The way left side of Denmark

Friday, July 17, 2026

We just woke up around 7am. Alarm wasn’t until 8! We must be adjusting to this time zone. I had a burst of brilliance and suggested we look for laundry facilities. Found: right down the hall. We washed a few things and we are set for the rest of the trip.

We set off on our first continental Europe driving trip. Denmark has interesting speed limits (which the Danes abide by). If you are going 80kph and you come to a roundabout (and you do, often) the speed limit is posted as a black and white sign with two diagonal lines through 80 – so, NOT 80. Do your thing, but don’t come flying through here without slowing down. You signal your exit when leaving a roundabout. It’s pretty nice to get that info. There is no turn on red. When the speed limit changes while you have the cruise control on, it automatically speeds you up or slows you down. There is a little red triangle on the speedometer that changes to be by the current speed limit.

I woke up when we got to the North Sea. Because Keith poked me, and said, “we’re here.” We were in a coastal town called Hjerting. We walked down the boardwalk until it ended, then took a path. It was supposed to be rainy, so it was sunny and warm. There were Rugosa Roses all along the way – they had pink flowers that were not roses and radish-y looking dealies.

There were some sticks

There were some little boats

There were cool looking, contemporary looking houses

There was a pretty bit sticking out toward the water

And there was me!

We had the whole place to ourselves at 11am. I kept wondering where everyone was, because, really, we were on our own. After about an hour, people started showing up. I guess the rain kept them in for a while. We ate outside at the only restaurant on the beach. We got a big (90ml) Fanta to share that was “only” $10. They are known for their ice cream, so as we ate, the ice cream line ebbed and flowed. Keith got a waffle cone, but I forgot to take his picture before it was gone.

We headed down the road to see Men by the Sea. It said these “four striking 9-meter-tall concrete figures represent the pure, uncorrupted meeting between humanity and nature.” Okay! I appreciated the guy sitting at the base for a bit of scale.

We ended in Ribe at a cool apartment. I forgot to take pictures outside but inside is great. The weather is getting Denmark-ier – the breeze is cool and delightful. It is going to be 60F overnight.

We are on the “edge of town” but close enough to walk to the city center in less than ten minutes. We could hear singing as we walked and I was very interested in what was going on. It turns out it was a piano bar singer – outside of a hotel restaurant. There were lots of people sitting outdoors at various restaurants. The guy was great and sang great songs (and I just walked around, singing along) for the whole two hours we were around. The town was AMAZING. It is a medieval town (with the date 1634 on the Skechers store) but it is not touristy. Or didn’t seem to be. Just seemed to be a town, with town people out on a Friday night. Almost all the places at our hotel seem empty. There were flowers EVERYWHERE. It was fabulous. I felt we were extremely lucky to be there – listening to music – and walking around this great town. The pictures do not do it justice, as with all pictures.

Piano bar guy is not visible, but he is there to the right of the green awning.

How pretty is that?

More pretty and pretty old

Bike! Flowers! House!

wonky doors

best sign of lately

local cathedral from one side

and the other

the details on this building are so beautiful. The date says 1442. Can that be possible?

I do not think Skechers were the original tenants

What? I don’t know. But cool looking

Um. Obviously?

The view from dinner

He’s not sad. I think he is just missing me because I went away to take his picture and he forgot to smile

Old and bent

Hollyhocks. My gramma Hazel liked hollyhocks

Look at this street! So beautiful!

Do I have a door frame? I can’t remember where I live. I would like this door frame.

These trees said walk down this lane, so we did

We had to walk through a cemetery to get to the city center from our hotel. It was the most beautiful cemetery ever. I didn’t take enough pictures, because it didn’t occur to me. There were graves as new as last year and also from the early 1800s. I cannot even explain how beautiful it was. There were so many trees and bushes creating special, private feeling areas for families.

Walking out, I warned Keith not to step on goose poop – it was everywhere. He investigated and said not to worry, it wasn’t goose poop. It was slugs. Big slugs.

Auuughhh. I made him take a picture. (warning: slug below)