Day 1
Left around 5 after visiting Jessie who was working at the airport. 9 hour flight on SAS, a nice airline with individual TV screens, pillows, blankets, and free alcohol. Arrive at Ole and Anne-Grete’s apartment in the heart of Copenhagen, a five minute walk from the main square and a across the street from an old, giant church. The place is filled with a ton of collected artwork including Ole’s collection of glasses from the time of Christ. Then the eating began: starting with aquavit schnapps, frikadiller (meatballs), and different courses of meats, vegetables, pickled herring, liver, and sauces piled on top of rugbrød (rye bread w/o the rye taste). We were all very tired and hazy but we decided to stay up later to hopefully adjust to the jet lag better. We walked down the harbor side through Amalienborg castle (where the queen stays when she’s home, less than 5 min from apt.) and an old military base still in use to the little mermaid statue. We then returned and went to sleep after some chocolates and turning down the coffee/tea to sleep easier. After we went to sleep Ole and Anne-Grete left for their summer house.
Day 2
Wake up early and G + G finally wake up on their own after failing to from our prodding, and loud attempts. I cut the rolls incorrectly, from top to bottom instead of the long way, making it harder to spread items on them for breakfast to the dismay of Klaus. Walked down to Kongen’s Nytorv, the main square in Copenhagen right next to the harbor with a bunch of great café’s, people drinking down by the water, and H.C Andersen’s old house. From Kongen’s Nytorv we walked down strøget, the main pedestrian walking street. Lots of Danes out enjoying the sun as we made it to Rosenberg castle, housing the crown jewels and many other old artifacts from the castle. Had a hotdog from one of the many stands and ice cream from Ole’s favorite place at the harbor. The Danes have very good hotdogs and the possibility for giant ice cream cones. Their scoops are smaller but a 5 scoop waffle cone with guf (kind of like a liquid cotton candy or just additional sugary topping), jelly, and a chocolate covered marshmallow are common. Copenhagen is a great city, we were able to walk everywhere and bike paths are on EVERY street and are being used. I noticed that all of the shops were very expensive (as is everything) and designer, nice clothing and most are dressed this way too. At least Klaus is a good example of normal clothing. Drove to Århus and checked out their nice house while Jon and I hauled a heavy little mermaid statue over from their parents. We sleep upstairs on nice inflatable mattresses that can have their feel adjusted and blow up automatically with our Dunas (covered comforter). I like the way the Danes sleep, just a sheet covering the bed and a Duna, no extra sheet.
Day 3
Woke up fairly early and went on a run down the hill from their house into Århus. Didn’t quite make it to the middle before turning back from the blistering heat. The Sun doesn’t set until about 11:00ish and it doesn’t really get fully dark, consequently the mornings aren’t much cooler than the rest of the day and I was walking back up the hill to their house. Had breakfast of strawberry yogurt with grain similar to Grapenuts on top and toasted rugbrød with banana on top—very good! We took the bus downtown, and we could learn a thing or two from their bus system. They get on in the middle or the back of the bus while those getting off do so in the front. Then you can pay with coins or a prepaid card through a machine in the middle or back as you get on, or just take a seat if you have a prepaid card. Therefore the driver doesn’t have to be hassled by those having to pay—and he doesn’t have to wait for those looking for money or annoying him to start up again. Freeloaders could get by by not buying a ticket, buy sometimes the police enter the bus and anyone without a ticket gets a large fine (never had this happen to us). Saw the Århus Strøget and had a nice sushi lunch by the water. Went into Bang and Olufsen checking out some very expensive electronic equipment and came back to lounging in the sun. Had an “American Dinner” but an excellent Jordbær Kage (strawberry cake) from the local bakery and watched some world cup before going to sleep.
Day 4
Woke up early and went took the bus into town with Maureen to go to Danish class. The class was very similar to mine material wise, just longer and with a larger, more diverse group of people. The class was maybe a little bit more advanced than where we are but not by much. Many refugees and foreigners, including her refugee friend Tim(?) from Afghanistan who had interesting stories of making it to Denmark and being in Danish prison. After getting back we went out to some castle ruins out on a narrow spit of land. Went swimming in the Baltic on the way there, as it was warm outside and the water wasn’t bad. The castle itself had a nice view, but there wasn’t too much to see as it was still being excavated. Got ice cream of course, and stopped by a fish place in the middle of nowhere that Maureen’s teacher recommended. We got back, ate, played boggle including Danish words and watched World Cup.
Day 5
Went into town (Århus) with Jon today and got to use my Danish a little. Jon ate at a pizza place in which the guy new little English and I also helped a woman with her baby stroller of the bus (there are tons of 20/30 somethings in Denmark with children and they have giant luxurious baby strollers that they take on the bus anyway). We went into the large church in the center of town right before services started. Beautiful Church. Danish (maybe all Scandinavian?) churches have a ship hanging in them to symbolize the passage through life. We then went to Den Gamle By (the old city), which was a large community of buildings from the 17th, 18th, and 19th centuries. There were also characters in a few of the buildings as well as a baker, brewer, store owners, etc. I tried some studentbrød at the cafeteria there. It is a combination of all the left over breads/baked goods baked together to form a cheap but good tasting bread that students often buy because it is cheap. Went into “Kvickly” which is kind of like the Danish Fred Meyer, Maureen didn’t seem to like the variety but I thought it was fine. Also got “Samba” candies which were chocolate covered marshmallows.
Day 6
Had Klaus’s usual breakfast today which was really good. It is plain yogurt with a small sliced up apple, chopped walnuts, almonds, and macadamia nuts, chopped chocolate and frozen raspberries. Played some boggle then headed of to Moesgård beach. Nice drive on the way through the expensive part of town and the woods. On the walk down to the beach saw some remnants/burial sites of inhabitants of the area from 1000BC(?). The beach was nice but much colder than the other day so no one swam. We watched two models run down the beach literally over 100 times as a photographer snapped shots of them and their clothing. Got ice cream and hotdogs from the stand nearest to us for a nice snack on the beach. Went down to the store to get some bread on Klaus’s bike when I got back. Bike travel is so nice there. I bought the bread, and went through a little checkpoint in the main store but decided not to buy anything and couldn’t figure out how to get out! I finally realized I had to go through a checkout line anyway…weird. Had a good dinner of Asparagus soup, shrimp sandwiches on franskbrød and Tuborg. Watched Finding Neverland and some World Cup.
Day 7
Klaus’s B-day today and we went down into Århus, first to the art museum. It was great with a lot of modern art and the famous “boy” sculpture. Other highlights were representations of the nine circles of hell in Dante’s inferno, a video of a remote-control plane flying around in a circle on a string attached to a guy’s penis who is laying on a table (very weird and painful looking!), a cat mummy, and the video of the killing of a horse and ritual singing while it was being killed and chopped up—jars filled with the horses body parts was the exhibit in the museum. Got lunch and walked around some more before returning. For dinner we went back out to Moesgård to a nice restaurant having a lox salad and veal with new potatoes and very good gravy. Came back to cake, coffee, and presents—lots of t-shirts for Klaus. Also had a very spirited debate with grandpa on where ones pants should come up to (he essentially argued almost to the armpits), needless to say it gave us a good laugh.
Day 8
Planned on going to the zoo in Abeltoft today but we went into the town first and decided to go to Tivoli later instead of to the zoo. Abeltoft was a nice old town and we walked around after getting crepes for breakfast and buying some candy to bring home. Town was what I would think of as “European” with an old look and cobblestone streets. Came back and went to Tivoli in Århus which was not too great. They had a decent, really short roller coaster but that was about their best ride.
Day 9
Headed to Ringkøbing out on the western coast of Denmark stopping along the way at a nice swimming spot on the ocean with soft sand and lots of steep dunes to roll down. Water was fairly warm and there were a few waves to try some body surfing out. Also stopped at a church from the 12th century we saw along the side of the road. It was nice inside but the graveyard was all very recent and noticed the “Tak for alt” or “thank you for everything” gravestone which we couldn’t quite tell who it was intended towards. We got to our small hotel (8 rooms max) and ate dinner at a pretty bad Chinese food place. Checked out the beach which had a few old German bunkers on it from the 2nd world war. Had good Italian for dinner and played some boggle. Later helped a drunken Danish couple back into their room by climbing into their hotel window from the top of our van. The hotel manager was either away or asleep, and the man gave me 100 crowns telling me he wanted me to “have a beer on my crown tomorrow”.
Day 10
Had a good breakfast at the inn and quickly headed to the beach. Felt warmer out today so I went swimming while G-ma and John put their feet in. John and I went walking down the beach and saw what seemed to be a dead whale with a net caught up in its tail. After getting ice cream we headed home alertly as grandpa was driving (highlight moment: driving straight over a roundabout circle). Got back to the house and Simon (brother of Marie, who I met in Seattle through my roommate’s dad) and his friend Rasmus came over to pick me up. After chatting for a bit in Århus we headed to Silkeborg about 40 min. south. Simon’s English was good from studying in Australia for 6 months and I was jealous of his snorkeling in the reef. On the way we stopped at a high point with a nice large view of the area and the first time I saw large forests in Denmark. We also stopped in “downtown” Silkeborg checking out the main walking street and seeing their version of the dollar store. We then stopped by a new car factory right next to their school with all types of makes and models. The cars were generally smaller than in the US, but their were some hummers and larger stuff as well. Next we went to his house in a Silkeborg suburb. Nice place with a lake at the end of the street and close enough for Simon to bike to school, and they were adding on an addition as I was visiting. Met his parents Henrik and Gitte who were also both very good English speakers and we sat outside in the nice weather eating strawberries with cream and sugar and some cake before taking off. I found out that Gitte is the leader of the local tennis club and we made a quick stop at the courts which I was surprised to find were clay and I was a bit disappointed we didn’t have the time or equipment to play. Next we stopped an old sanitarium, where people would go to recover after being in the hospital. During WWII this became the main Nazi base for Germany and there were many bunkers throughout the area built into the hills. Now the area is a museum, hotel, and contains a house which their family rented out for Simon and Marie’s confirmation parties. The artwork on the grounds was cool including a pin-cushion man—king of a statue of a person turned into a fountain by various holes throughout his body spouting water. There was also a giant bush fountain made of old metal swastika’s and a tree half burnt by fire while the other half was reconstructed from branches of another tree which were attached on. We then went to dinner at the old paper factory along a river that runs through town. The food and beer was good. We then headed back to their house and I decided to leave pretty quickly as I had the early train ride in the morning and Simon had exams coming up. Simon gave me a ride home and a few beers from Rasmus’s uncle’s brewery where Simon used to work (?). It was great to have a connection, however distant, and visit the Strøms, seeing how the locals live and more of the culture. I thank them for their hospitality and hope they visit Seattle in the future.
Day 11
Got up early for the train from Århus to Hirtshals on the northern coast of Denmark. After the ride we got on our ferry to Norway with no problems and without the need of a passport. I was surprised how big and fancy the ferry was, actually more like a cruise ship. We thought we would be sleeping outside on deck chairs but it turned out that we had our own room, which was nice as it eventually got cold outside on the deck. We quickly found out there was a dinner buffet on board and so we held out eating the whole day on the ship to gorge ourselves during the dinner buffet. The buffet was very good with lots of variety, although nothing too out of the ordinary for exotic foods. I also sampled all of the different deserts, lots of puddings, flan, and cake. Exchanging money was easy, and the ride was nice and smooth…not much to do but sit on the deck, watch world cup, and wait until we get to Bergen.
Day 12
Got into Bergen around 8 am and not much was open, but we found a bakery for some breakfast. Was a nice looking town with the harbor down the center separating the new from the older town. The older side also had a large forested mountain with lots of houses that overlooked the town. After walking around some more we began by talking a walking tour through Bryggen—the older district of town with a woman dressed in traditional Norwegian garb. The history of the town could be described in one word—fire. It ravaged the town over 10 times before they finally realized that maybe a little space was necessarily between the previously all connected wooden houses. On the tour we also got into the Bryggen museum which had some entertaining games to play, and the Hanseatic museum where you could see how people lived in the time period (12th-18 centuries?) The town was actually inhabited mostly be Germans. After this we checked out the fish market, got a free few samples and talked to someone who didn’t know what lutefisk was. Next we went up the funicular, kind of a monorail which goes up the mountain for a great view of the whole city. We walked back down to save on the ticket with the help of two Norwegian woman who were very excited to learn I spoke a little Danish and proceeded to try to talk to me for a few minutes while I caught little snippets. Next we visited outside Rosenkrantz palace and Hall(?). We then went looking for the leprosy museum and found it—unfortunately too late as it closes at 3! We ate at a good Thai place for dinner and checked out the Universities art museum but we found ourselves with a lot of extra time as all the tourist stuff was closed by 6 and our train ride was not until 11. We sat around in the train station and went on some walks around checking out some malls and a church, but the weather was unpredictable all day and we got completely soaked in the rain. My clothes still weren’t dry after the train ride in the morning. Overall a good city, although definitely not as much to do as Oslo. Thought it was interesting that in every tourist shop there was a huge emphasis on trolls and hand-knitted sweaters.
Day 13
Arrived from the train ride very early at 6:30 am into Oslo. The train ride was about 7 hours long, and I was able to sleep for about half of it, but Rick Steve's recommends it as the best scenic ride so I stayed awake for a lot of it to check it out. It was a nice ride, and it stayed light enough to see the surroundings. There was a lot of snow, rivers, and houses out in the middle of nowhere. After arriving in Oslo we walked down the main drag to the palace while looking for breakfast and waiting for tourist information to open. We found a breakfast buffet at a hotel to eat at and booked a sightseeing cruise before checking out Oslo’s city hall. The city hall is a giant building with a giant clock and scenes from Nordic mythology sculpted along the outside. The biggest building in Oslo. Cruise took off from a harbor area kind of like the Seattle center with carnival games and small rides, although the weather was bad so no one was there. The cruise was OK, but nothing spectacular. Got to see the islands out in the harbor and get a little background on the area, but not too much info given and it was a bit long. Met some touring older Japanese women on the boat with bad English, but we struck up a semi-conversation and she gave me her card in case I come to visit Tokyo…After the cruise we booked our Hotel and checked out the Resistance Museum showcasing Norway’s resistance to the Germans in WWII but were kicked out early as it was closing. Next we decided to go to Frogner Sculpture Park which was a pretty long walk away. The park itself was huge with tons of sculptures all from Gustav Vigeland. The sculptures were all of humans in various contortions or interactions with one another which culminated in a tall pillar made up of humans in various positions. Definitely one of the highlights of Oslo. From here I led us in the wrong direction back and it turned into about an hour and a half hike back from the park.
Day 14
John and I got our buffet breakfast and went our separate ways. I first headed to the Nobel Peace Museum which was awesome! They currently have a great photographic exhibit on religion and violence and it was very interesting to me with a lot of great pics. They also had a room where you could listen to speeches of previous winners as well as a very high tech “book” where when you would turn the blank pages images and words would appear on them which you could touch to display more information. They also had a “garden” of all the previous winners with screens that would come to life and display their information as you walked in front of them. Finally they had another high tech wall which displayed info about Nobel himself and the different prizes. Unfortunately the video they had on renewable energy was not up and running but this was the best museum I visited. After this I went back to the resistance museum to finish up what I hadn’t seen the last day. I decided to walk up to a shopping area that Rick Steve’s recommended in his book but it was not too spectacular and it started pouring rain, completely soaking me. I made it to the Oslo cathedral and sat down a while attempting to dry off before heading out again. I then went to Norway’s national gallery, seeing a lot of work by Munch including “The Scream”. It was then time to get on the ferry so John and I met up and were surprised to find instead of sharing a double room we both were given an individual room—with four beds each. Had another good buffet on the ship and the waiter seemed impressed by our appetites.
Day 15
Got in and headed to Denmark’s national museum for our last full day in Copenhagen. Good, giant museum that I didn’t have enough time to move all the way through. Some objects were 5000 years old and they had large collections from the Middle Ages and renaissance as well. In the museum I met Christine, a fellow UW student as she commented on the UW shorts I was wearing. She had just got in a few days ago but her friend she had planned to stay with was MIA so we hung out for the afternoon. Got ice cream and everyone except Klaus went on a canal tour in three languages which I though was much nicer than the boat tour in Oslo. Saw the Mermaid again, and much of the city from a different viewpoint—the opera house, library, old stock exchange. We went to dinner at an excellent Chinese place where I got a three course meal including fried pineapples and ice cream dessert.
Day 16
On the boat tour the day before we noticed a churches spire with a staircase around the outside that people were climbing and we decided we wanted to climb it as well. We set off pretty early and it was a surprising quick walk to the other side of town; unfortunately it was Sunday and we could not climb it during services. Our of luck, we decided to walk through Christiana, a hippy town that has maintained an autonomy inside the city of Copenhagen (not sure of the exact situation now, but restrictions are being placed and its past its hay day). Houses were small and old but the feel was nice. Murals painted on all the walls, people listening to music, reading and hanging out by the water. Also people clearly drunk presently or hung over from the night before just sleeping and sitting out in the street. As we were leaving the police were on their way over…Got a smoothie and took one last walk down the waterfront before driving off to the airport…
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