Grant and Susan in Denmark

5-9 August, 1996 - Northern Denmark

Took the Color Sea Cat from Goteborg, Sweden to Frederikshavn, Denmark on 5 August 1996. Drove from Frederikshavn to Skagen in northern Jutland - took pictures of characteristic red & white roofed architecture, and an 1850s era windmill at museum.

Lighthouse buried in sand

Stopped in north Jutland to see a famous lighthouse near the ocean partially buried by encroaching sand dunes and abandoned in late 1800's. Wonderful photographs, but leathers and boots are not the best apparel to wear for tramping around sand dunes! The cameras didn't like the sand much either.

Buried lighthouse buildings, from the top of the lighthouse

10 August, 1996 - Motorcycle Rally, Thisted, Denmark

Extremely windy conditions along the coast, to the point where Grant was nervous about the safety of the bike. Front end felt light and ready to take off at any moment. Very strong side wind, est. 50kph. Landscape features lots of windmills and sand dunes covered by grass.

We attended the MC Thy Traeffen (Thy Motorcycle Rally) - an international rally, but we won the prize for coming from the longest distance! We hadn't known about the event, but noticed many bikes passing the gas station where we had stopped and figured something must be going on, so we followed them to the rally site close by. Danish rallies are a bit wild - this year's featured contests where teams of males and females build a "rope" with their clothes and get a prize for the longest rope - i.e. stripping to the buff. Last year's contest, we were advised, included the women whipping the men with ropes!

Dinner at the rally was "Whiskas" & mos (mashed potatoes) (advertised by a picture of a can of cat food). It is actually a meat only stew - apparently this is a standard joke.

We met Ove Jensen of Als, Denmark, who went around the world on a BMW ten years ago (his bike has 300,000 km on it and still going (just got a new motor). We have an invitation to visit him in Als and see his photos, and also to attend the MC rally in Als next weekend. These rallies are hard, though, even if you're not partying. Band plays until 3:00 a.m., then there's a discotheque until 6:00 a.m., and very noisy throughout the night. Not much sleep for either of us.

Also met Veronica and Karsten Madsen who live nearby in Glyngore, Denmark, and accompanied him to their place for tea the next morning. She is Canadian, he is Danish, a mink rater who works 5 months of the year in Seattle.

We saw a huge windmill "farm" at the Folkecenter for Vedverend (Renewable) Energy on route south - Hwy. 11 - this is a very windy country, and the Danes make the most of it.

12 August, 1996 - Brande, Lillund (Legoland), Kolding, Denmark

Brande, Denmark- famous for its wall paintings and unconventional looking Baptist Church. From the tourist brochure:

"In 1968 Brande became world famous in spite of its 6500 inhabitants. This happened because Brande invited 7 Danish artists to put some colour on the gable ends of its town houses. After several months and many paintbrushes later, the result was seen, 23 gable ends were painted, giant sized colourful works of art. People came from all over Denmark to see the painted houses. Today there are 17 gable end paintings left, 7 are from the 60's, the rest are from the last 10 years. Evidence that the original idea conceived in Brande lives on."

Legoland version of the village of Reine, Lofoten Islands

We stopped at Legoland in Billund, Denmark - a lot like Disney World, but the Lego creations are fantastic, including the Nyhavn canal district of Copenhagen, Skagen (Jutland), Reine in the Lofotens, Munich airport (3.5 million Lego bricks!), Neuschwantstein Castle in the Bavarian Alps, Germany, 1886, (only 236,000 Lego bricks), the US Congress in Washington, the Bat Phra Keo Temple in Bangkok and many others. Planes taxi, canal locks operate, boats, trucks and trains work. Fantastic to see this for kids of all ages!

Pirate cove - Legoland, Billund, Denmark

13 August, 1996 - Ishoj, Denmark - southeast of Copenhagen

From Kolding to Odense to Kobenhavn (Copenhagen) including ferry ride. This will be replaced by a very long bridge, which is still incomplete. Got to Copenhagen, got lost, found the tourist bureau, no decent priced hotels due to fashion convention, no cabins in nearest campground - saw a little bit of the city on the way out, but it started to rain and by the time we found the campground at Ishoj, it was very wet putting up the tent.

Copenhagen is very expensive, so we didn't stay there long, though we did see Tivoli Gardens, one of the main tourist attractions, and Nyhavn, (New Harbour!) the 320 year old harbour district, with its colorful old buildings.

Nyhavn, or "New Harbour", the 320 year old harbour in Copenhagen.

And of course we saw The Little Mermaid, which sits on a stone in the water at Langelinie ('the long line') Pier. She is the central character in Hans Christian Andersen's story, written in 1837. The statue, sculptured by Edvard Eriksen and erected in 1913, is the most popular tourist attraction in Copenhagen. It was donated by Carl Jacobsen, the founder of the New Carlsberg Brewery. One night in 1964 the mermaid's head was sawn off, but it has been replaced by a replica.