Tag: Denmark

Day 8 – Aarhus day 2

Published on by Cyranny6 Comments

 

My second day in Aarhus started at sunrise, which means a little before 5 O’clock. Actually the only time I really saw the sun rising, since in Denmark, come mid-May, even my excitement wasn’t enough to get me up that early…

I headed downtown, to my “secret” Wi-Fi spot to send a few early bird messages, hoping to find a nice place for my second night in town, and to make sure my next future stops wouldn’t be a worry once again!

While browsing around, concentrated on my tablet’s screen, I noticed a few people sitting at the other end of the large roundish bench. Two drunk men… Not an unusual sight at all, as alcohol drinking is largely enjoyed everywhere.

Danes are not all party-all-nighters like the Internets depict them, but it wasn’t uncommon to see men getting on the train with a six pack of beers, and leaving, after a short ride, without much to take home with them… People drink everywhere, and anytime, and those who party, party hard! In the early morning, the empty bottles were always there to testify that Mr. Fun was there the night before!

But surprisingly, drunk Danes, at least the ones I’ve seen, don’t go angry-drunk. They are loud (OMG can those otherwise discreet people scream loudly when under the influence of alcohol!!!), but other people just scream back at them, and that always seemed to settle the spontaneous need to express themselves in public (as loudly as possible, obviously).

So after a while, I left my drunk bench-fellows, and went to the bakery to get myself my very first Danish pastries. I am not into sweets, but pastries are a MAJOR thing in Denmark, and I felt like it would almost be a crime not to try them at least once.

So one frøsnapper and a chokolade bolle later (well, after buying them, I mean… I could never eat 2 pastries that fast), I was back on the road to get to Den Gamle By… The Old Town!

Frøsnapper

Example of a frøsnapper…  Chokolade boller being chocolate croissant, I don’t think a picture would bring anything more to this post 😉

I had to see the open-air museum, and after my afternoon at Copenhagen’s Glyptotek, I thought it was better for me to show up early in case it would take me a little more time to see everything, than expected.

On my way to Den Gamle By, I received a text message from Ditte, my Aalborg host, who had noticed I was looking for a place to stay in Aarhus…

“My sister has a room to lend, near Den Gamle By, if you are still looking, that is?”

When I say that Danes are nice people, Ditte is one perfect example of the experience I had with them… Unfortunately, Ditte’s sister’s room wasn’t available that night after all, but who cares? Just the thought of having caring people following my whereabouts was enough to make my day.

That, and Den Gamle By.

It is basically a reconstitution of Danish life, in the 1800s, 1920s and 1970s… Genuine houses from all around Denmark have been moved to Den Gamle By, and you can enter some of them to discover the different merchants that provided their services back then. Every here and there, you can also find live characters glad to tell their story to the visitors…

This post is already getting very long, especially for Aarhus, and I wouldn’t want the city to get a wrong impression, thinking I liked it better than Aalborg or Viborg… So I’ll just put a selection of pictures and the official link to the museum’s website (https://www.dengamleby.dk/the-old-town/)

I’ll just add that the open-air museum is REALLY worth stopping by. Especially if you are off season, like me, and don’t have to bump into tourists every step you take in town. The characters are just incredibly interesting to talk to. (I fell in love with the general store’s owner who spent a long while telling me about his business as if we were still in the good old days… Not stepping out of his charming character one single time. I have a picture of him, but I promised I wouldn’t put it online, so you’ll just have to imagine him. Special mention to the baker too, who gave me extra sweets when I told her I was Canadian, hehehe) But plan at least a whole afternoon… Because it is HUGE! And you don’t want to rush in.

The entry

In the late afternoon, it was time to rest my Ow feet and check in at the City Sleep-In hostel (http://www.citysleep-in.dk/en/), since I hadn’t found any couch to surf for the night. I stopped on my way to buy a Frikadelle burger, a must in Aarhus, according to Lucas! And I wouldn’t want to miss one of Lucas’ musts!! I might write a post about the hostel later, since it was an adventure of its own… But here are a few pictures in the meanwhile!

 

P.S. The frikadelle burger is worth the detour… I thought it’d be heavy and a little dry, but it is a fast food delight! Med remoulade, of course 🙂

 

 

Previously…

Copenhagen, day 1  / Copenhagen, day 2  / Møn’s Island / Aalborg / Viborg, day 1 /

Viborg, day 2 / Aarhus, day 1 

Day 7 – Aarhus, day 1

Published on by Cyranny14 Comments

Aarhus

 

At last…. Well, not really, but blog wise, it was about time, I will give you that!

I was now in Aarhus, probably the city I would miss the less. Not that it was ugly, or dirty, or uninteresting… But Aarhus was harsh with me from the start. I wasn’t even in town, and people already kind of rejected me!

I had couchsurfing plans that didn’t work out, and as the day went by, I switched to researches on Airbnb for a room or an apartment to rent.

There again, no luck, but I was kind of fearing that I was a little short in time to find anybody ready to host me… So I went for my last resort (not that it was really bad, but it was the most expensive way I could afford to get a roof over my head); the hostel!

First day in Aarhus was spent mostly walking around, looking for good free Wi-Fi spots and hoping to find a place to stay. (by the way… If you are in Aarhus and looking for a hot Hot Spot, try the bench in front of “Magasin” in Lille Torv Square)

Oh, and since I don’t have much to say about this first day in Aarhus, here is a map with three important places… The little red heart is for my favorite Wi-Fi spot, the yellow star for my hostel, and the green spot (hi there, Green Spot!) a place we’ll be discussing in my next post… Den Gamle By, literally “The old town”…

Aarhus-map

Oh, and I feel generous… a view of “Magasin”, with my favorite bench – in Aarhus! (spent a loooot of time there, hoping for good news LOL)

Magasin-Aarhus

Thanks Google!

 

And, as usual, a few pictures taken along my stroll…

 

 

 

Previously…

 

Copenhagen, day 1  / Copenhagen, day 2  / Møn’s Island / Aalborg / Viborg, day 1 /

Viborg, day 2

 

Appologies and excuses…

Published on by Cyranny3 Comments

Hey everybody!

No… I’m not stuck in Viborg, and no, I haven’t given up on this blog either.

I am now back in Montreal… And Looking back, I shouldn’t have thought I would be able to keep a daily blog while abroad. I love writing, writing just a few lines is something that is impossible for me, and while in Denmark, having the time of my life, I found out that posting a post a day was planin impossible.

Days in Denmark were (and still are, I wouldn’t pretend to have changed anything for Danes by just spending 3 weeks among them) sooooo much longer than they are here in Montreal! The sun was up around 4 AM and there was still some light in the sky at 11 PM…

The excitment of being in Vikingland had me up and ready to go very early in the morning. I was waking up, getting ready and hitting the road as soon as possible. That wasn’t a problem, per say, but I would wander, explore and visit until I’d notice that it was around 9 PM.

Denmark made me lose all track of time (among other things) and by the time I was “home”, I’d barely have the force to eat a little bit, take a shower (Yeah, baths are not a common thing over there… to say the least.) and fall asleep, EXHAUSTED. Many times, the order was changed, falling asleep fully dressed being the firt step of the process, and waking up in the middle of the night to have a bite, clean up and put on my pijamas for the last few hours of sleep!

So… I deeply appologize for not keeping my promise to keep you informed on a regular basis. But I will complete my blog now, and work on my previous posts also to give more information about the already posted destinations…

Thank you for your good thoughts, and your comments, come back every now and then, and I should have more to show! Denmark is a more interesting country than I had imagined, if that is even possible, and I hope to honor it with my own words.

Until next post…   Knus 🙂  (hugs… in Danish, of course)

Day 6 – Viborg

Published on by Cyranny13 Comments

My second day in Viborg started with the singing of the birds and the sunrays warming the already more than comfy duvet I had been hiding under for far longer than any other night since the beginning of my journey…

After a short walk in my hosts’ garden, to appreciate yet another sunset in Denmark, I got back in to back up my belongings, ready to give Viborg a second chance.

I hadn’t had a chance to talk much with my hostess, a more than nice Swede now living in Denmark. As I was checking the busses available to take me back downtown (No way was I going to take the walk again… ) we had a long and interesting talk about differences between Canada and Denmark.

We exchanged, while I was eating my mix of avocado and weed pesto on rye bread, and I felt bad we didn’t have more time to get to know each other.

I then got back downtown, to stroll around and get a better taste of the city Lukas called his hometown. Although it wasn’t as full of attractions as other cities I had visited before, Viborg has a charm of its own. And when I came up to the Dom Kirke, the main church, I just had a feeling I had to go in…

The church was at the image of Danish churches, a perfect mix of luxury and humbleness… I walked through the aisles, until I found the way to the crypt. I couldn’t help to get down the stairs and peek at what was hidden in the building’s basement.

When I got in the room, my attention was first drawn to the tombs of long gone important people of the church… But quickly, I came back to the main room of the crypt, and discovered guest books, in which people left messages to God…

I found the idea interesting, and being a compulsive writer, I took the latest book, sat down in the middle of a bench, and started writing. At first I thought I wouldn’t know what message I would leave behind, but I quickly realized that my hand had a soul of its own, and a lot of things to say. The organ was playing a solemn and slow music piece as I thought about life, and I filled a whole page of the large book, with my trembling hand writing. When I finished, I set back, and my eyes teared up.

People have faith, or they don’t. It is not to me to judge. Those who do have faith, have so in different Gods and powers, and I am noone to say who’s right or wrong. But even in a church that wasn’t my own, I have to say that the eperience I had was powerful enough to make me understand that there was a reason I had set foot in Viborg.

I closed the book, with this new feeling in my heart, and I left the church… And I was off to another adventure, Aarhus now awaiting me…

 

 

Previously…

 

Copenhagen, day 1  / Copenhagen, day 2  / Møn’s Island / Aalborg / Viborg, day 1

Day 5 – Viborg

Published on by Cyranny11 Comments

Viborg

 

Fifth day in Denmark, and after yet another night sleeping like a baby, I awoke with the first rays of the sun.

My hostess had school to attend, and would leave the apartment shortly after 7 O’clock, so I packed my bag, and left a little earlier, to let her finish her prep quietly… I went back to the Storcenter where I had met Ib the morning before, because I knew the way, and a mall is always a good place to hang around when you have a little bit of time to waste and no time to get lost!

Since the stores weren’t open at my arrival, I went for a walk in the bicycle trails behind the buildings. For the fifth day in a row, the sky was clear of any cloud, and though the morning temperature was a little frisky, once there, it was already warm and promising for the day to come…

I shopped in Bilka, bought myself a few goods to snack on the train and headed to the station to hop on the first bus to Viborg!

I had put Viborg on my schedule for only one reason, that might look silly. Lukas’ family was from the Viborg area, and I had promised him to visit… And my first impression was a little divided… Viborg is a beautiful city, with its pastel painted houses, and its churches, but I think they voted a municipal rule that streetname tags had to be removed downtown, just for the fun of seeing the tourists wander cluelessly.

Which I did, for a while, before I found my way by some sort of miracle!

I then finally made it to my host’s home, after a good hour of walk, starting to tell myself that I was never going to do that kind of trip again (due to Ow feet and Ow back, and Ow face, that obviously hadn’t been sunscreen creamed enough in the morning) like an old drunk!

When I got there, my hosts were getting ready for some rock climbing stuff activity of some sort, so I took all my things upstairs, and decided to just close my eyes to see how it felt like to lay on this incredibly comfortable bed, with that incredibly fluffy duvet on me, and the nice little breeze, along with the birds’ singing coming from the Velux…

It was about 19h, and I re-opened my eyes at around 4h in the morning! I guess I was tired… LOL The fun thing is that I had gone briefly in the garden, because I thought I had seen rabbit cages in the backyard (which were rabbitless) and therefore, I had moved my shoes from the frontdoor to the backdoor. So when my hosts came back from the climbing stuff, they thought I was out in town… All night! LOL

So here again are a few pictures… Mainly of my lovely temporary home, since I didn’t do much of that day 😉

 

 

Previously…

Copenhagen, day 1  / Copenhagen, day 2  / Møn’s Island / Aalborg

Day 4 – Aalborg

Published on by Cyranny13 Comments

Aalborg

 

Yesterday night I landed in Aalborg. My first reason for being here early in my trip being to meet Ib, and pick up the phone he had prepared for me…

I was going to use Couchsurfing for the first time, and both me and my host were a tiny bit nervous, since we were both newbies at playing the CS game.

I had a great couch awaiting me, with a super duvet to keep me warm, and although I craved to log in and tell everyone about my fabulous day, I just managed to arrange for my meeting with Ib in the morning, and fell asleep like a baby.

I was up at sunrise, discussing the new day’s plans with César, my CS host’s cat. We got prepared (me and my host, not César) and headed for the bus which would take me to the mall where I was supposed to meet Ib.

I was anxious. Being virtual friends is one thing, meeting in person is a whole other deal. But things went as smooth I could have imagined… Like old friends meeting after some time away from each other. He treated me with brunch, and we chatted for a long while, catching up on this and that. He then drove me downtown Aalborg where I was to meet my CS host. He dropped me there with a promise to meet again before my trip back home…

My host then took charge of my visit and gave me a loooong tour amoung the several interesting points of the town… We visited the house of music, Aalborg’s main church, strolled along the popular streets, saw the work of potery and glass blowing craftsman artists… We also went to Paradis, an ice cream parlour (I am not into sweets,but WOW!), and spent a long time along the harbour, talking and just chilling among the hundreds of locals enjoying the numerous parks and resting areas…

Next was time for supper, which we spent in a small casual traditional-style Danish food restaurant. My first Danish meal, and what a platting! Pork with a crispy skin, with (a loooot of potatoes, brown gravy, pickled cucumbers and red cabbage… Yum!!

We finished the day in an ancient Vikings’ grave,just before sunset (solnedgang) with a great view over Aalborg….

Unfortunately my camera’s batteries were dead, so I couldn’t take a lot of pictures, but I will make up for it when I come back at the end of the month 🙂

 

 

Previously…

Copenhagen, day 1  / Copenhagen, day 2  / Møn’s Island

 

Day 3 – Møn’s Island

Published on by Cyranny17 Comments

MønsKlint

 

Today was bound to be yet another fun but long day… And it has been just that. Starting with a flash trip to the Island of Møn, and then a quick come back to Copenhagen to take a short flight to Aalborg in the evening.

Møn Island is absolutely be-a-u-tiful! It is totally worth seeing. Unfortunately, the bus driver misunderstood me and dropped me in a little fishermen harbour village, with nothing to do, but having two hours to kill before another bus could take me to the actual Møns Klint site…

I found a man and woman sitting in front of their house, enjoying the nice weather and thought it was about time I would test my Danish for real!

Ok, we switched to English not long after, but I guess I looked friendly enough to be invited to jump in Klaus’ car, who drove me straight to the site, telling me about the Island along the way…

So, looking back, thank you mr bus driver for your lack of understanding 🙂

Here are a few pictures of the cliffs… Which were worth the hike, even with about 25 pounds of load on my back!!

 

 

Previously…

Copenhagen, day 1  / Copenhagen, day 2 

 

Day 2 – Copenhagen

Published on by Cyranny15 Comments

Second day of great fun, but without much rest along the way… Today, I mainly went to Copenhagen’s Glyptotek, a big (big, as in way bigger than just a little big… Big big big!) museum founded by the son of the founder of the Carlsberg beer.

After many hours of watching the different expositions, I moved to Tivoli Gardens, a must if you check any “to do while in Copenhagen” list on the Internets… And it is indeed, a must see! The oldest amusement parc in operation in the world is really worth a visit, even if you don’t go on rides…

So here are some pictures, awaiting corresponding comments, a little later 🙂

On the way to the Glyptotek (actually on my way to and back from it)

 

In my Glyptotek pictures, there is a lot of butts and such… After seeing the exposition about Rodin’s work twice in Montréal, I found myself to be fascinated by marble statues…  Especially angles we don’t usually see. I won’t start on it, I’d post just tomorrow morning…

 

 

After a few days of skipping the blogging and chatting in the evening, due to extreme tiredness, here are some of my pictures of Tivoli Gardens, one of the oldest amusement parks still running, and one if not the most beautiful one I have visited. It is possible to enter the park without getting on any ride, and I recommend it warmly… It is a 20 something dollars well spent to have a nice time in the Danish mythical park.

 

 

 

Previously…

Copenhagen, day 1 

Day 1 – Copenhagen

Published on by Cyranny19 Comments

 

Okie… Summary of the day…

Strøget, Church of our Lady, Rundt Tårn, the Botanical Garden, Statens museum for kunstners, Rosenborg’s castle, the King’s gardens, Nyhavn, the Royal Danish Theatre, the Table church, Amalienborg, Kastellet and its church, the Little Mermaid, le Skuespil Huset and Copenhagen’s stock exchange building!

When I came back to the apartment, I had burned every bit of energy I had… I just felt like going to sleep even if it was barely supper time. It was good fatigue, but I was (and still am) as tired as can be. So I’ll leave a few random pictures of Copenhagen, that haven’t been touched up yet, to give you an idea, and I’ll add the comments later 🙂

Thanks for your understanding!

Bicycles, in Copenhagen… Really? 😉
Vor Frue Kirke (Church of our Lady)
The great escape indeed!!
Manholes are always cool to check out
It’s Bixi’s 3rd summer operating…. Copenhagen has been doing it for 125 years!!!
Keeping the town clean
Smørrebrød restaurant… Unfortunately didn’t have time to try it 😦
Entry to the King’s gardens
Rosenborg Castle
Rosenborg Castle’s gardens
Nyhavn. What, you had guessed?
Nyhavn
Nyhavn
The Marble Church
Amalienborg Castle
Arrival of the new guard
Change of guard in Amalienborg
THE Little Mermaid
Little mermaid
Lazy tourists… Or Segway tour, as you prefer!
Equivalent to Montreal’s Centre des Sciences… Felt like home!
Sidecar on a Vespa?
Cool bike
Stockmarket tower… And its 4 entwined dragons.
Stockmarket
Bicycle duo

 

To learn a little more about Copenhagen;

http://www.visitcopenhagen.com

 

D day-2

Published on by Cyranny3 Comments

Today, I received an email from Pippa, suggesting where and when we should meet… And it struck me.

Now, all this is really getting really really real!

I got butterfly flutters reading the note. Because it is one thing to say you’ll meet someone, but it is completely different when you can picture things happening.

And now I can imagine myself sitting on the side of the street near the B&B where I’ll have spent one of the most resting nights of my life, knowing I am safe in Svendborg’s Fairy’s town… – That being Svendborg, if you have trouble following – protected from all evil spirits that could have wanted to give me nightmares. And waiting, with the magical green fairy dress I have fought dragons and evil Asian delivery critters (they are the worst!!) to bring to her on my lap. And there she will come, with her long wavy hair in the wind, walking barefoot (yes, even in May… she is a FAIRY!! Follow!!) in the green Denmark grass, the wind playing with the many ribbons dancing around her svelte silhouette, vintergæk pinned in her braided hair and all…

Ok, it probably won’t be just like that… But still, I know exactly where and when it will happen.

And things are really getting really real!