Long Day's Journey into Night

Phew! We made it home. If felt like it took forever. We spent all but our last 100 Danish Kroners in Copenhagen's airport. We tried to so hard to spend it, but it was like they just didn't want us to. So we kept it and changed it into Euros in Amsterdam. I mentioned the guy in the kilt. There were actually a bunch of them, and they were all on our flight. I really wanted one of them to sit next to us so we could ask him if he had anything on under that skirt. Ha! None of them did.

We thought we were going to have tons of time in Amsterdam. We didn't. We thought we were going to have a snack (we got sandwhiches on the flight, but the one was Pastrami and pickles on dark bread....um....yuck). We were also going to get online, as we didn't use all of our time on the way over and still had the codes. Nope, nothing. The boards said we had to head to the gate and it would take 15 minutes to get there. Thankfully, we believed it. But, we'd just changed our Kroners into Euros, and that coupled with our leftovers from Finland we had like 24 Euros (we got 9 Euros for our 100 dkk).

I wasn't about to take that home with us. Surely we could find SOMETHING in Dutch in the airport to take home with us. Now, there is tons of shopping to be done in the Amsterdam airport. Literally tons. But most of it is well over 24 Euros (remember, add about 30% to translate it to American), and we were quickly running out of time. So we bought cheese! I wanted some good ole Dutch cheese anyway, and they had a four pack of cheeses for 22.95. Perfect!

Our flight from Amsterdam to Minneapolis was fairly uneventful. Well, other than the medical emergency just 30 minutes into it. We sat next to a nice couple from Salt Lake who had been in Switzerland. I finished my book in the first our of the flight, and was thankful for the in-seat movies. I watched three! The only new one was Music & Lyrics. I absolutely loved that movie! Also watched Dave and You've Got Mail. Two of my all time favorites. You've got mail finished just 20 minutes before we landed. Perfect.

I have to say, though, we were slightly unimpressed with our Flight Attendant. He was honestly the shabbiest Flight Attendant I've ever had; both in appearance and demeanor. I think the medical emergency right off the bat threw everyone off a bit, but he was the only one who let it show. They kept running out of things a row or two ahead of us. We had to have vegetarian meals because he ran out of the chicken meal. He ran out of orange juice. He'd come around to do water service and run out and forget to come back to us. It was most annoying when they said they were out of stuff, but the people on the other aisle were still getting it. It was like he just couldn't be bothered to ask them to share. And, he was basically tossing stuff at people. Another couple talked about it with us while waiting in Customs, it was that bad!

Customs was no big deal. We got asked over and over about bringing liquor and cigs. in, but we had none, so no biggie. The first guy asked if we had any food. I told him just the cheese we bought in the airport, and Chris brings it out of the bag to show him. It totally cracked me up. The way he brought it out the bag and showed the guy, it almost looked a fisherman showing off his prized catch. That cracked a smile on the grumpy Customs guy's face, and he said welcome back. We got toally passed by by the most adorable drug dog on earth. Oh, was he cute! Always a good feeling to get passed by the drug dog! Even when you have nothing to worry about, it still makes you nervous. We got our bags, dropped them off, went through security again (I didn't know you don't have the option of not removing your shoes any more), and we were officially back in America. And it felt good.

We hung out in the main hall for a while. Checked out the shops, watched a little FoxNews for a while. We were totally news starved. We only actually saw tv a couple of times while we were gone, and that was either sports in another language or the BBC and (trust me on this) the BBC gets really old, really fast. I called Mom collect. It's been a really long time since I've made a collect call. But, we didn't think it prudent to lug our cell phones (that's mobile to the Europeans) all over for 3 weeks just to have them for the 2 hours in Minneapolis. It was really good to hear Mom's voice. We talk every day, and most days about 52 times, so it was good to talk again after so long.

Sitting there, on the phone, I noticed there was an iPod vending machine across the way. Now, I've seen these before, most notably in Macy's in Dallas in the Men's cologne department (weird), but there in the airport, wedged between the water fountians and the women's WC, it struck me as odd. Oh, I've been wanting an iPod, so I'll pick one up at the airport on my way out. Never mind the fact that you have to charge it to use it and connect it to a computer and get all of the music downloaded. And then I noticed another one just around the corner. There's that much use that they need two of them, literally, like 30 feet apart? Wow! 

We had some good 'ole American fare at Chili's and it was GOOD. Chips, salsa, queso, and quesadillas,  washed down with all the Coke we could drink. Yum, yum, yum! I have to admit, the Twin Cities airport isn't my fave on earth. They do have good stores, and we bought a "city" mug at the Starbucks, but I just didn't like it all that much. There was that smell of canned air about the place. You know, when you're on an airplane and you've pushed away from the gate, and there's that stale, canned air mixed with just a hint of jet fuel. Yeah, that smell permeated the airport. Yuck. And what's worse is, for some reason that specific odor sets off my allergies and turns on the nausea and dizziness. Yay! I got a rootbeer float at the A&W stand to help a little. After all, ice cream is a cure all. Rootbeer, however is not. To make matters worse, after we got down to our gate and waited for a while, they quite nonchalantly decided we were going to be delayed. By 40 minutes. NOOOOOOOOO!!! We were at that point where all we wanted to do was get home. We needed to be home. In bed. Something was going on with the crew, and once we were on board, the captain announced the situation. They are required to have a certain amount of rest time, and had arrived late in the morning, so they had to push back the evening's flight. Interesting, no?

Thankfully, the powers that be approved us leaving earlier than the estimated 40 minutes, and we were on our way soon. We think one guy got left. He was in the gate area, pacing, talking on his cell phone; got huffy at the announcement and walked off. We never saw him again. But then, we both fell asleep before the plane took off. I was in and out, Chris was mostly out. After about 20 minutes, Chris woke with a start and said, why are we still on the ground? Huh? I was so confused by his question, as I was looking out the window and could see the black night and lights of little towns below us. I told him to look out the window, but he didn't get it, so I had to spell the situation out for him. Cracked me up!

Finally, we were home. Bob picked us up and brought us home to the puppies. They were so confused. I think they thought we were never coming back!

Leavin´on a jet plane

We´re at the CPH airport. I´m yhe geek stnding at the internet kiosk, typing on the miniscule keyboard, while everyone else sits typing happily away on thier laptops in the wifi zone. next time, I´m bringing one of those miniscule laptops with me. There's wifi everywhere here. Guess that's why I had such a hard time finding the internet cafes, huh?

We made it through check-in and security without too much trouble. We did self check in, only it didn't want to work that well. It checked us in through Tulsa, but only printed our boarding cards to Amsterdam. Then it couldn't get our baggage tags printed. But, the totally helpful KLM desk agent got us all taken care of. At security, I beeped! Me! The person who makes sure Chris takes everything out of his pockets (which he never remembers, and almoat went through with a pocketful of change, a camera and various and sundry other things) and wears a sports bra for the express purpose of avoiding these things: Guess it was the zipper in my fleece. Chris had his on too, but it did't go off. Humph!! I won't kid ya about it,it is quite intimidating to get wanded,patted down in another language. I'm just sayin'.

Now, we have to figure out how to spend the $20+ in change we still have. We saved up so we could pay for the Metro/train combination out here. Turns out I was making it harder than it needed to be and cost us 54 DKK instead of the 133 we were expecting. Hey! A guy in a kilt just walked by! I guess there were a lot of Brits, Irishmen, what have you heerer this weekend for a rugby tourney. Yesterday, we saw a guy wearing a shirt that said, "I´m Irish." I noticed it, walked beside him for a minute, and then looked over and said, "So you're Irish?" He and his buddies just died laughing. Cracked myself up a bit, Im must admit. Turns out, he'd gotten the shirt at a rugby tourney over St. Pat's in Savannah, Ga. Too funny!

Well, the back is starting to hurt from standing here, and I need to go see if they've decided on a gate for us yet. No one can make fun of me anymore (yes, you can tell, even in another language when they are making fun of you...the phrase Internet kiosk was a dead give away).

 

we contemplated alternative lifestyles...they`re not for us

Tomorrow`s the day. The fun is over. We are going home. I don wanna go home. I miss home, but I don`t want it to be over. We have had a really, really good trip. even with all of the hiccups, it`s been wonderful. Better than I`d imagined. In fact, I had a hard time imagining it before we left. And, I`ve never had so many surreal moments in my life. I think I`ve done a good job this trip living in the moment. Not worried so much about what comes next, but enjoying now. Maybe I should have been more worried about what came next! Ha!

So what did we do today? Other than the day spent on the train, it was probably our most relaxing yet. The perfect way to end such an active vacation. We woke up at the same time but were lazy about it (which means Chris pretended to be awake, but his snores totally tipped me off). We stayed in bed and read and talked and tried to stay warm under the miniscule comforters. We have a double bed, but it`s actually like two twins pushed together and we each get our own comforter. Which, is actually a good idea, but they aren`t wide enough. If they were just a foot wider, they`d be perfect!

Finally, we made our way out into the day. It was noon. We needed food. We stopped at 7-eleven for Frankse Dogs. It`s the craziest thing. They take super skinny hotdogs and put them in bread that is actully like a mini baggeutte with one end cut off and a hole drilled 3/4 of the way down. Before they stick the dog in the hole (as it were), they squirt it full of whatever you want. Ketchup and mustard for us. It was great! Too bad, though there was waaaaayyy to much of the condiments toward the bottom. I couldn`t eat it all.

We intended to go to Our Saviour`s Church, just around the corner from our place. We walked there, and wouldn`t you know, it`s under construction? Everything we want to see is under construction. The awesome spires of the church in Roskilde were covered in scaffolding, the Rosenborg Castle was under total renovation (only 3 of the rooms were open plus the treasury), the castle looking thing at Tivoli. Don`t ever travel with me, everything you want to see will be under construction! And by under construction, I mean completely closed, and you couldn`t even go in the main gate. I was totally disappointed. I was looking forward to climbing the spiral spire. Very cool.

Instead, we continued on our way to Christiana. It`s Copenhagen`s "free society." To tell the truth, I was a tad nervous walking in. I (and by I, I mean we) don`t really fit in in places like that. Hippies, we are not. And no, we didn`t fit in. We stuck out like sore thumbs in the communal living that is Christiania. It`s an old barracks that was empty and just taken over in the 70s (I think). It´s definitely thought provoking. Should it be allowed to remain open? Or should the residents forced out and back into greater Copenhagen? I think maybe I don`t mind it so much. It`s not for me, but it works for them. There used to be lots of illegal activities there. That`s the only part I mind. And yes, we did smell the wacky tabbacy several times. But other than that, who are they bothering? I know the city is thinking about turning it into condos, and if the city actually still owns the land, they can do whatever they want, but maybe it`s better for now to let them have their place?

As we contemplated how glad we are we earn a good living, have electricity and own our own home, we walked back to the main shopping street to go in a few shops and see some Danish design. I read the best place for that was at Illums Bolighus. Wow! Very cool stuf, but very expensive. I really want to get Scooby a Fatboy dog bed. Really, Mimi will probably use it more, but we`ve started calling Scooby the Fatboy since we first saw them in Norway, and now he will have to have one!!

Just down from the shopping street is Nyhavn. One of my favorite places in Copenhagen. It`s wonderful to sit and people watch and take in the scenery. We sat for a while and then went and got a take away pizza. Brought it back and ate by the water. Wonderful. There are restaurants lining the area, but they can be quite expensive, and you know what happens at the end of vacation! But, we didn`t really mind eating that way. The water area is always lined with people. Tourists, yes, but sitting and enjoying their city are the Danes. Very cool. We hung out for a while and then took an ultra touristy canal boat tour. Not much to say about it. Good thing it was only $10 for both of us.

We came back and got beers and ice cream and hung out at Nyhavn some more. We were getting seriously annoyed by the family who comes around every 2 minutes trying to take your bottles and so were they guys next to us, and we started talking about it and just kept talking for the next hour or so. One was German, one was Latvian. It was very interesting. The German thinks our President is not so intelligent, and not very clever. And then he brought up Michael Moore. The Latvian seemed to take a more critical look at things. I think because of all they`ve been through with the Russians, they are wary. Like I said, very interesting.

And then it was time for dinner. We headed back down the shopping street, past the city hall (Radhus) to Tivoli...for the third time. Yep, we`ve been three times! Tonight we had dinner at the same place we ate the first night. Super awesome Italian food. Yum! We walked around, bought christmas ornaments, and waited for the Illusions show. It`s a water, light, and smoke show. The first night we were there, it was broken. The second, it was Saturday, and it didn`t run until 12:15. Tonight we finally saw it, and it was actually worth it. Very cool.

And that`s it. The end of our trip. Makes me sad. Now we have to go back, pack, sleep a little, and travel the 17+ hours home. At least we`ll be at home in our own bed with our own pillows (and a puppy sleeping on my head) tomorrow night. I am really looking forward to that. My own pillow. Maybe my neck will quit hurting so much. It`s going down my shoulder now too. Okay, so I`m out for now, but I`m planning on going back and telling some of the untold stories!

today, we were Vikings

I have to apologize for the quietness of late. I think I`ve got my mom worried! We`re fine. I don`t really understand why it needs to be just so hard to find an internet cafe in this country. In Æro, I used the computer in the Library. I went back to use it again before we left. The library doesn`t open until 1:00 (that`s 13:00 over here) on Tuesday and Thursday. I was NOT about to relive the ferry missing incident, so figured we`d just find one in Copenhagen. Yeah, well, you know what you get when you assume. We`ve kept our eyes out for the last three days, and nothing.

Finally, I looked in Rick again, I knew he mentioned one in there. It says it`s next to the TI. Now, in my world, next means just that. Next door, and if not, a couple of doors down. Apparently in Rick`s world, that means around the corner. How hard would it be to put, "around the corner instead," of, "next to?" As we were taking Rick`s walking tour and wondering once again what the heck he was talking about (with regard to some directions), and Chris made a very astute observation. He said that quite often, Rick fails to give that one little piece of information that would bring everything together. Maybe he thinks that these little things enhance the experience. If that`s the case, I`ve got news. It just isn`t so. It`s frustrating.

While I`m once again ranting about Rick, let me mention that I`m just about sick of his snide little Republican comments. We`ve found a couple in this book, and there were a couple in his shows we watched before coming here. It annoys me. Anyone can have an open mind, Dems, Greens, and yes, even Republicans. Anyone who speaks to me for even just a short amount of time will know I lean decidedly Right. But if I did`t have at least a somewhat open mind, I wouldn`t be here in the first place. Period. And yes, I know I ranted and raved about Oslo, but if you`d have been there you would too. I almost posted the next day that Rick would admonish me for what I said. I`m sure he would (and probably add, "That`s a stodgy Republican for you") but that was my experience. Take it or leave it.

How about some trip info? I`m miserably behind in sharing what we`ve been doing, and I plan to go back and fill in the holes, so bare with me (there`s a good chance it`ll be after we get home, though...when the internet is free and Chris isn`t pacing waiting for me). The weather in Copenhagen has been gorgeous. This is technically our third day here. Our first day, though, we didn`t get here until 4:00 and didn`t actually get out into the city until close to 6:00. We took a taxi to our Pension because we just couldn`t handle another death march with those packs on our back. The taxi driver was super nice and told us what a bunch of the buildings were and their history. Very cool.

Today, we got up and went to Smods Bolcher (yes, I know it`s in Danish, but if you do a search in English, you come up with next to nothing). It`s a candy factory that`s been around just this side of forever (1871, actually I thought it was longer!). They make hard sugar candies, and oh my!! Are they good! Apparently, they started as a supplier for the Royal Family. You can watch them "cook" the candy, but apparently they don`t actually make it on Saturday, and Friday was a National Holiday. Oh yeah, did I mention that? Yesterday was another national holiday. Two in one week. Only this time EVERYTHING was closed. Touristy attractions were still open, though, thank goodness, as were restaurants. Otherwise, we would have been up a creek! We had no idea until our cabbie told us. Anyway, we bought a bunch of different flavored candies (peppermint w/chocolate center, raspberry, carmel, lemon, rhubarb, and something with whiskey), and the gal measured it in the coolest old time scale. We booked it out of there so we could make the 11:01 train to Roskilde.

Why Roskilde? That`s where Denmark`s Viking Ship Museum is. I`d heard that you could take a ride on a viking ship, and I wanted to! The museum houses 5 ships that were excavated from the Roskilde harbor. They believe they were scuttled in order to block the shipping lanes (some were on top of one another, and they were basically lined up). They don`t have whole boats, and they certainly don`t look like the ones in Oslo, but it was awesome. We really liked they way they had them displayed. You can kind of see it in the pictures on the website. They have these skeletons that they built and the pieces of the ships were put together inside of them. After the ships were found, it was another 23(ish) years before they could be put back together! They had some other cool displays at the museum. Replica ships we could climb inside of with sample cargo, clothes to try on, weapons and chainmail to practice with, and even a lady working a loom making a wollen sail for the replica ships the museum sails.

They sail a bunch of ships, actually. One is huge and seats at least 80 people. They`re getting ready to sail one of them to Dublin this summer and were practicing today. We got the last two open spots on the last sailing of the day. It was meant to be. It was awesome. Yes, they`re replicas, but they`re hand made in the same way the Vikings made them, and it looked like they even recreated some of the old tools to make them with. We got splinters in our rumps and tar (or was it tree sap) on our hands. And it was one of the coolest things we did on our trip. There were 11 of us in the boat, and we had to row the oars and set the sail and drop the sail and row back in. It was crazy, and did I mention cool? We met a couple from Wisconsin who are currently living in Leiden, The Netherlands. Holy cow! That`s where I lived in college. Very cool!! It`s amazing the people you meet if you just talk to them (I know, I know mom! Chip, block).

While we were waiting, we had lunch. We`d only eaten sugar so far today. We intended to eat lunch on the way, but it just didn`t happen. We had a bunch of those candies and then walked through Roskilde down the main drag with everyone out for their Saturday shopping. It was neat to be a part of it. We stopped into a bread store and got pastries. More sugar. We were actually trying to find the TI to get a map of town. I don`t know what it is about this part of the world, but they put their TIs in the craziest places. And by crazy, I mean nowhere near the train station. Makes no sense.

We finally found it, got a map, and were on our way. We decided to stop at the renowned church on the way to the museum. Good choice. It was amazing! All of the royalty of Denmark has been buried there since like the 900s (although some of the older ones may have been reburied there). It was formerly a Catholic church, until the King realized that if they reformed and became Lutheran, he could practice Absolute Monarchism and be not only the Head of State, but also the Head of the Church. The chapels that ring the church were no longer needed, so that`s where they started burying people. Previously, they put them in the floor, walls, and basement. We were astounded by both the rooms and the sarcophogi they held. It was unreal. They most recent burial was in 1972. WOW!!! And, there`s a special pew for the Royal Family. WOW again! I took a ton of pictures.

My point to all that was, we still hadn`t eaten a meal, and it was after 2:00. We were sailing at 4:00. We hit the restaurant. I mentioned the other day that it`s rare to have dinner for under $40 (although, we did dine out for $30 the other night). It`s also rare to dine out in under an hour. You wait and wait and wait to be greeted. Here, they order drinks first, then order the meal, and they never bring you the check unless you ask. And good luck trying to order another drink. Eye contact is avoided at all cost, so flagging down a server can be difficult, if not impossible. Anyway, we were hoping for semi-quick service. We were disappointed. I got an awesome sandwhich of brie, artichoke hearts, and lettuce. Chris got a so-so club sandwhich. He declared it the worst 40 meal he ever had!

After we sailed (did I mention it was awesome?), we walked around looking at all of the replica boats and watching the workers practice sailing a couple. Then, it was time to head back for the train station. But with a side trip to hit the ice cream stand. What to my wondering eyes should appear at the stand? Ebelskivvers. What are those? Well, they`re similar to poffertjes. If you don`t know what those are, they`re little mini pancakes, only these are like 3 times as big, and therefore doughier. They`re served with powdered sugar and raspberry sauce, and unbelieveably good! As we headed for the station, we retraced our steps from earlier in the day. Only now, it was after five and everything was locked up tight and the streets were totally barren. Weird. Very weird. To go from packed to nothing. There were even papers blowing down the street like in a movie.

We made it back (after getting shushed by the guy across from us...it was a quiet car...oops!) and decided to try eating at the Hard Rock again. We tried last night, but the wait was 45 minutes. My 25 minute tops rule travels with me. Tonight it was 35 minutes, so I said okay. I gave in. We grabbed the pager (they have to explain it to everyone over here - you don`t wait anywhere), and set out in search of the internet cafe. Not a couple of minutes after our return, we were paged. Yay!! We had great big juicy hamburgers, and they were good! We perused the HRC store, and between dinner and goodies ended up dropping nearly $200! Yikes!We spent more in the store than on dinner! But we justified it because the store was closed when we were at the one in Olso (again, I ask, what HRC store closes at 8:00?).

And now, here we are. We are quite certainly tired and weary. Never, ever in my life before have I uttered the words, "I want to go home," while traveling. Not while living in other countries, not while traveling through them, never. Those words have been uttered. This trip has not been easy. It`s been fun. It`s been awesome, but the number of days where it was the opposite of easy is coming close to those where it was easy. Today was actually an easy day (as was yesterday) and we (by we I mean I) needed it. W made all of our connections, scooted in to the last slots for sailing, the tickets we bought from the automatic machine for the train were right. It worked. It was a good thing. Now we have tomorrow left, and then our tired feet head for home. And, I can honestly say I`m looking forward to climbing into the Jeep, putting the top down, and driving where I want to go. At least my legs are getting rock hard. Too bad my feet are too!

Men in Denmark wear headbands

Need I say more? In all fairness to the Danes, we saw a guy in Estonia with a headband on too. It wasn`t just any headband, either, it was one of those comb thingies that goes all the way around your head and keeps the hair back. First time I`d ever seen a guy in one of those! But, we`ve seen tons of guys here in headbands. Don`t know what that`s all about. And, we`ve seen some of the craziest hair on the guys. It`s like they are trying to make it look like a cow licked the back of their heads. The women seem to have regular hair, but the men? It`s odd. Speaking of hair, I must comment on the leggy, blond stereo-type. While we have seen quite a number of leggy blondes, we have also seen quite a number of blondes that are of the bottle variety. Yup. More than anyone would like to admit. And, apparently, dyed stark black hair is super in too.

We are currently on Æero island in the tiny municipality of Æroskobing. How`s that for a name? You should see some of these street names. We saw one that was 15 letters long!! We finally got here at around 6:00 last night. It was a rough day. We walked around Odense and saw some of the May Day activities. People marching in makeshift parades. Loosely organzed bands followed by groups of people, some organized, some who just randomly joined in, almost all who had been drinking a lot already, and it was only 11:00!! The all convereged on the square we happened to be in with their red flags and fists flying and socialist propaganda.

Actually, the gal who checked us in last night said that morst of them really don`t care that much about it all, it`s just a free day and a day to get righteously pissed (in the British sense of the word......crazy drunk). We shopped in this awesome department store. It`s a good thing we don`t have it at home, and that we don`t live here. LOTS of our money would go to that store. Lucky for me, though....they have a website. Gotta love the information superhighway!

We headed for the train station. We bought tickets from the automated teller just for the experience. We made our way to the track. And we missed the train. I don`t know how. I still don`t believe it was actually there. So, we weren`t actually facing it. We thought it was the track on the other side, but I kept turning around and looking at that one, and I promise, there was nothing there. Well, this threw off the day even more than it already was. And I was not so pleased. We took the next train to Svendborg and missed the ferry by 10 minutes, so had to wait another 3 hours for the next one. Again, not so happy way I (but, I knew this was the case as soon as we missed the first train, so at least I was mostly over it by the time we got to Svendborg).

Since we were stuck there, we walked around the town. Impossibly quaint. Look quaint up in the dictionary, and you`ll find that town (well, that`s what we thought anyway, until we got here!). We had lunch outside by the quay (I just love words like that) and savored the sunlight. It wasn`t the warmest day we`ve had, but man did it feel good. Didn`t even need a coat! Not really even a jacket! I had the most amazing salmon fish cakes. Oh my, was it good! Chris and I had mentioned earlier in the day how hard it can be to keep up the water intake when traveling like we are. So at lunch, I ordered water, and whaddaya know? I got an entire liter. Drank the whole thing too (except for the couple of sips I gave Chris). We walked along the shopping streets. That was where everyone was. There were sales and families out enjoying the day. It was nice.

Finally, at 4:30, our ferry left, and we were on it! We got to Æro a short 75 minutes later. Then we had to walk to the campgrounds. I`m sure it is a nice walk in the summer when all of the grass has been tramped down by all of the other people walking that way, but we were among the first, so we were forging a path in grass sometimes hip high! It was a nice view, as we walked, though. And our cabin is impossibly cute! We are at a non-primitive campgrounds. Meaning, there`s showers and electricity and cabins. If you can stand bunk beds, I highly recommend it. So quite and so nice! We love it, and were thinking of staying an extra day. Probably won`t, though.

We had the most amazing meal last night. Chris had Ox filet (yep, that`s right...Ox) and I had....well, I had fish. We still don`t know exactly what kind. She didn`t know the translation. Only, "Flat fish. You know, with the red spots on it." Hmmm.....whatever....it was darn good. So was the Ox. Outstanding! Afterwards, we took Rick`s walking tour of town. This is a glorious place, and we are glad to be about the only tourists. It feels so slow and perfect here. Many of the homes are from the 1700s. Holy cow! You can tell on some of them, they`re leaning just a bit. This place just feels special.

We`re supposed to be on a bike ride already, but we did a little shopping instead. We have to quit buying things! But it`s so hard! We see the most unique things. And how are we supposed to pass them up? Now we need to have our picnic lunch. Maybe down by the water? Then maybe the bike ride. Did I mention ìt`s 18 miles?