Bornholm

This weekend I had the amazing opportunity to stay with my neighbors, Alex and Dorte, at one of their two summer homes in Bornholm! Bornholm is a little island south of Sweden, and it used to be huge for the fishing industry but is now a vacation island with cute towns and white sand beaches on the south shore. 

I left straight from classes Friday, caught the bus to Sweden, then the ferry to Bornholm, and was there by 6pm! They took me to dinner at a quirky pub near their house, where every square inch of wall was covered by some painting or antique artifact that had been donated (rumor: it's all stolen) by the locals. There were even license plates from Illinois to my left. It was really delicious and we even had pancakes with ice cream for dessert!

I had personal paparazzi this trip so get ready.

Saturday morning Dorte baked buns for breakfast then Alex and I went on a walk past the lake their house looks out over, the harbor to the north shore, and through castle ruins! Dorte picked us up and we drove along the east coast, stopping at Gudhjelm (God's home, what a name)  and Svaneke (where we got beer and chocolates! I found the first beer I liked there - Sweet Mary - created for the crown princesses when she married). It was then lunch time and we had reservations in Nexø for a TOP NOTCH restaurant with a FOUR COURSE lunch and a view of the sea it was fine I'm fine. But I never thought I would have a meal so fancy for lunch. 

There were 28 pictures before 10am.

Leonora, a bad Dane but a good wife, was imprisoned here! 

The view from the restaurant

We then continued to the most southern point and saw their other summer home and the small beach they go to there! It was such fine sand and shallow green waters 100m out. But then we went to THE beach, where there is a huge tower that used to be used for spying on Poland. We walked a quarter of a mile just to get to the beach, but it was so stunning once we got there. We walked out on a sand dune too, which was really cool and full of soft spots. Then we walked through the sand dunes to see the lighthouse and my little heart almost died. I've never wanted to paint anything so badly and I don't even paint. But all the colors were so so beautiful.

From there we headed back home, trying to spot buffalo to no avail. We spent the rest of the evening talking about how unimportant marriage is to the Danes, munching on chocolates, and sitting by the fire place. 

Sunday was a rain day so we went to Bornholm's art museum because they have their own school or painters. It had a small fountain/stream of holy water that went through the middle of the whole museum, and an exhibit dedicated to a man who painted while on drugs (but who is not an addict, they stressed). There was also a section dedicated to ceramics, because they have a long history of being expert pottery people! 

You can see the stream of holy water on the bottom left corner!

In the afternoon we packed and got the house ready for their friends who will be there in a few weeks. We then caught the evening ferry, played card games (which was a great distraction because I was definitely feeling a little sick from the rockiness), drove back through Sweden and Copenhagen, and made it to Hillerød before 10pm. 

Even though it was supposed to be sunshine island, the fog never quite lifted. It was beautiful as it was but I would love to see it in the summertime, too! Other students have also gone on bike trips around the island, and there are several competing ice cream shops that are desperately looking for a judge called Abby Snyder.