mega update part 1

woah it’s been awhile since I last posted. but as the previous memo stated, I’ve been really busy. so I’ve decided to make a two part post, the first being my adventure to møns klint, the other my trip to Germany. so lets begin with møn, shall we? Oh, and sorry with the photo layouts. The preview I get is completely different than what is published, so I am going to link a majority of the photos to my photobucket account from now on and only show one or two per post.

So what began as an idea between two friends from Colorado College and I to go the beach last Sunday became a day long trek to Møn. There's some background information here, but its basically this island that has beautifully quaint towns, and 128m high cliffs. We had to awake at 5:30am to hop on a 6:30am out of København (that’s how its spelt here) Station train to Vordingborg, then take a bus to Stege (pronounced STIEN-ah). The town was so beautiful, and a great place to spend a Sunday morning at 9am (which, you know, is the best time to be out and about). We wandered around and found all these idyllic gardens that we right on the waterfront, with Zealand (the island that København is on) on the other side. I've never been to Nova Scotia or the other Canadian isles, but I imagine that is what it looks like.

After getting onto the bus to the cliffs, things got really wacky. The driver didn’t speak English very well, but told us he would notify us when we got near the stop we wanted to go to. After about 20 minutes, the driver told us that we had arrived at our stop. Where was our stop? IN THE MIDDLE OF A FIELD. I felt like Cary Grant in North by Northwest. And to add to our utter confusion, some random stranger in a tweed jacket and bifocals was telling us that the festival (more on that later) was down to the left of where we got off.

So we followed the bus driver and (apparent) crazy man's directions, following these signs that pointed toward a "Dragefestival." We obviously thought it was a Drag Fest, and were completely giddy at the prospect. Eventually we found a woman trimming her hedges, and asked where the cliffs were, and what in the world was the "Dragefestival." Apparently drage means kite in Danish, thus there was a KITE FESTIVAL! Unfortunately, it was the day before. Our sadness at that fact was subsided when the lady gave us directions toward the cliff (and I'm serious that she told us this): "You go through the next willage, and take a left through the forest." I was going to ask if any magical gnomes were involved, but I don’t think she would have appreciated it.

After going through the tiny willage and enchanted forest, and passing by several cow pastures, the sun came out and we finally found the cliffs. In a word: AMAZING. They were so high that the descent down was pretty much a ladder. Okay, not really. But it was very steep. At the bottom, you could look straight up and not be able to see their peak. There wasn’t much of a shore, but when the tide receded back over the rocks, it emitted this cracking type sound that was so tranquil. My friend Katie commented that she had only ever heard such sounds on the Lost Coast in California. I don't know where that is but after going to the cliffs, I plan on going there when I get home. You should too.

After a short picnic on the (non-existent) beach it was starting to get late and we had no inkling when, or if, the bus would be coming to any nearby location. So we attempted to ask around at the cliffs summit for either directions or a ride, but Danes are not very helpful towards strangers. Luckily we found a bus stop while two Danes were walking by and asked them if they could read the bus schedule, as not only was it in Danish but in some weird spreadsheet format that made no sense. The man and his wife talked for a minute or two in Danish as we stood awkwardly by, before he announced that the next bus would be coming at 8:30pm (it was then 5:15), or we could walk to the next, bigger bus stop that had a bus coming at 6:00pm. The nearest station however, was 6 kilometers away.

So needless to say we ran 6km in 45 minutes with all our bags and what not. I was able to take some photos of the scenery, and it was absolutely beautiful (especially now that the sun was out). Jaimie (the other Colorado College gal) attempted to hitch hike but, as I wrote earlier, Danes aren’t very helpful. I was able to stop and take some photos and here is one:


We were able to find the bus by sprinting about 100 yards to the stop it was at and get on and be off on our return trip to Copenhagen. Needless to say, on the train ride home we opened the bottle of wine I had been carrying all day in my bag in celebration at getting back, all in one piece.

So overall it was a surreal, once in a lifetime experience that I don’t know if I will ever forget. The selected photos are located here, but I am kind of disappointed in them in that I don’t feel like they fully encapsulated how amazing everything really was. Please tell me if I'm wrong. Oh, and they're in reverse order, so the first photos you see are actually the last photos I took on the day.

I will post about my trip to Germany either later today or sometime soon. Hopefully there wont be long lapses in my posts, because I know you all miss me soooooo much.
timmy.