Untold Stories of 2013: BORNHOLM

APRIL 15 - 17, 2013

Østerlars Church on the Island of Bornholm

Alistair and I went on a trip with our 30 Best Friends. :-)

in front of the hotel - waiting for the bus

I love this group -- truly, madly, deeply -- more about that, later.

Alistair on the streets of Gudhjem

This was an organized tour of the islands of Bornholm and Christiansø for the foreign Defense Attaches and their spouses. [ Bornholm is the island which inspired the Copenhagen restaurant Koefoed, and I wrote about it last winter in this post.]

Our tour arrived JUST prior to the "tourist season" beginning, and the island felt a little deserted.

Alistair and I returning from a walk - this was taken by one of the Russian wives.

But, not deserted in a bad way.  Just in a quiet way.  Look at this sign on a restaurant:

"Opening the 24th of April.  Remember that life is beautiful."

Awwww......what's not to love about that?  :-)

The spouses had a different "program" away from the military fellows each day. We visited a glass factory, a ceramic studio, a micro brewery, the white sand beach and we even SANG in a session of "Music as Relationship" -- unfortunately, I don't have very many photos.

But, I do have some pictures of the famous Østerlars ROUND Church, which is a Bornholmsk architectural classic.  Built in 1160 and truly medieval.

The Church is fortified, and was actually used as a "keep" during times when the island was under attack.

I loved the "roundness" inside.....

...as well as the narrow stairs going up the tower.

It made coming DOWN the steps even more exciting -- especially since a school group arrived, and those young & sprightly students were just BOUNDING up the stairs; while our group of "mothers" toddled and balanced our way down. 

frescoes inside

It was nice, the visit to this Church -- and probably my favorite thing out of the whole program.

Although, I *really* enjoyed the times we were together as an entire GROUP.

Alistair & I with German Attache on the boat to Christiansø

 I can't say enough good things about what wonderful & engaging company these Attaches are.  Look how even the SUN shines when they are present!

ha ha! ;-)

We visited a tiny little island called Christiansø, which is basically a rock sitting out in the northern part of the Baltic.  A fortress, which has seen a great deal of military action over the last 300+ years.

landing at Christiansø...there were gorgeous plates of herring 

waiting for us inside that yellow building above

The link has better photos and much better information than I do.... ;-)  I think there are only 90 inhabitants, and it would certainly take a particular kind of person to be able to live there, as it is *quite* remote.  But, the general impression I had coming away was that all the people who live there are delighted at how fortunate they have been to be able to make a home on this tiny island.

Another lesson for me in perspective being so much of how we interpret our circumstances.   Life really is beautiful, like the restaurant sign reminded. :-)