ODENSE AND ON TO VEJLE, DENMARK – AUGUST 25th

It’s Thursday morning and we’re on the train to Vejle in Jutland, Denmark. Last night was our final stay in a CabInn Hotel, five in Copenhagen and two in Odense. We’re thinking now, that’s enough of tiny hotel rooms (Photos below). Yes, we’d do it again because it’s a significant savings, quite clean and well located. But, it will be nice to have a bit more room to maneuver.

The last few days have been a mix of overcast, mist, light rain and sunshine…nothing to slow us down though. In our brief stay in Odense, we took a short picturesque river cruise down the Odense River which runs through the center of town (Photo below left). Odense is to Denmark as the Salinas Valley is to California; it is one of the most fertile areas of Denmark and where most of the Country’s fruits and vegetables are grown.

A special town highlight was a visit to the birth home of Hans Christian Anderson, located in Odense’s medieval District (photo below center). The adjacent museum is full of interesting tales and anecdotes from the writers amazing life, his drawings and paper cuts and an extensive collection of books. We were particularly struck by his ability to overcome the incredible adversity of his early life and family.

The Hans Christian Anderson house (yellow)

The medieval district has many well preserved homes from the 17^th century, most being of the brick or half-timbered style. Through the centuries, some of these, particularly the two story buildings, show differential settlement (no longer level) giving them a twisted and unstable look (Photo below).

VEJLE - AUGUST 25th

We arrived in Vejle mid-morning where we immediately purchased train tickets to the nearby towns of Jelling and Horsens. Once we’ve checked into our hotel in Vejle, we’ll spend the afternoon visiting the Jelling Monuments, another UNESCO site. Then this evening and tomorrow morning we’ll be touring Vejle on foot before training to Horsens for the Medieval/Viking Festival.

JELLING – THE JELLING MONUMENTS – AUGUST 25th

In Jelling, we walked to the Jelling Monuments, erected by the 10^th century Viking King Gorm the Old and his son, King Harald Bluetooth. This monument consist of two runic stones, two earth mounds, a medieval church and the more recent finds of buildings, a palisade and a stone ship setting (Photo below left). Combined, the Jelling Monuments are an outstanding manifestation of pagan culture and the transition to Christian beliefs in Scandinavia.

The Jelling monuments site dates back some 1,000 years, when Danes primarily practiced Paganism. The original site of the monuments was defined by a large line of vertical stones in the outline of a ship hull, typical of a pagan worship site (Photo below right). Gorm the Old introduced a runic stone to the site to honor his wife, Queen Thyra.

In later years, King Harald added a second and larger runic stone near the first with the following inscription; “King herald bade this monument to be made in memory of Gorm his father and Thyra his mother that Herald who won for himself  all Denmark and Norway and made the Danes Christian”. 

Of the two earth mounds on the site, the northernmost mound is believed to be the burial site of King Gorm. However, separate archaeological explorations over several centuries have yet to confirm that belief. The Christian church situated between the earth mounds was erected by King Harald to end the practice of Paganism and cause all Danes to be (by decree) Christian. I suppose what the King says, goes; I can only imagine the consequence of disobedience!

RETURN TO VEJLE

Following a store-bought sandwich and chips picnic in Jelling, we returned to Vejle mid-afternoon and went to the hotel to get settled and regroup. We washed and hung a few of our clothes, easier now that we have a slightly larger room.

We walked Vejle’s main pedestrian street with its mix of modern and medieval shops, discovered a gathering promoting electric cars and bicycles, visited an indoor shopping mall and explored several side streets where we photographed fountains and sculptures. The street was quite busy with shoppers, but unlike back home stores closed promptly at 5 PM.

Back at the hotel, we enjoyed one of our typical budget dinners…a great pizza accompanied by a bottle of Cabernet…not the really expensive one, but a $5.00 (US) bottle from Chile…full bodied, quite good…even better than “two-buck Chuck” (sorry, Chuck!)

TO HORSENS AND THE VIKING FESTIVAL – AUGUST 26th

Our morning was spent walking Vejle’s central district as well as its canal promenade. We also visited the Saint Nicolaikirke (church), where the well-preserved body of “bog lady” is interred, visible under Plexiglas (Photo below left). In early-afternoon we took a 15-minute train ride to the City of Horsens where the annual Medieval Festival was getting underway.

THE MEDIEVAL FESTIVAL

What a fun experience…a first for us. We have Medieval festivals near home at Tilden Park, and also in Marin County, but we’ve never been to one. I always felt they got too rowdy. But this one was a comparatively calm family event…seeming to reflect the Danish culture.

It was a huge event…covered roughly six square blocks of central Horsons. The streets and pathways were covered in heavy wood chips, every structure (tents, cabins, vendor stalls, craftsman shops were all authentically constructed of the era. Gas lamps replaced normal street lights at night and all participants and many visitors were in authentic middle ages garb.

The big event was the Friday parade, the best was to see all the participants and their wide range of costume. Everyone from poor beggar waifs to the working class to the velvet clad medieval royalty were represented. Street performers of most every kind were everywhere (Photos below)

Food was everywhere! We’re not big “foodies” but we did share a huge Danish pancake, spread with a hot chunky apple sauce and folded into quarter-size. Mmmmmmmm! We also snacked on hazel nuts, freshly roasted in a sugar and cinnamon mix too. Then there was the wild boar, just removed from the fire pit (Photo below). Jeannie was in for that; I was skeptical, but decided to go for it. It was delicious! It wasn’t gamey as I expected…much the same as ordinary pork.

We returned to Vejle and our hotel around 8:30 PM. Good thing, as by 10:00 PM we were in the midst of a massive downpour accompanied by an electrical storm! Time to get out of town! Good timing, because we train early tomorrow to Flensberg, Germany, just across the Denmark Border. Hope the rain lets up by morning, although we are just a short block from the train station. Good planning!

We’ll be in Flensburg late morning. Then we walk about a mile, luggage in tow (another reason we pack light), to pick up our rental car at AVIS. Here’s where we hope the AVIS people speak a little English! And, we hope the rain doesn’t follow us!