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Published: October 6th 2008
Windy ferry!
The kids battling the wind on the ferry's upper deck.My baby turned five yesterday. Minnesota has a "golden birthday" tradition which simply means the birthday in which you turn your age on the date of your birth is special. So Jorgen turned five on October 5th, thus...he is golden! This tradition wasn't known to me growing up in South Dakota, but my kids are enjoying the idea of a "Golden Birthday".
For the past year, Jorgen has spent his playtime primarily with Legos. The original lego toys were carved out of wood by a man in Denmark in the 1930's. Billund, Denmark is home to the original Lego land. Our destination for this golden birthday was obvious...after all, we're right next to Denmark. Well, not exactly "right next to". Our Denmark journey begins!
Friday morning we left the house at 7 am, to catch the ferry in Varberg at 9:00. Packing the car was a challenge, our "new to us" little car is little! It has at least half the cargo space of our Passat at home and less "body space", as well. Fortunately, some friends loaned us their GPS, whom we fondly refer to as "Flo"...for keeping us in the flow. Our trip to the ferry took
stilts
Trying to walk on stilts at Den Gamle By. under an hour, we boarded (with our little car), claimed the space we would occupy for the next 5 hours and the kids started to explore. The "boat" is huge and has a movie theatre, restaurants, a play room loaded with Legos and a little duty free shop. I had packed snacks and lunches, cards, magazines (thanks Krissy, I'm caught up on the latest Hollywood gossip!). This is the way to travel. We all loved the ferry, the kids were free to roam (on the passenger deck, not outside!), we read, snacked and played cards. Once we arrived in Denmark, "Flo" directed us off the ship and we were on our way. The first person we saw was a man sitting on a bench by the side of the road. Jeff said, "hey look, there's our first Danish...should we eat him?". We laughed and I informed Jeff that I think they are referred to as "Danes", but he did look pretty tasty. For those of you who aren't American, we sometimes refer to a pastry as a "danish"...we really aren't cannibals!
It was hard to enjoy the beautiful landscape that makes up this part of Denmark. From our three
Den Gamle By
This one's for Lauren and Leah! Let's play Olden Days! days there, admitting that we haven't driven in a lot of countries, we think Danes are the worst drivers EVER. The roads are very narrow and there are no signs (that we could tell, anyway) that restrict passing. Therefore, on many occasions, we were faced with little cars speeding head on at us. In one instance, the car actually didn't complete the pass before meeting our car and we were - honest to God - three cars across. This makes for pretty high tension driving, and I appreciate that Jeff (and our trusty guardian angels) got us to our destinations safely. Getting back to the landscape. If Sweden resembles Northern Minnesota, then Denmark resembles Southwestern Minnesota, Pipestone area. There are gorgeous rolling hills, many farm fields (which are nowhere near harvest!) and pasture land. Wind turbines are commonplace, and they don't distract from the beauty one bit.
Our first stop on Friday afternoon was Den Gamle By in Åarhus, which was about an hour from the ferry. It's an old city that has been refurbished to show what times were like for the original Danes. The architecture was solid with beautiful touches in the door hardware and faux painting.
Lego Grandpa
This fella was actually snoring...he reminded us of a colorful Grandpa Scoot! The kids most enjoyed trying to walk on stilts and chasing the ducks. Jeff liked the intricate wooden water mill with all wood gears. The girls wished for a day of playing "Olden Days" with their cousins in this place! There was a beautiful, lush park right outside of Den Gamle By, however, we're glad we didn't live in the "olden days', Denmark or anywhere. Next stop, Billund!
Flo directed us the next hour+ to our little guest house just outside of Billund, home of Lego Land. We arrived exactly 11 hours after we left our place in Kullavik. Our "family room" was tightly packed with a double bed, three cots, a kitchen (with table) and private bath. Fortunately, there was a great yard with a huge - very bouncy - trampoline, just outside our door. The kids jumped until bedtime and then we all tried to settle in for the night. They were out on the cold and wet trampoline first thing the next morning! We have learned that anywhere we stay MUST have something active for Jorgen and Signe.
There is no way that my description of Lego Land is going to do it justice. I've
Lego Sub
Thanks to illegal flash photography. posted a few photos, but again, they only offer a small glimpse of this amazing place. This is the original Lego Land and is celebrating it's 40th year. It's an amusement park with a huge hotel/resort built right on the property. By US standards, it's not a big park and it doesn't have high tech rides. We appreciated that. Emma is really our thrill seeker (remember Balder?), and she manages to find joy even in the simple rides. Our first adventure in the park was "Atlantis", the aquarium. We've seen some pretty spectacular aquariums in the US, the best being the one in Baltimore. However, we've never been to one the contained live fish species combined with divers, submarines and sunken ships all made of Legos! My major faux pas (add it to the list) was not noticing the signs that said "no flash photography"...which explains why I got some funny looks!
The rides were fun, with many themes. There was a whole section of Pirate's Island that had all nautical themed rides...we skipped the water fight, as it was very chilly. The forecast was for 50 degrees, 40% chance of rain. I'm not sure it made it to
Stockholm?
I like this as it shows some of the cities in the background, too. 50 and we did get rained on about 40% of the time...but we really didn't care. There was Legoredo Land - a wild West themed area. It housed a logging train ride that took you through a mine with lots of action, above a stream where they were panning for gold, past buffalo on the range and an incredible likeness of Mount Rushmore. All of the scenes are made of Legos, Mt. Rushmore contained millions of Legos. Jorgen, Emma and Jeff went on the LegoCanoe ride, as they were already somewhat wet from the rain. Jeff and Emma decided to be dramatic for the auto photo, but Jorgen's expression is honest...I hope you can see it! There are boats that take you on a tour of world landmarks and zebra striped Lego jeeps that take you on a safari of animals composed completely of legos. The newest theme was the Knight's Castle and housed the favorite ride of all of us. There was a small roller coaster that took you through the castle and past different events within the castle, including a beautiful steed as you entered (the girls loved that!), a few drunks that "spit" on you as you
Wow!
Now THAT'S a Lego Castle...we'll have to find the real one! passed, a scene of rats having a party and so on. It ended with a wild spin that left me woozy. Signe had to be bribed and nearly forced to go on it - but loved it in the end. She's proud of the fact that she faced her fear and survived...even enjoying herself a bit. That seems to be a lesson we're all learning this year.
The greatest part of Lego Land, in both my opinion and Jeff's, is the model cities. The photos I'm posting, again, won't do them justice. The detail is incredible. The information on one of the cities explained that, working alone, it would take a skilled model builder 12 years to create the scene. What an incredible job for a lover of Legos. There are working lock and dams where you can watch the ship being lowered and then raised. Wedding scenes are played out in chapels with music coming from church. One of the Sweden scenes has moose grazing in the forest, another scene has backpackers hiking on the mountains. You could sit and look for the longest time and still miss detail. Some favorites: Jorgen liked the Universal Studios lot where
Mt. Rushmore
Made of millions of Legos. It's awesome, but not nearly as great as the original! they were filming a Bionicles movie; the director yells directions and then ends with "cut, it's a wrap". Jeff liked the Denmark scenes that showed the many wind turbines and solar panels. We loved the farm scene, complete with hay bales in the field and piles of animal poop being shoveled from the barn where the cows, pigs and sheep are being tended. I can't pick a favorite, I just want to go see many of the cities that were displayed. Amsterdam looks amazing and colorful!
I couldn't stop thinking of all the little boys I wish I could bring to Lego Land, my nephews would love it, especially Asher. Our friends, Michael and Christopher Iverson, kept running through my mind...master Lego builders in their own right, I know they would be amazed!
Sleeping with 5 people in one room is hard when you're the early bird. On Sunday morning, when 5:30 am arrived, I slipped, as quietly as possible into the bathroom and sat on the floor reading my book. I heard Jorgen wake up around 6:30 and quickly snuck out to greet him on his birthday. He looked at me bleary eyed, and, for a
few short minutes (much too short) snuggled with me while I tickled his back. It wasn't long before everyone else woke up and we had a birthday breakfast of Cap'n Crunch (included in a recent care package from home - thanks, again, Krissy!) and muffins with a candle. Our first birthday celebration in a foreign country.
Our trip home seemed much longer, which is to be expected. Everyone was tired and it rained much of Sunday. Which, along with the fact that it seems everything in Denmark is closed on Sunday (except the bakeries), made for very little sightseeing. We stopped at the largest church in Denmark, a Catholic church built in 1520, which apparently contains some beautifully preserved frescoes. We know this only because the guidebook told us so...even the church was closed on Sunday!
We made our way back to Grenå to catch the ferry. However, I refused to leave Denmark without really trying a danish. So Jeff pulled over when we saw the telltale "pretzel" that we had realized indicated a bakery. I ran in and asked the lady to give me whatever their best sellers were. I came out with weinerbrod, apparently a Denmark
Wind Turbines
To be expected, not the exception. That's progressive! specialty that Jeff liked. It tasted like pie crust with some nut paste inside, sprinkled with some cinnamon sugar on top. Another looked like a homemade Poptart...that one remains half eaten. The last was a larger apple pastry drizzled with chocolate. It was good, but I don't need to go back to Denmark for the pastries.
We're hoping to make a week-end trip to Copenhagen soon, to experience the other side of Denmark (and to stock up on cheap beer...I guess that's what the Swedes do when they go to Denmark!). One of the most challenging things we're finding with travel is doing things that appeal to all of us. It's hard for the kids, as there is a great distance in the interest level between a 5 year old boy and a 13 year old girl. Emma is game for anything, but keeping Jorgen and Signe interested (and not disruptive) will take some work. Jeff and I were both commenting that this is when it would be nice to be able to drop the kids off with Grandma and Grandpa. Walking the streets of a new city, sitting with a coffee while people watching, it's just not that
Lego Canoe
Emma and Jeff are being dramatic, but check out Jorgen peeking through Emma's arm! That's genuine! fun for a kid. I believe that Jeff and I will be doing a lot of negotiating and bribing this year.
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wendy
non-member comment
FINALLY!
Hello my swedish meatball friends! I have been waiting for this Legoland entry for 2months! What a blast!! and what an experience to visit another gorgeous sector of Europe...keep it up..explore, explore, explore! Bet your getting anxious for Italy!! Thinking of you often...at church, confirmation, school, Patty's Gustavus....right in the middle of Nobel, we are. I know you are tearing up, Jeff, to have missed it! Thank you for all the great journal entries! We love you and miss you. Be safe!!