What a delicious day!
We rode into Solvang, the uber-cute Danish town built in
1911. The whole town is built to look
like an old Danish village, with plenty of windmills and thatched roofs as
well.
The town is still proud of its Danish heritage, so naturally
it’s a great place to eat Danish pastries.
Which we did. We started off with
a pre-lunch appetizer of pastries (they were delicious). Then we shopped in the Christmas shop “Jule
Hus” (Yule House).
This was followed by lunch at the Solvang Restaurant, known
for their traditional Aebleskiver (a baked sweet kind of like a donut hole, which
we ate – they were delicious). I also
had a sandwich with traditional Danish cheese (Tilsit – it was delicious).
We then walked off our big meal at the mission, around which
Solvang was later built (though at that time, the mission was in ruins). The mission is called “the hidden jewel of
the missions.” It was very pretty, very well reconstructed.
The church is actively used, but they also
had a museum in one wing, and you could walk through the chapel, the courtyard,
and the cemetery. I thought this mission
had a particularly peaceful courtyard. The
cemetery was different than the others in that it was covered in a lawn, like
most modern cemeteries do, instead of the standard dirt graveyards we’ve been
seeing. I don’t know if that was
traditional for this mission, or a modern change.
The inside of the chapel, like most that we’ve seen at the
missions, was beautifully painted.
Seeing how each chapel is decorated, especially the paintings on the
walls and ceilings, is one of my favorite parts of the missions. They are all different, yet similar. Most paint the ceilings with stars or lattice
patterns. The walls can be very
elaborate, or very simple. The painted
walls often are integrated with some statue, to provide a backdrop or emphasize
something about it. But there are other
areas that are just decorative, like using wallpaper. San Luis Obispo’s mission looked like it was
carved, and was so well done we all had to look closely to see if it was
actually three dimensional.
After the mission, we did some window shopping, and then we
went to Birkholm’s Bakery for some serious shopping. We got strudel, Danishes, Danish waffles, and
all sorts of other goodies to enjoy for the next several days. I am sure they will be delicious.
On the way out of town, we stopped into Ingeborg’s Danish Chocolates
for some Danish ice cream. This was
vanilla ice cream in a waffle cone, topped with strawberry jam and a
Flodeboller – a giant chocolate covered handmade marshmallow. Needless to say, it was delicious.
We are camped tonight at Lake Cachuma. This lake still has
some water in it, but it is definitely lower than normal. The campground is pretty empty.
Only one week left to go!
Today’s route: http://ridewithgps.com/routes/2861080
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