August 30, 2022

Aarhus, Denmark

 Have you ever head of Aarhus, Denmark? It's the second largest city in Denmark with a population of approx 335,000 people. 

We had three nights here at a 'guesthouse' near the University. Our room had four beds but we could share a common living space and kitchen. Also, we had windows in our room and pleasant weather for the three days. This served overall as a great way for us to dry out wet camping gear, catch up on some rest in a really comfortable bed, and cook more of our own food in the kitchen.

 


The crosswalk vikings tell us if it's safe to cross.

Jaywalking is a big no-no in Denmark!

We went to check out Den Gamle By, an old town open air museum with houses and displays from different eras from the past. We enjoyed the architecture as we moved from 1600-present, and the interactive displays as we went. We spent about 3 hours here and really enjoyed it.

Learning about the architecture of different arches
Ring toss


   

 

We learned this game from "the olden days" 
- it was a bit like tether ball meets bowling...
 
There was a skills demo happening, so the kids got to help saw and make a picnic table.
We had to try a meringue from the bakery!

     

   


Old Ford / car museum

The kids didn't know this was a phone for a few minutes

Car parts and Jason being the old fashioned salesman



Moved to the 70s and practiced using a rotary phone







Then we walked around the city. The Aarhus Festival was on, so we saw some dancing / live music / beer tents. But the kids were able to go to a 'creation tent' and do arts and crafts with recycled materials. We liked it so much we went back again the next day!



Nachos!


This is ARoS - the art gallery, with a rainbow walkway display on its roof

One creation from the creation tent

More creations on day 2!

The girls made wands

This is how many people bike commute here!


We had a lovely time with no particular agenda for 3 days in this pleasant city. The other important thing that happened was that Jason was able to shop for some required gear for an upcoming huge race in Wales. 

Thanks, Aarhus!






Jutland, Denmark

 We left Goteborg, Sweden via ferry to Frederikshavn, Denmark. From there, we made our way North on train to find our campsite near Hulsig. 

The most interesting thing inside the ferry was the duty free situation. This was a 9am departure on a weekday, and there were at least 3 bars on the ferry boat. People started drinking right at 9am and didn't stop until we docked. The duty free shop was almost entirely full of alcohol. We have gathered that the Danish alcohol prices, and especially when duty free, are much cheaper than the Swedish prices. So people really went for it!

We opted instead to buy some Ritter Sport chocolate, which was a delicious bargain.











People all over were carrying around these rolley carts,
filling them up with booze from the duty free


Grabbing some pizza for lunch before boarding our train North.

The camping company was called "First Camp" and was a huge private campground with minigolf, an indoor and outdoor pool, RV sites, a common kitchen area, bathrooms with showers, laundry facilities, and bikes for rent.


The campground map. It was a big facility!

Carrying a lot of stuff!


Our campsite

The common kitchen area


Our overall plan was to rent bikes and then ride North toward Skagen and the very tip of Denmark. Unfortunately, our camp site bikes for rent didn't include any options small enough for Ava. So Jason and Rachel rented 2 bikes and went into town looking for options. 

Sadly, Hulsig was too small to have anything like that, so they decided to go ahead and ride all the way to Skagen. The bike store there suggested a tandem rental, which we could do the next day. But Rachel and Jason missed the train coming back, and Jason had to work, so they rode all the way back to camp. They ended up riding 30km total on this excursion!


The cute town of Skagen, Denmark



It rained hard over night and most of our stuff was damp. We enjoyed playing at the indoor pool as soon as it opened at 9am. And then we packed up our day pack and took our 2 bikes to the train. Once in Skangen, Jason and Ava rented a tandem bike and we had a lovely Italian lunch. Then we were able to enjoy biking to the tip of Denmark where the North Sea and the Baltic Sea meet.
















The sand was beautiful and clean and white and soft.



One foot in each sea!




We walked back to our bikes the hard way in soft sand!




We really enjoyed biking on the lovely flat and easy bike paths as a family. That night is rained again, so we got up in the morning and packed up our wet tent and damp stuff. 

We had quite an adventure getting all of our stuff and ourselves back to the train station in Hulsig from the campsite. We shuttled our packs on the bikes so we didn't have to walk and carry them all, and we were able to leave the kids with the packs at the train station while we returned the bikes and checked out of camping. I had fun riding my bike back and forth several times - each time with a different and creative load.

We were then off heading South, through the Denmark country side, toward Aarhus.

Windmills everywhere!
  

Ava watches our stuff at the train station arriving in Aarhus,
while we dry out the tent a little and find some lunch.

Rachel falls asleep on the local city bus in Aarhus
 as we get closer to our lodging for the evening.

We enjoyed out time in Northern Jutland and really recommend riding your bike in Denmark if you ever get the chance!