we headed off. When we got there, we walked up to the beach and then down along the water to get to the corner. There are 2 seas here, the North, and the East. The East is very calm and clear, and the North is more choppy and wavey. The 2 meet at the corner of the land and the North's waves roll into the East's calmer waters. It is really pretty interesting-looking.

There are also several bunkers in the area from World War II time, and a Bunker museum, but we didn't check it out. Sören found some amber of the beach. Bernstein! Bernstein! Probably one of the only German words I'll remember. Maybe not the most useful, but it's a good one. I knew my speaking in English wasn't really going to go through to him, so I was wanting to switch languages, but I don't know German, so, funny enough, I kept thinking words in Spanish. Yeaahh, he's not gonna understand that either.

After we got back to the cars (hour and a half to walk out, half an hour to walk back), we drove past a lighthouse and found a place to have a small picnic.

Skagen itself is kinda touristy. We found flip flops for about $50, I ♡ Denmark hats, Cowboy Toast (?), mugs with names on them, and all kind of expensive keepsakes. The kids played tag while we walked and we took plenty of pictures (all on Facebook).

Eventually, we ate some more chocolate (I seem to be consuming a lot of bread and chocolate) and then we headed back to the cabin. We managed to get back at halftime for the Costa Rica v Italy game with CR 1 and Italy 0. Thankfully, it stayed that way, and my 2nd country got it's 2nd win. Too bad we're not in San José, because the celebrations look pretty incredible, but hey, we're in Europe. Between dinner and blogging, we also saw France smash Switzerland. My gosh. So many goals. And so many injuries. People think football is a dangerous game, but futbol is pretty vicious too. I'm so used to seeing the games in Costa Rica, that it feels totally normal to not understand the commentators. What's weird is that after a goal, the German commentator does not go "GOOOOOOOOAAAAAAAALLLLLL." Rather disappointing. I thought everyone did that. Guess not. This German reporter guy is wearing green pants. Pretty rad.

Saturday:

Happy Summer Solstice/Birthday to my mom! After breakfast, we went out to the flea market, where it promptly decided to rain. But, it eventually stopped raining, and we took a look around. Then, most of the parents headed to the grocery store while Marion took the rest of us home.

We made cake! She has this great cinnamon cake that she makes, and so we made another one for my mom. Then we tried to make icing out of big sugar crystals (sukker), chocolate, and hot water. It didn't turn out too bad, actually. We set up the table all pretty and had a great lunch. We made faces on our open-faced sandwiches. Denmark has this condiment called Remoulade that's pretty good, actually, but I guess they use it a lot. Anyways, we taken to using it a lot too. After lunch, we took pictures of ourselves on the side of the shiny teapot. #teapotselfie The new trend?

We seem to have a current streak of a beach a day so far, and today did not yet break it. We took a walk down to the beach (while Sören rode his bike). I don't believe I've ever seen so many jellyfish in the wild before. There were also a lot of dead starfish. Half the group broke apart to head home, while the moms and Alex and I walked on. We came to the other side of the harbor that we were at the first day, and Alex and I climbed the rocks to the very edge. After that, it was threatening rain, so we headed home.

It's been a pretty chill day. We leave Hals tomorrow. Marion made some great potato pancakes for our dinner, and we're currently watching the Germany game. It's pretty stressful right now. So, in the words of Sören,  "Deutschland!  Deutschland!"

See ya.