Farewell, Denmark. I loved . . .

The beautiful flowers.

The chapel in Copenhagen.

The original Christus in Thorvaldsen's Museum.

The Royal Copenhagen Theater.

The King's Palace.

The awesome statues and towers.

The old SAS hotel.

The fountains.

The outdoor bandstands.

Celebrating our 40th anniversary.

Crossing the toll bridges.

The lighthouses.

Hans Christian Andersen.

The Museums.

The old chapels.

The new chapels.

The architecture of the old buildings.

The houses with hatched roofs.

The horse drawn carriages.

AND, especially . . . .

The people we met,

The friendships we renewed, and

The memories we'll treasure forever.

Farewell, Denmark,

Until another day!!

North Jyland shots

Cute old house with a thatched room. Doesn't it look like a little girl's eyes, bangs, and a Dutch haircut?

Larry by an old windmill. You don't see windmills like this anymore.

But you do see old antique cars around. Larry couldn't resist snaping a picture of this one in mint condidtion.

I was fascinated with these flowers. It is called oil seed raps, is grown as a field crop, and is a cousin of mustard weed. There are fields of it everywhere. They use it for cooking oil and experimentally as an oil additive.

Here is a closeup.

I thought this was a good shot of a typical scene.

Denmark is a world leader in using these generators. They are everywhere.

The Jorgensen Hotel in Horsens where we stayed for three days. It is located on the main walking street in town. Larry remembers walking down this street from the train station to his apartment and going past this hotel. It was built in 1744. There is a pub and a restaurant on either side with outdoor seating in front of the hotel. People are mingling outside all the time, sometimes all night long!!

Our hotel room in Horsens. The picture over the bed was a print of the same picture in the pensionette where he ate lunch as a missionary. Coincidence???

This is Kirsten and her husband. She was the first person we met in Denmark that Larry knew from his missionary days. We found her at church in Aarhus. She interpreted for me during Sacrament Meeting. Larry remembers her being a young member his age. Her mother was a Danish mom to all the missionaries. She does the same for the missionaries now. We were there on Mother's Day, so the missionaries were going to her house after church to call their mothers.

Starfish washed up on the beach.

This is Skagen, the most northern point of Denmark where the North Sea and Baltic Sea crash together. Rumor says you can stand with one foot in each sea, so I tried. It was really windy.

Sunsets at Skagen are incredible because of the unique lighting. It is a favorite spot for artists and photographers to come.

Tuen is the home of Tina's Danish ancestors. Aagard is a common name in northern Jyland.

The main street of Tuen.

This is a bunker built by the Germans on the Danish coast during World War II when Germany invaded Denmark. Apparently, the Danes didn't want the Germans in their country, so they put sugar in the concrete that was used in building the bunkers. You can see how it caused the concrete to deteriorate and has made holes.

This is the couple Larry wanted to find when we went to Denmark. It was his number one goal! We found them in Frederikshavn. Forty three years ago, Soren was a Danish soldier and a new member of the church. He asked Larry to teach Jutte the gospel. Later Soren baptized Jutte and Larry confirmed her. Then Larry was transferred, completed his mission, and went home. They sent him a wedding picture, but that's all he had. They are still active members of the church. This is their chapel in Frederikshavn.

Soren took us to a sand dune that is moving across the peninsula near Skagen. It is a mile long and covers up everything in it's path. It is estimated that the dune will be at the eastern shore in 20 years. The sand is so fine and hard to walk on.

We all made it to the top! It wasn't easy.

Larry with Knud Andersen, his wife Nunne, and Georgia Elmer. We had lunch in the Andersen home in Fredericia. Georgia was a sister missionary from Ogden who arrived in Denmark in the same group with Larry. She later married a Danish man and moved to Denmark. They live in the same ward as Andersens. Brother Andersen was a branch president when Larry was on his mission. It was in his home that Larry taught Jutte. He later became a bishop, stake president, Danish mission president, and was recently released from the Danish temple presidency. He is 80 years old.

This is Larry in our rental car leaving the hotel parking lot in Odense. Tight squeeze, huh!! Notice the cobblestone street.

Our Denmark trip!!

Here we are in Washington D.C. settling in for our long flight across the Atlantic Ocean. Marci is spending the next two weeks in Georgia with Jared and Elisa. I'm really excited, not sure about Larry.

After flying all night and picking up our rental car at 7:00 am, we finally arrived at our beautiful, modern hotel just outside of Copenhagen. Did I mention it took us three hours to find the hotel? I had to hurry to take this picture before Larry crashed.

The temple in Copenhagen. This building was originally a chapel when Larry was on his mission and was remodeled and dedicated as a temple several years ago.

Larry remembers taking a group picture of all the Danish missionaries on these steps when it was a chapel. The mission home was next door.

This is Nyhavn (new-houn) or the famous harbor where sailors came into port to party. Now it is a walking street with lots of eating places and souvenior shops.

This is a garden near the town square. The Royal Copenhagen Theater is in the distance.

This is the famous mile long walking street mall. We walked about six miles the first day in Copenhagen. There's so much to see.

A hotel and chocolate factory in Tivoli.

The famous "Little Mermaid." I've heard so much about her and was excited to finally see her.

More pictures to come soon.

Larsen reunion

On Saturday, June 28, we attended a reunion with almost 200 descendants of Lars and Sidse Larsen. They joined the church in Denmark, and in 1866 they sold all they had and paid for their family (4 sons and 1 daughter) and 65 other members of the church to cross the Atlantic Ocean. During the journey Sidse and the youngest son died of cholera at sea. Lars and a daughter died of typhoid shortly after arriving in New York. Three sons made it to Utah. Then the oldest son died of tuberculosis in Brigham City a few years later. That left only Niels and Hans to carry on the Larsen name in America. 140 years later, there are almost 2,000 descendants of these two brothers. Larry is the great grandson of Hans Larsen.

Here is the oldest grandchild of Hans. She is 102! Grandpa Johnson is sitting next to her. His mother, Grandma Lucy Larsen Johnson, was the oldest daughter of Hans.

Here is the next oldest grandchild (92). Grandpa Johnson is the third oldest grandchild (88).

Here are the 15 grandchildren of Hans who attended the reunion. We really enjoyed meeting some cousins we didn't know about! Now Larry and I want to go back to Denmark and see the old Larsen farm.