Weekend at Græsted

It's been a weird, worried and a weary year.

Not just for us but for the entire humanity. It continues to be one. Social media feeds, news, WhatsApp chats, blogs, podcasts have featured nothing but COVID for so long that this virus has dethroned the mandatory weather related questions when we start our meetings. Small change but such a profound one. So many of my friends and acquaintances have lost someone close to this pandemic that I can feel the numbness creeping in. Day's chat start with RIPs to someone's someone and within hours we are discussing IPL scores, election gossip, movie trivia and whatnot.. Do you guys feel it? Nothing wrong with any of that. We are all coping as best as we could.

For me and Amruta, living away from Pune which has all of our Family, all of our 'old' and cherished friends and relationships poses different kind of challenges. Many of you might have felt it too during the strict lockdowns. The long physical disconnect with everyone who you know and whom you care about ( vice versa) becomes unnerving at times. We are blessed to have each other's company and of course two immensely active and joyful daughters who are a source of infinite happiness which makes this disconnected living possible.

That was a weird prologue to a travel blog but I write what comes in my mind. Anyway if you are reading this you are one of the close ones so don't mind opening up here. :P So..

Yeah, earlier this week we all of sudden decided that we needed a quick break. Things were getting damn monotonous and we instantly agreed that it's time that Meera gets to travel. Started searching something within an hour's drive from Copenhagen and found this place at Græsted with great review. Quickly booked it and already started feeling good! Travel. Damn. Even the planning makes you feel excited. Quick trip - Friday to Sunday.

Friday morning, we both were feeling great. The anticipation of the trip about to start could be felt. Packing took a few sweet hours. Amruta is still recovering and has a diet to follow. Mukta of course has some of her own food demands and I too have some dietary regime going on so.. yeah. A bit complicated but we loaded stuff in the car, daughters in the baby seats and said "Ganpati Bappa Moraya.." Off we were towards, Græsted.

As soon as you drive away from City, be it Copenhagen or the lovely Pune, you somehow start feeling the city stress peeling off. There's something about when the 4 lane each side highway turns into a single two way street that makes you more connected with your human side. You can't build fast paced highways everywhere. Life has more similarities with the narrow two way streets where you have be mindful and empathetic towards the other drivers. Won't go too deep here but it was a great quick drive. Last one kilometre wasn't even a road, just a country path with some gravel to fill up holes and that set the mood. Arrived around 1030 AM at the place and believe it or not, we were welcomed by one of the owner's three pet cats! If you don't believe me here's a video.

mahouse.jpg)

Quick check up on the girls and was pleased to see them taking an afternoon nap. What's country living without a good afternoon nap. It's what's expected from pakki punekars like these two lovely ladies! ;)

You can take Punekar out of Pune, but you can't take Afternoon Naps out of Punekars! :P

Work day over and since it was a but chilly, Amruta and Meera had to stay indoors while me and Mukta decided to venture out. And then we met the other most common animal in rural Denmark. Horse! Had no idea that Mukta speaks Horse language. Few photos and videos here:

They were actively talking for close to 10 minutes. No kidding!

Not a great capture, only what my iPhone could manage but saw some deers as well! this was 300 meters from where were staying. Tried to take Mukta near but they sensed and they ran away. Damn, they run fast!

Then the evening and time for some cooking, feeding and small glass of fine wine!

She knows that its a party!

This one is a random click from Amruta.. It was surreal to look at the art spread across the sky. So many shades..

ये कौन चित्रकार हैं, ये कौन चित्रकार?! One not featuring the distracting triceps ;)

Amruta and Meera too joined the party from within the house. Here's a few clicks!

Beautiful window! Beauties in the window!

Called it a day. Saturday, the next day was forecast to be sunny. It was but still a bit chilly. Again the elder daughter and father ventured out to play in the backyard. It was a huge back yard and got some great clicks.

-

and Mukta can also talk Cat language. This girl knows how to break ice with animals. I am impressed.

Hooman, stay away! if the cat could talk, she would be like 'hey girl, we just met!'

Day 2 evening was again for looking at sunset nice hot coffee! Small pleasures, redefine everything if appreciated.

-

Sunday morning.. already the day of the checkout. It arrived faaaaast. and we realised that we were being spied on.

-

a cat in each window. Surveillance. Top notch.

Horses - deserve a small write up. The car:horse ration of this area was easily 1:10. We averaged one new horse sighting every time we looked out of the window. Horses here are like Honda Activas in Pune. No kidding. Here's a quick peek.

The small horse you see if 3 days old. 3 days. He was already running and jumping around. Humans are quite slow, don't you think? Mukta had a blast and kept calling him Mukta ghoda :)

We packed up and left the dreamy town. On our way back stopped at the entrance to the jungle area of Gribskov, which is Denmark's fourth largest forest. It was a quick mamla but still managed a quick 10 mins walk and a few clicks.

One guy was walking his Chinese chow chow dog, named Yang! He was very photogenic and took instant liking towards my girls. Stay away you dog! :P

Some more random Mukta, Horse, Cat etc, photos and videos.

she seems to see through you :P country road!

Finishing off with this one - Mukta and the cat. They talk through eyes.

Ok, that's it. Quick glimpse into how we spent last 3 days - 16th to 18th April 2021.

It was a quick, small refresher. We needed this. I guess everyone needs it. Be it Covid era or not. More so during these times certainly. Many times we keep on waiting for the grand thing or something too remarkable to happen and continuously strive towards it or keep on waiting for it. What covid has taught us is keep on betting on the small bets. Get some quick wins. Don't skip small joyful moments for the grand celebrations. Don't postpone the small travels for the big one ;)

This trip was special since it was the first time Mukta, Meera, Amruta and Shantanu travelled together.

Looking forward to the next one. and the next. and the next.

has to end with this song from Parichay!

Close thy eyes and listen here.