The second leg of the 2013 Long family Christmas was a trip to Flensburg, where Mom and Dad lived for several years and where I was born. It’s just a hop, skip & a jump (plus a 3 hour drive) from Copenhagen, and you can actually see Denmark from the area where my parents used to live. (Insert “I can see Denmark from my house” joke here. This is the last one, promise).
But first, we had the drive. In the rain. It pretty much rained the whole trip, which meant it wasn’t cold enough to snow, which was sad, but not that sad because it meant it wasn’t that cold. I don’t like the cold. But I do like snow, which presents a bit of a problem. Oh well, somehow I’ve made it this far. Living in a country where it’s 60 degrees in January is probably a good way to go as well.
But on with the story. Our drive was in the rain. See, look – here’s one of the big bridges we drove over on the way:
Upon arrival in Flensburg, we went straight to a nice restaurant across the street from Mom and Dad’s old apartment (and overlooking the water) for lunch and my first Flensburger Pilsner – it was pretty great. Those Germans know how to do beer.
Once we were fed, we drove to downtown Flensburg where, after a bit of driving around, parked along the water and found our way uphill to the main walking street and the fantastic Christmas market!
It was along this street that we realized that prices in Germany are approximately half as much as prices in Denmark, even though we were literally steps away from the border. Maybe if I had cared more about those econ classes I had to take in college and grad school I would know why. But I didn’t, so I will have to remain in the dark on that one.
Anyway, the next morning was “find places Mom and Dad remember” day. First up: the hospital where I was born. After a not insignificant amount of driving around and getting lost-ish, Mom’s iPhone came to the rescue and showed us how to get there. Turns out the women’s clinic was knocked down in the ’80s, but we took a picture in front of the new hospital! Also we showed photos from 1983 to the old guy working at the hospital’s information desk. He was still bummed out that the old hospital got bulldozed. Anyway, here we are!
The next search was a little way outside of Flensburg in Schafflund, where the Longs lived for the first 10 months of my existence. Turns out things change in 30 years. Finding the actual house where we lived wasn’t in the cards. But, we found a delicious lunch and took a picture by the town’s sign.
Next, we kept the road trip going by hopping back across the Danish border to a super cute little town called Tonder, with yet another Christmas market. We had to get our fill before going back to Algeria and its lack of Christmas!
The following morning it was time to head back to Copenhagen, return the car and get on a plane back to Algiers. But first, we had some photos to take. Here’s Mom and Dad in front of their old apartment (it’s the one on the top floor on the corner with the balcony):
Then we had one more “memory lane” stop – the Saturday morning market:
Finally, it was back in the car, in the rain (yep, still raining), and away to the Copenhagen airport Hilton. One final Flensburger Pilsner, a couple hours of sleep, and Part 2 of the trip was over.
Keep staying tuned! Part 3: Susi & Jan go to Algeria is coming soon!
Toto...We're Not In NYC Anymore 