Spring’s here! The sea is no longer frozen!

No kidding ;-) We see flowers blooming, people are going to the beach on weekends to eat ice creams in the wind and to do some kayaking... No sun tanning yet though, not because there is no sun (although this week there wasn’t much of it), but because it is still way too cold for that. We still wear our windproof jackets and our hats to go to the beach...

It’s great to see spring in Denmark. As you might guess from its geographic location, and its climate, this country is very green! A green that we rarely or briefly see in Colorado. The Marselis forrest south of Aarhus is just a green paradise. We are talking about deep woods right by the sea, another particularity made possible by our northern latitude. Q went on a little back road trip on Friday to check out Aarhus from the peninsulas on the opposite side of the bay. Friday was actually Q’s last day of sabbatical/unemployment/retirement/etc. before his job that officially started on May 15! He marveled at the rolling green and golden hills rolling down to the sea. With that dramatic dark grey sky, it made for some stunning views. And look at that little old cabin in the woods... Hey, it’s like 95% pure green on that picture, and it’s not even artificial!

So OK the mountains are no longer there, but there’s quite plenty to make up for their absence... Plenty of green, but also lonesome windmills, lighthouses, insanely long and for the most part untouched beaches, cute churches and villages... All the views here (and on the previous posts actually) are from areas that are within 20 miles of Aarhus, so there is really plenty to explore and to be blown away by.

Finally, we’ve noticed how slowly spring unfolds here (magnolia trees are in bloom now, when they were in San Francisco in February, and in Strasbourg in early April). This just perfectly parallels the pace of life in the Danish way, where there is a big emphasis on quality time to be spent with friends, family, and outdoors. And with all the Roman catholic holidays we have here, that really means a lot of free time ;-) This is still somewhat of an interesting adjustment for us coming from the US. But we’re getting there, to some compromise between being workaholics and tourists. Maybe we’ll have reached that balance in time for the summer season, when it’ll be time to switch from rhubarb (ah! rhubarb pie!) to strawberries and raspberries, and then back to rhubarb again...