Post number 50!

In honor of my 50th post I’ve decided to make a list of 50 things I’ve learned while in Europe that are in any way related to Europe, the countries, people, food, etc. These items are in no particular order just 50 things I learned. :)

1) Europe is AMAZING - I loved every second of being here.

2) When in Rome, do as the Romans, that means take your life in your hands when crossing the street if you ever want to get anywhere.

3) And speaking of Romans Italy is not a place I would want to drive. The drivers there are crazy!

4 ) People in Spain do not know how to make a queue. They tend to just form a big bunch of people and move in a large mass .

5) Danish pastries are amazing and wonderful and I will miss them a lot! My favorites are these things called Hindbærsnitten. It’s the glorified pop tart I’ve talked about many a times!

6) It’s super cool to be able to speak several languages. I wish I knew how to speak more than one language. I don’t know exactly how many languages I’ve heard while here this whole time but enough and I suspect that since I’ve learned how to tune it out in a way I might be in trouble when I get back home and almost everyone is speaking English and I’ll need to pay attention again.

7) Speaking of languages after this trip I know how to say Thank you in Danish, French, Spanish, Italian and German (Fail on the Eastern European languages, they’re hard!)

8) Tivoli Garden’s Star Flyer ride is the most amazing ride I’ve ever been on.

9) Chopin was totally emo! He complained a lot and just had that air about him. In some ways he may have had a right to complain considering that he was sick most of his life but I thought it was kind of funny. An emo rock star of his day!

10) Salt mines are really awesome. And salt apparently has antibacterial properties which made it ok for us to lick the wall in the salt mine (I didn’t actually lick it but rubbed my finger on it to taste some).

11) There’s ruins and artifacts in and around the Prague castle that are from 3000 years ago. That’s OLD!

12) There’s also ruins that old in Rome! Can you imagine what people will say about us in 3000 years?

13) One can enjoy all of Germany’s fine culture at the Hofbräuhaus in Munich for not a lot of money, music, traditional food and outfits and beer.

14) The best food I ate on all our trips was in the following places: Avocado in Krakow Poland, Malostranská Beseda in Czech, Braunauer Hof in Munich, Melicde Gothic in Barcelona and Rom Antica in Rome.

15) The best places we stayed were the Chmielna St. B&B in Warsaw and the Principe Eugenio in Rome.

16) When they built the Barcelona metro system they didn’t not plan well for transfers. To transfer from our hotel (blue line) to the beach (yellow line) we had to walk for 5-10 minutes to get to the next train, hardly ever making it and almost always having to wait for the next train.

17) In Rome there’s only 2 lines on the Metro which works great if you’re actually going some place on that line but God forbid you have to transfer at the train station, you’ll be walking for 10 minutes to get to the next train.

18) If you were to add up the amount of raw materials used to make the churches in Vatican city and in Rome I’m pretty sure the Catholic church would be the richest organization in the world, but since those churches are priceless it doesn’t matter how much raw material is used in all of them but what they mean to the people who worship there.

19) It’s pretty awesome to have daylight for 17 hours, 29 minutes and 34 second at the longest day of the year in Kolding.

20) Watching baby ducks and swans grow up in a pretty cool experience.

21) Summer really does seem to only last 2 weeks in Denmark. We had a few great weeks with nothing but sun and heat and then it went back to cool and rainy.

22) But with the amount of rain Denmark gets you also see a ton of rainbows and on several occasions I’ve seen double rainbows which is even cooler.

23) I wish that in the States the roads were more equip for bike riding. I love that you can get almost anywhere on your bike in Kolding and I’ll miss being able to do that.

24) Public transportation in Europe is awesome. I loved being able to ride the train to place and have it be so easy. In every city we visited including Kolding it was easy to get around with the public transportation. We totally lack in that department in the States!

25) Back to food for a second. Musli is the best breakfast ever! I love eating it, especially since I discovered a chocolate flavored one, mix it with a little bit of fruit yogurt and you’re all set!

26) I appreciate that people are respectful of other languages in Europe. I have a whole new respect for people who come to America and struggle to learn English. As much as I tried to learn some Danish while I was here I found it very difficult. Thankfully everyone speaks English and is nice enough about it but I’m glad that people were respectful of that. If I had been here longer I would have taken the classes like Joe is doing but Danish is a very difficult language to learn.

27) This will not be the only time I come to Europe. There’s still several places I would like to go including somewhere in France (doesn’t have to be Paris, maybe Nice or Marseille), more of Germany including Bavaria and the Swiss Alps (throw in Austria and Switzerland while we’re at it), Dublin, Greece, Venice, Pompei and Naples in Italy, Croatia and more of Spain. I guess I’ll need to plan several more trips!

28) European women are almost always dressed to the 9s. They always have great shoes and if I had a ton of money I would have bought a whole new wardrobe in Rome!

29) Everything feels close in Europe. Even if you’re on a train for 8 hours to get to another country you eventually get there without any problems. It was so easy for Joe and I to travel between countries and cities because of the excellent public transportation and cheap flights.

30) Ryanair may be a cheap airline to fly but their luggage policies are a pain in the butt. They don’t allow for the standard carry-on size and it’s really expensive to check bags, thankfully Joe and I were able to check just one bag but we were always adjusting what was in it so we didn’t go over the weight limit (15 kg).

31) It is always cheaper to book a round trip flight somewhere than to book a one way trip.

32) Danish strawberries when in season are the best strawberries I’ve ever tasted! :)

33) The Kolding Fjord is about 4-6 meters deep (13-20 feet) and is an excellent place to sail in the tiniest sail boat I’ve ever been on. :)

34) I’ve been on the soil of 8 European Countries and visited 8 major European cities.

35) Backpacking around Europe is not the way I would want to travel. It’s an excellent way to see even more of Europe than we did but the idea of not showering, sleeping outside and not having some of my creature comforts just doesn’t appeal to me.

36) Despite the fact that a lot of people consider his work to be gaudy I think that Antoni Gaudí designed some beautiful and amazing buildings and I really enjoyed seeing a lot of his work.

37) People in Europe like to smoke. I was actually pretty surprised by this, especially since a lot of the smokers were about the same age and Joe and me.

38) Open container laws are an interesting thing. In Denmark there’s no laws about open containers and so people can just hang out at the park or beach or in the center of town and drink some beer. The interesting thing is that it doesn’t seem to cause any problems. The people I’ve noticed seem to be responsible in their drinking and I never really saw any problems because they don’t have a law about open containers. But, if you do happen to be drunk it’s totally cool to sleep it off in the bushes.

39) Apparently it’s totally cool for a guy to just pee some place outside without really concealing himself. Several times when we went to the lake for concerts on Thursday people would just pee right into the lake off the main path. One would be totally busted in the States for doing anything like that but here no one seemed to mind.

40) Of all the European countries Denmark has the highest taxes; however, they the happiest country in Europe, have the highest suicide rate (how does that make sense?) and get a lot of benefits from those high taxes, like college being paid for and receiving money each month to live on. Getting 1000 DKK each month while attending high school and excellent maternity and paternity benefits. Oh and 6 weeks vacation, which I don’t think has anything to do with taxes but is still pretty awesome!

41) I have handled 4 different kinds of money during the time I was here (Danish Kroner, Polish Zlotych, Czech Kornuy and Euros) and will go back home with 5 kinds of money in my wallet, I think that’s pretty sweet!

42) In Denmark one can make a living working at a clothing store or in a restaurant without too much trouble, complete opposite to America unless you’re the manager or something. They apparently have the highest average income in Europe (this according to a family I met at the beach who lives in France)

43) Packing your own groceries at the grocery store appeals to my organization and I think I might have a hard time not doing it when I get home...shopping at Aldi might be in the future :)

44) The Geographical Gardens in Kolding were founded in 1917 by a man names Aksel Olsen who had a big influence on Danish Horticulture. Some of the plants in the Garden were planted by him dating back to 1918 Aksel lived to be 95 years old! Maybe all that gardening was good for his health! :)

45) Hans Christen Andersen was a weird guy. He wasn’t very well liked, was considered ugly, had terrible luck with women and was born into an extremely poor family. But he was one of the most successful writers and his works have been translated into 157 different languages!

46) Beaches in Europe can be an interesting place. I’m completely Ok if you want to go topless at the beach but when we got to the nude beach it was another story. I felt a little strange walking along the water there, especially since it was more guys than girls who were nude.

47) Socialized medicine isn’t so bad. Having to go to the hospital because I feel off my bike wasn’t that bad of an experience. I literally got glued back together and was told that I would like pretty bad for a few days but it would get better after that. All in all and experience I didn’t want to have but a positive one.

48) Don’t be stupid when riding your bike...If you don’t think you can do something or if you have thoughts of doing it another way, listen to them and you won’t have to learn about number 47.

49) The Danes do not like deadlines. In talking to one of Joe’s co-workers we found out that if you ask them to have something done by a certain time they don’t like it. They would rather get everything done and make sure all the problems are taken care of before giving you a report or answer. It’s better to ask extremely nicely if you want something done in a certain amount of time.

50) Everyone should have the opportunity to go to Europe at some point. It’s one of those things that everyone should experience and spending 3 months here has been truly amazing!

Copenhagen day 2: Change in plans

So I mentioned that there was a lot of rain on Saturday, lots and lots of rain...this is important to the Sunday events.

Joe and I got up and got ready then checked out of the hotel and headed towards the train station. we stopped at a bakery for some breakfast and then bought our train tickets. The plan was to ride the 40 minute train to Hillerød so we could go to Frederiksborg Castle. We checked the track and then went to lock up our backpack. When we finished locking up the backpack the train was no longer listed on that track. After wandering around trying to figure out what was going on we decided to ask at information. We were told that we wouldn’t be able to take the train to Hillerød because of all the water. Apparently the tracks were flooded in the Northern part of the Zealand. She told us we could take a bus, train and bus and be there in 2 hours but that would have left us with very little time at the castle so we decided to go to plan B, which we didn’t have but easily came up with. I was pretty disappointed not to go to the castle. I was looking forward to seeing the Carl Bloch art and all the other artwork in the castle but apparently it wasn’t in the cards.

So we found a spot to sit down and finally ate our breakfast and then headed towards The Church of our Savior to climb the tower. If you recall Joe and I also climbed a church tower in Munich, well this one was far more complicated than the church in Munich. The church in Munich required a climb of 198 steps to get to the top, this one 380! And these weren’t very nice steps sometimes, steep, little and in tiny passageways, but the end result was pretty amazing!!!!!! The view of Copenhagen was just wonderful! I couldn’t believe how much you could see! It was really amazing! We finally climbed down all 380 stairs and headed towards Christiania.

The Church of the our Savior tower

View from the tower

View from the tower

Joe checking out the view

So yesterday I mentioned that Christiania is a sort of independent city state located in Denmark. It was founded back in the 1970s by neighbors of the area who wanted to use part of the area as a park for their children. Previous to this during the occupation of Denmark this area was used for military purposed but was going to be torn down. The people who settled the area basically wanted to do their own thing and instead of fighting with them the government allowed them to stay and set up their commune. One of the major aspects of Christiania culture is the selling of pot. It’s not technically legal in Denmark but I guess the authorities don’t see the point in fighting about it. Several times there’s been some issues in the area and apparently the open market for pot is not suppose to happen but as we were walking around we certainly saw it for sale and could smell it being smoked. Part way through our walk we watched two guys almost beat the crap out of each other. Honestly I think the one guy, who obviously belonged in Christiania, would have done the beating but whatever the issues was the other guy ran away. So, who knows what that was all about but it certainly made the experience more interesting. We didn’t stay long in the area but it was something worth seeing. I did a little more reading on wikipedia about Christiania so if you’re interested here’s the link. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freetown_Christiania

Welcome to Christiania

One of the few pictures I took because apparently you weren't suppose to take pictures

After our trip to Christiania we headed back to that wonderful and delicious bakery where we got my birthday treats to get some lunch. We picked out some pepperoni foccacia and two Hindbærsnitten. Let me tell you, these were by far the best Hindbærsnitten I’ve had in Denmark and it’s too bad they cost so much money because I would have bought a ton! I will learn how to make these though because I don’t think I can live my life without them. :)

So after our nice lunch by the canal we headed over to the Rosenborg Castle. This is an old Danish Renaissance castle that was built in the 1600s and served as a summer castle for King Christian IV. It was really a beautiful castle! The inside of the castle was just amazing. I can never get over how awesome all the architecture is in these castles and the amazing detail and artwork they have. We got to see some of the glassware and china as well as the thrones for the King and Queen. The rooms were just beautiful and so fun to see. We headed down to the treasury and got to see some of the old weapons and the wine cellar. It was really cool to see a gun on display that was given to King Frederick VII by President Lincoln. Then we saw the crown jewels which were also very neat. Of course nothing really compares to the Crown Jewels in London but it was still pretty neat to see.

Rosenborg Castle

Joe and Amanda on the bridge going into the castle

When we were done with the castle we took a little break in the gardens, prior to visiting the castle we spent some time in the rose garden and by this point you all know how much I love those. After resting up for a bit we headed back towards the main shopping areas and wandered around there for a while before heading back to the train.

Even though it was disappointing not to be able to go to Frederiksborg Castle we still had a wonderful time visiting in Copenhagen and got to see a lot of great things. I really can’t believe that it’s almost time for me to go. I still feel like I just got here and was just starting to plan all our summer adventures and now it’s already time for me to go home. As I’ve been saying this was an amazing and wonderful summer and I couldn’t have asked for anything better. I feel grateful to have had this experience and really enjoyed traveling around Europe with Joe. I certainly don’t want this to be the last time I ever come to Europe because there’s still too much to see! What a great weekend to end with!

Copenhagen the second time around :)

Hello everyone!

Looks like I’m coming down to my last and final adventures here in Europe. I still can’t believe my time here is almost over! It went by so fast but I honestly couldn’t have asked for a more amazing and wonderful summer. (Maybe not crashing my bike last week would have been nice but that aside it’s been awesome!)

So for our last weekend here in Europe, well my last weekend here with Joe, we decided to go back to Copenhagen to see some of the stuff we missed like the National Museum and then go to Hillerød to see the Frederiksborg Castle. So on Saturday morning we got up and headed over to the train. We had a nice easy train ride and arrived in Copenhagen around noon. Our first stop was the Georg Jensen silver shop so I could buy my Christmas tree ornament that I wanted to get last time we were here. So I picked out the one I liked and then we headed towards the National Museum. We stopped on a bench and had our lunch I packed. (Gotta love PB&J with chips!) and then headed into the museum.

Entering the National Museum

The National Museum is really amazing (and free!) We started in the Danish Prehistory section which was really cool. We saw all kinds of old artifacts including the skull of a woman who lived in 7000 BC! What’s really cool about all these artifacts is that they’re so well preserved. Apparently the people who lived in Denmark liked to make sacrifices to the Gods into the peat bogs. These bogs did an amazing job preserving everything so now we get to look at all this cool stuff! The room with all the gold was really amazing too. I loved the necklaces they used to wear. It’s so much fun to think about how people lived back in that time and what life must have been like. We also got to see the burials of several people as well. They would make little coffins out of oak logs and place the people inside. Some of them were so well preserved and others not so much but it was still really cool to see. Apparently after thousands of years your hair will still be around though which is kind of crazy to think about! All in all it was a really cool part of the museum.

Cool horns in the Prehistory section

The Gold Room

After that we walked through the Middle Ages and Renaissance section which was also pretty cool, then we stopped at the cafe for a drink then headed upstairs to see the toys and stories of Denmark. The toys sections was really neat and they had some amazing doll houses on display. The Stories of Denmark went from 1600 to the present day and was really interesting as well. We saw how Denmark progressed over time and what life was like for many people way back in the days. The small towns were very small (1000-4000 people) compared to Copenhagen (40,000). I don’t think I would have liked to have lived in the 1700 or 1800s in any place just because life was so difficult. We learned that women had an average of 4 children but 60% of children under 1 year old died. Another thing that was interesting is that when a couple was betrothed they sometimes ended up getting pregnant prior to getting married. In Denmark the child was still considered legitimate if the couple made it to the alter prior to having the baby.

Then we learned about the 50s and 60s and how Christiania was formed in the 70s. The people who started that area of the city basically wanted to do their own thing and instead of fighting with them the government just let them be. (We did go visit Christiania on Sunday and it was an experience) Then we got to the late twentieth century and Joe and I was amazed to discover that one of the display cases was titled the 1990s! Inside was an old PC and a Playstation 2 along with some video games and a huge cell phone (we used to use those big things?). Let me tell you, there is nothing like seeing a display case with your childhood toys in it to make you realize that you are getting old! The worst part is how much the PC and PS2 looked like they belonged in there! Joe and I realized that sadly we’re not so young anymore and this is just the first step towards getting older! The whole thing was a little sad.

1990s display case..oh we're old!

We finished up with the museum and headed over to our hotel which was close to the train station. I had found a new hotel that was really very nice and so after relaxing for a little bit we decided to brave the weather and go find some dinner.

Earlier this week is was suppose to be a beautiful day in Copenhagen on Saturday, that quickly changed and it was a down pour when we left for dinner. Throw in some thunder and lightening and you have a great evening. We wandered around for a little bit trying to find one restaurant that I had seen in our Denmark book but didn’t pay enough attention to to know where it was and finally decided that we were too wet and would just go to Jensen’s Bøfhus, which is similar to Applebee’s but I thought way better. We got some nachos to start and we both had burgers and fries for dinner. It was really delicious. We stopped at a 711 for some drinks and chocolate and headed back to the hotel to just relax for the rest of the night before getting some sleep. :) It was a really fun day in Copenhagen! :)

Danish medical system

Well folk, I made it the entire summer without getting sick, hurt or needing any kind of medical attention, until today.

This morning I was thinking I might go to the Danish Nursing museum but decided that since it was such a nice day out I would be better off going to the beach for a few hours. I had a wonderful time at the beach and met a family that was from Paris and had a long chat with them about all kinds of things then headed home.

So I was biking home and on one of the paths there was a crane so I decided to pop off the path and down to the street to go around. Then I did a stupid thing and tried to pop the bike back up onto the path but was not successful, instead I fell off my bike, did a nice face plant onto the path and managed to give myself a huge cut on my chin, under my nose and on my inner upper lip. I managed to get myself home and tried to get everything cleaning hoping I wasn’t going to need to go to a doctor but it looked pretty bad so I called Joe and asked him to come home so we could go to the hospital.

Joe was thinking it might not be that bad but when he got home and saw how deep they were he decided we better go. We took a taxi there and after some confusion on where to go were directed into the check-in area and I was looked at by a nurse. She gave me some wet gauze to put on my cuts (which were bleeding less at this point thankfully) and then I went to the waiting room. They called me back very quickly and I was seen by a nurse. She looked at my cuts and used some medical glue to glue my chin cut together. Interesting thing was the only thing they washed my cuts with was distilled water. Apparently that’s all they use here, but my mom told me the glue has some antibacterial properties so anything that might have been in there is no more. She called in another nurse to discuss the cut under my nose. They apparently weren’t sure what to do with it, if they should give it stitches or if the glue would be enough. After a few minutes of talking to each other in Danish and me giving them a confused look the other nurse told me they were trying to decide what would be best for that cut. Joe watched her move the skin around to see if it was really deep and it wasn’t just more of a gouge so they decided to put some of the medical glue on that and sent me on my way. I got a little ice pack from them and talked with the American doctor who told me that it would be fine. They said it would scar but not to touch or pick at the scab (a word they had a difficult time coming up with) so now Joe said I will have a permanent reminder of my visit to Europe for the summer (not exactly what I wanted to have happen but he’s right).

So, I’m thankfully OK, nothing more then some nasty wounds that will look crappy for a few days and then start to heal so hopefully by the time I go home next week it won’t look to bad. Tomorrow I probably won’t leave the apartment just because people were staring at me a lot this afternoon and I don’t really want to deal with that tomorrow so an inside day it will be.

Needless to say even though I did not want to have to experience Danish socialized medicine it was a positive experience. The nurses and doctor were helpful, I was seen very quickly and all in all I should be just fine in a few days. Nothing short of a fun adventure to start off my last week in Europe!

Love from Amanda

Egeskov Castle

Next stop was Egeskov Castle about 30 minutes south of Odense. I had read many cool things about this castle so I was really excited to go visit it. We found parking, got our tickets and started in the Castle. The castle is privately owned by the Count Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille. It has been owned by his family since 1919 and his parents and grandparents opened the castle to the public in the 1960s. The castle itself was built in 1554 and is built on oak pillars. The name Egeskov in Danish means Oak wood.

Joe and Amanda at Egeskov Castle

Amanda in the rose garden at Egeskov Castle

We started in the Hunting Room. Pretty sweet. The people who have owned this castle were big time into hunting and especially hunting animals with horns. It was pretty awesome to see all the animal heads and weapons used to hunt. Then we went into the Yellow Room and saw furniture that was given to the occupants of the castle from King Louis XVI in 1875 for their wedding.

The Hunting Room

We went upstairs and got to see the Banqueting Hall which was amazing and has chamber concerts in the summer on Sunday evenings. They had all kinds of interesting armor and other weapons in this hall.

The Banqueting Hall

Next up was the hunting passage, again with the hunting. In this room we got to see the oldest long bow in Denmark and found out that the little “closet” next to the display case was in fact hiding a toilet! (One of 17 that had been built into the thick walls of the castle)

Then we saw the Rigborg room, which had the coolest exhibit of the castle, Titania’s Palace. This doll house was built in 1907 by a father for his daughter who insisted that she saw small elves and fairies working in the garden and wanted them to have a nice place to live too. It took 15 years to complete the doll house and the detail was amazing. One of the rooms had a mosaic ceiling and several of the rooms had semi-precious or precious stones as a part of the decorations. It was so fun to look at everything and see all the details of the rooms.

Titania’s Palace

We saw the North Tower, the Victorian Parlor then the Music Room. They have an antique square piano in the Music room which was really neat to see. Then we saw the Steward’s room which can be used as a guest room and the Governess’ room. The last room was the South Tower which had a beautiful view of the garden and a cupboard containing linens that have been used at the castle for generations.

We headed upstairs to the loft and saw the wooden man which isn’t supposed to be moved or the castle will sink into the moat on Christmas Eve, so the legend says. They had all kinds of pottery, toys and kitchen equipment. It was really cool to see everything!

After the castle we headed over to the tree top walk and got to climb up to the top area of the trees and walk across several bridges. It was fun to be so high up and see the grounds.

Joe on the tree top walk

Amanda on the tree top walk

We headed over to the museums next and started with the motorcycles. I was really impressed by the collection they had. After the motorcycles we saw the grocer’s museum which was like a general store and Dracula’s crypt. We then got to the coolest museum, the old cars. We saw all kinds of early cars including a BWM, Audi, VW, Rolls Royce, Jaguar, Buick and a Ford Taurus! I got excited by the Taurus because I kind of miss my boat back home (My friends parents who have been taking care of my car while I’ve been gone nicknamed it “the boat” so I think that’s going to stick). It was really cool to see all the cars though! It was kind of fun how in the very beginning American cars were respected in Europe, not really sure what happened over the years but I think some American cars have gotten a bad name. Anyway, the cars were really cool to see and I think the most enjoyable museum!

Amanda with an old Ford Taurus

Joe with an old BMW

Before heading over to one of the mazes we decided to try our skills at the stilts they had available. Joe’s coworker and I were not nearly as talented as Joe was on them, but it was still fun to try!

Trying our skills on the stilts

Joe was much better than us!

After that we walked over to one of the maze gardens only to be disappointed that it was closed to the public (had we read our map a little better we would have known this but somehow we missed that bit of information). Since it was almost 6pm and the castle grounds would be closing we headed to the gardens.

We walked through the Kitchen garden which was really cool and saw all kinds of vegetables growing including cabbage and corn then we headed into the fuchsia garden. Apparently this garden has 75 different species and 1538 plants in the garden. They were really beautiful!

Fuchsia

We walked over to the sundial and then called it a day. The castle was really amazing and so much fun to see. We couldn’t have asked for a more perfect day to travel around either so we really lucked out!

Joe and Amanda at the water garden

Tomorrow we may or may not have a final adventure in the car before we give it back, we’re still deciding so more adventures to possibly come though certainly more next weekend when we make one last trip to Copenhagen! I so don’t want to leave now! It’s funny how that happens, a few days ago I was feeling ready to go and now, I just want to stay! However, I still must say I couldn’t have asked for a more amazing summer! :)

Love from Amanda

Odense and Hans Christian Andersen

Today we took a trip to Odense to see the Hans Christian Andersen house museum (we also went to the Egeskov Castle but I decided the blog post would be way to long if I I talked about everything so you get to read two instead!)

Entrance to the museum

Joe and Amanda at the entrance with the stage behind us

So we left around 10am and had invited one of Joe’s co-workers to come with us. We got to Odense after about an hour drive and found the museum. As we were getting there they were finishing up a play of the fairy tales just outside the museum so we watched for the last few minutes then headed inside. We found out another show would be performed at 1pm so we planned to make it back out to see that one.

The museum was excellent. H.C. Andersen was one of the most famous people to have lived in Odense. His life was extremely interesting (more on that later) and he came from the most humble beginnings possible. We started in “The Age” section and learned about all the different things that were happening during H.C life time (1805-1875). From there we learned a little bit about Hans himself. Apparently he was described as an ugly and repulsive man and was not very well liked by many people. He suffered from toothaches but was mostly healthy during his life. He died of liver cancer but aside from that he was really paranoid about getting sick and managed to stay in good health. (The infant mortality rate during his life time was 60%)

We then learned about his art. Not only was H.C. a talented writer but he also would amuse the children with his paper-cuts and sketches. In fact he often had small pieces of paper in his breast pocket of his jacket that he would use to sketch while traveling or visiting others.

Then we got to his life. This poor guy did not have it easy. His life started in a small home in the poor section of Odense. His father was a shoe maker apprentice and never made much money. His mother was a washerwoman. H.C. was born in a home that may have housed 4 other families at the time of his birth and his parents did not even own the home (a relative was living there at the time). H.C. was born only 2 months after his parents were married and we learned that in that area of Odense 30% of children were born out of wedlock. H.C. didn’t talk much about his birth or childhood and was often teased about it. His father died when he was young after he joined the army and returned home very ill. Hans mother was left to take care of the family and provide for Hans.

The house Hans Christian Andersen was born in

The room that H.C Andersen was likely born in at the home

Eventually he was taken under the wing of a wealthy family and was sent to Copenhagen for school. During this time H.C. was starting to write plays and after much struggle with school and his artistic career finally made it. He traveled all over Europe and even met Charles Dickens. Interesting fact since H.C. didn’t speak any English when he was visiting Charles he had a difficult time communicating and Charles’ children described him a boring. Hans thought differently of this visit and assumed it had gone very well.

H.C. had terrible luck with woman! (Maybe it was because people thought he was ugly?) He fell in love with 3 different women, none of which returned the affection and one even told him she saw him more as a brother (ouch!) So H.C never did marry but was able to be the “uncle” to many children of his close friends.

We also got to see several of his personal effects. We saw his top hat, and his first bed he had. Apparently during this time no one in Denmark really had beds so the person who ordered it for him had no idea if Hans would even fit on the bed which I thought was really funny. We also learned that when visiting places Hans would carry a rope with him in case of a fire. With the rope he would be able to exit the window of his room without any problems.

The fairytales started coming in 1885 and eventually he wrote 156 of them. The coolest part of the museum was a library filled with books in all the different languages his works have been translated into, 157 languages in all. It was fun to see all the places that are reading his works!

Towards the end of H.C’s life he lived in 3 rooms in Nyhavn in Copenhagen. Joe and I actually saw this house when we were visiting Copenhagen for my birthday which is pretty awesome. During the time he was at Nyhavn many American children took up a collection for him and sent $200 to help him be “comfortable in his old age.” Joe and I thought it was really funny that the children in the States thought he was so poor and wanted to do something to help out.

Eventually he became to sick to live on his own and moved in with some close friends. He died of liver cancer in 1875. His life was interesting and amazing and it was so much fun to learn about it.

At 1pm we took a break from the museum and went to watch the play. It had several of the fairytales and despite the fact that most of the show was in Danish it was still fun to watch.

Outdoor performance of the fairy tales

After this we drove down to Egeskov Castle (see second entry) then drove back to Odense to walk around more. We got back to Odense pretty late so everything was closed but it was fun to walk around and see the town. We grabbed some pizza for dinner and wandered around one of the parks. We saw several churches and happened up the Odense Tarteletter festival (Tarteletters are a traditional Danish food with little pie shells filled with yummy-ness). The tickets were sold out and even though a woman was nice enough to offer us one free ticket because he boyfriend couldn’t come we declined and Joe promised me some before I leave. :)

Streets in Odense

Church in Odense

Amanda and H.C. Andersen statue

We had a wonderful day in Odense and it was so great to see where Hans Christen Andersen was from and learn more about his life.

Love from Amanda

Folklore Festival

So as I was sitting at the kitchen table writing my blog about the Geographical Gardens I hear some music coming from the Main Street area. I peaked outside and didn’t see much so I went back to writing. Then I heard singing and decided I better go investigate what was going on and it’s a good thing I did. :)

I went outside and discovered the Triangle Folklore Festival. Tonight they’re having a big performance in Vejle so they had a preview today in the streets. I got to see dancers from Belgium which was really cool and then they had dancers from Poland. I of course was pretty excited about that and of the 4 performances I saw today they were my favorite (and not because I have a blood connection to Poland but because they were the most entertaining....and a little of the connection) It was so fun to see all the dancers and it made me want to learn how to do traditional Polish dances when I get back home. (In all the free time I have!)

Belgium Dancers

Flag Dance from Belgium

Polish Dancers

The guys dances were awesome! All kinds of tricks
Polish Dancers

Polish band and flag

They had a little break for a while so I wandered around to the international market they were having and discovered an Italian tent with cannoli! Since I didn’t get one in Italy I decided to buy one (super expensive 30 DKK or $5 cannoli but totally worth it!)

I went back to watch the second half of the performances and saw dancers from Lithuania and Turkey. I liked the dances from Turkey. They had really fun costumes and their dances were pretty cool.

Lithuania Dancers

Lithuania Singers and band

Turkey band and dancers

Turkey Dancers

This is one of the things I love about Kolding. You can just happen upon something really interesting and get to see some cool stuff if you pay attention to what’s going on outside and you listen for the music. I’ll miss those little fun surprises when I go back to the States!

We have a busy weekend planned! Tomorrow we’re heading to Odense and the Egeskov castle. Sunday we might take a ride down to Germany but we’re still deciding on that! Next weekend we’re taking one more trip to Copenhagen so no fear, still plenty of adventures to report! Enjoy your weekend!

Love from Amanda

Kolding Geographical Gardens

Today I went to the Kolding Geographical Gardens. I’ve been meaning/wanting to go here for most of the summer but either it never worked out or I had something else to do.Well today was a beautiful day in Kolding (Sunny for a change and 68 degrees) so I got up pretty early, got ready and headed to the gardens.

I rode my bike thinking that would be a fast way to get there and it would be some good exercise. I made myself a little map and figured out where I needed to go....well mostly figured it out. I knew what street I needed to turn on off of Joe’s street but somehow I miss counted the intersections and ignored the sign that told me the gardens were at one particular turn and kept going, up a big hill...after biking all the way up I decided this couldn’t be right and went back down. Sure enough the sign was at the street I was suppose to go on, I guess that just counts as more exercise, so I finally got back on track went up another hill (a slight incline the whole way up) and made it to the Garden.

I got my ticket and started my exploring. I started at the Birdhouse, Menagerie and Greenhouse. They had some really cool birds and goats and donkeys. The greenhouse was really pretty too and I learned from my map and guide that it was built in 1987.

Then I headed over to the Concept Gardens where I saw the Dahlia Garden, Herb and Medicinal Garden and several others.

Dahlia Garden

Next up was the best part of the whole Gardens, the roses. I absolutely love roses and whole gardens of them make me so excited. :) Even though some of them were past their peak bloom it was still so beautiful and smelled so good! There were a lot of beautiful roses and my favorite were the orange ones called Fellowship. I love the non-traditional rose colors so it was great to see so many different colors. Thy had these pretty purple ones called Rhapsody in blue and these pink and white ones that I don’t remember what they were called but they were also really pretty. I could have spent hours just wandering through the pathways looking at all the roses. :)

Rose Garden

Fellowship Roses

Alas, I did not have hours (the park is only open until 6pm) so I kept walking along the path to see more. Next up was the Japan area which had all kinds of cool plants including a Japanese Maple that was already starting to turn colors.

Japanese Maple

Then I found myself in the Canada and North America section and was greeted with a beautiful huge Hydrangea bush. This bush was apparently replaced after a Hurricane destroyed part of the North American gardens. I love Hydrangeas. They’re such a beautiful summer flower.

Amanda with the Hydrangeas

Then I found the South America section of the garden and saw a Giant Rhubarb. I should have taken the picture of the leaf with my hand next to it to show just how big it was but the leaves were incredible. It was really cool to see!

Giant Rhubarb

They had a second smaller rose garden called the Rosarium which was also very beautiful so I wandered around there for a while then missed out on some more Japan plants because the Magnolia weren’t blooming.

More North American plants including an American Yellow wood, Cucumber Tree and Thimbleberry bush.

The final section was plants from China. I saw The Grottos which were built by Askel Olsen in 1930. Askel was the foundered of the garden and planted a good number of the plants in the garden while he owned it. They also have a memorial stone for him in the gardens. He lived to be 95 years old! I guess gardening is a good hobby and just might keep you healthy! :)

The Grottos

I saw more Hydrangeas called Sargentiana which were absolutely beautiful! They had umbrella bamboo and several cherry trees. The Temple Tree was really cool and apparently the species has been around for 230 million years. It’s considered sacred in China, Japan and Korea.

Sargentiana

Temple Tree

All in all it was a really awesome experience and I think this might have been my favorite thing I did in Kolding. The whole garden was really beautiful and even though some of the plants were past their flowering they had so many that you didn’t feel like you missed out. I’m really glad I finally made it over there! I think I took enough pictures though! (78 total, I love nature pictures, what can I say!) So all in all a great late morning early afternoon activity.

Love from Amanda