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Published: September 15th 2006
House in my forest
Very intelligent caption eh? This old farm has been recently renovated and I think its stunning. This is on the dog walking/running track I have used all my life. The Kiwi Invasion
When the Germans invaded Denmark in the beginning of World War II the Germans crossed the border and shouted out: “Hands Up You Dumme Dänen” (you should read this with a German accent). Because the country is so small everyone was able to hear them shout and the Danes simply went: “OK” and put the arms up and threw the weapons on the ground. And so Denmark was occupied by the Germans until the end of the war. Oh, I think there were one or two people involved in the resistance but their work never mounted to much. So yes, the Danes have been hassled for giving up without fighting back for years. And they say history repeats itself. So perhaps this explains why I made no resistance when I was invaded by not one but more than five kiwi friends in the space of just two weeks.
Copenhagen
First I was honoured to get a visit from my good old friends from when I first arrived in New Zealand six years ago: Anna, Ann-Marie & Ian. They all live in London now and while Ann-Marie & Ian technically are from Ireland they are actually more kiwi
The whole family
Dad, mum, sis and me at our fav greek restaurant than I am since they both had to learn the national anthem by heart at the citizenship ceremony. I also went to their beautiful wedding in Northern Ireland three years ago.
Anna, Ann-Marie & Ian flew into Copenhagen airport on a Friday night and I had studied the local sights vigorously the night before as I have only been to Copenhagen about three times in my life. My home town is about three hours from Copenhagen which in Danish terms is VERY far away. The people of Copenhagen would definitely label me as a country pumpkin especially if I put on my Southern Denmark dialect which they wouldn’t understand a word of. However, for being a country girl in the big city I think I did pretty well as a tour guide. I made up a few sights and stories but of course they will never know (unless they read this, which they probably will!). My good friend Mette had kindly donated her apartment as a temporary hostel while we were there which was brilliant - cheers Mette. So in the space of two and a half days we worked thru Copenhagen and visited all the key sites. Copenhagen
OK so you get what you want
finally the promised photo of a Danish bakery! Believe it or not this is probably less than 1/10th of the actual display! Hayden, I wonder if you could actually eat your way through that display? is a stunning city situated by the sea. It has lots to offer from arts and culture to a bustling night life and many big Danish companies have their headquarters here. Some of sights we visited include:
- Strøget - the world’s longest pedestrian mall (almost a mile long) full of beautiful Danish design stores
- Nyhavn - Copenhagen’s revitalised canal districts with lots of restaurants that charge more than 60kr for a beer (NZD15)
- The Little Mermaid - Probably the most famous of all sights in Copenhagen. The Little Mermaid is the fairy tale of Hans Christian Andersen which was later made into a Disney cartoon.
- Round Tower - originally an observatory today a great way to view the roof tops of the city. Ian especially enjoyed the 209m winding passage to the top of the tower. The view also gives you a real feel for how flat Denmark really is. I don’t know if there are different grades of flatness but all I can say is that Denmark is VERY flat.
- Canal Tour - a great way to explore the harbour and the canals of Copenhagen. Among other things
Happy tourists
On a canal tour in Copenhagen with the new opera house in the background we learnt that the reason the Danes love beer so much is that back in the day the water was too filthy to drink so it was much safer to drink beer. However, since the Danes drank so much beer companies had to schedule their important meetings in the morning as otherwise people were to drunk to attend!
Among the more cultural sights, my kiwi friends of course had to try a real Danish hot dog. As most of you know, Denmark has the best hot dogs in the world and I of course make the best of all of them. In Copenhagen they have hot dog stands on every corner, in fact, I would say that its easier to pick up a hot dog in Denmark than a pie in NZ. And that’s a bold statement. My friends claimed to love them too although they are a bit difficult to eat - it takes years of practice let me tell you!
On the last evening we went out for dinner and caught up with Anna’s kiwi friend who had just moved to Copenhagen as he had met a Danish girl (in Vietnam of all places!). Great to
The view from Round Tower
Anna, Ann-Marie and Ian marvelling at how flat Copenhagen and Denmark is. know that there are kiwis living in Denmark and even more impressive to know that he is trying to learn Danish. Good luck, mate, she’s not an easy one to learn!
Aabenraa
A couple of days later my good triathlon mate Neil was in Hamburg for a race so caught the train up to say hi. Hamburg is only 2h away by car. Neil had raced in the World Triathlon Championships in Lausanne, Switzerland the week before and had done really well. Legend!
Naturally, he was very happy when I offered him my dad’s old touring bike as his means of transportation for the day. I think he is thinking about borrowing it for the next race (see photo). As the sights in my home town are a bit limited, we went for a ride around town, saw the local castle and visited the highest point in Southern Denmark. A stunning 81m above ground - really makes your head spin especially if you are scared of heights! You might not believe this but it is actually one of the highest points in Denmark. I also took Neil for a run thinking a world champ participant needed a bit
Nyhavn
Probably the most expensive place to buy a beer in the world. of hill work and although he laughed beforehand thinking there would be no hills in Denmark I actually think he was a bit surprised afterwards!!!
Århus
Århus is Denmark’s second largest city and situated in central Jutland by the sea. Here I caught up with another tri friend, Caroline, who was in town for a meeting (as you do). I was expecting her to be real jetlagged as she had just flown in from NZ but she was surprisingly awake! Furthermore, she was positively surprised that not only Denmark was so beautiful and warm but also that her hotel was situated next to a beautiful forest and with a view to die for. Luckily for me she had brought over two big blocks of my favourite chocolate: Whittaker’s coconut chocolate. Yum, yum and thank you so much Caroline!
Triathlon
And in between the kiwi invasions I also managed to squeeze in a race. My first Olympic distance race (1.5k swim, 40k bike and 10k run) since my half ironman in January. And of course it had to be in no other than my home town. It was really awesome to get to race in my home town
The most famous Danish woman
The little mermaid! The statue was actually de-capitated twice! One time the "murderer" actually demanded a ransom to get her head back! especially since my mum and dad were able to come and watch. They have never seen a triathlon race before but found it really interesting. My mum was quite surprised by how fast my transition was. Not sure if she was expecting me to start blow drying my hair after the swim or what? Once again, I was surprised by the size of the sport here in Denmark. Only five women competed and the ones that compete seem really hard core. That was my excuse for being fifth in the race anyway. The important thing was that I had so much fun doing it, really loved every minute of it.
European Post Script
So my European adventure has come to an end for now - the elephants and hippos await me in the continent of the most beautiful sunsets. As I embark on a new adventure I can not help but wonder how different people live their lives around the world. We are all inhabitants of planet earth but every existence is so unique. Even in the Western World. It is funny but looking back at my American blog, I found American consumerism so overwhelming. Believe me that is
nothing compared to Denmark. In the States materialism is confined to middle and upper class but in Denmark it seems to be prevalent everywhere. Perhaps a good example of this is that a week after I opened an account in a Danish bank I got a letter offering a loan of more than 200,000kr (NZD50,000) and this with NO income and no money in the bank! I cannot begin to describe the materialism that has possessed this country (and probably most of Europe). Students live way flasher than me. They own their own apartments, have cars, wear designer clothes and of course own designer furniture! I still remember being a student, flatting in a one bedroom apartment and owning only second hand furniture and not being able to afford vegetables. Cycling to parties with my one dozen beers in a plastic bag. What a minute - isn’t it insane that I already sound like my 94 year old nana and this was less than 10 years ago.
Although it is fascinating to see what money can buy I am truly looking forward to experiencing Africa and how people are happy without knowing what an Arne Jacobsen Chair or Bang
Neil's new race bike
My world champ participant mate Neil on his new race bike & Olufsson Stereo is. But I guess that is probably the most fascinating part of my journey - experiencing what makes people happy around the world. Because isn’t that what it is all about? Finding the life that makes you happy?
So thanks to my family and all my friends in Denmark for making my stay so wonderful. And especially thanks to the hottest summer in thirty years. It was fantastic.
For those of you that follow my journey closely: Thanks for all your comments and all your support. It means the world to me when I log on in some remote place to know you are still thinking of me. Will need lots of cheerful comments the next few weeks when I travel through Africa alone.
My plan is as follows:
17 Sep depart for Nairobi
18-20 Sep Nairobi
20 Sep overland truck pick up
20 Sep-19 Oct travel through Tanzania, Malawi, Zambia, Zimbabwe
19-23 Oct Cape Town
23-25 Oct Singapore
25 Oct-15 Nov Thailand and a few other countries in SE Asia
16 Oct Arrival back in Aotearoa HOORAY
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Jill
non-member comment
Well of course they are hard core if they were faster than you, you speed demon! I'm glad you are racing again. Also glad you keep updating your blog! Keep us posted....Jill