One of Allie’s buddies in Brownies was a girl named Anna Marie. Barb got to be friendly with her Mom and learned they were going to be heading to Denmark for a year where her husband was to teach an exchange program at a university. The friend, whose name we can’t remember, made the mistake of saying “Come see us sometime”, so we did. I’m sure they didn’t expect us, and we didn’t really know them, but they were very nice to us. They helped point us around Copenhagen for a couple of days, then we jointly carpooled into the Danish countryside for a trip to Legoland. It was a great trip. We haven’t seen them since.
Saturday, April 12, 2003
We flew to Denmark out of Dulles on Virgin Atlantic to Heathrow and SAS from Heathrow to Copenhagen. It was our first time on Virgin Atlantic, a younger, hipper carrier with a wide selection of in-flight entertainment. We all enjoyed it, though I enjoyed the free drinks a little too much.
Sunday, April 13
We arrived in Copenhagen and got a taxi to the SAS Royal Hotel in the heart of town. This hotel was famous for its design by Arne Jacobsen and we enjoyed having it as our base. It was the first place we encountered heated bathroom tile floors and heated towel hangers. We liked them so much we made sure to build heated tiles into our bathrooms at Pfefferkorn a few years later.
We arrived relatively early in the day and were able to get a room. Barb got unpacked and was ready to go explore the city but I rather badly needed a nap to recover from overindulgence on the flights. I was out of practice on international flights. I think Barb and Allie did a little bit of exploring while I slept it off, but Barb was understandably not too pleased. I recovered by dinner and by the next day was ready to go. We connected with Anna Marie’s family and made plans to meet them the next day.
Monday, April 14
We set out to explore Copenhagen, starting down the Stroget pedestrian shopping street. Coming from America’s automobile-centric mall culture, it was refreshing to find an all-pedestrian (and some bicycles) shopping street. They are more common now across Europe and even in the States, but in 2003 it was unusual to see such a thriving pedestrian shopping zone, especially given the chilly weather. One of the squares featured a giant spider sculpture that turns out to have been a traveling Maman installation. We went to the top of the Round Tower for a nice view of the city, ascending the remarkable equestrian ramp built for horse and carriage.
Later in the day we met up with Anna Marie and her family for a quick hit at Tivoli Gardens. The kids tackled a few rides at this venerable amusement park, one of the inspirations for Disneyland and all that followed. We explored much of the compact park and returned later in the evening to enjoy the lights and take a few inadvertently artsy photos.
Allie’s postcard to Harry at home (did Maxie get her own postcard?):
Tuesday, April 15
We spent another full day exploring Copenhagen, some with Anna Marie’s family, some on our own.
We started at the Little Mermaid statue for requisite tourist photos. The statue was surprisingly small and it was a little odd that people were allowed to clamber all over the rocks to get pictures with it. It seemed to me it should either be more closed off or more accessible. It was not the last time we questioned the Danish commitment to both safety and those with disabilities. Conversely, it was not the last time we were impressed with the Danish commitment to being responsible for your own actions. The national sentiment seemed to be “Don’t be stupid.”
We backtracked to the Amalienborg Palace in time to see the changing of the guard. I didn’t even realize Denmark still had a royal family, but they do and they’re still worth guarding. Evidently.
We popped by the famous and picturesque Nyhavn, filled with restaurants and brightly painted houses. I know we ate lunch at one of the restaurants either on this day or one of the other days. We managed, however, not to take any pictures, so here’s one from the Internet on a brighter, busier day.
We then trekked over to the Rosenborg Castle. The castle houses the Danish Coyal Jewels which we toured, but the real hit with Barb was the lawn of crocus flowers. They were on the cusp of coming in, but that garden has fueled Barb’s dreams ever since. We have planted hundreds and hundreds of crocuses over the years in our yard but never get more than a few dozen at a time, to Barb’s ongoing dismay.
I think it may have been this night that we arranged to have dinner with our new friends. We made our way to their apartment where they had a babysitter for the kids. The four of us went to dinner at a very nice, upscale restaurant and got to know them a bit. The man was a professor of economics (I believe) at the University of Maryland. He was teaching an exchange course but learning a great deal about Denmark and its socialist economy and way of life. He seemed greatly impressed though he wondered how much could transfer to the U.S. environment. So much depended on the Danish sense of community, working together and not standing out in a crowd.
The dinner was great; my big faux pas was getting the check and not being able to figure out if there was a service charge included. I guessed that there was and didn’t leave a tip (partly because it was so expensive I figured there must have been a service charge in there). After a few more dinners in Denmark I came to the conclusion that I was wrong and probably stiffed the wait staff. I’ve felt bad about it for a long time. Sorry guys.
We ended the night at their apartment for a nightcap and a chance to plan our roadtrip for the next couple of days. I had made reservations to see LEGOland in Billund but didn’t really have any other plans. Our friends helped chart a course and would have a car of their own. I think my original plan was to drive to Billund and just spend the night there. They suggested to take an extra day and spend one night at a hostel.
Wednesday, April 16
I arranged to rent a car through the hotel and was pleased to get a nice Volvo station wagon to cart the three of us around. I was a little less pleased to find it was a stick shift, but managed to figure it out.
Our first stop was the reputed site of Hamlet’s castle, Kronborg in Helsingor. I think we just wandered around the outside and didn’t pay extra to go inside. I can’t find any of our own photos either, but the castle was impressive.
I hadn’t really realized that Copenhagen was on an island, Zealand, separate from the Danish mainland. From Helsingor, we drove to the west side of the island, out a spit of land to a port where we caught a car ferry to Aarhus on the mainland.
Not far out of Aarhus we stopped at the ruins of Kalo Castle. The kids enjoyed clambering around the ruins, climbing on all sorts of uneven rock surfaces and walls while we adults were mostly terrified. Coming from the world of strictly regulated national parks and roped off areas deemed unsafe for rambunctious children, we were shocked at the laissez faire approach of the Danes. Again, “Don’t Be Stupid.” We’re glad that our kids passed the test, though we had our doubts.
I’m not 100% sure where else we went, but I believe we wandered the countryside northward toward Aarlborg. We didn’t have any particular sights on the itinerary. The main thing I remember was being impressed by the number of huge, modern wind turbines that were set up in farmlands all over the place.
Our friends led the way to the hostel they had reserved for all of us, I think near Aarlborg. Barb and I were generally not hostel people but we were willing to give it a try for a night, willing to economize for a night for the sake of our academic friends. We found the place and it was spartan, as expected, but clean and certainly cheap. We had bunk beds and I think a room for our own family but we all shared the bathroom. I think our friends had brought all the necessary sheets and towels. It was not a great night but we survived…but neither Barb nor I have been in a hostel since.
Thursday, April 17
We got ourselves out of the hostel pretty early and made our way down to Billund for our day at Legoland. Compared to Disney World or Universal in Orlando, Legoland was much smaller with fewer rides. It appears they’ve added a number of new rides and attractions since we were there, replacing some of the ones we saw, but the park itself is more or less the same footprint. It was still fun, but easy to do in a day.
One of our favorites was the Duplo Driving School where kids from age 2-6 could get a taste of actual driving without being on a track. Allie loved it and it was fun seeing her tootle around in her little white car. The kids had to follow road signs and stay in lane, rather like real driving, and they got a Driver’s License at the end. Allie was very proud of hers.
Miniland is a walk-through attraction featuring Danish villages and global tourist sights all constructed from millions of Legos. It was very impressive though there wasn’t much to do other than walk along and maybe take pictures.
We checked into our rooms at the Legoland Hotel and had dinner in sort of a cafeteria at the park, as I recall. The hotel was a nice step up from the hostel, but otherwise was more convenient than remarkable.
Friday, April 18
Legoland accomplished, we drove back to Copenhagen the next day, this time via a bridge that connected the mainland to the island. After we got back to our hotel, I turned in the Volvo wagon and learned that the total rental fee for two nights was around $800, probably the most expensive rental I’ve ever done. I think it was partly because I went through the hotel rather than directly with the rental company, but mainly it reflected the taxes and fees Denmark imposes to discourage private vehicles.
Saturday, April 19
We spent one last day in Copenhagen, catching up on some of the sights we hadn’t seen, including the town hall and statue of Hans Christian Anderson.
I think we met our friends in Tivoli Gardens for one final meal, thanking them again for being friendly hosts. We vowed to get together again when they returned to Maryland. We didn’t.
Sunday, April 20
We headed home, notching Allie’s first big international trip. I’ve looked for but have not yet found any of our supporting information about this trip, so the descriptions are mainly from the photos and my memories. It really was a fun vacation, adventurous for us in the sense of going to an entirely new country and meeting up with people we didn’t know all that well. Plus, Denmark proved to be a very friendly and accommodating little country. English was widely spoken, the food was good and not too alien for Barb. Things were expensive but you had to admire Danish design sensibilities — you got a sense of value for your money. Maybe most important, Allie did very well on this trip and was fun to be with, prompting us to travel more and more.
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