We’re nearing the end of our time in Scandinavia; tomorrow we’re heading into Copenhagen so we can more easily get to the airport for our Sunday morning flight to Bordeaux (via Amsterdam’s Schiphol Airport). Because we’re about to leave, today was spent cleaning up the house, washing clothes, and vacuuming and filling up the car … Continue reading →

Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the world (the oldest is also in Denmark, those fun-loving Danes), was opened in 1843. If you ask me, it’s exponentially nicer than Disney World back in Florida, but then, I’m not a kid anymore. Well, I’m not a kid’s age, anyway. That’s the backside view of … Continue reading →

After our aborted trip to Ladonia, we took the ferry from Helsingborg, Sweden, to Helsingor, Denmark, then drove back to Hald in the continuing rain. The West coast of Sweden is comparable to North Zealand, only flatter, less wooded and a little less manicured, but we’re glad we made the trip over and back, even … Continue reading →

Leaving the cliffs, we drove the backroads of Møn, finding ourselves at what appeared to be the highest point on the island. It was eerie on the backroads; it felt like we were the only people on the planet, not a soul in sight. Driving West into the settling sun, I stopped the car in … Continue reading →

Today, Monday, we drove south to the island of Møn. We were told that møn means “virgin” in Danish, so I guess that means we’ve now visited the Danish Virgin Islands. Møn is known for its white chalk cliffs, the Møns Klint, similar to those along the southern coast of England, such as the famous … Continue reading →

It was appropriate that after touring “Hamlet’s Castle,” as the tour books all call Kronborg Slot, we would head for the beach at Liseleje to participate in the Midsummer festivities there: a Midsummer Night’s dream. We arrived early, around 8:30 p.m. Down on the beach, a huge bonfire was awaiting the evening. In Denmark, Midsummer’s … Continue reading →

On our trip to Norway last week, we traversed the Øresund, the strait that separates Denmark from Sweden. The narrowest point of the Øresund is between Helsingor, Denmark, and Helsingborg, Sweden. Here’s a map of our travels in North Zeeland. This post is about site #36 on the map, Kronborg Castle at Helsingor. Way back … Continue reading →

Back in Denmark for the weekend of the summer solstice, the longest day of the year, there were several local activities we wanted to attend. The solstice, also known as Midsummer, is a big holiday in Scandinavia; some say it’s second only to Christmas. Saturday, there was a Medieval Fair taking place at Esrum Abbey. … Continue reading →

Late this afternoon, around 6:00 p.m., we went to the beach at Liseleje to enjoy the fresh air and sun now that the rain has subsided. We like this beach; so far it’s been uncrowded and there’s that great ice cream shop around the corner with the licorice ice cream. Anyway, as we were sitting … Continue reading →

Saturday morning found us in the oldest city in Denmark, the medieval town of Ribe. Supposedly, the cobblestone streets we walked along date from 869 A.D. I felt guilty driving and parking on such ancient artifacts. We started by walking through the Torvet, the market square, down the pedestrian shopping street, stopping for coffee, then … Continue reading →

Being in a Viking mood, we headed toward Jelling after leaving the Fyrkat ring fort, arriving in Jelling in the late afternoon. Jelling is a small town today in the heart of Jylland, Danish Jutland, and there’s really only one reason to stop there: Jelling is the birthplace of Denmark, the place that Gorm the … Continue reading →

There are four Viking ring forts in Denmark, all thought to have been built around 980 A.D. by King Harald Bluetooth, son of the King Gorm, the first recognized king of Denmark. The Viking ring forts shared a common design, all built as perfect circles with wooden gates at the four points, allowing for the … Continue reading →

If you drive all the way north to the end of the road on Jutland, you arrive at a spit of sand, probing like a finger out into the sea, stirring up the waves where the North Sea and the Baltic collide. Actually, it’s where the Skagerrak and the Kattegat meet, two divisions of a … Continue reading →

In the 1870s, several Scandinavian artists “discovered” Skagen and drawn by the soft light of the north, moved there to paint, especially the so-called “Blue Hour” near twilight when the sky melts into the sea. Their subjects were the local fisherman, fishing in skiffs from the beach, the seaside scenery and themselves. These northern painters … Continue reading →

The rain stopped just as we pulled into Skagen (pronounced, “skane”). We had no plans or reservations, but June is apparently still the shoulder season, so we had no trouble finding a hotel room right in the heart of town. In Skagen, you immediately notice that the person with the yellow paint franchise is making … Continue reading →

We returned “home” last night, Saturday, from a whirlwind tour of Jutland, logging 633 miles in 3 days. Our trip started Thursday afternoon with a short ferry ride from Hundested to Rørvig, followed by a high-speed ferry to Århus on the Jutland peninsula. About 1/3 of our first day of travel was by ferryboat. Here’s … Continue reading →

There’s a yellow farm building that I use as a marker to make the turn off of the local road, Nødebovejen, to return to the house in Hald. It’s a poultry farm, something I have an affinity for, having worked at one for a year to earn money to put myself through college years ago. … Continue reading →

Like Amsterdam, Copenhagen, is a city for cycling. I’m pretty sure that there are more bicycles on the roads in Copenhagen than there are cars. Though we’re used to having separate cycling lanes on our streets, only in the big cities of Europe do you see separate traffic lights, too. Back in the main part … Continue reading →

After our canal boat tour, we stopped at a hot dog vendor in one of the popular public squares, then went in search of the Rundetårn, the Round Tower, built by – you guessed it – King Christian IV in 1642 as an astronomical observatory. Inside, access to the top of the Round Tower is … Continue reading →

Sunday was a lounging around and beach day for us so that we would be ready for a full day in Copenhagen on Monday. Although we already knew that Monday is not the best day to visit Copenhagen because most of the museums are closed on that day, we were undeterred because this was to … Continue reading →

I was mystified when I first started reading the guidebooks before we left for Denmark. It seemed that half the sights that were recommended were “Slots.” At first, it left me thinking that there were casinos all over Denmark: Kronborg Slot, Fredensborg Slot, Frederiksborg Slot, this list goes on. It turns out that a Slot” … Continue reading →

Inside, the Roskilde Cathedral vaguely reminded me of Canterbury Cathedral in England, probably because both cathedrals were converted from Catholicism to Protestantism at the time of the Reformation in 1536: Canterbury to Anglican; Roskilde to Lutheran. At any rate, in 1536, Danish King Christian III adopted Protestantism as the official religion of the land and … Continue reading →

After visiting the Viking Ship Museum, we headed to Roskilde’s city center, primarily to see the Roskilde Domkirke, the cathedral, a UNESCO World Heritage Site. I previously mentioned that King Harald Bluetooth had constructed the first Christian church in Zeeland here in Roskilde in 980 A.D. That church had been built of wood and was … Continue reading →

The boats I’ve shown you so far were all trading vessels, but when I’ve thought of Vikings, I’ve always had a picture in my mind of the longboat that was used by the warriors for marauding. Before we walked outside, we spent some time indoors, examining Skuldelev #2-4, a Viking Longboat: The Viking Longboat was … Continue reading →