Lakes and Copenhagen!

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So hello everyone!!!
I'm comin in talking about the weekend after Ireland, I hope you all read about my time there and enjoyed!

We took a day trip, after just hangin around that week and hopefully, pretty sure getting some work done for uni. That’s my story and I’m stickin to it! 😉

It was a cold rainy day—welcome to England—but we decided to go anyways, we didn’t want to stay in Preston! I am learning more and more that it may not necessarily be the city itself that I become attracted to or in love with, it is most definitely the people in those cities that I love.  Deep thought of the day.

So, ok it was cold and rainy. It was Carly, Jori, Alma, Jessica, and myself. We got to Windermere and walked through one of the cutest little towns I’ve ever freakin seen in my life. We were trying to make our way to the lake, and thought a residential street led us there but alas, it was closed off. An older couple walking their little pooch informed us that it used to, but someone bought the land and is building some atrocity. Zoning frustrations happen in every country I suppose. We had to back track, and got distracted by flowers blooming along the way….Carly’s camera rocks and can do amazing things with color. We get to the part of town by the lake finally, and that’s when it gets colder and rainier. We looked into taking a tour on boats of the lake and renting boats and whatnot after eating. We were smart this time and packed a bit of a lunch. We had a picnic! A cold and wet picnic under a shelter, but it was a picnic nonetheless!

We hopped on the ferry and went to another little beautiful town across the lake and asked for directions to the waterfalls. The goal of the day was to see the lake and to hike a little and see the waterfalls. We succeeded….though some of us did not succeed at staying on our feet, haha. Story to follow soon.
Everywhere we looked we saw ice cream shops, so we made mental notes to get some on our way back.

So we started our walk on the mission to find the Barclay’s bank, because behind it was the way to the falls. We walked and walked, taking pictures of the misty hills and ‘waterfalls’ down buildings and stairs, you know the drill. It was beautiful!
We found the Barclay’s and started the hike through the woods, it was a throwback to summer camp! Except a lot colder. And in England. But ya know, close enough.

Took lots of pictures along the creek and each other along the way. It was a good group to be with, we were all laid back and our schedule and no one minded stopping along the way, except that it was freezing and cold so we weren’t too happy bout that.
The waterfalls were so neat, we took lots of pictures and hiked up to the top and over it. The feet pictures on the bridge over the falls were fun! On our hike down, of course it was really slippery and muddy and for the most part we paid attention and were able to use our amazing athletic balancing abilities to stay on our feet….until Carly’s concentration broke. I missed it, but from what I hear her feet just slipped completely out from under her and boom! She was on her bum. And covered with mud. And laughing. Then we were all laughing, and documented the mess she was. Jessica almost joined in the muddiness cuz she was laughing at Carly, but for her catlike reflexes she caught herself. She should teach Carly some lessons I think. Yes, I know, I know, you probably had to be there but it was pretty funny, take my word for it.

So we eventually got back down the falls and back through town. We stopped in at the little shop that gave us directions to start with for some ice cream and hot chocolate. Jori changed her mind for a scone which was delic! And Carly decided to get a milkshake wanting some cold milky ice creamy goodness. Oh no my friends, did we have another lesson in cultural differences comin. Now it wasn’t scary, gross or even very dramatic, it was however disappointing when wanting a good ol’ milkshake and you get flavored milk. That’s right, a milkshake in England is when you add in some type of flavored syrup and shake it up a bit. So Carly had some banana milk while I got ice cream dipped in the chocolate shell-handed to me while still warm and dripping everywhere I may add-and the other got hot chocolate. Yummy!

We had some fun on the first ferry ride taking pictures and goofing around like we do, and on the way back we were tired cold and wet so we decided to relax in the warm cabin before walking back to the train station. Which we started hauling it to, but soon decided we would miss the train anyway so we took our time. There was time to kill, so we wandered around a shop close by. They had some cool cool things! I saw cookie cutters the shapes of trains and cars, princesses and dinosaurs. I took pictures for Hailey and Mason because holy cow they were cool!

We decided to do our best to come back when the weather was nicer, because if we loved it in the rain, you KNOW it’s gotta be beautiful in the sun! : )

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The next week was more of the same, and because it was way back when in March I completely forget. I’m sure it was fun though!
Speaking of way back in March, Aubrey and I went to Denmark to visit our family friend Søren!!!

It was overall such a great time, words of course again barely do it justice. We got to meet mermaids, van Gogh, Rembrandt, Kings, Crown Princes, and of course the lovely Queen and her loyal guards. First things first….

We flew with KLM which is a Dutch airline, and it was an enjoyable experience all the way through. It was so different hearing their language, I am so used to recognizing a little bit, a few words here and there what with Spanish, French, and German around but this was completely different. We also found out they give spirits and certain beverages for free, which was only a little bit exciting…uh huh sure. 😉

Soren met us in the airport carrying an American and Denmark flag! Though I recognized him by his picture, it’s really fun to have flags from other countries!! I think we have started a new tradition! : )

We made our way from the airport to the train station there where Søren
kindly bought train tickets for us. Cool fact, some of the trains in Denmark don’t have drivers!!!!! They are all remotely controlled by computers…awesome! We sat in the front looking out the window and it was so cool, it was like a roller coaster. #1 cool thing to experience in Denmark. We got to town and walked around a bit waiting to meet up with Søren’s daughter, Louise. In Denmark, it is more normal to ride a bike than drive a car and they tell you to look out for the bikers more so than the cars…they will run you over! We started early taking pictures of things we were seeing and doing of course. The city is so neat, despite the fact that it was cloudy and rainy.

We met with Louise and we went into a café to get some hot chocolate, Danish style! We chit chatted for a bit and roughly planned out what we were going to do that day (we got there mid afternoon on Friday) and for the rest of the weekend. Unfortunately, Louise had to work that night and had other plans for the weekend so we didn’t see very much of her even though we stayed in her flat. They are both beautiful, kind people!

We walked around the docks of the city and by the palace of her majesty the Queen. She wasn’t busy for the evening, but invited us for tea the next afternoon. : ) Søren has some awesome pull with the royals!

Along the dock they just put up a new opera house which looked really pretty from across the water. We saw some fishing boats and the Queen’s tea booth where they enjoy the outside while waiting for their boats to be readied for a journey.

There was a neat fountain by the church along the dock as well, and Søren saw his old friend the King he served while in the military. It was a great reunion, but our mermaid was waiting for us further down the path. She is a statue, and while small, it is really neat to visit her. I liked that one of her admirers painted a blue heart on her rock.

It was getting dark, so we made our way to Louise’s flat to relax and get warm (it’s cold that far north!) before going back out for dinner. We ate at a Danish Italian restaurant which was sooo yummy! I think I want some of their food right now!! We were all pretty tired when we got back to the flat, so after calling my Mom and Dad on Skype to say hello, we got ready for bed and planned out the next morning. They gave us Louise’s bed which was heaven in mattress and duvet form, truly.

The next morning, Søren and Louise provided one of the best breakfasts ever, a Danish one! We had Danish scones, but they just call them scones. Yummy! Their bread was yummy too, with butter and juice. We tried to bring some bread home with us on Sunday, but for whatever reason the bakeries weren’t open!!

Ok I’m jumping ahead again…silly me! We had a schedule to stick to, we had castles and palaces to see, royalty to meet and the changing of the guards at 12 noon!! Søren switched cars with his ‘neices’ significant other so we could all drive together legally in one car and so he could have a van to move apartments. (It’s highly illegal to have more than 2 people in commercially licensed cars. It’s also highly illegal to walk on the bike roads and cross without a crosswalk, so we broke all sorts of laws in Denmark!!) We got to the Queen’s palace in time to see the changing of the guard, where we were lucky enough to have a smiley guard close by! It was really neat, they had a band dressed in uniform for the event that takes place like clockwork when the Queen is in residence. Of course I got some video and lots of pictures!

We headed up the coastal road towards the castles, the first one that inspired Shakespeare’s Hamlet and the second the Crown Prince’s residence that was close by Søren’s home village. After Hamlet’s castle, we had Danish hot dogs. It was almost gourmet with the sauces they put with it. It was delicious and of course gone way too quickly. Also by that castle was Sweden! It was so close, we could have almost swam to it. We wouldn’t have of course, because it was still freezing!

The countryside was very pretty and the little towns along the coastal road were picturesque. Aubrey was so lulled by its beauty, she fell asleep in the backseat along the way. The 2nd castle, like I said was close to Søren’s home town. It was really neat, though we could only walk so close to the buildings. Guards! It looked really neat though! : ) We gots lots of history lessons the whole week, Søren is so knowledgeable, has seen and done so much. He has so many stories, we told him to write a book!!

That evening we decided to get some traditional Danish dinner at a little restaurant we saw by the canal. And maaaan it was gooooood!! Took pictures and everything! One of the nicest things about Denmark and what made it not as stressful as it could be was that we had an amazing guide and translator in Søren. We met some fisherman that were eating and enjoying being young and in Denmark also. They tried to sneak a picture (they were excited we were American) but forgot to turn off the flash. Caught! They were funny guys though, celebrating the fact they didn’t catch any fish!! We got pictures with them. : )

We walked back to our Danish home away from Preston home away from America home. It’s funny how when you travel, you make niches for yourself that act like a home. You need that comfort space to work with when seeing and doing new things. Philosophy of the day!!

We had a movie night after calling the parent’s again to say hello. We were really goofy and happy as we were talking to them because we were full of good times and laughter, they thought we were drinking! But nope, we were drunk on life and good company! We watched Shakespeare in Love, which Aubrey and I loved but felt badly that Søren wasn’t that excited about it. We got ready and went to sleep on the heaven bed.

We had an early start the next morning, we had to be at the airport but wanted to see the Museum of Modern Art first. We saw it after another delicious Danish breakfast and a shower. The showers are so crazy there!! The buildings were mostly all built with outdoor communal showers and baths, so when it was modernized they had to stick showers into the small little bathrooms somehow. The shower curtain touched the sink when closed, and the whole floor is tile so people have to squeegee the water from the shower to the drain in the middle of the bathroom floor. At least you know the floor is clean if it gets water on it every day!

Ok, so the museum! It was neat!! We saw van Gogh and Rembrandt paintings!!! I haven’t been to an art museum in what feels like ages, so it was really neat. My favorite room had paintings, floor to ceiling 2 stories high. So cool!

We made our way to the city center again, where we were the first day. So much had happened it was fun to go back to where we started. And isn’t it weird that while the bakeries were closed, we saw an ice cream shop open? I was very excited, I got ice cream in Copenhagen close to where 35 years before my dad had gotten ice cream in Copenhagen. It was awesome!

We got back the airport without any problems and sadly we had to say goodbye to Søren. It’s funny how much you can bond with people over such a short period of time, and miss them so much when you had barely known them before you bonded. : ) We think about Søren, Louise and Copenhagen all the time and talk about how much fun it was!

So much has happened since then y’all, I am so excited to start telling you about it but I don’t even know where to start. Honestly, its so funny how quickly life can change as you know it! Goes to show you never know what’s going to happen.

I’m going to go start a new blog right now…I just have to separate these adventures somehow!! You will have lots and lots to read my friends!!! : )

I miss you all…and of course love you more!!!!

Love,

Cass~a~Frass

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