We did a lot today starting with a Troll hunt. There is an artist who makes giant trolls around the world. A bunch are in Denmark, one was on our way to Helsingor (Elsinore) and the castle Shakespeare used as inspiration for Hamlet. Also on the way were a number of caches and adventure lab stages. I dropped off the first of my travel bugs- let’s see what happens. Geocachers know that in the U.S. travel bugs and geocoins tend to go missing. I even did a comic about Cecil’s collection. In Europe, that is not the case, While not the general rule I have found (anecdotal evidence) that even when the attached object goes missing the tag will still travel from cache to cache or event to event and be logged. I brought two Trackables with me- A MINI Cooper Hot Wheels , and a Geocoin that I had picked up at a local Leap Day event. I decided more than that would be overkill and add stress to the trip. (Update: the Trackable MINI was picked up while we were still in Denmark🤞that it will get moved around)
Sue on the path to see a troll!Our First Troll!The CampfireThe view from the campfireLook! A bridge! a big bridge!Sue and I ready to play the role of Hamely and Ophelia?!? I hope not.The role of Elsinor will be played by Kronborg tonight,Cecil wondering if something really is rotten in the state of Denmark… he doesn’t smell anything.The Kronborg Courtyard.They had a exhibit about monsters! (SEL focus for those in the Ed Biz) in the foundation of the original castleWhat else would you expect in Denmark but a statue highlighting that great Danish hero Hercules and his battle with the hydra (Hail HYDRA)Cecil chats with one of the guardians on the way to Denmark’s oldest cache!Cecil at Demark’s oldest Cache in the middle of a bog.Yes, it was cold, but flowers were starting to peek through.
There were some caches and an Adventure Lab around Krønborg before and after we toured the castle we were able to get the AL completed. Remember: a lot of things don’t open until April so a number of the things that would be open were just starting to get ready. If you’ve toured a large historic house in the U.S. or another castle in Europe you might understand the way things go- it’s a big house with history. There is a reason why this spot was picked. Who the heroes and who are the villains change and what time period they want showcase can determine that. All this does is make me realize how much I don’t know when it comes to other country’s history. By the law of Tourists in Europe we had now completed the requirements by visisting a cathedral and now a castle, the tourist police cannot arrest us- one less anxiety I have to deal with.
After handling the cold (it’s next to the ocean- sea breezes bring about cold.) we headed for the hotel with a minor detour to Denmark’s oldest geocache located near one of Sue’s favorite places, a bog. We walked the geopath and signed the log. Cecil dropped off the last of the trackables he had and we headed to Copenhagen and the hotel to defrost, rest up and get ready for whatever tomorrow will bring.
I learned in my research a couple of things- first, museums are closed on Mondays and Sue told me LEGOland doesn’t open until the end of the month. 😢 This turned Monday into a “play it by ear” day… which means catering to our whims. After waking up and then crashing again… I’m glad that elephant was on guard. I looked around our room and realized that we had just let our suitcases explode and after a knock on the door from the cleaning crew, decided we may need to get our act together. because we were off to Odense where I had booked the next hotel… but what circuitous route should we take?
Using Geocaching & Adventure Labs (AL) as ways to explore unknown areas.
I’m not too fond of geocaching to just get numbers or color in a map or grid (That’s Sue). That’s why I don’t cache that much around home. I have returned to attending local events, but mostly that’s what I do unless we are traveling. When traveling geocaching opens the area to me unlike so many other things. It’s like having a local show you around. Once we checked out of the hotel we decided to take a bit of a walk around Billund before leaving. I think I did well choosing a hotel walking distance from LEGO House. This will make getting to Friday’s Tour easier. We wandered the area around LEGO House to make sure we had an idea of our environment (no guard elephants to keep us safe now). We popped into LEGO House and decided to leave before I got to the point of just staying, or buying stuff. So instead we picked up a few AL stages and an actual cache before heading to Jelling to do a bit of the same. Why Jelling? Jelling is home to a UNESCO World Heritage Site and a Viking Museum (see note about Museums & Mondays). After wandering around Jelling doing one of the ALs and picking up at least one geocache we realized that we were cold, and that we had been smart bringing cold weather gear, just not smart enough to put it on. We then headed to our stop for evening, Odense.
Yes, it’s a geocache, and an AL stage!the author with King Gorm’s Stone
Interestingly today was planned specifically as a day of acclimation. For us to get used to being outside and walking in late winter, early spring temperatures, but also to get a feeling of how long it takes to get from place to place. In the U.S. if I’m planning a long drive I tend to divide the distance by 60 to get a conservative idea of how long it will take. We found in England, that wasn’t the case. It took longer, maybe it was because we were not on major roads for a lot of it, but the anxiety in me decided that having a day to figure things out might be good. What did we discover? That we are going places “off the beaten path” so plan for more time than you think. Sue got the car, so Sue was the driver… it was out of my control.
After Jelling we arrived in Odense, parked the car and headed to the hotel. The hotel had given us parking recommendations, so the lot was just around the corner. Check in wasn’t until 16:00 but we thought we’d check to see if we get in at around 14:00. We could, and we plopped in the room for a few minutes before heading out. We were told “turn right” to get to pretty much everything so we did, so as to get the lay of the land. We then started hunting around to see about caches and Adventure Labs leading us to the cathedral of St. Canute. The hard part was the entire adventure lab was in Danish! It required me to flex my tech muscles and use Google Translate and then special characters when typing in answers. We still haven’t figured out one part… so we can’t complete it. Not to worry, there are other AL that we haven’t finished and probably won’t. You see early on the default was to create a sequential route. You couldn’t move on to the next stage until you answered the question. Most AL didn’t have a reason to have an order, so it just gets in the way and makes you retrace your steps a larger scale version of the old “drunken bee dance.” One thing that was awesome about Odense was the lack of cars in the city center. It’s all either bikes or pedestrians. The bikes are fast, so you need to keep alert, but it was nice to not have to worry so much. Wish it had not been Monday, I would have liked to visit the Hans Christian Andersen Museum… maybe another time.
While we did eat in Amsterdam, Spicy Korean Fries at BrewDog, our first real meal was at a nice cafe towards the end of the afternoon. The experience was a bit different compared to the U.S.- order and pay first at the bar. Sue had a stir fry thing and I had a “spicy sandwich.” Both were excellent but not Danish cuisine. Sometimes you just want “food.”
Afterwards, we camped out for a bit in the room, but decided the one thing we didn’t want to do was go to sleep too early. I looked out the window and tried to figure out what was going on in a building across the street. Tables and bright colored stuff on the wall. First thought, it was some kind of a Sue store- it sold fabrics, yarn and sundries. I kept looking and saw what looked like a dragon head on the wall. Later Sue got tired of me puzzling over it and decided we needed to pick up provisions for tomorrow which would require a walk by the building. It was a geek store- by which I mean games, comics, books, cosplay/LARP (Faraos Cigarer a chain of stores throughout Denmark- the name comes from TinTin). I decided to quietly walk in and check it out… oh my! I really need to brush up on my TinTin and other European comics! After a while decided to head out… checking their hours for tomorrow, I saw on the door they were actually closed! The door was open for the gaming group, not customers! 😳🙄 At the local grocery store we picked up snacks for the road and some drinks- the Danish version of Vitamin Water. Then it was off to bed to be ready for the drama and tragedy the next day would bring.
The view from our window at the Grand Hotel, OdenseOur room for the night.Just wandering the streetsInside of St. Canute’s Cathedral, a required by tourist law in Europe you must visit at least one cathedral and one castle.Cecil visiting the birthplace of Hans Christian AndersenThe Steadfast Tin SoldierOur view of a remote control ugly duckling while eating dinner.Cecil enjoys the sunset while contemplating his role in the grand schemeWhat is going on over there?!? Hmmm…
Or at least that’s what I learned during pub trivia the Monday before we left. On a “whim” (because that’s what we do) I signed up for the LEGO House Fan Tour back in November which necessitated a trip to Denmark. So Sue and I started planning things out but leaving time for unplanned stuff. First thing we found out… March is still the off season. Museums are closed on Mondays. LEGOland does open until the end of the month, same for the famous Tivoli Gardens in Copenhagen. This is one of the by products of acting on a whim, but I’m not sure with Sue’s work schedule we would have been able to pull it off any other time.
We arrived about a week before the tour to give us time to explore at least part of the country. We decided to visit a few places: Odense – home of Hans Christian Anderson, Copenhagen, Helsingør – home of Kronborg Castle where Hamlet’s set, Malmo, Sweden (because it’s just across the bridge) and Jelling – home of a UNESCO world heritage site dealing with Vikings and Bluetooth before exploring Billund and LEGO House.
Saturday & Sunday: walked 6.48 miles
The flight from Indianapolis to Billund (via Detroit with a layover in Amsterdam). You may already know how anxious I get when travel somewhere. Especially by airplane. So I was already dreading this part of the trip… it’s just the way I am. It has nothing to do with the science of flight, it has to do with passengers. The nurse practitioner basically saying I should wear a mask throughout the trip (or I could get the plague and die) didn’t help matters. Someone posted an article dealing their anxiety which dealt with just not wanting to get in other people’s way. On a flight they would gather their stuff and rush out as fast as possible. This fits with my feelings flying and when people invite me to come over or stay with them when I’m in area. I don’t want even a friend or family member to have to deal with me. Meeting for a meal? Sure, but I’ll make sure it is quick, again don’t want to waste anyone’s time.
“One man’s ’simple!’ is another man’s ’huh?’”
When we arrived in Amsterdam we had a 6 hour layover which gave us time to go into the city. We had heard it was “simple” to get there from the airport… it might have been, but exhaustion turns “simple” into an adventure. Due to some misunderstanding – we should have switched trains at the first stop like the person giving us tickets said. We didn’t, we went by the belief that it should be direct. Therefore we ended up at the football stadium on game day. Remember this is Europe, so “soccer”, lots of people with scarves politely queuing. Once we figured out where to go and that our train tickets wouldn’t work on the Metro we bought another ticket to get to the central train station all was good. We wandered, picked up a few caches and an Adventure Lab & stopped by BrewDog (We’ve visited other locations in Las Vegas & Columbus,Ohio so we knew what we were in for) before returning to the airport, which was a lot easier since they had people helping poor lost tourists and our old train tickets allowed us through even when it was the metro. We did have to go through security and I realized I’ve gotten spoiled with TSA pre-check. Having to take off my belt, shoes and making sure my pockets were completely empty (I had my train ticket in my pocket and had to start over)… I had forgotten what a pain it can be and felt stupid holding up the people behind me. 🙄
Sunrise over the Atlantic (Somewhere around Greenland, I think)Artwork at the Amsterdam Airport, either welcoming us, or laughing at us for various undisclosed reasonsMore Artwork in the Amsterdam Airport… Just some cows.. Moooo!Cecil, trying to blend in with the football fans as we figure out how we got here…Just outside the central train stationJust a street scene with some amazing historic buildings, that seem to be repurposed as shops for “things”
The only flight that had any issues was the commuter jet heading to Billund. Sunday night it was oversold and needed at least a dozen people to check their carry-on bags. Upon arriving at the small airport I was surprised that there was no customs to go through, so no passport stamp for me! Sue had arranged our rental (and Audi SUV of some variety) so I played sherpa. Our hotel was dark when we arrived. While all the information I had gave hours, I must have missed the Sunday hours in which reception closed early. I found our room key in an envelope with my name on it amongst a pile of other keys and we climbed the stairs to our room and crashed. I had not slept on the flight (I don’t usually sleep on flights).
Note: Sue crashed… being in a completely different and inconvenient time zone has made it so she can’t really worry about work. Which tells me we need to figure out a way to this more often. I’ve been only worried about typical anxiety filled social and financial stuff. Not a daily grind of work which is completely different. I believe our Guard Elephant helped make her feel safe from the wild creatures roaming Billund late at night.
