Week 11

Week 11 flew by and before we knew it we had successfully hosted our first dinner party at the apartment, attended our first play, signed up for language classes, and tackled "primitive camping." 

Nick, of course, spent the week at work and Heather busied herself with preparations to host their first dinner party on Wednesday. We invited some friends over for dinner before heading into town for a play. In our small town each year, the theatre company puts on a musical. This year it was My Fair Lady. They build an outdoor stage on the ramparts near the castle and for about 3 weeks each summer they put on the show. 

My Fair Lady Set

After enjoying a great dinner, we all headed over to the play. It was in Danish and since Nick has never seen it in English, he had very little idea what was going on. Heather was in a bit better shape, although she really had to rack her memory to recall the story-line from a movie she hadn't seen in at least 15 years. Luckily, our companions were much better off with their Danish and could explain to us what was going on. Despite the language barrier, the music and acting was quite good and we enjoyed ourselves immensely. There was a full orchestra and the sound quality was impressive, especially for a temporary, outdoor stage. It didn't hurt that we were able to bring snacks, including a good bottle of red wine and some of Heather's delicious cheesecake. We are looking forward to next year's production (hopefully we will be able to understand Danish by then)!

After a successful dinner party, Heather spent the rest of her week preparing for their weekend excursion, a camping trip at Møns Klint. The area boasts a 6 kilometer stretch of chalk cliffs standing around 120 meters tall with a sheer drop to the Baltic Sea below and behind that, protected beech forests and scrub/pasture land. The area is home to 18 varieties of orchids, as well was the Peregrine falcon, which apparently is the fastest animal on the planet.  

With the bags all packed up when Nick got home from work Friday afternoon at 2pm, we were ready to head out on our trip. After a short stop over at the language school to register for our free Danish language class, we were off on our weekend adventure. After a two hour drive, we arrived at the park at the far eastern edge of the island of Møn, located just south of Sjelland, about 5 pm. 5, that's when we would have been getting off work if we were still in the US, but here, we are already at our weekend destination! There is really something to be said for these working hours! After driving around for a bit (because things really are not very well labeled here), we found the parking area closest to the camp grounds. 

Side note on camping: Tent camping actually in the woods is not common in Denmark. It is most common for people to "camp" in at large camp sites with several people. Mostly, camping is done in RVs, although there are some people who camp in tents. These designated areas typically have full restroom facilities, power, water, and even wifi. Not quite the definition of camping we are used to. After a lot of research, we found a few places to go "primitive camping." Primitive camp sites are designated sites that you must hike into. Typically they include an established fire pit, and are the only areas authorized for people to camp overnight in the wilderness. They can either be reserved and/or used on a first-come-first-serve basis. This gets a bit tricky though as you will have to evict the campers yourself if you reserved the area and they did not. "Wild camping" where you hike into a location and set up camp anywhere you find a flat spot is illegal here in Denmark. Although, it is legal to sleep on the beach, as long as you don't set up a tent. 

Back to our camping experience though: after parking, Nick, Heather and Bella took off without our packs to find the campground. We have learned that the trail systems here are not well marked, so before walking through the area with 40 pound packs on, we wanted to scout the place out. That was a good choice, because after walking around several different trails, we finally stumbled upon the campsite about 1.5 hours later. With the campsite finally identified, we headed back to the car (a mere 1/2 mile away), grabbed our packs and hiked back in to set up camp. We quickly set up the tent and then Nick went to work starting a fire while Heather set up the tent and got us all settled in. 

1st camping trip in Denmark

We spent the evening relaxing by the fire, relishing in the silent, bug-free environment. The next day, after drinking our lattes (yep, that's right, Heather packed the percolator, espresso, and milk...very "primitive"), we set off to hike around the area and see these famous chalk cliffs. 

Bella and Heather contently enjoying "primitive camping" with lattes.

Unfortunately for us, the day was quite rainy and before we could get too far we were forced back into our tent to take refuge from the rain. 

Bella took advantage of the rain to nap in the tent

After a bit of lunch, reading, and napping, the rain died down to a drizzle and we headed back out again. Luckily, the trails meander through beech tree forests with thick canopies that blocked most of the water. 

Happy campers now that the rain has subsided to a drizzle

Chalk cliffs from above

Stunning view of the cliffs falling into the Baltic Sea

We returned back to our campsite from our 10 mile hike to find some new guests. While we were out, a small group of friends found our campsite and decided it looked like a good place to stop for the night. We were thrilled to find a fire going in the pit (we still are not sure how they got it lit with all the rain) and happily warmed ourselves by it. They were a very diverse group of about 8 who came from Copenhagen on a whim and consisted of both men and women from Iran, Slovakia, Latvia, Turkey, Pakistan and Dominican Republic. It was quite the eclectic group and we found it quite funny that there was not a Dane among us. For dinner, we took advantage of the fire they had started and grilled our chicken breasts and peppers. Afterwards, we enjoyed some of Heather's cheesecake with the added delight of fresh blackberries that were growing adjacent to the campsite. We were roughing it! 

Sunday was a clear day and after breaking down the tent and hiking back out, we decided to walk down, and later back up, the 484 stairs leading to the sea at the base of Møns Klint. The stairs were definitely worth it. The shoreline between the cliffs and the sea was narrow and made up of small obsidian rock, smoothed by the water. The contrast between the white cliffs, the black rocks, and the blue-green sea was breathtaking.

View of Møns Klint from the stairs

We're enjoying going down...wonder how happy we look going up

The family walking along the cliffs

Swans heading out into the Baltic Sea.
They are the national bird of Denmark.

If you look hard, you can see the stairs
leading back up to the top of the cliff 

After walking along the shore for a while and then hoofing it back up the 484 stairs, we headed towards home to enjoy an evening of Bears preseason football on the internet. Thank you NFL network! Of course, the first football game of the season demands pizza, so we grabbed a few and settled comfortably onto the couch to watch the Bears beat the Eagles. Great ending to a good week! 

Monday took Nick back to work while Heather aired out the camping gear to get it back into storage. Thus ends the excitement of week 11 in Denmark! Next week: language class. Wish us luck!