The Old Country

Den Gamle By

Den Gamle By

We arrived home late in the evening which meant that the washers and dryers in both apartments would be churning until after midnight.  In fact, some of us got up in the middle of the night to move clothes from the washer to the dryer so we would have clean and dry clothes for the three-day trip through Jylland and Fyn.

We picked the van up at about 7:30, and after packing and eating breakfast we started the long drive to the “top” of Denmark.  We had planned to stop in Middelfart for a little break and check out the savings and loan bank’s architecture.  We got off to a late start so we skipped Middelfart and drove straight through to Aarhus to visit Den Gamle By.  It is an outdoor museum consisting of city buildings from all over Denmark which have been dismantled and reconstructed as part of a fictional Danish town.  Some of the buildings are as old as four hundred years and have been on this site in this museum for over one hundred years.  Actors in some of the houses act out Danish history in monologue.  This was a good introduction to old Denmark and a good way to start this part of our traveling.  Angie, Zach, Ben and Karen finally saw a little bit of the old country.

Den Gamle By

Norma had prepared a lunch of rye bread with Nutella and bananas which we ate while driving to Skagen.  This saved a little time but we were still behind the schedule, which we set out at the beginning. 

Skagen is at the top of the Danish peninsula.  The Skagerrat Sea meets the Kattegat Sea.  Both come ashore from a different direction and can cause a large vertical splash as they meet.

So far the day has been a partly sunny day.  As we got closer and closer to Skagen it became a cloudier day.  When we got within ten miles of the town we began to see raindrops on the windshield.  We could also see from the trees along the road that the wind was blowing quite hard.  It was important to climb the lighthouse to see the different colors of the two seas.  We had called several weeks before the trip to make sure we knew when the lighthouse was open.  We were told that it was open until five pm and only when the wind was not blowing.  At five-thirty we were still on our way.  We were determined though and drove to the lighthouse anyway.  We were let in and told we should shut the hatch on our way down.  We could not see the different colors, nor could we see the large splash.  We weathered the cold, wet wind for a few minutes and then closed the hatch.  The second important thing to do in Skagen is walk out to the point of land and put one foot in the Skagerrat and the other foot in the Kattegat.  We hiked to the point and some of us put our feet in the cold water.

Spøtterup Castle

On our way back to Aalborg we stopped by the Tilsandede Kirke.  It is an old church which, over the years, has been buried in the blowing sand.  Only the top of the tower can be seen now.

Because our hotel in Aalborg did not serve breakfast we lost an hour or so looking for something to eat.  It was Saturday morning and McDonalds didn’t open until ten.  We bought grocery items and ate in the car on our way to Spøtterup.  We like Spøtterup because it is a well-preserved medieval castle surrounded by two moats and two berms.

We timed ourselves to get there at around eleven am when it opens.  It wasn’t open at eleven-thirty when we arrived so we checked in at the restaurant to see why.  He called the owner and was told they are never open on Saturday.  We climbed the berms and photographed the building, then left for Viborg having made up for lost time.

Viborg Cathedral

We stopped by the old Viborg Cathedral (started in 1100).  The walls and ceiling are covered with new frescos painted from eighteen-nineties to nineteen-eleven.  To our surprise, the choir was in the middle of their Saturday rehearsal.  The music echoed

throughout the cathedral.  It was wonderful.

Our next stop was the beautiful city of Silkeborg.  The rain started again when we came out of the cathedral and it rained throughout our visit in Silkeborg.  We did get out of the car and wander around a little and then drove to Himmelbjerg which is heavenly mountain.  This is the highest point in Denmark.  The rain stopped long enough for us to climb to the top.

Engelsholm Castle

As we left Himmelbjerg on our way to Engelsholm Castle, we drove through the quaint village of Boes.  The main street is like a museum of little Danish cottages with straw thatched roofs.

We stayed the night in Vejle after a good old Danish dinner at Burger King.  The wonderful breakfast buffet at the hotel the next morning made up for all the cold rainy weather and lack of authentic Danish food of the day before.  Today’s travel will take us on a quick trip through Southern Fyn and a visit to the chalk cliffs at Møns Klint.  The day’s weather forecast is partly cloudy after ten, and very windy late afternoon, with clear skies and higher temperatures during the next four days.

Faaborg

Our first stop is Faaborg, one of my favorite towns in Denmark. We went over to Svendborg and up to Egeskov Castle (our favorite of all the small castles).  We wandered the beautiful grounds of the castle, visited two museums, played in the maze and climbed to the suspended bridges hanging from the trees in the forest.

After a four-hour drive, we arrived at Møns Klint.  By that time the wind was in full force.  We hiked against the wind down the four hundred and ninety-four steps to the beach.  We spent some time admiring nature and were glad for the help the wind gave us as we climbed back up the stairs.

Egeskov Castle

On our way back to Copenhagen, we stopped by the Vallø Castle.  We arrived in Copenhagen at about ten o’clock.

We returned the car and had breakfast before leaving for our first day in Copenhagen.  The agenda for this day was: Raadhus, Courthouse, Kompagnistræde, Højbro Plads (absalon), Torvaldsen Museum, Christiansborg Castle, Royal Library, Stock Exchange, Stork Fountain, Saint Nicholi Church, Srøget, marching guard, Amalienborg, Marmor Kirken, Fountain and Harbor walk, Gefion Fountain, The Little Mermaid, Kastellet, Nyboder, Kongens Have, Rosenborg Castle, St. Johanes Kirke, Gruntvig Kirke, Christianshavn, Vor Frelser Kirke, Christianshavn Canals, Vor Frue Kirke, Rundetårn, Nyhavn, Canal Tour, Dinner, and Tivoli.

Møns Klint

After breakfast we caught the S train to Birkerød.  We walked to the old church where our ancestors attended meetings.  We walked the old pathway though the fields to Kajerød (now a paved road with houses).  We checked out the old Kajerødgaard (farm) area owned by our family, and then went to the train station for our fifteen-minute ride to Hillerød and the Frederiksborg Castle.

After Hillerød we took the little yellow train to Helsingør and a visit to Kronborg Castle (Hamlet).  On the way from Helsingør to the Deer Park in Klampenborg we stopped at the Louisana Art Museum.

Frederiksborg Castle

We took a quick walk in the Deer Park until we found a herd of deer, then we hurried home to get ready for our seven o’clock dinner at the Knudsens. By the time we caught the bus to the Knudsens it was ten minutes to seven.  We tried to call and let them know we would be a little late, but the battery in the phone was dead.  We excused ourselves for being so late when we got there and gave them all our excuses.  They had already started eating because they thought something had happened to us.  During the course of the conversation, we discovered they had planned for seven guests at six o’clock rather than six guests at seven o’clock.  We felt bad for the misunderstanding.  On top of that they gave us a gift of twelve “Royal Copenhagen” porcelain dinner plates that they didn’t have room to hang in their smaller apartment.

Kronborg Castle

Wednesday arrived and we ate a quick breakfast before leaving for a last full day of activities.  We started out at the Frederiksberg Park.  When Angie was three we lived in an apartment on the walkway from Smallegade to the park.  We went into the park and showed everyone the “binky” tree.  We rode the continuous elevator in the Town Hall and stopped by our favorite bakery on our way to the Frilandsmuseet (an outside museum similar to Dan Gamle By in Aarhus, except this one is larger and is composed of farm buildings).  The afternoon was spent in West Amager looking at the new developments.

We attended the five-thirty session at the Temple, and a seven-thirty baptismal session where Ben and Karen were baptized.  After that we were invited to the Ilskovs for dessert.

Louisana Art Museum

After checking the luggage in at the airport, we took a quick trip to the fishing village of Dragør.  While we were there, Mom took the train into town to pick up the dinner plates which Karen said she would take to Portland.

We left everyone at the airport at about twelve o’clock for their twelve-thirty flight back to Portland.

If you have read all these words, you are probably as tired as we travelers are though it was a wonderful two weeks of seeing some beautiful sites.  We enjoyed the time we spent with the family and wish the whole Larsen clan could have be with us.  Maybe next time.

Dragør

The next blog will be very short and probably not very exciting.  We’ll see.

Thorvaldsen's Museum

Stock Exchange

Strøget

Copenhagen Street

Nyhavn

Fountain at Harbor

Gefion Fountain

The Little Mermaid

The Mill at the Kastellet

Rosenborg Castle

Grundtvig Kirke

Grundtvig Kirke

Vor Frelser Kirke

Climbing Vor Frelser Kirke Tower

View from Vor Frelser Kirke

Kristus in Vor Frue Kirke

The Round Tower

Birkerød Church

The Deer Park

Frilandsmuseet

Angie at the Fountain in Kronborg

Tivoli

Louisiana Art Museum

We Love you,

Mom and Dad

Ældste og Søster Larsen