The Nordics - part ett (1)

My time in Europe is fast coming to a close.  And sadly, my time in Holland has been less in the last 2 months - as my work travel was all shoved together at one time (thank you travel bans).  For the month of August, most of my time was spent in some Scandinavian country or another (with the exception of my week in France).

Following my return back from the states (it was a short 4 day trip book-ended by St. Emilion and Pride Festival in Amsterdam), I left in short order to head to Denmark.  After much debating, and some consultation with a friend who has advice for just about everything, I followed said advice and booked a night train to Skagen - he'd said the beach was the best.  I'll admit, if the weather had been sunny (as I would EXPECT in AUGUST!), I'm sure it would have been.  But with my luck, weather in Europe has been only so-so while I've been living here (and it stands to reason that the NW has had one of the best summers ever...).  And I found myself stuck in yet ANOTHER torrential downpour, this time including hail (remember Cannes and my flip flops floating away...?).

I will tell you though, don't take the night train unless you know you can check into your hotel early.  I arrived around 8:30... and they would only let me store my bag there.  I was kind of exhausted (left at 23:00, with 2 changes), but I had a lot of hours to kill.  I searched out breakfast - and then set off on the long walk to the tip of Denmark - where the Baltic Sea and the North Sea meet in a smashing sort of fashion.

I could see the thunderstorms approaching land behind me, and KNEW that the wind was blowing my direction (literally, not figuratively), and I prayed that God would hold up the rain until I reached the little restaurant.  And it did, but I decided to risk it and kept walking...guess what happened?  Yup, not 5 min after I passed by shelter the skies opened up and I was quickly drenched.  People started heading back, but I wasn't sure why - I mean, it wasn't going to let up in 5 min, and the shelter was not close...I decided to pull a Cheri, and enjoy singing in the rain ;) (ok I didn't literally, I just laughed like a maniac at the fact that I was caught in a storm with only a jean jacket as protection).

It stopped before I got to the tip (#twss), and as I wasn't looking for a man, it was nice to not care that I looked like a drowned rat :).  After my long, wet walk (#twss), I had a little brownie and Irish coffee...for lunch - I love being an adult!  I eventually got to check in, take a nap and a hot shower, and headed out for food and drinks at a local place.  They had live music, and it ended up being a fun night.  The next day, I walked around the town and fishing docks, couldn't bring myself to have any dried herring, but I did enjoy not being wet all day! (#twss, damn, I'm funny!)

 

Feels like I was able to shove a lot into that day and a half (hehehe, #twss again!) as the next day I was on a ferry across the sea to Gothenburg, Sweden.

I was there for work for the week, and I must say, the Swedes there were more attractive than the Swedes in Stockholm.  They had a music festival in the city, and we got the chance to see The Sounds...who performed horribly.  What can ya do?  Gothenburg looks like a really old industrial city. We stayed in a nice hotel, and work was reasonably enjoyable.  Best thing about all Nordic countries - is the music festivals - a free city festival, and everyone comes out for it.  A much better week experiencing Sweden than the 1st time...and I still had 1 more week to go!  On Friday we left Gothenburg, to head south.  Me to Copenhagen, and my coworker back home to Germany.  I won't try to fit this all in 1 post, you may be bored by now, but I just have a little more to go :)...will I stay dry? Will I meet any cute men? Will I get my feet eaten by fish?  Stay tuned to find out!

Some Rock and Roll cover band

The Sounds (WAY up in front)