On our second day on the island of Als Ole arranged us a visit to the gallery of Katherine Schivers Eje & Thomas Eje at their home in Harbæksgaard. Thomas is one of the most popular entertainers in Denmark, and everybody knows him. He is also an actor, musician, comedian, artist, you name it. Kathrine is also a very artistic person, and above all they are a wonderful couple. Sometimes they even create art together by blending their different styles; it is beautiful and captivating. On the photo below Katherine and Thomas are in front of the two paintings they made in such way:
The gallery is huge, and contains different forms of art.
Katherine’s portrait of Queen Margrethe II of Denmark was commissioned by the town of Gråsten and presented to her Majesty on the 31st of July 2019 in the Queen’s private reception room at the Gråsten palace. I loved Kathrine’s Silhouette Collection – it is so recognisable; the very special jewellery she creates, ceramics and tiles:
After showing around, Katherine and Thomas welcomed us for a cup of coffee:
Leaving Harbæksgaard, we felt grateful for the time spent together with Katherine and Thomas at the gallery. We’ve learned new things, got inspired, and enjoyed their company. The gallery is open every weekend, and I highly recommend visiting.
In the afternoon, Ole drove Jens and me on a sightseeing tour around Als. We visited many interesting places. Havnbjerg church (originally from 1180):
Havnbjerg Mill, fully thatched:
I don’t think I’ve seen a fully thatched smock mill before – it was truly special. In 1612 a wind mill – a so-called post mill – was erected on the highest hill in Havnbjerg. This mill was still operating in 1776 when a hurricane struck the island and damaged wings and shaft severely. The post mill was in 1835 replaced by a smock mill.
We spent quite some time by the mill, photographing it from different angles, and exploring the artefacts exhibited by its side.
Then a trip to Sønderborg, a beautiful city on the southern part of the island. A walk by the Sønderborg Castle that holds almost 800 years of Southern Jutland and German Schleswig’s dramatic history:
The Danish King Christian II was imprisonment at the castle; the exhibitions tell about the Danish defeat in 1864 and many other interesting things.
The city of Sønderborg:
There was time for playful activities, too:
We stopped by the Northern Europe’s largest and most precise sundial:
It was designed by architect Jørgen Larsen together with teacher Mogens Winther and his class from a local high school. To achieve the highest possible degree of accuracy, it was necessary to compensate for irregularities in the Earth’ orbit around the Sun, being elliptical. For that reason, the sundial is equipped with twelve grooves – one for every month of the year. The sundial is mentioned in the Guinness Book of Records.
Then there was time for refuelling which Jens did:
I was excited to see that my new cover, I used so much time for sewing, was perfectly in place. Despite the wind gusts of 20-25 knots, it was exactly how I left it on my aircraft the day before:
After refuelling, we picked up some take-away food in Nordborg, and had a good dinner in our hut at the camp site:
In the evening, Jens and I went for a sunset walk by the sea:
And Jens also took this beautiful photo of a lighthouse nearby:
