• Jessica Anderson
  • Jessica Anderson

European Trip

Et 19-dagers eventyr av Jessica Les mer
  • Denmark day 3 (.1)

    11. juli 2023, Danmark ⋅ ☁️ 72 °F

    Today was a great day. We went to the bay in Hjerting. We explored a beautiful church, when it opened in the early 90's, the Queen of Denmark came and gave it her blessing. It was very neat. The altar was made of recycled materials and then painted with gold. It was really a neat church. In Denmark, each church has a small room you enter before going into the sanctuary. They call it the weapons room. It is where, long ago, they would place their weapons before worshipping.
    There is also a boat suspended from the ceiling from churches, to give a nod to the wayfaring culture. It was really neat. After, we went through the cemetery at the church. We visited Marcos parents. Their headstone was made in the design of waves. Because he made his living in the water industry. I think that is a very special way to commemorate this parents, and all their hard work.
    We then walked down towards the bay, but first were told about the old buildings of "old town". It was quite interesting and beautiful.
    We ended our stroll at the bay. We walked out onto the dock, the kids poked the jellyfish that were left over from higher tide. This bay empties out every day and refills.
    There were people catching crabs. Bacon is the best bait, they said. Once their bucket was full of crabs, they took them to the beach and released them for a crab race.
    I had another chiropractor appointment for my slipped back, so the others went to the house and Marco and I went to the appointment.
    After returning from the appointment, we played pool. We began a tournament. It was a lot of fun.
    In the afternoon, we went to a walking park with nature playgrounds. I am surprised with all the really fantastic playgrounds Denmark has. We then went to dinner at Alex's mom, Katherine's house. Christine prepared a very delicious meal for us. Katherine shared that some of her family lives in Norway. In Norway, you have sausages and beer before dinner while everything else is cooling. So that's what we did.
    After dinner we sat and visited for hours. It was so nice to get to know her and Christine better. We had a very terrific day.
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  • Denmark day 4 (.1)

    12. juli 2023, Tyskland ⋅ ☀️ 73 °F

    Today we went to Esjberg's sea museum. It was very neat. We saw the seals train and eat. They had a hybrid seal, the only one in the world. It is 6 months old now and adorable.
    There was a really cool exhibit about superstition and omens of the sea. There were mermaids, sea serpents, squids. It was a really cool exhibit.
    There was also one of the most fun play areas. We explored a WWII bunker and learned about Denmark's role in that war.
    We then walked to the beach where the four white men are. We checked it out. They were really neat also.
    Then we went past the westernmost part of Denmark, and explored the North Sea. It was BEAUTIFUL. Tim and the boys were introduced to the ocean, and they all loved it. We drove into the beach and walked into the ocean. The boys played in the water and then, to dry off, ran up the sand dune with Alex and raced down. We then headed back to the house for dinner.
    After dinner we watched some tennis and then went to finish our pool tournament. When the winner of the tournament was established, we then played a game called numbers. In this game, everyone chooses a ball number then we just shoot to get balls in the hole. If your ball goes into the pocket, you are out. It was a very fun game. We played it twice, then ended the evening visiting.
    Today was also a big day, because, while at Legoland, Oliver lost his phone. It was found and one of Victoria's friends brought it back from Legoland when his shift ended. Oliver was so excited!
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  • Leaving Denmark

    13. juli 2023, Danmark ⋅ ☁️ 66 °F

    We left Denmark around two in the afternoon.

    In the morning Tim, Logan, Oliver, Alex, Marco, Victoria, Christopher, Olivia, and Elo went to the Viking Museum. I needed to go back to the chiropractor, so Charlotte and I stayed back. While we waited for the appointment we visited. Charlotte and I have very similar parenting styles and values. It was nice to visit and just have some down time with her.

    When we caught up with the rest of our families in a small, very old restaurant on the bank of a beautiful river that had boats tied to the bank. This town is home to the oldest church in Denmark! It was a beautiful church, when I come back, I hope to visit this town again. It was really beautiful.
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  • The house that built Antonia.1

    14. juli 2023, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 75 °F

    We left Denmark on Thursday, and it took 7 hours to get to Antonia's home in Bad Oeynhausen. There was a traffic jam in Hamburg that took a little more than 2 hours. When we finally arrived, they had made pasta for us for a late dinner. It was so nice to visit. Antonia's boyfriend, Daniel, came to meet us. I'm glad we had the chance to meet. He seems like a very nice man. Lara, Antonia's sister, was also there. We haven't seen her since she came with Antonia to go to Prom in 2018! And it was such a great moment to finally meet Suzanne, Antonia's mom. We stayed up late visiting and catching up.

    On Friday, we got up and went to the park not far from Antonia's home. It is where the health spa is. It was absolutely beautiful and relaxing. The water is special because it has salt and minerals in it that promotes healing. The minerals and salt were discovered by a pig farmer in the 1700's. His pigs were rolling in the muddy water and when the water dried, the pigs had salt on their backs. Pretty neat. The town was then named after the farmer, Oeynhausen! "Bad" in front of Oeynhausen, means medical. So this part of the town of Oeynhausen specializes in health. I thought that was really neat when Suzanne was telling me about it.

    We walked through down town and stopped at the park for the kids to play. The park was really fantastic! No plastic or metal, all wooden! Most of the parks we found focused on sensory and motor skills, ALL the parks were surrounded by trees, creating a nice shaded area, and promoted nature. I think Europe's playgrounds have a few steps up from the play grounds in America.

    Before we left, Suzanne was so kind to tape my back to help me with my remaining travels, as well as put acupuncture needles to keep in my ear.
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  • Exploring Frankfurt .1

    15. juli 2023, Tyskland ⋅ ☁️ 84 °F

    Today we went to Frankfurt to explore. On the way to the part of Frankfurt we were going to explore, I noticed billboards of an exhibit for Bansky, while we rode the transit. I told everyone I would really like to go. We agreed we would figure out where it was and probably check it out.

    We were lucky that this was also the day for the Pride Parade. So we got to support the importance of love for all. It was really refreshing to see so many people involved in the march. There had to be thousands. I am glad my children could witness the joy and freedom of this march.

    When it began raining, we went to a museum about a children's book author. It was neat. I purchased a book that had a collection of stories. All the stories have valuable life lessons or political background. We played a game where we were the pawns.

    We visited a very old church. Jesus' disciple, Bartholomew's relics, are said to be buried under this church. It was beautiful and peaceful. During WWII, it was the only building left standing in the area.

    We did a bit more shopping and had lunch at a cider bar. The cider was delicious. We had a great lunch and visited with each other. Tim did not like the cider, so Elo and I enjoyed his portion.

    We went back to the house and I packed up our bags and prepared to leave Europe.
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  • Reisens slutt
    17. juli 2023