Sunday, May 25, 2014 - Bornholm (Mark)

The morning was very relaxed. The house where we were staying didn't have internet but we hardly minded. Erik and John showed up with breakfast - lots of breads including rolls similar to German brotchen, jams and cheese. Once we were done, Erik took us to church, which is in a tiny building in Ronne.

The branch is small but larger than I anticipated. The branch president is a missionary from Odense. Most of the members are Danes, but they spoke pretty good English. The speakers were a woman from the stake (Copenhagen stake) and a missionary who is about to go home. The missionaries had two investigators come, which is great. I spoke with the missionaries afterward, they both loved hiking in Bornholm and hoped to do more after their missions.

Next stop was the Mogensen residence for lunch, which was leftovers from yesterday's diner. Claire discovered their dog, Sandy, and had a grand old time pursuing her around and under the table. Sandy was a bit afraid of Claire and rarely let her get very close, but Claire was undeterred.

She would later chase Sandy around for quite some time.

With lunch eaten, the Mogensens took us around the island to show us around. Our first stop was one of Bornholm's famous round churches, in between Ronne and Aakirkeby. The church dates from around 1150 and is one of Bornholm's best preserved. The design inside is quite interesting, with some pews facing inward but others facing the church's radial direction. We climbed up to the higher levels and explored the lofts, which were used as defense towers in bygone days. They also offered great views of the rolling countryside.

A round church is so named because it is a church.

John being John.

Our next stop was a quick visit to the shore, on the northern coast of the island and  just east of Gudhjem. We enjoyed the view, and were surprised to see swans in the water - we had assumed they strictly stuck to fresh water. Our final stop was the the ruins of the 13th century-era Hammershus castle. But first, we got some ice cream. That done, we explored the ruins extensively. They are on top of a cliff and offer dramatic views of the surrounding halls, cliffs, and shorelines. There were ample grassy areas, which was great for Claire since it allowed her plenty of crawling freedom. Her cousins (namely Stina and Suzie) also took great interest in keeping her entertained. John enjoyed walking along the ramparts and jumping into whatever niches he could find, occasionally giving us heart attacks. The ruins themselves are interesting, and it's tough to visualize how the castle may have looked in its full splendor, but the various info signs around the place described it well.

There's also a swan in this photo.

Claire didn't love the castle as much as she loved all the crawling space.

Liz is very proud of this picture.

We stopped for dinner in a town called Ro (population 181), and the restaurant was simply called Restaurant Ro. Liz thought it seemed like a Danish equivalent to a Cracker Barrel. The room we were in was more like a banquet hall than a restaurant, and it was full of people eating together (mostly in a huge group of elderly people on the far side). It was also very hot inside. We were served family-style. One plate had ham and brown-sugar potatoes, the other veal and veggies and little bundles of green beans wrapped in bacon. We stayed a while and Claire started to get a little difficult, so we had to take her outside a few times, where it was cooler. Dessert was orange mousse, and we were stuffed by the time we were finished. We decided to go straight to the summer house, and said our goodbyes to Stina, Suzie, and John, who would be in school the next day. The Mogensens also gave us a beautiful granite clock in the shape of the Bornholm island, which is now hanging at the center of our downstairs fireplace.