This would have to be one of the most unremarkable journeys that we have made so far. The countryside around here is … flat. What more can we say. Extremely large wheat fields and a plethora of wind turbines. There were two surprises on the way though. The first was a large field area that seemed to be the spare parts depot for the wind turbines. There were hundreds and hundreds of prop arms all stacked up. Well I guess they have to keep them somewhere, but this is in the middle of nowhere. Strange.
The second was the bridge into Denmark. This is one looooooong puppy, and the toll reflected that. We had thought of taking the car over on the ferry, but we decided that the cost was too high, that was before we knew what the toll on the bridge was. But it is a very impressive bridge, they certainly know how to make them here.
On the way to Copenhagen we stopped at Odense, of Hans Christian Andersen fame, or as the locals call him, ‘HC’. Before we got there I wasn’t really that fussed about the whole ‘HC’ thing, but you have to see this town to believe it. The houses and the streets, really are like the images off a chocolate box. Lanes lined with little old houses painted in different colours, with small doorways, and dark windows. It seems that the houses were built before the time that straight lines were perceived as important as many of these houses are a little lopsided and constructed out of a collection of odd angles. Lines that you would think should be straight have developed a mind of their own. The atmosphere of this town invokes the imagery and feeling that is so well portrayed in the fairytales that HC Andersen wrote. The only question is which came first, the chicken or the egg. Did the fairytales inspire the town, or did the town inspire the fairytale. Whichever way, towns like this really do exist.
We arrived at our B&B in a little place just north of Copenhagen called Gl Holte. It is nice to be back in the B&Bs with more of the personal touches. Our host here speaks very good English so it is also nice to be able to ask the questions about the area that always come up, like what is the statue on the waterfront on the way down to Copenhagen all about?
On her advice we headed down to Vedbaek for dinner, at place where we could sit back, relax, and look across the water at Sweden. Sweden is so close you could throw a stick at it, well you could certainly swim across to it, well … I couldn’t, but a person that could swim could.
Our accommodation here is an interesting set up, almost like a small housing estate. Ten smallish, three bedroom houses, that are joined together, each have their own private backyards, but also back onto a large communal green. They also share some facilities like washing machines, so we found out. As kiwis we expect that everyone has their own facilities, but that is not necessarily the case and we often forget that. We asked if we could do some washing without realizing that it would create a problem. However once we got through that, we found Kirsten (our hostess) to be very accommodating and more than helpful.
This house that we thought to be about 20-25 years old, we learnt, Kirsten has been living in since here wedding day 53 years ago. We also learnt that she misses the snow. Evidently it hasn’t snowed here for the last 15 years. It must be hard when you have been growing up spending your childhood skiing and skating on the ice and then you don’t get to see your grandchildren do the same. But Kirsten is an interesting lady, has done quite a bit of traveling herself, and is still very active for her age, using a bike as her main means of transport. But then I guess when you have been doing that all your life then it is no big deal.
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