Denmark - Take 2 (PS- warning....lots of pictures in this one!)

Our first layover in Denmark was short - just a quick overview of Copenhagen with a good friend and a few pastries. This layover was longer - an overnight - so we went to Denmark's Museum of Natural History...which just happens to live in the Frederiksborg Castle! 

This is "Kate's Castle" because literally you can almost see it from her house! 

Because it took a while to get out of the airport and to the castle, we got there with a little under two hours  till it closed - not enough time, but we covered a LOT of ground! 

The chapel was beyond stunning - it dated from the 1680's. The honor and glory afforded the place of worship is breath taking and overwhelming - 400 years of glory to God. It is still in use today for services. 

The remainder of the 4 floors were filled with artworks and furniture and beautiful ceilings and tapestries and ALL the things. If (when) we do this again, I would do it over 2 or three days for a couple of hours a day per floor because it is so overwhelming to try and take it all in at one time. Kate - I think that means we are coming back and staying a bit longer next time! 

Once we got kicked out of the museum, we walked the around the outside of the castle and the grounds - which were again amazing in their beauty even in the coming deadness of winter. 

We headed home as the sun went down, and then into Kate's town for dinner with her family. I didn't even get a photo we were busy talking and eating and just being together. There is something so soul filling when you can sit with "your people" and just be together. Even people for whom this is your first "together" but you know they are your people. I did, however, manage to get a photo of the best part of dinner......a Christmas beer and Ris A L'Amande 

Tomorrow we make the long trek back home - with full bellies and VERY full hearts. The trip has been short (too short) and a whirlwind, but it was so nice to dust off the passports and be with our people again. 

The Finale Day

We knew this was a short visit going into it, but it is really too short! We have packed a lot into the first four days we have been in Germany, and the last day was no exception. 

We had to start the last day as the other days...pastries!

Then castles - every little town in Germany seems to have it's own castle. This first one is in the "next town over" from Ashlee & Jon's - 

We then came back to their adorable little town and hiked up to the castle ruins - 

The castle ruins are oretty amazing and afford some pretty temendous views of their town below. The hike up was just as beautiful - 

While I know that Germany is beyond spectacularly beautiful in the summer, there is something serenely holy in the winterscape. The subtle hues remind me that sometimes peacefulness lies in the shades of difference. 

It will be hard to leave here - but the promise that we will return lies in that same peaceful space that the hues occupy. 

Sunday Funday

You can not visit Germany without a visit to a wafflehaus - so that is where we started Sunday morning! 

After breakfast, the big girls and I bid adieu to Ashlee, Jon and the two little ones and headed to Regensburg on the train...except we got on the wrong train and wound up in Klais (just one town over). 

It was a SUPER cute town - even just what we saw from the train platform! Fortunately, we opnly had to wait 25 minutes for a return train back into the right direction. Then we were really on our way! 

It gets dark early here - so by the time we got there, we needed to get to seeing things - starting with Dom St. Peter 

We walked through the city down to the stone bridge

Even though it was almost dark, the river views were amazing...

After we crossed the bridge, it was dinner time. Revensburg is heavily italian influenced - so...

We walked back over the bridge and to the cathedral - because we wanted to see the inside. Long story short, there was a concert going on, so they told us it was closed. I said it was opened.....(we snuck in when the concert was over and everybody was going out-we went in)

This is the largest hanging pipe organ in the world - in a cathedral built in 1270.

It was amazing to get to see the inside of this house of worship - and to stand where saints have stood for over 950 years to worship the same God. It was an incredible reminder to me that the Lord endures all times and things.