Julie and I slept well but I don’t believe Jon & Elaine were quite as successful in that endeavor. It is quite a cramped cabin and it takes a couple of days to get used to the confined sleeping conditions. I think they have succeeded as I am typing this at 06:45 on Wednesday morning in the main saloon and I can hear gentle snoring coming from the cabin! Back to yesterday..

Unlike the previous day when it had been bright and breezy followed by some heavy rain overnight, today was dull and quiet but with the promise of an improvement in the weather as the day progressed. I decided that the best plan for the day was to use the excellent Bornholm bus service to take us to two sites that I thought and hoped that they would enjoy, namely the Art Museum at Helligdomnen and Bornholm’s famous round church at Østerlars. Julie and I had enjoyed visiting the museum when we were here on 11^th July 2016 and the church in 2012 and  we looked forward to seeing them again. Acting upon advice from the friendly lady at the Tourist Office, also conveniently situated close to the marina, we bought 24 hour rover tickets which were half price for pensioners, which amounted to 75 Krone each (around £9. 00) and we met up with Richard & John at the bus stop in town, they had walked there from their hotel. Our bus soon arrived ( #2)and by 11:30, we were in the cafeteria in the Art Museum having a reviving coffee – necessary after last night’s indulgences!

We decided to split up for the rest of the morning and rejoin at 13:30 for lunch. The museum is basically dedicated to artists with some sort of linkage to Bornholm. Amongst these is one of my favourite artists, Michael Ancher, who’s work we first came across in Skagen on Jutland , where he was an important member of the Skagen school of artists– here is a URL about him

and here is one on the museum

http://www.bornholms-kunstmuseum.dk/udforsk/vores-samling.aspx

As well as the permanent items on display, there are of course, works on a temporary basis and today the artist featured was Maria Rubinke who had made some fascinating glass sculptures (see photos). As before, we thoroughly enjoyed the museum as did, fortunately, everyone else. We all particularly like its location, with outlooks over the sea and close to steep cliffs, very dramatic indeed. Lunch in the cafeteria was a success, several of us had wonderful homemade tomato soup and the others had substantial cheese rolls, again the rolls were locally made and very tasty. We spent another hour or so after lunch exploring the museum and its surrounds and then it was time to catch the #1 bus to the wonderful round church at Østerlars.

There is no definitive explanation as to why many of Denmarks’ churches were built ‘in the round’. Theories include the fact that the Church of the Holy Sepulchre in Jerusalem is round so these copy that form; they are round for defensive purposes;  that they were constructed by the Knights Templar and so on. Whatever their origins, they are spectacular and we particularly like the frescoes that they frequently have, including this one. Again, our guests enjoyed the church and again, so did we despite having been here previously.

We were back on board by 17:30, having stopped in Kwikly on the way. Tonight Julie and I prepared a vegetable curry and we attempted to rein back on the booze, with partial, limited success! It had been a good day, it was now warm and sunny and we hoped that the morning would bring us a lovely, bright day.