Denmark - Week 3

Monday afternoon we stopped in Jelling to have a look at the Rune stones which were on the UNESCO World Heritage list. Wow what a place!! 

Hans, the director of the museum, told us it was the most important site in Denmark and even appears on their Danish Passports. He was very proud of the fact that it was all free. 

Google ‘visit Jelling’ for more info. 

After spending most of the afternoon there, we asked his advice on what else we should see and he pointed us to Fredericia. It was going to be the new capital of Denmark in the 1600s and was laid out in a grid system similar to the cities in America. Unfortunately the King, who ruled at the time, ran out of money, so it never happened. He even showed us where to stay the night along the harbour. Not much of a chill out day lol. Anyway, When we got there we could hear a marching band playing so had to investigate. They were waving the ‘Viking Sun’ off on its Cruise. Must admit, I don’t know about you but I’d rather be exploring on 4 wheels than by water!!

I can’t believe how amazing the weather is here in Denmark at the moment. It was a beautiful evening so we walked round the town (Fredericia).

When we were at Legoland a few days ago, Egeskov Castle was one of the buildings in mini land. It inspired us to go and find the real thing and we were so glad that we did. 

The castle has the biggest, most detailed dolls house we’ve ever seen. 

If that wasn’t enough, up in the loft was an unusual display of vintage toys. Outside, the gardens were full of topiary and beautiful trees and flowers. 

Then Andy spotted a tree top trail! ‘Let’s go up there’ he said. Flippin heck, it was a bit wobbly to say the least lol.

Someone has been a serious collector of ‘things’ over the years. There were buildings full of motorbikes hung up, fire engines, bicycles, cars all manner of things to look at.

We left the Danish Island of Funen and travelled by bridge to the the island of Zealand. What a bridge! 6790 metres long and travels over a little island in the middle complete with lighthouse. It’s a toll bridge and cost us £43 for a 7m van which I didn’t think was bad as a car costs £36. The toll booths are at the Zealand end and you have to follow the big yellow signs saying manual payment so they can see which class Motorhome you are. It was quick & easy and the lady knew exactly what size we were and spoke perfect English.

Our next destination was Roskilde to visit the Viking Ship Museum. You get a free guided tour as part of the entrance fee.The exhibition includes five unique Viking Ships, which were excavated in 1962 from Roskilde Fjord, near the village of Skuldelev. At the end of the Viking age - the late 11th century- a system of barriers was constructed to protect the royal seat and Cathedral in Roskilde. The five Skuldelev Ships come from a barrier about 20km north of Roskilde. The ships were sunk across a sailing channel and were part of an effective barrier.

They were building a replica ship using traditional Viking methods in the museums boatyard. The ones that had already been reconstructed were moored in the museum harbour and you could pay extra to take one out for a spin.

The sun came out again after tea so we went another walk around the harbour. It’s the second town we’ve been in in Denmark where there’s been a meeting of classic cars and their owners. This time the harbour was full of motorbikes too. I loved the strawberry hats on the trio of Danes and they didn’t mind posing for me either lol.

We didn’t fancy driving into Copenhagen and having the hassle of parking, so we went by train from Roskilde. The parking by the Viking Ship Museum was free all day and it only took 30mins and cost 150dkk each so we thought that would be the best idea. The lady in the tourist office said it was the cheapest way to travel. It’s called a tourist ticket and allows you access to trains, buses and water taxis all over the city for 24 hours. We only wanted to spend a day in Copenhagen as we’re not really a fan of big busy places so when we got there we opted for the City Sightseeing Hop on Hop off bus. It’s just up the road from the train station and took us to all the usual places.

Laundry day - Danish Style!! One up man ship on the German Laundromat!! You pay for it in the same way by putting coins in the machine on the wall and pressing the button that corresponds to the number on the washer. (We had to go to an ATM in the shopping area first and then change the notes into coins at the supermarket.)

It spins your washing first to weigh it and then dispenses laundry detergent automatically into the machine. OMG how cool is that!!

Germany to Denmark - Week 2

Well Friedrichstadt was another lovely little place to visit! Think Holland/Venice with a touch of German cleanliness and panache. Just beautiful and well worth a visit if you’re up this way.

As the weather turned a bit drizzly, Andy suggested trucking on to Flensburg. We got a great parking spot over looking the marina with it’s own picnic bench! Another Park4night place. Tried the Cadac out for the first time this trip and cooked egg and bacon butties, yum. When we were in Ghent last week, My friend Sarah set us a challenge to try some new food in every country we visited. Edwin, her husband, said he needed us to eat a herring Scandinavian style lol. So when I poured the pancake batter onto the Cadac for pudding, we fell about laughing when it ran to the edge and made a fish shape!! Apparently that doesn’t count as a herring as it wasn’t pickled haha.

The following day was spent walking around Flensburg. All the old boats in the harbour were really interesting to look at. If you like shopping there were plenty of shops plus a few places to eat or have a coffee and if you like tying knots, this is definitely the place for you 😉 it was nice to walk round in the sunshine and we had a lovely day. We kept our same camping spot on the harbour side that evening and cooked tea again outside.

Tuesday, we needed a laundry day, so we typed Laundromat in google maps and found one not too far away from where we spent the night. It looked like there was parking around the area too, so we set off. When we got there, we were a bit confused about the parking sign, even with google translate we weren’t sure. We asked a German man if we were able to park, and in perfect English he told us yes. The Germans are so helpful. Dirty laundry gathered we walked to the launderette. How come they are always a bit run down and not very clean in the UK and here, in Germany, they’re spotless!! Had to ask another German guy for help on how to use the washing machines. “Never be afraid to ask”, my dad always used to tell me, “you were born with a tongue in your head” 😁 So, you put your laundry in the machine & select the temperature. OK so far. Put the correct money in the slot on the wall and press the corresponding number to the machine being used. Press the start button on the machine. You can even help yourself to free washing powder if you want. How cool is that! Even the laundry baskets are on wheels!! Easy when you know how. Don’t know if all launderettes are like that in Germany but so far I’m very impressed.

Laundry put away in Harriet’s cupboards we needed to fill up with water and empty the waste.

The City Park (park & ride) had a place to dump all your waste and fill up with 100 litres of water all for €1. (Thank you park4night) Everything perfectly clean and well maintained again. I ♥️ Germany!! It’s Motorhome heaven.

We were sorry to say goodbye but we were really excited to drive into Denmark and a new adventure.

We headed for Ribe and parked up near the train station. You can’t wild camp as in, get your awning out and chairs etc. in Denmark but you can park up and sleep in your Motorhome. You can cook outside too I believe as long as you pack up your stuff straight away and leave no trace you’ve been. So we did just that, rainbow kebabs etc. on the cadac.

After tea we did a little recce of the town ready for the next day. We found an ATM and using our Halifax Clarity card, drew out some Danish cash.

The website, “money saving expert’ suggests a card like Clarity to enable you to make free withdrawals and get the best exchange rate for that day.

First full day in Denmark and I love it. Ribe is the oldest town in the country apparently and walking around the place you can see that it's full of history. We HAD to visit the cathedral, it's the oldest one in Denmark!! How could we not lol. It was free to enter and 40dkk to climb the 248 steps up the tower to look at the view ... phew!

I really wanted to visit the Viking Museum but the weather was just too nice to be inside. We did see an archeological dig going on though and they have found loads of artefacts from the Viking era. The tourist information in the town square had a self guided walking tour leaflet in English free of charge so we spent the whole day just wandering round, what a great start! The weather was hot and sunny so we had to buy an ice cream each. Cost us the equivalent of £6.16 which I didn’t think was expensive by U.K. standards.

After tea we walked to Netto to get some bottled water. Looking at the receipt afterwards we noticed we’d been charged an extra 18dkk for the water on top of the 27dkk for the six bottles. Google to the rescue again. There’s a refundable deposit on certain items

The following day we needed to empty the waste and fill up with fresh water. The park4night app pointed us to a car park for Motorhome’s where you could do just that

We hadn’t got the correct water tap connection, our brass one with a screw thread was too big so I asked a lovely Danish guy for help and he lent us his. Further up the road we stopped at a “Harold Nyborg” store (bit like B&Q) and found what we needed in the hose lock section.

We may not need it again but we like being prepared 😁 *

IT'S TRUE!!!
You can get into Legoland, Denmark free of charge half an hour before the rides close 😎😎😎 As they didn't close until 6pm tonight, we stopped off to have a look at Denmarks answer to the Angel of the North. It's called 'Men by the Sea' and reminded me of the 4 statues of Ramsses ll at Abu Simbel.
It's been a scorcher again today so we spent time by the beach enjoying the breeze.

We drove to Billund and parked up 50dkk (£5.92) and just walked into the park. The lad even had a smile on his face when he said 'free of charge', and I must admit, so did I. I grew up playing Lego and so did my girls 😊 We managed the haunted house and the pirate boat ride before 6pm and then spent the next 2 hours wandering around mini land. I've now got more places on my list of things to see in this lovely country.

A fortunate stroke of serendipity today. Harriet’s shower has 3 concertina doors, and if you don’t move the tap to one side when you fasten them up, the shower wets you through lol. Good news though ladies, when it’s hot, and your bras wet, you stay ever so cool 😎😁😂

We bought some bottled water from the supermarket the other day and couldn’t understand why we’d been charged twice for it. Google to the rescue (again, what would we do without google?). There’s a refundable deposit on certain items in Denmark. You take your bottles back to the shop, put them in the machine one at a time. The scanner reads the ‘pant’ and when you’re finished, you press the green button. Hey presto, you get your deposit refunded in the way of a voucher to spend in the shop. Beware though, if you press the yellow button, the money is given to charity.

Den Gamle By is an ‘Old Town’ in Aarhus. It’s a bit like the Beamish Museum. Some of the buildings they’ve preserved go back to the 1500’s. When we were at Beamish a few weeks ago, one of the staff told us it’s where Mr Atkinson got his inspiration from to create a similar living museum for the North East of England. I’m so glad there are people out there preserving our history.

We treated ourselves to tea out tonight as I’d wanted to try ‘Aarhus Street Food’. It’s a disused Bus Station that’s full of shipping containers. Each individual one serves a different kind of street food, everything from Thai to authentic Danish food, from Caribbean Jerk to English Fish & Chips and even a stall selling duck haha.

We opted for Thai curry and spring rolls, it was really good. It was full of families all enjoying themselves eating nice food.