ROSKILDE AND RAIN

We woke up to blustery, fitful blue skies and decided to run a quick errand a few blocks away for the President before our excursion to Roskilde, a small town west of here.  Its claim to fame is the church where the current Queen will be buried, and where the Queens and Kings are traditionally laid to rest.  We walked to a little office supply store and waited outside for it to open at 10.  This is one of my favorite shops here.  It is tiny.  Aisles are pretty much just suggestions and so narrow that you have to suck in and turn sideways to slide around.  It has everything you could possible need in a riot of colors. Sticky notes and markers and office gadgets you never even knew you needed piled to the ceiling.  I think it's a sales gimmick.  You want to buy one of each.

It is like a candy store for the office gadget geeks.  

As we headed home, it started to rain and blow.  Oh well.  What's a little rain to a Dane?  We first boarded a bus and rode to a little loppemarked (flea market) on the way.  I found a piece of Royal Copenhagen porcelain called "Goose Girl".  Porcelain used to be very precious to the Danes, but has lost it's popularity so you can pick it up fairly cheaply.

Goose Girl

Still raining and blowing.  We trudged a block or so to the train, avoiding puddles as best we could. We were getting wet and our umbrellas kept snapping inside-out.  At the station, we realized that the train was uncharacteristically late, so we huddled in a little alcove and watched other trains whiz by in both directions in a confusion of tracks and platforms. (We have pensioner passes and can ride the busses, trains, s/tog  [like a front runner], and the harbor boats around an amazing area in Denmark.)

The trains are on time and clean and confortable.  They have places for bikes and even cars which are "quiet cars."  Whisper or you get glares.

We were glad to finally board and get out of the whipping wind.  This is when I decided I was not a Dane weathering the storm effortlessly.  These people!  At Roskilde, we strolled through this beautiful village and headed  to a plaza with a gardener's market and another loppemarked.  We passed huge pots of flowers, cute little shops and open market stalls with things like bread, fish and cheese.  Colorful sights teasing your eyes and smells tugging at your nostrils.  Busy even in the rain. This is a beautiful jewel of a town.  We will return.  They have a big Christmas market in their square in December.

Flower stalls.  They are everywhere, on every street.

Roskilde  cobblestone streets.

Unbelievably big flower pots.

Yes.  And they use them.

Den Domme Kirken (The Queen's Church)  This is where the Queen will be buried.

  
                                                       

Building next to the church.  Housing for the priest?  They still hold services in this lovely old church.

We think this is a nunnery, tucked next to the Queen's Church.

                                                    
By the time we finished, the sun was trying to shine, although it was still cold.  The Thornes had just said good-bye this morning to company who had been here for 2 weeks, and were so kind to escort us around when I'm sure they would rather be home cleaning.  They got up at 5 to do some of that.   Good people.  And when we got home, the Parkers who live downstairs and work with the youth, invited us to eat corn chowder at their house.  We are blessed to be surrounded with some new friends who are so warm and welcoming.