Bringing flowers for Grandma!

We went to Bogense to see Thomas’s grandmother…she’s 96, but you’d never know it… she has incredible energy.  She’s vibrant and youthful…I mean, seriously, this 96 year-old has more energy than people half her age!  At one point, Thomas and I were taking a nap on her Persian rug and she said in Danish “Ah, tired young people.”  That’s right, we got called out by grandma.

"Tired Young People"

She served us  desserts and coffee, then took us on a walking tour of her little town, which is really charming.

how lucky am I?

A popular place to vacation...the nicest trailer park I've ever seen, right by the sea...

Historic anecdote: these dogs would be turned out when the husband was away and the woman of the house wanted to signal that her door was, ahem, open to visitors

at one point Thomas said, "This building is older than your whole country"...crazy. That's the royal crest.

We got to visit Thomas’s grandfather’s grave, which is in one of the most beautiful cemeteries I’ve ever seen…right by the sea, which is perfect, because he was a seaman at heart…at fourteen he had an anchor tattooed on his arm.  Thomas’s grandmother visits his grave almost every day…and seeing her there, still in love with her husband and honoring him…well, experiencing that moment was a gift…it reminds you what really matters in this world…having people to love, and who love you back.

Here are the portraits Thomas did of his grandparents, unfortunately his Grandfather passed before his was finished.  I know he would have loved it.

Off to the country to see Thomas’s sister, Tine, a complete sweetheart (not to mention her cool husband Ronni and adorable twins, Noa and Naya).  We got to walk by the lake, play in the sandbox with the twins, have a cookout…such a great day.

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And here is proof I need to make more of an effort to get outta the city (and P.S. You don’t get to see the awesome part where I get zapped by the electric fence):

Odense is the birthplace and childhood home of Hans Christian Anderson, and probably one of the most charming and idyllic cities I’ve ever seen…seriously, it is like a fairytale.  Not that many Americans go to Odense, so I feel lucky to have seen it.

Love this mother earth statue in the square.  Her belly is shiny from years of children sliding down her.  Of course, children sliding down a statue of the naked female form would NOT go over in America…but nobody thinks anything of it here.

A theatre at Hans Christian Anderson’s childhood home where kids do plays of his work:

i'm amazed Thomas posed for this picture...he must really LUV me.

Thomas loves his Mutti

HC Anderson’s house…he was poverty-stricken, gawky, weird…all the kids made fun of him…many believe he was homosexual…he was religious, and any sexual urges caused him overwhelming guilt.  He actually put a tiny “m” in his journal to shamefully mark the days he had masturbated…he was a big mess.  All the makings of a great writer, huh?

I love the public art in Denmark...it is completely interactive...well, mostly only for those under 8 years old ...and crazy Americans. But still.

Thomas and Ina walk down towards the water where HC Anderson would spend hours helping his mother do the washing and listen to her stories of water nymphs and sprites:

For lunch we have smoergesbroed, which you are required to finish with Schnapps and herring:

Off to Odense to see Thomas’s wonderful, amazing, lovely mother (and I’m not just saying that to suck up…she is WONDERFUL).

Got to see more of Thomas’s paintings:

He did this one of his grandfather, who passed away before it was finished.  Such a beautiful painting:

Out of respect for Ina, I won’t show her house…though I wish I could.  It is two stories in the center of town…she has decorated it so beautifully…everywhere you look is something surprising…gorgeous art all over the walls…a wall of books…and we are staying upstairs in a slanted room with a window on the roof…the apartment is over 100 years old.   This place is right in the best area of Odense…so much going on outside the window…musicians always playing on the street…people running around, laughing…I love it here!  THANK YOU MUTTI!!!!

Thomas’s friend Michael invited us to his annual sausage cookout.  I’m not kidding.  It is a huge deal.  The recipe has been handed down through three generations and is top secret.  The cookout was in their country house…a lot of people rent these tiny, adorable houses in the country…there are huge communities of them.  Because Scandinavia is so freaking cold, the Danes spend as much of the warm months as possible outdoors relaxing.

There were gonna be a lot of kids at the cookout, so I thought the least I could do was bring balloons.  I mean, I’m American, and so I already got a strike against me…if it takes winning over their children to get them to like me, I ain’t above it.

These kids were adorable.  But one of them found it confusing I didn’t speak Danish…she got it in her head that I was mentally disabled instead of Danish-ignorant.  Her response was to as me for a flower over and over, stretching out the word and practically screaming it:  “BLUUUUUUMMMMMPSSSSSSSSSTTTTTTT!”

Another reason we should all love Oprah:  my mom saw an episode about Denmark this year and decided the Danes were wonderful people.  In this episode, Oprah visited Danish homes and met with the families.  BRUSH WITH FAME:  this little girl’s family (the one in the red dress) was profiled.  I got the whole story.  The press was everywhere…so Oprah actually got in the backseat of her mom’s car and they drove to the house…the girls response to Oprah?  She whispered to her mom “She’s so big!”

Then jetlag hit and we fell asleep on the grass….for FOUR HOURS.

Of course, that was a great excuse for Thomas’s friends to mess with us and take pictures.

The sausage was awesome, by the way.