Grenaa Week 1

From Denmark II

Hej Family & Friends,

I gotta say, it sure is strange to be back in Grenaa! It's still fun. I arrived on Tuesday evening to a holiday home (aka rental house) instead of the hotel. Since I'm by myself, I'd like a hand at cooking instead of dining out at the limited choice restaurants each evening. Having a home also provides more space when interior comfort is key...think freezing weather and long dark hours. Anyways, the holiday home is cold to US standards. It's all electric, and the floors are what heats the house (sound nice?), however the floors are not warm to the touch. I've proven no skills with a wood stove either, so I just make sure to have wine, tea & down booties around.

My weekday exploring is nonexistant w/ the darkness. The sunrise is at 8am and the sunset is at 3:50pm. The daytime termpatures hover within a few degrees of freezing, but with the damp air and on/off wind, it's bone chilling. So, here's what I did this weekend:

Sat: Woke up to snow on the ground! Only about an inch, but it got me up quicker! Drove up North to Skagen, the destination I missed last time. It has a beach spit where the North Sea on the West meets the Kattegat to the East. The two seas collide creating a bit of water turbulence. It was Cold and windy (notice capital C). After the token picture at the spit tip, went into town for some fiskesuppe (fish soup) and tea. I browsed a few stores but they were closing up (forgot about the 1pm Sat closure time). Next I headed West to Nordseon, in the town of Hirtshals. It's Northern Europe's largest acquarium. Wow. Creative interior designed tanks paired with a wide array of local ocean species makes for a very impressive visit. It seemed everything they had (w/ the exception of seals?) was caught at some point in the ocean. Drove home in the dark afterwards. People drive 30-40 km/hr faster at night on their equivalent highway. They were passing me at 150km/hr (=90mph). I guess there's much fewer cops at night. Low and behold, it started snowing upon my arrival into Grenaa! I was pretty excited.

Sun: Lazied around the house this morning cleaning & jump roping inside (I tried running outside and it's a doozy), while it snowed! It only lasted:30-:45 minutes. Then I drove to a free day at the zoo (Ree Park - closed this time of the year except for today) between here & Ebeltoft. Two coworkers & their families were also there, but I never saw them. It was a great local activity and it was fun to see all the kids (some pretty old) with their onesy ski outfits on. It was only a couple inches this morning and they were well prepared. After a quick warming up at the home, I ventured out for a beach walk & then a mission to buy local produce. I drove along some country roads at dusk & stopped at every self-regulated driveway stand. I found 2 within 10 minutes. For 45 krones ($7.50) I walked away with a bag of potatoes, bunch of leeks, carrots, cabbage, pepper, and the apples were gratis (free). I'll feed the apples to the neighbor-horses and be cooking everything else this week.

That's all here, maybe not quite so interesting in type, so here are some pictures:
http://picasaweb.google.com/Sasboarden/DenmarkII
(I'll include holiday home interior pictures in my next email.)

Thanks for "listening"! Take it easy,

~Sas