Blijburg Beach

I woke up in a panic on Saturday. I knew we had plans to visit the beach at some point in the afternoon, and I was sure I had slept far too late to go. Plus, I knew I had ruined everybody else’s day, since I was the only one who knew how to get to the beach. I looked at the clock on my iPod just be be sure. 4:55. Fuck. My alarm must not have been enough to wake me. I bet that I had slept through people banging on my door, trying to wake me up. I guess I still been exhausted from PopTrash, even though I had gone to bed at 1am the night before. Jesus. I checked my iPod again. This time it read: 10:52am. Jesus. I climbed out of bed and checked my phone: 10:52am. What the hell? Where did I get 4:55 from? Who knows. Anyway, I hadn’t slept through our little excursion to the beach.

We left sometime in the early afternoon and made it to the beach after a pretty respectable bike ride. There were far more people there than I had ever seen before, but it wasn’t so crowded that we very overwhelmed by masses of people. There were lots of parents with their little children, and a surprising number of the these kids were frolicking around wearing nothing at all. It was a bit of a shock the first time this young girl walked by us with no clothes, but by the end of the day, my reaction was more Oh, look, another naked kid. Back to my book… each time we were passed by a child in the buff.

I didn’t get any pictures of the beach as we were first walking toward it, which is too bad because the path is flanked by these fantastic Buddha statues and this great 1950’s style sign welcomes all visitors to the establishment, apparently named Blijburg Beach, which I guess translates into Happyville Beach. At least one source claims that it’s the happiest place on Earth. Until I go back and get some pictures of things beside us sitting in the sand, you should content yourself with Sarah’s photos.

We wiled away the afternoon reading and eating delicious soft-serve ice cream, which we received only after a complicated process that involved going into the bar and paying for a red plastic token, then taking said token outside to a window and handing it to guy who says oh, my bad, I could have just helped you right here. It also involved being asked if I was over 16 when I ordered a Corona at the bar. That was unexpected.

Later in the afternoon we left the Buddha-smattered beach and returned to the Funen. Later in the evening we reconvened to watch a double feature of Kiss Kiss Bang Bang and Baraka. KKBB was great as always, and, wowee, Baraka was nothing if not a trip. I had a pretty hard time concentrating on the movie as it went on, and I’m pretty sure I dozed off a time or two, but what I remember was pretty stunning. I finished the night with a bit of Six Feet Under before climbing very contentedly into bed.