Day 7 in Denmark - 4th September
5:00 pm
I’m writing this sitting on the train to Frederikshavn from Aarhus. It’s a pretty long train ride – about 2.5 hours, so figured I might as well write about the day on the way. Been quite a busy day! I woke up fairly early about 6.30 or so. Took a quick shower, and then just went walking a lil bit around town. Weather was awesome, sun was out, and streets were fairly empty. Walked around the Latin Quarter, where all the streets are cobbled stone, and its quite nice, with lots of stores – all closed at that time, of course. Walking around in the morning was good – one really got to see a different side of the city from what one would see later in the day, with all the people around. Also found a delightful little park with a small pond and all – so sat there for a bit, just relaxing….
I got back to the hostel around 9, and had breakfast there which I’d ordered. Was of course several levels below the breakfast we used to get in the hotel in Copenhagen (obviously!), but was filling enough – bread, cheese, jam, cereal, juice, tea… So ate a lot – the ideal thing to do, I figured, was get a good, substantial breakfast, a light lunch while on the road, and then a good dinner. Breakfasts at hotels are fairly cheap, so makes sense to fill up on that.
After that, I checked out, and left by backpack in the luggage room there to pick up later. Then got out to see some of the city. Was of course much more crowded now. The first stop I made was at the cathedral very close to the hostel which, in fact, is Denmark’s largest cathedral! It was started in the 12th century or something. Really huge, and really nice too. Was totally empty too, as I got in just as it was opening for the day.
From there I walked across town to this place called Den Gamle By which I’ll talk more about shortly. On the way there, I was suddenly stopped by this woman on the road next to her car trying to get something out, who said something to me in Danish. Obviously I couldn’t understand, but figured she wanted help getting it out – so I helped her with that. When she found out I didn’t know Danish, she spoke to me in English. Turned out she was from Norway, and had just come that day to Aarhus to set up her daughter who was joining the university there. She asked immediately if I was from India, and said she’d been to delhi quite a few times as she’d earlier worked for Scandinavian airlines. We talked a bit more, and I told her I was roaming around Scandinavia, and she said I’d really enjoy Norway. Anyway, I helped her unload the rest of her stuff from the car, for which she was quite grateful. She was quite a nice lady, and felt good to do one’s good deed for the day…:)
I continued walking down to Den Gamle By. So Den Gamle By (meaning “The old town”) is a big open air museum in Aarhus, which showcases Denmark as it once was. It’s literally a fully rebuilt and reconstructed Danish village/town. Each house is unique in itself, and is built and completely furnished just the way it was earlier – sometime between the 16th and 19th century! What’s more, there are even a lot of people there who are dressed up as people from those times, and go about their work as if they were back there!! Very very interesting indeed! All different occupations are represented, and there’s everyone right from the shoemaker, to the tailor, carpenter, blacksmith, mayor, painter, glazier, brewer and so on!! I must admit that I’ve completely fallen in love with the place. It was just the most delightful and cute little place ever. Horse drawn carriages amble across town, a waterwheel turns over in the small canal, a carousel gives lil kids some time to enjoy, a greenhouse provides varieties of plants a space to grow in….Just so much history there!! Took tons and tons of photos, of course….Strangely, the average age of visitors there seemed to be something like 70! Weird that none of the young tourists seemed to make it there – or maybe this was just an atypical day! However, every visitor to Denmark should definitely go here – its worth coming to Aarhus just to see this.
It was also interesting to see the contrast between different kinds of houses – how classy and stylish the mayor’s house was as compared, maybe to a weaver’s house! There were also houses where there’d be some woman in typical clothes cooking in the kitchen over a wood stove – and they’d even offer some of the food to u! There was also the clockmaker’s hut which was awesome – had an entire display of old clocks – small, big, grandfather clocks, all kinds on display – that was very cool. They even had a few sundials!
They also had a couple of special displays, which I suppose they keep changing. There was one titled “Entering the 20th century”, which displayed some typical things changing from the early to late 20th century – chairs, household items, and suchlike. Then another section had Christening dresses. A third section had travel posters of Denmark – these were cool, and it was nice seeing posters of places I’d already visited, and remembering things!! Some of the posters were pretty innovative!! And all very colorful!
I bought some postcards at the store in town and mailed them out later. Got into a conversation with the girl at the counter about Den Gamle By – and then it turned out she had traveled a fair amount in India – had been there for 3 months, so traveled a lot in the south – Chennai, madurai etc – and then Bombay, delhi, agra….. Quite a coincidence, meeting so many people who had visited India within one day!!
I finally left there around 1.30 or so, after spending more than 3 hours there! One just didn’t feel like leaving! Walked around a little bit more, found the park I’d seen in the morning again, and realized that on another side it also had a huge windmill – so went and saw that! Was pretty cool…..
Walked back to the hostel through some of the pedestrian streets. The main center of the city was packed again – all the shops were open, so people were totally out on the roads! Got back to the hostel, picked up my backpack, and then went to a café to have a light lunch. Walked around a bit more, and then finally went to the train station to catch my train to Frederikshavn. Turned out the train was about half an hour late – wonder why they’re all running late suddenly!! I wonder if Danish trains typically get delayed….Quite a few of them listed on the departure screen seemed to be delayed….
Anyway, finally got on the train, but had to stand for about half an hour as all seats were occupied – here on the trains, one can make reservations to ensure a seat, or just get on – and making a reservation costs extra. So generally I haven’t been doing that, but last 2 times got a seat easily. This time train was just crowded – so had to wait till the first station – however after that a few people got down, and got a seat. And since then been writing!
I think Frederikshavn is another hour or so away. Probably wont end up doing much there – there isn’t supposed to be very much to see. It just serves as a port of connection to other places in Norway and Sweden. Anyway, lets see how that turns out to be….
Btw, I just checked, and it turns out I already have about 1050 photos! Is this crazy or what?!! In one week, basically….and still another week to go!
9:30 pm
Well, what a strange last 4 hours I’ve had!! Man, every day on this continent brings new surprises….. I reached Frederikshavn at about 7.15pm. Firstly, I tried to find the hostel where I’d booked a room on the map outside the train station. There were 2 maps outside, one seemingly zoomed in more – but on looking closer, both seemed completely different! Both said Frederikshavn, followed by some other words on them, but there seemed no correlation between the 2! And on neither could I find the address where I had to go…. So I went back into the station – a pretty small one, btw – and went into the kiosk there, and asked the dude there for a map. He promptly furnished one, which, of course, was completely different from the other 2 I’d seen outside. Maybe there’s something wrong with me, and not understanding the language….Anyway, he marked out the way to me on the map, and I walked the 1.5 or so km to the place. The unnerving thing though, as I walked, was that the place was pretty much completely empty! It was like a ghost town – hardly any people on the roads! Fair number of cars passing by – this was on the outskirts, a highwayish road along the sea – but even in the interiors of the town, there seemed to be no people! Lots of houses, but on the roads, I must have seen maybe 2 people on the way to hostel! Really weird!!!
Anyway, more comes…I get to the hostel, and it seems to be a really nice place – much better than yesterday in Arhus. So I go to the reception, and its closed! Noone there! And a sign saying reception closes at 6pm! I was like, what the hell! What do I do now! Then some dude materialized, and asked me what I wanted – so I explained that I’d reserved a room yesterday, but the reception was closed. I dunno if he was some kind of helper or something, but turned out he had a key to the reception, and we went in. He checked, but there wasn’t anything there. Then we found a packet taped to the door with a key – and we surmised it must be for me. On the cover was something written in very bad handwriting which looking like “Erkhel Ervie” – I suppose somehow the guy, on the phone, must have thought that’s what my name was or something!!! So anyway, I got the key, and went into the room. Turns out the dorm room I have is totally empty, so essentially I get a single! Plus there’s an attached bath – something usually not there in dorm rooms, as there’s usually a shared bath…And everything was really neat and clean, and seemed good! So that was great…
Then I asked the guy if there was some place to eat nearby, and he directed me to this cafeteria maybe a km away. I went there, and again, on the way, hardly any people on the roads! Did see some kids playing on a field, though….
Anyway, at the cafeteria, tried to somehow get the waitress to understand that I wanted something vegetarian – for the first time in denmark, I was coming up with people who couldn’t speak English at all!! This sure seems a complete hole in the wall city!!! So somehow I managed to convey to her that I wanted something with “No meat” and “no fish”, and she pointed to this picture on the overhead menu which seemed to be mostly eggs and bread, but with shrimp too, and I said “no shrimp”, so she said ok, and put salad on instead and gave it to me…Phew!!! One really realizes the importance of language in such situations!!
The other thing I’ve realized in denmark is that pretty much everyone in this country is non-vegetarian. Its like vegetarianism as a concept is still unheard of here…..Even when in copenhagen, all through Niras’s festivities, I always had to make special requests for veg food, and at many hotels there might be maybe 1 veggie choice – and couple fo times, nothing, and one would have to specially request them to make something veg! Mille had to keep telling the waiters everywhere, including at that last big dinner dance party! I guess being in California for 2 years, I’m totally spoilt – with Stanford pretty much bursting at the seams with vegetarians, this is a totally new experience – trying to survive in a meat eating country!
Anyway, from there, I figured I’d go to the harbor and find out about my ferry to oslo tomorrow. I’d earlier called up the ferry line and they’d told me they had plenty of seats, and I could just book a ticket on the day of the ferry, at the dock itself – but I thought I might as well see if their office was open. And of course – it wasn’t. Only, I realized that at the end of what must have been at least a 5km walk from the place I had dinner… It was probably about 2-3km from the station itself – in the opposite direction from the hostel, of course! Nuts…..and of course, all through this, again no people on the roads!! This place was starting to drive me crazy – very freaky indeed! I checked some of the streets within the town, even those with hotels in them – but still one hardly saw anyone around…maybe the odd person here or there…but that was it!
Anyway, I then trudged back to the hostel, and finally got back a few minutes ago, and can now rest my feet…I must have walked god knows how much today – overall at least 25-30km, I’m sure……..Time to just sleep now…
I’m writing this sitting on the train to Frederikshavn from Aarhus. It’s a pretty long train ride – about 2.5 hours, so figured I might as well write about the day on the way. Been quite a busy day! I woke up fairly early about 6.30 or so. Took a quick shower, and then just went walking a lil bit around town. Weather was awesome, sun was out, and streets were fairly empty. Walked around the Latin Quarter, where all the streets are cobbled stone, and its quite nice, with lots of stores – all closed at that time, of course. Walking around in the morning was good – one really got to see a different side of the city from what one would see later in the day, with all the people around. Also found a delightful little park with a small pond and all – so sat there for a bit, just relaxing….
I got back to the hostel around 9, and had breakfast there which I’d ordered. Was of course several levels below the breakfast we used to get in the hotel in Copenhagen (obviously!), but was filling enough – bread, cheese, jam, cereal, juice, tea… So ate a lot – the ideal thing to do, I figured, was get a good, substantial breakfast, a light lunch while on the road, and then a good dinner. Breakfasts at hotels are fairly cheap, so makes sense to fill up on that.
After that, I checked out, and left by backpack in the luggage room there to pick up later. Then got out to see some of the city. Was of course much more crowded now. The first stop I made was at the cathedral very close to the hostel which, in fact, is Denmark’s largest cathedral! It was started in the 12th century or something. Really huge, and really nice too. Was totally empty too, as I got in just as it was opening for the day.
From there I walked across town to this place called Den Gamle By which I’ll talk more about shortly. On the way there, I was suddenly stopped by this woman on the road next to her car trying to get something out, who said something to me in Danish. Obviously I couldn’t understand, but figured she wanted help getting it out – so I helped her with that. When she found out I didn’t know Danish, she spoke to me in English. Turned out she was from Norway, and had just come that day to Aarhus to set up her daughter who was joining the university there. She asked immediately if I was from India, and said she’d been to delhi quite a few times as she’d earlier worked for Scandinavian airlines. We talked a bit more, and I told her I was roaming around Scandinavia, and she said I’d really enjoy Norway. Anyway, I helped her unload the rest of her stuff from the car, for which she was quite grateful. She was quite a nice lady, and felt good to do one’s good deed for the day…:)
I continued walking down to Den Gamle By. So Den Gamle By (meaning “The old town”) is a big open air museum in Aarhus, which showcases Denmark as it once was. It’s literally a fully rebuilt and reconstructed Danish village/town. Each house is unique in itself, and is built and completely furnished just the way it was earlier – sometime between the 16th and 19th century! What’s more, there are even a lot of people there who are dressed up as people from those times, and go about their work as if they were back there!! Very very interesting indeed! All different occupations are represented, and there’s everyone right from the shoemaker, to the tailor, carpenter, blacksmith, mayor, painter, glazier, brewer and so on!! I must admit that I’ve completely fallen in love with the place. It was just the most delightful and cute little place ever. Horse drawn carriages amble across town, a waterwheel turns over in the small canal, a carousel gives lil kids some time to enjoy, a greenhouse provides varieties of plants a space to grow in….Just so much history there!! Took tons and tons of photos, of course….Strangely, the average age of visitors there seemed to be something like 70! Weird that none of the young tourists seemed to make it there – or maybe this was just an atypical day! However, every visitor to Denmark should definitely go here – its worth coming to Aarhus just to see this.
It was also interesting to see the contrast between different kinds of houses – how classy and stylish the mayor’s house was as compared, maybe to a weaver’s house! There were also houses where there’d be some woman in typical clothes cooking in the kitchen over a wood stove – and they’d even offer some of the food to u! There was also the clockmaker’s hut which was awesome – had an entire display of old clocks – small, big, grandfather clocks, all kinds on display – that was very cool. They even had a few sundials!
They also had a couple of special displays, which I suppose they keep changing. There was one titled “Entering the 20th century”, which displayed some typical things changing from the early to late 20th century – chairs, household items, and suchlike. Then another section had Christening dresses. A third section had travel posters of Denmark – these were cool, and it was nice seeing posters of places I’d already visited, and remembering things!! Some of the posters were pretty innovative!! And all very colorful!
I bought some postcards at the store in town and mailed them out later. Got into a conversation with the girl at the counter about Den Gamle By – and then it turned out she had traveled a fair amount in India – had been there for 3 months, so traveled a lot in the south – Chennai, madurai etc – and then Bombay, delhi, agra….. Quite a coincidence, meeting so many people who had visited India within one day!!
I finally left there around 1.30 or so, after spending more than 3 hours there! One just didn’t feel like leaving! Walked around a little bit more, found the park I’d seen in the morning again, and realized that on another side it also had a huge windmill – so went and saw that! Was pretty cool…..
Walked back to the hostel through some of the pedestrian streets. The main center of the city was packed again – all the shops were open, so people were totally out on the roads! Got back to the hostel, picked up my backpack, and then went to a café to have a light lunch. Walked around a bit more, and then finally went to the train station to catch my train to Frederikshavn. Turned out the train was about half an hour late – wonder why they’re all running late suddenly!! I wonder if Danish trains typically get delayed….Quite a few of them listed on the departure screen seemed to be delayed….
Anyway, finally got on the train, but had to stand for about half an hour as all seats were occupied – here on the trains, one can make reservations to ensure a seat, or just get on – and making a reservation costs extra. So generally I haven’t been doing that, but last 2 times got a seat easily. This time train was just crowded – so had to wait till the first station – however after that a few people got down, and got a seat. And since then been writing!
I think Frederikshavn is another hour or so away. Probably wont end up doing much there – there isn’t supposed to be very much to see. It just serves as a port of connection to other places in Norway and Sweden. Anyway, lets see how that turns out to be….
Btw, I just checked, and it turns out I already have about 1050 photos! Is this crazy or what?!! In one week, basically….and still another week to go!
9:30 pm
Well, what a strange last 4 hours I’ve had!! Man, every day on this continent brings new surprises….. I reached Frederikshavn at about 7.15pm. Firstly, I tried to find the hostel where I’d booked a room on the map outside the train station. There were 2 maps outside, one seemingly zoomed in more – but on looking closer, both seemed completely different! Both said Frederikshavn, followed by some other words on them, but there seemed no correlation between the 2! And on neither could I find the address where I had to go…. So I went back into the station – a pretty small one, btw – and went into the kiosk there, and asked the dude there for a map. He promptly furnished one, which, of course, was completely different from the other 2 I’d seen outside. Maybe there’s something wrong with me, and not understanding the language….Anyway, he marked out the way to me on the map, and I walked the 1.5 or so km to the place. The unnerving thing though, as I walked, was that the place was pretty much completely empty! It was like a ghost town – hardly any people on the roads! Fair number of cars passing by – this was on the outskirts, a highwayish road along the sea – but even in the interiors of the town, there seemed to be no people! Lots of houses, but on the roads, I must have seen maybe 2 people on the way to hostel! Really weird!!!
Anyway, more comes…I get to the hostel, and it seems to be a really nice place – much better than yesterday in Arhus. So I go to the reception, and its closed! Noone there! And a sign saying reception closes at 6pm! I was like, what the hell! What do I do now! Then some dude materialized, and asked me what I wanted – so I explained that I’d reserved a room yesterday, but the reception was closed. I dunno if he was some kind of helper or something, but turned out he had a key to the reception, and we went in. He checked, but there wasn’t anything there. Then we found a packet taped to the door with a key – and we surmised it must be for me. On the cover was something written in very bad handwriting which looking like “Erkhel Ervie” – I suppose somehow the guy, on the phone, must have thought that’s what my name was or something!!! So anyway, I got the key, and went into the room. Turns out the dorm room I have is totally empty, so essentially I get a single! Plus there’s an attached bath – something usually not there in dorm rooms, as there’s usually a shared bath…And everything was really neat and clean, and seemed good! So that was great…
Then I asked the guy if there was some place to eat nearby, and he directed me to this cafeteria maybe a km away. I went there, and again, on the way, hardly any people on the roads! Did see some kids playing on a field, though….
Anyway, at the cafeteria, tried to somehow get the waitress to understand that I wanted something vegetarian – for the first time in denmark, I was coming up with people who couldn’t speak English at all!! This sure seems a complete hole in the wall city!!! So somehow I managed to convey to her that I wanted something with “No meat” and “no fish”, and she pointed to this picture on the overhead menu which seemed to be mostly eggs and bread, but with shrimp too, and I said “no shrimp”, so she said ok, and put salad on instead and gave it to me…Phew!!! One really realizes the importance of language in such situations!!
The other thing I’ve realized in denmark is that pretty much everyone in this country is non-vegetarian. Its like vegetarianism as a concept is still unheard of here…..Even when in copenhagen, all through Niras’s festivities, I always had to make special requests for veg food, and at many hotels there might be maybe 1 veggie choice – and couple fo times, nothing, and one would have to specially request them to make something veg! Mille had to keep telling the waiters everywhere, including at that last big dinner dance party! I guess being in California for 2 years, I’m totally spoilt – with Stanford pretty much bursting at the seams with vegetarians, this is a totally new experience – trying to survive in a meat eating country!
Anyway, from there, I figured I’d go to the harbor and find out about my ferry to oslo tomorrow. I’d earlier called up the ferry line and they’d told me they had plenty of seats, and I could just book a ticket on the day of the ferry, at the dock itself – but I thought I might as well see if their office was open. And of course – it wasn’t. Only, I realized that at the end of what must have been at least a 5km walk from the place I had dinner… It was probably about 2-3km from the station itself – in the opposite direction from the hostel, of course! Nuts…..and of course, all through this, again no people on the roads!! This place was starting to drive me crazy – very freaky indeed! I checked some of the streets within the town, even those with hotels in them – but still one hardly saw anyone around…maybe the odd person here or there…but that was it!
Anyway, I then trudged back to the hostel, and finally got back a few minutes ago, and can now rest my feet…I must have walked god knows how much today – overall at least 25-30km, I’m sure……..Time to just sleep now…
posted by Nikhil | 1:17 PM
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