The Island of Sylt

At the beginning of March we took our first vacation to Sylt, an island near the German/Denmark boarder that is connected to the main land by a causeway which only trains can cross (but you can drive your car up on to the train like we did). We went with the Jensen's who also have 2 girls about the same ages as Kaitlan and Aubrie. The first day there it was sooo windy. Ulrike and I took the girls out for a hike to this light house but walking back our checks were seriously flapping in the wind and I was worried Kaitlan would get lifted off of the ground. I ordinarily wouldn't even consider that kind of weather worth going out in, but Ulrike is a German through and through and wouldn't dream of a little wind slowing her down. We stayed at a hostel on the northern tip of the island. The girls enjoyed hiking up the big sand hill behind our place, though again it was too windy to do much castle building. The next day we toured half of the island by car before picking up her husband at the train station. We saw 4 light houses and some beautiful thatched roof neighborhoods, along with a certain bred of black stallions that have been bred on the island for years and are very famous (so I was told). Saturday ended up being a perfect beach day. Luckily there was no one streaking, as bathing suits are often optional in Germany. The girls gathered seashells and I was especially intrigued by these long skinny one that I have never seen before. I think Ulrike called them sword shells. Next we drove the back side of the island through the Heide (Heather) that covered the sand hills like a thick blanket and ended up at a bird refuge. Not many birds in March but we did see a tractor harvesting "thatch" that would be put up on someone's roof. Thatched roofs are supposed to last over 100 years before replacement is needed. We then said good bye to the Jensen's and went to see the 5 light house on the island. The next day we took the ferry to a port in Denmark, though we didn't get off. We just enjoyed being on a fancy boat for 2 hours in the open seas, for only 16 euros! We did some nice shopping in the town of Westerland, ate great sea food and crepes, saw the sunset on the ocean and passed by the gigantic Incredible Hulk family statues with their heads upside down. All in all a fabulous trip!