Even though it was great fun to adventure in Copenhagen with Melanie Kalman, Ithaca friend and former Ellis Hollow neighbor, and spend a few days in Den Haag, Netherlands, I was happy to return to Stavanger yesterday. Larry had a Hedburg Conference on basin modeling at the Hague and I tagged along. May 5 was Liberation Day in Amsterdam (liberated by the Canadians a few days before the Allies reached Berlin.) The weather was perfect, the city crowded with locals and tourists; the Van Gogh Museum was excellent but packed with Dutch and all the rest of us. We walked and walked around the city, enjoyed a great Indonesian lunch outdoors, took a canal boat ride and then headed, by train, to Sheveningen, a resort city adjacent to Den Haag where we enjoyed a late supper in a restaurant right on the beach facing the North Sea. Sunday was much cooler and we biked 15-20 km to Delft, an idyllic, old, Dutch city and Vermeer’s home. A leaning tower church, small canals, vibrant market and a lovely spirit made the city one of my favorites of this year’s experiences. Larry’s meeting began Sunday afternoon and the weather continued to decline. I biked and toured the town on Monday and Tuesday went to Den Haag and walked all around and visited the Maurithuis Museum and Mesdag, a restored 19th century panorama. Wednesday morning I flew to Copenhagen where I joined Melanie and we wild girls (in our rooms by 9:00 p.m.) enjoyed the city but not the fairly cold and often wet weather. My favorite was a trip to the Louisiana Museum (featuring modern art in a beautiful setting) in nearby Humlebaek, followed by a visit to Karen Blixen’s childhood home where she returned after her African coffee plantation floundered. She added a lovely garden and bird sanctuary to her home right across from the sea. Her excellent paintings, particularly from Africa, were quite a surprise to me. Melanie and I enjoyed some great meals (Spanish tapas, modern Vietnamese and Emmery’s, the best bakery I’ve discovered in Europe and walked and walked. Coming back to Stavanger I enjoyed my first airline bumping when I volunteered to take the direct flight to Stavanger rather than the less expensive Copenhagen/Oslo/Stavanger route and garnered 300 Euros plus about $9 for food while waiting.

Today, Larry and I hiked/walked Veraland (about a half hour away) with Dutch friends – beautiful mountain views, lakes and fjords + lots and lots of sheep. And then we enjoyed the first gin and tonics of the season and grilled out but ate in as the temperature was just about 50 degrees. Very popular here are disposable grills for about $3.00. Just need to buy the marshmallows and find graham crackers for s’mores.