My European vacation

Denmark was the best part of my trip to Europe, which I took between September and October of 2016. It seemed so familiar, and reminded me of western Oregon (where I lived for many years).

Rather than tell every aspect, I am going to share the links to my time in Europe. It's easier, and frankly, I have lost some of my ambition in regards to this blog.

So here we go.

The first leg of the trip was spent in southwest England. Here is a photo of me at Stonehenge.  It was cold, wet, and touristy. Not my cup of tea. Probably if I'd had time I would have explored the countryside.

After Stonehenge, I drove west and ended up in the Cornwall area. I enjoyed Bath, and Falmouth.
Saw an awful fight in the street on a Sunday morning in Glastonbury. One ragged lanky homeless man against a drunk older man, brought on by an older woman arguing with the lanky homeless man. It may have been his mother for all I know. The older man was too wasted to fight anyone, but he started it, and subsequently had a chair smashed over his head. This happened right after I stepped out of one of the crystal shops in the town. Note to self: Never go back there. The only good thing about that city was the tower on the hill.

The big surprise was there is a tropical part of England where young people go surfing. I did not
expect that.  They even have surfing championships. I bought half wetsuit in Falmouth. Never used it since. https://vimeo.com/150915476  Here is more:  https://vimeo.com/145649102

I flew from London to Copenhagen, and continued on to the small city of Aalborg, and spent the night at the Hotel Jomfru Ane, which has the steepest entrance steps I've experienced. Quite a workout to pull two suitcases up fifty stairs! The following morning I drove to Hjorring, which is about fifty miles from Aalborg.

But watch the video.  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-QqbKQ8mmy0

There were many things I liked about Denmark. I had a nice room in downtown at the Det Bette Hotel in Hjorring. The breakfasts were heavy on processed meats and cheese, but I didn't complain.


Hjorring has wonderful public art, and numerous
galleries. The downtown is a wide cobbled boulevard for walkers and shoppers. Many people rode bicycles. It was a surprisingly urban
chic town considering its population is only
about 30,000.

From Hjorring I drove to every town to the east, west, and north. I accidentally almost drove onto a ferry that was headed to Norway. Oops.

The Danish countryside was my favorite
aspects of Denmark. I visited two archival offices to locate Klitladen (which means, 'Dune
Farm') but they were unable to help me. I did
come close though. I found a Mortensen construction firm in Lokken, and a family gravesite in Instrup, at a Lutheran church which was built in 1475.

From Denmark I flew to Paris, to see my daughter and her French husband. It was raining in Paris (often) and I didn't find it all that romantic because I didn't bring my umbrella.
I will close this blog post with a link to my time
in Paris. I will tell you the best non-touristy thing that happened was when I went in an optical shop and asked in bad French if the woman could put a nosepiece on my glasses. She put on
two nosepieces for free, and would not accept payment, so I went across the street and bought her a bouquet of stargazer lilies. She talked way too fast for me to understand her. I think I made her day.
Here is a link to my gallery trips in Paris.    https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ybOxdHK6P0A