The “Summer House”

When I first spent time in Denmark, I was surprised to find that many Danes — and Scandinavians in general — often had a “summer house” that wasn’t all that far from their regular house. I remember thinking — and possibly even saying out loud — what’s the point?I said, gosh (and probably also “gee whiz”) in America we often travel 4-5 hours to a vacation place, at which point I got a geography lesson: If you travel that far in Europe, you’ll be in an entirely different country. Doh.

This trip, I learned another lesson: sometimes it’s as much — or maybe more — about a change in attitude as it is about a change in location. You drive an hour or less and suddenly, you have crossed over into a world of different expectations, one where it’s OK to lie around reading, do puzzles, stack rocks, or turn them into funny fish with a little paint, forget schedules entirely, go nowhere, do nothing. So perhaps my most favorite part of this whole time away from home was the nearly two weeks we spent at Hans’ and Birgitte’s little red summer house at the beach. (“Lyngen” means “quiet” or “peaceful” in old Norse….and it is most definitely that.)

This is a place where the most pressing matter is getting out for an early morning or sunset swim. Is my bathing suit dry? No? Who cares? What’s the water temperature? 59 degrees. Who cares? Is it raining? Yes. Reallly windy? Yes. Who cares? Birgitte would toss my bathing suit into my lap and we’d be out there, greeting each wave….sometimes small sometimes not so small… with a sharp intake of breath at the cold and then shouts, screams and laughter. Pure wild exhilaration. And a sense that we were somehow sharing a joke with the ocean. She’d knock us over. She’d toss us about. She could have her way with us. We felt wild with her, puny little humans that we are.

In her quiet moments, the ocean here is the softest, most welcoming creature here. There is an extensive sand bar that seems to go out forever….no sharp shells or rocks or things that sting or bite…..just ripples of sand and light.

It wasn’t always this empty but the more poplular end of the beach is way way down at the far end so we had this end pretty much to ourselves, plus it was kind of early in the season (July) when we were there.

This is the last bit of our walk to the beach. The thrilling moment when, just over this little rise, the beach unfolds. Heather was blooming on the dunes.

We’d stay in that c-c-c-cold water for about 20 minutes, laughing and throwing ourselves up against every wave, daring a bigger one to come along, and then we’d head back to a hot shower and breakfast or bedtime, looking forward to our next encounter. This beach is on the northeastern side of Zealand, the large island where Copenhagen is. It’s in a protected bay that leads into a fjord but just around the corner, it becomes the Kattegat Strait, which divides the North Sea from the Baltic Sea. We joked that the Swedes were dumping truckloads of ice cubes into it just to bug the Danes but there was no keeping us out of the water….and anyway, their joke would backfire because they’d have no ice left for cocktails! Those Swedes!!!!

Birgitte heading out for our sunset swim. Usually, this was about 10PM. Summer nights are so wonderfully long here. No way you can really go to bed much before midnight…’cuz it doesn’t feel like night!! Anyway, there are fish to paint.

Hard to imagine —or maybe not, knowing me — but I got sort of addicted to looking for rocks that might make a good fish. These were two of Birgitte’s. And a few heart rocks of course. Being the truly great friends they are, Hans and Birgitte actually took me to a rocky beach in gale force wind so I could look for fish-shaped rocks….and then later, we found some of the best ones in a parking lot.

A word or two about Danish food. I have some friends — you know who you are — who wouldn’t touch a pickled herring with a ten-foot fork but the herring here is incredible and comes in so many different flavors….curry, mustard, dill, tomato, spicy, plain (with just vinegar and sugar), one that tastes of cloves and cinnamon for Christmas…OMG….heaven. With dark bread and beer and/or Schnapps, aka Aquavit….I can’t get enough of it. And all we have in the US is the one in sour cream. Boring but it’ll have to do…until I get to Denmark and go nuts. So my favorite lunch….every lunch…..looks like this:several kinds of herring (note the jars), liver pate, maybe some smoked salmon, dark bread, cheeses….Help yourself….and if you need a little something, maybe a licorice pipe for dessert.

Now, here’s a funny thing: Mexican food has caught on in Denmark. One night Hans and Birgitte made chicken fajitas for dinner. It was great. And we ate outside whenever it wasn’t too windy or chilly.

Oh…..just to bring home what I was saying about herring (and fish in general in Denmark) here’s a photo taken in a local fish market where we stopped to grab a few things for lunch. Major treat. “Sild” is Danish for “Herring.” They have a huge smokehouse where they smoke their fresh-caught salmon. They also have these fish “meatballs” that are very good as well and you can buy the fish mixture ready to make into balls and fry in a pan for dinner. A few boiled or roasted potatoes and a salad and you’re good to go. Hans said, “Surely you can get it at Whole Foods?” Uh…..nope.

OK….Now I have to leave the Denmark stories for a minute to say that I am actually in Dublin, Ireland and leaving for the US (Boston) tomorrow. This website provider is so glitchy that it has taken me over 2 hours just to do this short post. Ugh. That and spotty OR ZERO wifi is the main reason you haven’t heard from me much lately. I do love posting and sharing so I’ll be back at it as I can.

Oh….thought you might like to see inside the summer house…the ceiling that Hans built and Birgitte painted! Also the wonderful wooden Danish floors which I believe are ash, though they may be pine. They are just so special…and all they need is occasional fatty soap and hot water to keep them looking beautiful. They are actually called “Soaped floors” and are finished by soaping them up.