A Day on Sylt

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Relaxing is so nice for the body and mind on occasion. Today was one of those occasions. We woke up around 9:15, and after a family (plus 4) breakfast, some of us went off to rent bikes for the week (bikes are the main mode of transportation, apart from nice German cars...Mercedes, BMW, Audi are all everywhere). We then rode the 10ish miles to the family's favorite beach, against the very strong (15-25 knots, depending) winds. As Sylt (approximately pronouced 'Zoolt') is a narrow island with open ocean on the west coast, this will likely be a regular occurence.

At the beach, we of course took advantage of the open ocean to swim. There's a sandbar between 3 and 50 yards from the beach, depending on the tide -- at the lowest tide, some of the bar actually becomes mini-islands -- which allows for great body surfing, since you can launch yourself from the sandbar as the waves break. There was also a volleyball net, where I spent approximately the entire rest of the day. Volleyball, by the way, takes on an extra difficult dynamic when you're never quite sure what's going on or what the score is because you don't speak the language. I have no idea how many games I played today; even if I'd wanted to, I only knew that the game ended when we switched teams or sides...but due to the wind, we changed sides mid-game, and we didn't always switch at the end of a game. So that didn't prove too helpful, either.



The beach also has a restaurant where we went for dinner. There's a common summer drink here, called something in German that I can neither pronounce nor spell, that consists of Prosecco, club soda, and whole strawberries. So basically sparkling wine with strawberries soaking in it. It's quite interesting, if a bit strange for my personal tastes.



After dinner we biked home, of course, since we biked there. At this point the wind had died down (although, in retrospect, it would have been better if it hadn't since we'd have it at our backs then), so the ride home was far easier.



For those of you wondering, the climate here is much more moderate than what I've been complaining about. Temperatures sit in the mid-70s, and humidity in the 60-75% range. For reference, we are about on latitude with the northernmost point of Ontario, and about 3º north of the southern tip of Hudson Bay. Also read as: I am much farther north than anyone reading this likely is. However, like much of Europe, it's still a temperate climate. From what I can tell, this Island has the look and feel of Mount Desert Island, with the people of Martha's Vineyard. And it acts like both in that its population swells to 7 or 8 times its permanent population in the summer. Couldn't ask for a better place to spend a week!

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