Woke up at midnight and didn’t get back to sleep until 2, so was feeling rather sleepy when I awoke again at 4.45. Tried to go back to sleep, but unsuccessful, so headed down to breakfast at 7. Then back up to room to re-pack the suitcase and hand luggage.

The airport bus stop was apparently across the road from the train station, but the only one I could find was for Billund Airport, so went into the info counter in the station. The wait time would have been way to long, so figured if I waited outside I would see the bus eventually. To my surprise, I actually saw the bus stop as I was leaving the building, it was further down on the station side of the road, not opposite!!!

The bus soon turned up and it took 55 minutes to get to the airport as it’s a long way out of town. Apparently the planes wait for it if it’s delayed!

The RyanAir e-check-ins weren’t working, but when they finally came up they didn’t like me and I had to go to the counter anyway. Seems like I needed a special stamp on my boarding pass as I had an Australian passport.

The plane was on time and 75 minutes later landed at Stansted. My suitcase made it as well and then through all the usual airport stuff. Caught a bus to the Rental Car Village and sorted out the car. It’s a Volkswagen Golf, the indicator lever is on the wrong side, but it is nice to drive. I set Google maps to Cathy’s place and then took the wrong exit on the roundabout. Drove to the next roundabout and returned, once again took the wrong exit so another roundabout return until I finally got it right, lol. Found the farm and Jess feeding the chickens. Have settled in and am heading over to Jess’s for dinner.

My hotel in Aarhus

Well my last full day here and it was very wet with some lightning and thunder to top it all off, lol. Didn’t do much in the morning, but caught a bus down to the event site, just a little south of the town. Had a wander around and had a hot-dog for lunch. The event site was relocated to a fitness shelter further around the park, as it was the best place under cover. It was interesting actually, it had lots of exercise equipment for all types under the roof, but it was open on all sides and it a relatively small area. Munzee people appeared all in varying stages of dampness depending on whether they had timed a drizzle from the carpark or walked over in the downpour. Everyone has told me this is a typical Danish summer, but I don’t remember it raining when over here on summer holidays, but that was a while ago now, lol. I have also been told they had no rain for 3 months last summer which was hard, the price of fans skyrocketed as no one has a/c here and it was bad for the vegetation too.

Caught another bus back to the city and walked from the bus station. Once again popped into the 7-eleven and got an ecological salad this time, I think it means it’s organic and therefore good for you, lol.

There is an airport bus but it only runs 5 times tomorrow as there are only 5 flights, so will catch the one for the flight before mine and wait there.

PS to last night. It was just over an hour to Aarhus. Once I had checked in and dumped my case, I got directions from the lass at the desk and found a 7-eleven in the nearby train station for some dinner.

The hotel room is tiny, nowhere at all to put clothes and the bed makes funny clinking noises when turning over, lol. But I do have a window I can open, facing the main road!

Had breakfast at 7 and then went back to bed for a while as all these late nights are catching up with me! The event today was at noon, but there was a brunch beforehand at 10 if one wanted to go to it. So I put the name into the GPS and there were 2 with the same name, but as the web page had said café not restaurant I headed for that one which wasn’t far down the road. Found it eventually as it was 2 floors up in a shopping centre, only to find it was the wrong one, of course, lol. Decided then to catch a taxi and headed out to the spot where the event was being held.

Weather is rather cold today, but not raining.  Wandered around, finding munzees and chatting to others, had the goodbyes from the event hosts and then every dispersed off to munzee wherever they needed to. I went down and capped the amethyst garden and then figured it was time to head back to the hotel. 2 km later I found it, lol. Actually it was a nice walk through some older parts of the town but didn’t like the cobblestone footpaths much!

Popped into the 7-eleven again for some dinner and am planning on an early night!!!

P.S. to yesterday. Had a short nap and then took a taxi to the first event. Lots of people and lots and lots of munzees, fun was had by all. Theo and Doris (from Berlin) dropped me off at my hotel and even though still light it was 10.30, so a late night.

Didn’t sleep terribly well, the room was quite warm, but couldn’t leave the window ajar as too many mossies! Breakfast was at 6 and got there about quarter past, only 2 people in the restaurant, so a nice quiet brekky.

Then I headed outside into the rain!!!!!! So different to yesterday, but the same as the day before, rather wet. I’m so pleased I got that waterproof case for my phone. Had a walk around, then back to my room to finish packing and check-out. I left my luggage for them to look after and grabbed another taxi. When I showed the driver the address, he said “Are you sure you want to go there, it’s in the  middle of the forest.” I assured him I did and off we went, he did give a gasp of surprise at the number of cars and people he found at the drop-off point!

Didn’t do much there as it was quite wet still, so they packed up the site early. Anni gave me a lifet back ot the last event place, which accidentally luckily was right opposite my hotel. This area of Denmark is touted as the wild part of the country. The event was held at a nature school in one of these wild areas. It was so nice wandering around it before the hordes arrived, lol. Watched swallows, listened to skylarks and told the very agitated pied wagtails that their babies were safe under the roof. It was fascinating watching them forage and return with grubs, and then disappear under the roof where you could hear the babies being fed.

I walked around for the better part of 4 hours and then headed back to the buildings. The rain had finally decided to stop so there was a bit of sun now and again.

After more socialising and winning a personal munzee, I headed back to the hotel to write up my day and collect my suitcase. Theo and Doris are picking me up around 7.30 and we are all going back to Aarhus. They based themselves in an apartment there and will also be heading to England for the events in Somerset.

Bumblebee and thistle Dog roses The harbour Large snail
Baby swallow feeding tree

Nanna, Lasse and the boys looked after me wonderfully well, they are all lovely.

Today the weather was so much better, blue sky and sunshine with just a few clouds dotted around. Nanna had to go to work today, so Lasse was pleased to have a long weekend! We popped into Ebeltoft to have a look at the frigate Jylland, the world’s longest wooden ship. We climbed aboard for the talk on the cannons and the ship in general and then went out to the pier to listen to a live demonstration. It was only a minimal amount of gunpowder, but it was very loud, would have been deafening with all of the cannons going at full strength.

The ship was a royal frigate, but we did wonder how it fitted 400+ crew, all the necessary weaponry, the coal for the steam engine, all the supplies and the royals themselves.

It was a great ship to explore, cannons still in place, furniture for the royals, enormous anchor chains, lots of other ship accoutrements all on display and a lot of them touchable. A wander through the indoor museum of ship models and then fish and chips for lunch.

We then continued our sunny journey to Grenå and found my hotel, and said our goodbyes. I’m going to see if I can get a nap in before finding my way to the first munzee event as didn’t get much sleep last night and feeling a bit headachy.

Oops, sorry I’m late, been playing Tantrix with Nanna!

Had a lovely day today. Even though the weather is awful. Nanna, the boys and I headed out across the bridge to Fyn and Svendborg Harbour to catch the ferry to Ærø. 75 minutes later we met Inge and Bodil in their harbour. They and the boys went home whilst Nanna drove me around to look at the lovely old houses, all the hollyhocks, the beach and a viewpoint. The later view was rather obscured by rain in the distance, but still all those tones of greys and white make the seascape interesting.

We had a longish lunch in Inge’s conservatory, which would have great views, lol. More chatting and then back to the ferry. Once back in Svendborg we then headed to Rantausmindevej to see Hans Henning, Linda and Jamie. We had afternoon tea, the buns were lovely, and Rasmus enjoyed the chocolate cake! Hans Henning showed us his workrooms. Wow, tools of every size and form all neatly stacked and racked, and the shelves of containers in the other workroom were fantastic, so well organised!!

From there we headed home where Lasse had prepared dinner for us.

It was a lovely day, so good to see so many family, the weather didn’t matter at all.

Oh by the way, my suitcase has finally turned up, yippee, only 2 long days without it!!!!!

Didn’t get to bed until 10.30 and it was still very light out.

I properly woke-up at 4.45 and so played and read for a while before getting up and doing emails, etc. Nanna and the 3 boys, Kasper, Laurids & Rasmus, all had a sleep-in. the 6 week school holiday break has just started, and Nanna has a couple of days off work. Fortnite is a video game that is very popular here, the 3 boys all play it as did Jesse’s 2 as well.

We had a trip to the Tirpitz Museum on the west coast of Jutland, a little north of Esbjerg. It was a 70 minute drive. Very interesting, it was set up around a WWII heavy artillery bunker that wasn’t actually ever used. The Museum part had a WWII section as well as a historical wing on life on the North Sea and a wing with lots of amber. There are lots of interactive experiences, movies and displays. Also a walk through the bunker itself. Very grim with all that grey concrete!

The weather has been very iffy, sunny, cold wind and rainy sessions!

I did get an email this morning that my suitcase was going to be delivered to Billund Airport and then brought here, but it still hasn’t appeared, and no one answers the phone.

Off to Ærø and Svendborg tomorrow.

View from Nanna’s kitchen Nanna and her boys25 kg of amber!!

PS to last night – had shrimp salad for dinner, very nice it was too.

Didn’t bother about sunrise, even though I wole up for it. Lots of cloud and rain. Had breakfast and packed and walked to the bus station fopr the airport bus. Luckily missed the rain, it started again as I got on the bus. 40 minutes later was at the airport. Sat around for a long time but better to be there than sitting in the hotel. The plane loading was a little late, due to take off at 15.35 rather than 15.20. However, Arlanda airport is developing itself and only one of the 3 runways was in use. Then they closed the runway we were heading for, so we kept on to the next one, and waited and waited and waited. Finally we took off, 75 minutes late, basically 15 minutes after we should have landed. Trouble with that was my next flight was 90 minutes away. Had to get from one end of Copenhagen airport to the other to get my flight. Was the last person to check-in and then had to wait for a bus to take 4 of us over to the plane. It was a rather small one but only took off 30 minutes late. However, wait for it, my suitcase didn’t make it! My first time with no luggage. Nanna was waiting for me which was great, so we filled in the forms and are hoping it will arrive tomorrow. I had taken my spare clothes and tablets out of my hand luggage…… won’t do that again, LOL. Got an emergency pack from the airport, but fingers crossed it appears soon.

Had a great drive home with Nanna, lots of chatting and enjoying the green countryside. No photos sorry!

P.S. to yesterday. I had dinner in the hotel café and it was empty, I don’t think anyone eats early here, lol. Anyway, I asked for something Swedish and had meatballs and mash with a lovely sauce and lingonberries and pickled cucumber as sides. It was yummy! Then I met up with 2 local munzee hunters for an hour of chat, then a reasonably early night. I’m getting quite used to falling asleep in daylight!

Awoke again in time for sunrise, sigh, but it was rather obscured by buildings. Downstairs for breakfast at 7 also yummy! Another Australian couple from the ship are staying here as well, so we chatted over breakfast. There is an airport bus that leaves Central Station just a couple of blocks from here., so will probably catch that, much cheaper than the taxi!

I headed out to the pedestrian mall, which I have been told several times, takes men 20 minutes to reach the end and women 6 hours as it’s all shops! It took me about 30 minutes as I munzeed on the way, no shopping, lol.

At the other end in Old Town, there was a Hop-On Hop-Off bus place, so I thought I’d give it a try and also paid for the boat version as well. 2 hours for the bus and an hour for the boat. I did 1.5 of the bus trip and then a couple of the boat trips and then finished off with the bus, getting off a few blocks from my hotel. Couple of interesting sights, a crane painted up as a giraffe and in town there was a building with an entire wall has been turned into a digital advertising space. You could see all the tiny digital blocks driving past.

I did think I was going to be in trouble as it started raining and this was the first day I had left my rain poncho behind (it was 30 degrees yesterday, everyone complaining about the heat). However, it didn’t rain much thankfully, and the boat had a roof if it had been wet then.

Check-out tomorrow and flying to Copenhagen & then Aarhus.