We said good bye to our hosts this morning … well actually we didn’t, we didn’t really get to see them much at all. Justine got talking to our host last night and he came out with an … interesting story about himself. The story goes that he spent some time in NZ and was in a relationship with a Kiwi girl. They had returned to Denmark together and had been together for some years when his girlfriend (GF1) had to return to NZ due to family illness and he was to follow her after selling up and sorting out their things. He had everything sold, had tickets in hand, had said his goodbyes, when girl number two (GF2) comes knocking on his door and says “I have loved you for a long time and I don’t want you to leave.” His response was “and who are you?” But it was enough for him to give up his plans, stay in Denmark, marry GF2, and have three kids with her. And GF1? Well she is still living in Palmerston North somewhere. We wanted to see this GF2 but she was out on the town when we arrived, and was still in bed recovering when we left. Either that or she had heard hubby telling Justine the story and was keeping a low profile. Hubby rose in time for us to say good morning to and then he took the dog for a walk. We had about 420 kms to cover today so we had to leave our money and run. Very strange to stay in a B&B and hardly get to say “Hi!” to our hosts. But it was a nice place in a very rustic kind of way, looks like an old stable in the half timbered style. We got greeted by a note pinned to the front door directing us to our room, and security is obviously not an issue as there were no locks on any of the doors. However we have noticed throughout Denmark that crime seems to be minimal.
Anyway, on to our stopover, Ribe. This is the oldest town in Denmark, and it shows with cobblestones and wonky old half timbered houses as we have become accustomed to seeing, but whereas other towns seem to reserve a short street or two to display this type of old architecture for the tourists, this is what Ribe is. It is old, it is aged, and it has done so gracefully, holding its age well. Although in some places judging by the number of zimmer frames outside the front doors of the cottages, it appears as if the original occupants are still in residence. Being Sunday, everything is closed except for the church, the museum, the bakery, and a couple of ice cream shops. The ice cream shops here never seem to close, they are the only ones that don’t.
We browsed around the central city for a while taking a few photos between light showers, and dodging dark clouds. The weather here is still a little suspect with frequent showers, and a strong cold wind. So no different to what we have experienced in the rest of Denmark really. The only advantage in the wind is that it blows the clouds away quickly to reveal the sunshine, the other side of that is that it blows in more clouds as well.
After a while we headed to the Viking Museum, which took us through the years in this town since 200 ad, and a very interesting ride it was too, including Vikings, Christianity and the local witch burnings. In keeping with the theme of the visit, we thought we saw ‘Thor’ (or what appeared to be one of his direct descendants) as we were leaving town. A solid looking older man with very long blond hair tied back in a plait at the back and an unruly beard at the front. All he needed was a helmet and he would have fitted the bill perfectly.
We reached Bremen (of the singing farm animal fame – donkey, dog, cat and rooster) late in the day and were glad of the warmer temperatures of Germany. It was nice to be able to walk into town, grab some food, and sit and listen to some live music in the square, without freezing our bits off. As we were walking home we passed through ‘Lloyd’s Passage’ and saw the hand prints of James Last … we thought he was long since dead. There was no sign of his go-go girls though. A shame :-)
Anyway, on to our stopover, Ribe. This is the oldest town in Denmark, and it shows with cobblestones and wonky old half timbered houses as we have become accustomed to seeing, but whereas other towns seem to reserve a short street or two to display this type of old architecture for the tourists, this is what Ribe is. It is old, it is aged, and it has done so gracefully, holding its age well. Although in some places judging by the number of zimmer frames outside the front doors of the cottages, it appears as if the original occupants are still in residence. Being Sunday, everything is closed except for the church, the museum, the bakery, and a couple of ice cream shops. The ice cream shops here never seem to close, they are the only ones that don’t.
We browsed around the central city for a while taking a few photos between light showers, and dodging dark clouds. The weather here is still a little suspect with frequent showers, and a strong cold wind. So no different to what we have experienced in the rest of Denmark really. The only advantage in the wind is that it blows the clouds away quickly to reveal the sunshine, the other side of that is that it blows in more clouds as well.
After a while we headed to the Viking Museum, which took us through the years in this town since 200 ad, and a very interesting ride it was too, including Vikings, Christianity and the local witch burnings. In keeping with the theme of the visit, we thought we saw ‘Thor’ (or what appeared to be one of his direct descendants) as we were leaving town. A solid looking older man with very long blond hair tied back in a plait at the back and an unruly beard at the front. All he needed was a helmet and he would have fitted the bill perfectly.
We reached Bremen (of the singing farm animal fame – donkey, dog, cat and rooster) late in the day and were glad of the warmer temperatures of Germany. It was nice to be able to walk into town, grab some food, and sit and listen to some live music in the square, without freezing our bits off. As we were walking home we passed through ‘Lloyd’s Passage’ and saw the hand prints of James Last … we thought he was long since dead. There was no sign of his go-go girls though. A shame :-)
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