Thursday, August 14, 2008

5 places i love - #4 møns klint

down on the little island of møn, just south of sjælland, the island we live on, there is a fantastic phenomenon of nature called møns klint. it's huge, chalk cliffs and no matter what time of year, it's a wonderful place to go (if you're dressed properly for it). every once in awhile, a big bunch of it falls into the sea and that's a bit dangerous, but they're pretty good at knowing when the danger is high and they close the stairways then. because yes, there are stairways--two of them to get down to the beach. we counted 574 steps on one of them, but lost count on the other one.
 
these shots are from last february when we went. i haven't been there yet this summer, but looking at these shots gave me a hankering for it that i will no doubt have to satisfy in the near future.


there was a big landslide nearly 2 years ago, you can still see how milky chalky the water is in this shot.


when we reached the bottom of these stairs, our legs were like jello and we had to sit down for awhile before we could begin our walk on the beach.


here's sabin, poignantly resting on a beautiful piece of driftwood.
she's wearing her snowsuit.
you can go any time, as long as you're dressed properly for it.


when we're there, we search for these lovelies on the rocky shore.
they're fossils of small squid.
they're a beautiful amber color.
they say you can find amber too, but sadly i never have.


the other thing we search for is rocks with holes in them.
or with indentations that you can put a candle in.
and then we schlep them up the gazillion stairs.


but the last time, we seemed to find a lot of stone penises.

aren't they funny?

5 comments:

tangobaby said...

Completely fascinating! I love learning about these places I would have not ever heard of before, and the way you describe them, you make me want to see them all.

The photos are incredible and the one of the milky water, and the stairs (sheesh!) I think are fantastic. And the rocks. I wasn't going to say anything about the rocks, but you did, so there.

I am curious about the amber...and that you could find it loose amongst the rocks. Where exactly does it come from? Being a resin, the last place I would think to find amber is near water.

Perhaps someday you'll make a book of your travels? ;-) I know you like an assignment.

julochka said...

amber is fossilized resin, so it just washes up on the shores of the baltic sea, which is the sea that's all milky here off the island of møn. i've never found amber tho'. i've knocked a lot of other rocks against my teeth to test whether they were amber or not tho'. that's apparently how you tell, it feels more like plastic against your teeth, whereas all the ones i did were just rocks.

tangobaby said...

Rubbing rocks against your tooth? That sounds very bad for your enamel! What if you chip a tooth?

I have to stop worrying about you now. I'll stop.

I hope you find a big ol' piece of amber with a gigantic dragonfly in it! Happy hunting!

hele said...

I audibly caught my breath at the first photo. And then slowly and joyfully released it while looking at the others.

Mmmm, penises? I saw innocent seals. I know the number of a Freudian analyst if you want to work through some repressed penis anxiety ;)

julochka said...

hele--that's really funny that you say that, because i see seals too! my sister kept finding them and seeing penises and we had that exact conversation!! :-)