Walk On

SK and I took a field trip to a suburb of Copenhagen...probably about a 25 minute ride to IKEA.  We needed a gift card for a marriage gift and a couple of things for the apartment and the center and that is by far the least expensive place to buy household things.  Plus it is just kind of a fun place....if you have no deadlines and/or your feet don't hurt!  Have you ever gone into an IKEA?

You enter and begin a circuitous path through the giant store.  After about a mile of passing everything in the place, you arrive at the checkout.  Clustered all around the checkout counters are a dozen or more tantalizing displays of things you can't live without.  IF, by any chance you have forgotten something, you have to trace your steps back - passing once again by everything the store sells - to the item....and then one more time parading past all of the merchandise to finish up and pay.

We had a good time, and purchased only what we needed...pretty impressive huh?  On the way home, we stopped at a grocery store to get everything we need for dinner tomorrow.

We didn't have room in the refrigerator for the groceries, so we left everything in the car.  Arizonans...does that raise your hair?  If it reassures you at all, the frozen things were still frozen when we took them out of the car nearly 8 hours later!

The high temperature today was 28 and the low 27....it varies little from day to night.  The sky all day was a pale gray and sprinkled small flecks of snow on and off.  When the sky is that color, it seems that everything looks muted and gray as well.  Bicyclists and pedestrians all seem to be clad in blacks and other dark colors.  Even the stores with mannequins in the windows display black and white fashions.

We walked to the post office to pick up a package, a walk of perhaps a mile.  SK is good-natured to do that, although we had little choice because the parking lot at our apartment building is perhaps the closest parking spot available to the little building.  OK I may be exaggerating but it is terribly difficult to find a place to leave the car.  Walking with SK in this city, no matter the temperature or weather may be my favorite thing to do here.

In the evening we went out to Amager for dinner with a lovely family from our branch.  I feel so blessed that everyone here speaks English so well.  They live close to a nature preserve and the coast in an area that has been developed in the last 6 or 7 years.  Twenty-story apartment buildings are plentiful in an area close to the high-speed train and the largest mall in Denmark.

The complex they live in has beautiful sleek buildings with ample windows  which look down to a lovely green area with a playground.  Broad granite walkways, lamps and large ponds (frozen right now) give it a welcoming glow.  We entered their apartment, and it is probably what most people think of when they think "Danish."  It was new and gleaming, elegantly simple with light wood floors. The bedrooms were small as most Danish bedrooms are, which seems so sensible, and they too were beautiful.  The largest area was the living room/dining room with large floor-to-ceiling windows that were mostly bare of cover.  The darkness of the night came into the room, along with the twinkling lights of the city.....so lovely!

We sat at the table with candles glowing and conversed about many things.  Katja is a teacher and is passionate about her work with children.  She has 29 in her class this year and is very careful to see that each one receives personal attention from her every day....which isn't very easy if one or two require much of her focus.  She cares deeply that each has a good experience at school.

I always love to speak to people like Katja who is a TEACHER and no doubt has had an impact on many lives in the years she has taught.  Her husband is an attorney and knowledgeable about everything.  Their two daughters were delightful.

It was a great evening spent getting to know this dear family better.  What a delightful treat.  It could have only been made better by walking there and back!