Denmark

Denmark was wonderful. It was so wonderful that it is hard to describe it. There is a word in Denmark, hoogalie (sp?) which means that things are comfortable and that is how Denmark is. It is does not have the most spectacular architecture nor is it run down. It does not have have the most spectacular countryside yet it is nothing short of beautiful. It is hoogalie, it is comfortable, it is a place that feels so familiar, that feels like home.

Saturday – Copenhagen

“A long flight with no sleep and now I am in Copenhagen. Everything was fine until I got out of customs! and then all of the sudden I was in a foreign country. I couldn’t figure out how to ride the train, where to change money, how to get my phone to work, etc. Perhaps this is a poignant a way to visit a motherland as any – to enter alone and foreign”

“One thing that I have noticed is that Denmark is a quiet place. No background music to fill the empty spaces, not a lot of talking, and less traffic than most places … I walked through much of the city – I saw many sites that I had seen in pictures. The city is not shiny – it is what it is – it is not run down either.

Sunset over Tivoli (Denmark’s most famous amusement park) It never got any darker than this and in fact this image is darker than it really was.

Sunday – Copenhagen

Chapel in Copenhagen

Copenhagen Temple

Copenhagen has no hills so this landscaping in the botanical gardens was even more charming.

Obligatory picture of block. I always take one everywhere I go. I don’t quite know why. I guess growing up traveling with Dad I thought that was what you were supposed to take pictures of!

S-Tog station. The public transportation in Copenhagen was so hard for me to figure out. Partly because it was in Danish but mostly because there is so much that it is overwhelming. I was very proud when Jo and I figured out how to ride the train!

The amount of bikes in Copenhagen was unbelievable!

The church we climbed.

Monday –

We started Monday on a visit to a Viking museum. I will put that in a separate post. We then went to Ordrup where Anna Sophia Pedersen (our Great Great Grandmother) was from. Christian Larsen also did missionary work there. I posted a history that Mom’s grandfather wrote about Christian Larsen on facebook. Look that up for more info. Ordrup is a tiny little place, really just a neighborhood. I walked up the street and it was really cool to think that I was walking in the same place as our ancestors.

View from Ordrup

Classic simple yet beautiful Denmark countryside! Denmark had wonderful wildflowers growing all over their green fields.

Farm supplies overtaken by wildflowers.

House in Ordrup

We also went to Kraghave where Christian Larsen grew up. It was also a small community. Sadly there was little indication that the area had been around before the 1970’s so I took a picture of the countryside.

We also passed through a couple of Jo’s ancestral towns and stayed in one that night. It was a fantastic little summer retreat town called Maribo. It sat on a large fresh water lake and had a fun little dirt path that we walked which featured a nice view of the Kirke (church)

Tuesday

On Tuesday we left from Maribo and took a ferry between two island and then drove onto Lego Land. Lego Land was so much fun! I loved the mini areas where they had recreated cities, etc out of Legos.

They have Giant ducks in Denmark. This one is right by the little mermaid sculpture!

… To be continued!