Denmark--last day

What an amazing day Sunday was. That morning we went into Viborg and saw the south sea, the cathedral, and this beautiful lake that I can't remember the name of right now. The cathedral was so pretty, with amazing architecture and windows. The coolest thing though, were the paintings that covered the walls and ceilings. Beautiful. I climbed the turret, which was a bit creepy with the creaky stairs, but the view of the city and lake was so, you guessed it, beautiful. I need to get out my thesaurus. It was overcast and raining at home when we got back for lunch, but we were determined to continue with our final destination. After a really great nap, we headed out.
On our way to the airport, we stopped in the small town of Helstrup, near Randers, where my Grandma's mother, Karoline Lang Simonsen, grew up. We had pictures of the old house she lived in, as well as some other old buildings. We didn't know what we would find, if anything, but we were hopeful. We pulled into the town and found what we thought could be the house, which was right below the town church. We went up to the church and looked in the graveyard for any family headstones. We didn't know if there would be anything, because I guess in Denmark after so many years they remove the old headstones and use them for paving the roads or rock fences or whatever, because they need the land for more people. I guess they keep getting old there. One of the last stones in the yard was mostly covered in ivy, but Kirstine found that it was for Maren Lang, who was my Grandma's aunt. So at least we knew where the family plot was! That was miracle number one.
We went back to the house we had passed, it was nearly identical to the picture from so many years ago, which was actually a copy of a painting, I believe. It had only the difference of a couple additional windows. Across the street from this was what we believed to be the old school. Kirstine knocked on the door, and the guy confirmed that he was living in the old school and that the picture we showed him was in fact the house across the street. He then said he had a lot of pictures from old Helstrup and invited us in to look at them. People do that there. We were amazed at the pictures he showed us, some were even the same ones we had. He noted that the old couple who lived in the house were probably home, so we went over to talk to them. They also invited us, perfect strangers, into their home. As I sat there in their tiny living room, looking around me and listening to their conversation that I didn't understand, it was surreal to think that I was sitting in a room that had been occupied almost a hundred years ago by my Great-Grandmother. Miracle number two.
Finally, the couple (who have lived in the house since 1946) confirmed that they had known one of the cousins, an Anker Lang, and his wife was still living. She is in her 90's. They gave us directions (the man and the women's were both different) to her home and hoped we could find it. We were amazed when we did, and it was the same that my Grandma had sent Kirstine a picture of years ago. Mrs. Lang was so nice and excited to see us, because she hadn't seen Kirstine for probably 30 years; Kirstine had thought she had died 5 years ago and stopped sending Christmas cards. They exchanged phone numbers and committed to keeping in touch.
What an amazing day! I know that we definitely had help in finding the things we did, and it really strengthened my beliefs in the importance of family relations and history. It was fantastic!
PS. . .the last picture is of Kirstine and her husband, Allan, and their terrific dog, Toffee. The dog loved me.