Fantastic weather in Skagen

Perfect weather here today.   Warm enough for Walter to wear shorts and me to dispense with a thick jacket.  The first really warm day in five weeks.   Time for a celebration.

We even took out sunhats with us.  Plus warm jackets, just in case. We had been caught once before.  

All ready to leave, destination sunny Skagen.

First stop, the museum.  Brand new, and showing a collection of paintings by artists who lived here, or at least spent their summers here, from around 1880 to 1930.   Some of their houses are now open to the public to visit.

The paintings were plein-air, that is, painted outdoors and on the actual location.

They also depicted life in Skagen, and the wonderful soft light.  It was very good, and I guess we should have gone on to view the artists houses.

But we saw a cafe opposite the museum, which looked promising.  Delicious, and freshly cooked pastries, plus excellent coffee for Walter and a lemon drink for me.

We sat in the sun, and it was glorious.

That was the end of the photographs for the day.  I forgot to take anymore.  The day continued to be warm, and I believe the temperature reached 17 degrees.  We even wore our hats at lunchtime.

We chose crumbed deep fried fish plus chips for lunch.  Plaice or sole.  We were not really sure, sometimes things get lost in the translation but were told that it was locally caught fish, frozen of course.  We could have eaten all types of exotic fresh or cooked fish dishes, but we really yearned for fish with chips.  And they were very good, much better than anything  in England.

After that we went for a circular drive, through the countryside, south of here, plus a stop at Aldi to stock up on groceries for the next few days.  A very pleasant drive.

I forgot to say we visited a Skagen jewellery shop, which was next to the cafe.  Just a quick look, we thought, and half an hour later Walter walked out with a new Skagen watch, a designer watch, very flat, thin and lightweight.  A dress watch rather than an everyday watch.   Not to be used for hitching up the caravan.

Skagen watches are Danish designed, to show the coast line, the sea and the meeting of two seas in northern Denmark.  The company was named after the town of Skagen.   It is now owned by an American company, although the directors are still Danish, as are the designs.  Amazingly the watches are moderately priced, and the price of Walter's watched had been reduced by 30%.

Just to finish off.  The buildings in Skagen used to be red brick or painted red, but the bricks and the red paint did not weather well.  So someone came up with the idea of rendering the worst of the walls, and using yellow paint instead of red paint.  It has worked brilliantly apparently.  

As we drove around town we thought there must be more than 30 permanent residents in Skagen, which is how the brochure described the town.  Thank goodness for the internet!   As at January 2014 there were 8060 residents in Skagen.  I think I need to correct the publishers of the brochure.

And Skagen is pronounced as 'skayen'.  The 'g' is so soft it is hardly pronounced.

Tomorrow we are off again, south, to very warm weather.  Not sure how we will cope with 25 to 30 degree temperatures in the Netherlands, after all this chilly weather.

And tonight will be the last night of the neverending sunset.  Tomorrow night, south Denmark.