Here we are back in Aus after a couple of months away in the UK and Europe!
We've got loads of photos, as you can imagine, so I'll try to whittle them down to the people we visited, some of the delicious meals we had and, of course, some of the views and cultural stuff! I won't upload everything at once, but break to down into episodes!
Episode 1 - UK and Aarhus, Denmark
We landed at Heathrow about 11.30am and made our way to Mike's cousin Bob and his wife Linda who looked after us extremely well, making us feel very comfortable and at home with them. They also wined and dined us very well!
They picked us up from the station and we were indoors by about 3pm. We then chatted all afternoon, had a lovely lasagne for tea, then chatted again til about 9.30pm when we fell exhausted into bed, chuckle!
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| Linda |
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| Bob |
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| Buttercups on a local walk - you don't see these in WA! |
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| Holly with flowers AND berries-due to global warming perhaps? |
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| The May bushes were in full bloom |
One evening we went with Linda to watch Bob
play in a big singles game (2nd round). It was a good close game and
Bob won
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| Bob in action! |
The day before we left Bob arranged for his brother and sister and her hubby, who we hadn't seen for some years, to come and visit. We had a lovely time catching up with all their news.
While we were staying with Bob and Linda, Linda asked me to teach her how to play the uke, as they had one which had been given to Bob by a friend. I started her off and in the few days we were there, she had already learned to play the chords for 3 or 4 songs! Well done Linda - keep up the good work! .
While we were staying with Bob and Linda, Linda asked me to teach her how to play the uke, as they had one which had been given to Bob by a friend. I started her off and in the few days we were there, she had already learned to play the chords for 3 or 4 songs! Well done Linda - keep up the good work! .
Next we flew from Gatwick to Copenhagen where we stayed overnight with my cousin Steve and his wife Ulla.
It was lovely to see them both and we had snacks and drinks before a lovely meal of boiled salt pork, parsley sauce, carrots,
peas and new potatoes, with a nice gateaux for dessert – and more wine! We
chatted for ages and finally went to bed about midnight.
The next day we travelled by bus to Aarhus - mainland Denmark - and stayed with IB, a walking friend of Mike's.
We caught the train to Valby where we had a
coffee and cake in the baker’s, then got the bus to Aarhus. It was a 4 hour
journey through pretty, very green countryside. A very nice young man who sat opposite us, said that a ship we could see as the bus drove over a long bridge belonged to the Queen of Denmark.
We walked a way through the town, then
stopped for coffee before going to her monthly ‘sound healing’ meeting with 2
other ladies. We were invited to join in, and it was similar to the ‘sound
experience’ I’d done a few years back in Denmark (WA) at the Festival of Voice
– everyone just lets whatever sound come out from them – it was a bit like a Monk’s
chant. However they asked if we would like to lay down and have them do it
around us, so I said I’d have a go. It was very strange, I felt as if I was
leaving my body and could feel their hands moving over me, which I hadn’t
expected, so I had to tell them to stop as I didn’t want to float
away, chuckle. Mike then had a go and he said it felt a bit strange too. It was quite an
experience! Afterwards IB’s friend drove us home and we had a very nice vegetarian meal.
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| This notice was in a bike shop at the bus stop in Aarhus, chuckle! |
The next morning we walked to the bus stop then took the bus to the ‘Sculptures by the Sea’ exhibition which was scattered all along the sea shore and up in the forest above. It was quite a long way, about 3kms there and 3kms back. There were some good ones and some non-understandable ones, chuckle!
We had lunch at a café when we got to the
end of the sea shore ones and it had been a lovely walk as the weather was
perfect. 
We also saw a Viking ship in the distance out to sea. We then walked back through the forest to look at the rest of the sculptures. and had a coffee before heading back to town.
Here's a few photos of interesting places in Aarhus
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| The old theatre |
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| Interior of the Cathedral |
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| The harbour |
After breakfast next morning we took a bus with IB to
her ‘garden house’ which was very
lovely. It was a small wooden chalet, but with quite a big garden –
like an English country garden! We also walked around to look at some of the
other gardens and visited the local Church.
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| IB and Maisie having morning coffee |
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| Mike and Maisie at coffee time |
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| The local church |
We came back on the bus to the old town Den Gamle By, which was fantastic. The original houses had been brought from various places and from different ages and placed in roughly date order around the town. Some of the houses had people in who were acting out the parts in the different ages. We saw Hans Cristian Anderson’s house too, and bought old fashioned cakes in the Baker’s and a liquorice pipe in the sweet shop.
We then walked along the river to the library which was very interesting. Next we walked down a road in Aarhus where there were original lovely old houses and lots of hollyhocks.
Here are some more photos taken from around, and in the Art Centre in Aarhus on the morning we left. There were many rooms exhibiting various different types of art but we found the most interesting was the sculpture of the young boy which was really fantastic and very lifelike!
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| The Art Centre with it's Rainbow Walk around the top |
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| Going back to Copenhagen on the fast Ferry! (built in Australia, I believe!) |
Episode 2 to follow in the near future!
