Saturday, May 24, 2014 - Berlin to Bornholm (Liz)

Today started bright and early at 4:45 AM so that we could make our trek to Bornholm, home to my aunt, uncle, and cousins. We took two trains to get from Berlin to Sassnitz, Germany then took a taxi to get to the ferry which took us the rest of the way to the Baltic island of Bornholm. There was a dog on one of our trains and its owners were kind enough to allow Claire to play with it and pet it.

The ferry was full of cars and had less than ten walk-on passengers. Because of that, I think the employees didn't feel like opening up the walkway to get on the boat, so they had us walk out to the shipyard and we boarded at the same place as all of the vehicles and they made us wait to get on until all the vehicles were on. Weird. We were the only Americans on board. Intercom announcements and signs were in Danish and German but we managed okay. We discovered a play room on board which Claire took full advantage of.

First boat ride!

Haribo ice cream...but Liz threw out the gummi bears before I could eat them (they're in the stick)!

The ferry took about four hours and then we were in Ronne, Bornholm, Denmark. We were heartily greeted by the whole Mogensen clan (sans Lisa in Rexburg and Matt on his mission) and headed back to their place in Aakirkeby (population 2,100) for dinner. My first impressions of Bornholm? Absolutely beautiful. Lots of farmland, wind turbines, beaches and water, birds and pheasants, farm animals. This island is so picturesque. It is also small - only 227 square miles.

We ate traditional Danish open-faced sandwiches (smørrebrød) for dinner. Some of them had sky on it = a jelly-like substance made from meat drippings. I was a little apprehensive but gave it a try and it was delicious. We also tried out a sandwich with smoked herring, chives, and a raw egg yolk (fresh from the fam of course!) right on top. Mark and I both loved it! (Claire liked it too!)

Opus would approve.

Dripping with deliciousness.

Nom.

We are excited to get to spend some time with our favorite Danish family. After dinner we headed to the somerhus (which Knud's nephew is graciously letting us use) for some much needed shut eye. The house is situated amidst farmland and you can see a wind turbine from the windows. I think Mark's desire to have a small-town experience has really been satisfied. Bornholm truly is a gem of an island.