Haithabu

The largest city in Northern Europe during the Viking age. A veritabel metropolis of 1000 inhabitants.

Friedrichsbrunn

The town we stayed in didn't have much to offer but it did have schnitzel paradise-with 200 varieties of schnitzel! The kids was so disappointed that Wednesday was ruhetag and closed so they didn't get a farewell meal.

Tired hikers

5,5 km hike through the forrest after visiting Hexentanzenplatz wore all out.

Harzbob

Cosmos is restablished. When I visited the Harz 30 years ago I really wished to try a bob sleigh but didn't get the chance. This misdeed is now undone:)

Teufel mauer

We have yet to figure out what it was but the end of the day brought us to some spectacular windy blown cliffs. A German monument valley. Goethe visited the place was all the explanation given.

Donkey kong

This fella woke us up at 6 this morning. Ellen believed it to be an elephant. It was loud! The day brought us on steam train to the top of Brocken.

Stau und Stau und Stau

We drove the 500 km to the Harz - supposedly a 5 hour trip. But before Hamburg we hit lots of trafick on the highway-stau in German. We had the GPS plan an alternative route. It took us through Hamburg - which even more congested than the highway! Eventually through it we drove through a beautiful mid-German landscape alternately drenched in floods of rain and illuminated by one rainbow after-hours the other.
Oh! and the trip took 9,5 hours with just the necessary stops for lunch etc.

Touring Ribe

Vagn, Elses father, giving us the grand tour of Ribe. The kids had a swell time picking cherries in their garden.

Blueberries

We found a good spot with lots and lots of blueberries. A bunch was picked almost 700 g. So we had plenty for dessert with sugar and cream. Yum!

Summer breakfast

Breakfast with fresh baked rolls in the rain on the porch.

Aquaman

Axel will dry out if not in water - though it was his 3rd time today he had to have a dip before the sun set.

Rita the beach Babe

Rita just know how to picnic with style. Another great day at the beach.

Erik the kite flyer

We had perfect flying weather yesterday. Erik figured out hos to fly the 2-handed kite. It was a lot of fun.

Rømø

Overlooking the wadden sea when the tide is out. The weather is rainy and windy. Perfect for kite flying.

hip hop

Fun at Bakken

hip hop

Fun at Bakken

Fun in the sun

Rita and Cecilia playing around in the backyard.

Swedish grandma's sugar treat

Axel loves this cake. We made it for him yesterday along with chicken pot pie which he had asked for.


The cake is with a topping of meringue and is so delicious I just have to post the recipe.

Cake:
3 dl sugar
75 g butter
5 egg yokes
6 dl flour
3 tsp baking powder
1 ½ tbs vanilla sugar
2 ¼ dl cold milk
3 tbs boiling water
2 tbs bread crumbs

Wip sugar and butter. Add yokes. Mix the dry ingredients. Then add flour and liquids to the egg mixture.

Butter cake pan and sprinkle with bread crumps then add dough.

Bake low in the oven at 200 degrees C for 15 min.

While baking make topping:
5 egg whites
5 dl sugar
1 1/2 tbs vanilla sugar
5 dl red currants.

Whip the whites. When stiff gradually add sugar. When fulled mixed fold in the currants.
Spread on the baked cake. Return to oven and increase the temperature to 250 C. Bake another 5 min.

I'm sorry about using metrics but it's a bit late and I'm tired.

Axel's back home

16 days spent in the US. What a treat. Axel was bursting with stories of all his experiences. Riding the bike in the forrest with Uncle Paul and Isaac. Eating Aunt Maria's pork and apples. Cayaking at Grandma and Gary's - and eating Chicago style pizza. Dino show with Uncle Rick - it must have been spectacular and then something about drinking out of Sam's cup of water and it tasting nasty? And many many more stories.

Thanks everybody for giving him such a wonderful time.

Jazz Festival

We all 3 went down town for the Copenhagen Jazzfestival. We got to see some very different bands - both traditional jazz and t new wave. Erik's favorite I believe was Angel (sounds a bit like punk was his opinion). Ellen seemed to like River Jazz and I can't decide between Murder or Mokuto but at least both starts with "M".

These were the bands:

Bang Bang
Angel
River jazz & blues Band
Mokuto feat Herb Robertson
Murder

19th Anniversary

What a treat. Erik really wanted to cook something special for our aniversary. He spent most of the day preparing a 4 course meal. This was the menu:

Grilled scallops with marinated artichokes on a layer of rucolla. Served with home made Italian bread and tapenade.

Grilled small lobsters with a garlic parsley marinade

Grilled lampchops, butterbaked new potatoes and tzatziki

Vanilla steamed pears with creme, raspberry

Good wine was included.

It was treat which we thoroughly enjoyed. I believe we will keep the cook to ourselves :-)

Summerschool

Last week Rita went to summeschool in English with one of her friends Silke. The programme was English speaking in the morning and cheerleading practice in the afternoon. All was conducted in English and the teacher in fact didn't speak Danish at all. Rita loved it so may be we will do the same next year.

4th of July

I'm running a little behind with the photo documentation here.

Well, the photos of our 4th of July celebration with Baba, Farmor and Merete's girls didn't turn out that good. But we had a traditional cook out with burgers and barbecued chicken. No fireworks though.

One evening last week we went for a swim and as must be pretty obvious Erik and Rita had a blast.

Perspective

For some reason Erik is really fond of this picture. I just think it's the perspective fooling you. He can't be taller than me. Not yet at least.

While the cat is out

Rita has been enjoying being a single child for the last couple of days. Today we had a great day at the beach and we finished it off picking lots and lots of strawberries.