Oh My, Fifty-Five

55 years ago the doctor slapped my mother for giving birth to such an ugly baby.  But now look at me - 55 and fabulous!  I decided to do something a little different for my birthday this year. Jens and I drove out to Kolding to visit with Jens' mother.  The next day we were headed to a cute little village called Ribe (2 syllables, kind of like Rey´-beh)  I have been here a few times before and because it is sooooo cute, I decided to go again plus I wanted to do something special for Jens' mother.

 The day started with a ride out to cemetery.  Just a little reminder of where all these fabulous b-day celebrations will end up.  We picked up some flowers at a local florist and took them out to the countryside to a little village - Jordrup - where the Boesen family has a burial plot.  Today we gave some fresh flowers to Arne Boesen, Jens' father.  He was a great guy and managed to always have a captive audiences with the great stories he could tell.

 

 Then just a short 1½ hour drive south, we come to one of my favorite Danish villages  - Ribe.  For you Danes that have not been there, you are really missing a wonderful treat for the eyes with rich history.  For any of you tourist who plan to do a trip to Denmark, you really should work in a day trip to Ribe among all the other fantastic villages Denmark has to offer.

 

Here we are starting our little jaunt through the village.

 A local bakery.

After a little walking and window shopping, we are ready for lunch. Luckily there are a lot of out door places to choose from as we are with the dog but the sun is getting low in the sky and it's a bit nippy in the shade so finding a spot in the sun will be hard.  And then to our amazement we find this wonderful restaurant along the river's edge with an extreme abundance of warming rays.

 We ordered the very Danish and very traditional pickled Herring served with dark rye. 

Some quick facts about Ribe and then you can look up more for yourself if you so desire. 

- It's the oldest town in Denmark.

- One of the very important trading post in Scandinavia, eons ago.

- there is a long history (and if told correctly can be rather interesting) to the cathedral but basically Ribe was one of the starting points to which christianity was brought to the heathen vikings of Scandinavia.

- you can easily Google more info for yourself.

Jens' mother kept holding the digital camera up to her face to look out of the view finder - that's why the top of the cathedral is not here.

 

 Jens' spastic fingers wouldn't let him get the top of Our Lady Maria Cathedral no matter how he tried.

 Here - gimme me the camera - I'll do it myself!

The cathedral has amazing mosaic artwork (which, if you remember from our horrible Mediterranean cruise; I told you about the beautiful mosaic artwork, poolside. see pix 2 and 3)

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Above the mosaic artwork are beautiful stained glass windows and abovet that, painted artwork.

 

The artwork is very controversial as it is soooooooo modern and in high contrast to the period of the church.  But for me, that's what makes it work and one of the reasons I enjoy to come here so much.

The artist is Carl Henning Pedersen.

One of the things I really like are the chalk painting that all of the churches in Denmark have.  Notice the arches are decorated - this is typical of Danish churches. 

And of course the standard but not ordinary organ.

These days, Ribe is a hot spot for many tourist and I enjoyed wondering up and down the streets and I am amazed over the number of beautiful, cute doll houses - one after the other.  Here are just a few of them and more can be seen on my shutterfly - click here.

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This one is actually quite modern in comparison.

 

 

To see more cute houses on my shutterfly - click here.

We stayed in a fantastic little hotel with very crooked walls and uneven floors but all of it was very well taken care of and every aspect of it was very charming old world.

The facade of Hotel Dagmar is rather plain but just you wait until you open the door - wow!

The hotel doorsteps with welcoming candle lamps. 

 

The amazing old world charm of the front lobby.  When I saw this, I knew I chose the right place.

My birthday dinner consisted of an appetizer, main dish and dessert with very smooth wine or should I say $mooth.  This appetizer was salmon something or another.  Had I known it was going to be this delicious, I would have ordered 10 of them and made the entire meal out of it.

I just cannot work that damn self exposure button. For some reason I always blink with a squished face.  I keep saying - one more time - one more time.  Jens got tired of it and started teasing me.

Luckily Jens' mother was able to look through the view finder of my digital camera and snap a pretty good shot. I tried to tell her there is no view finder but she kept sticking that camera up to her face.

Crème brûlée - I must have said the word 20 times in my best French accent.  Go ahead! you know you want to say it - Crème brûlée

The following day we headed back to Kolding. Another one of my favorite Danish smaller cities with an amazing restored castle. I highly recommended you write this on your list of Scandinavian sites to see.  The inside is beautifully restored.  Again - Google more for yourself and then get your butt in there for some ooing and wowing. 

 I snapped a few pix from the old center of town on my doggy poo poo walk.  Kolding Castle as well as the rest of the town is on a number of hills, unlike Ribe which is totally flat and wind blown preventing trees from growing in the area.  Jens' mother lives just a 12 minute walk down the hill and then up again from the castle - so I am usually here with the dog every time we come for a visit.

 

 This is just a tiny corner of green area turning gold, that is basically at the end of the street from where Jens' mother lives.

 

Not nearly the amount of cute house in Kolding as in Ribe but nonetheless it is a special treat for the eyes.

 Litterally this says: The dust sucking man.

But it means: the vacuum-cleaner man.

 

 

 

 

 

 At the end of what is known to some as Wall Street (there are 2 banks on this street one on each side)  are the Spanish Steps - and you thought they were in Rome.

 

 

 

Towards the top of the Spanish Steps is this really bizarre alien looking dude with teenie greeny weenie.

He freaked out Bounty and she wasn't gonna go near it.

 

It's a guess but they probably dubbed the hillside Spanish Steps because in the early 1800's when the English tried to take over Denmark, Napoleon sent in troops - most of them Spanish - to protect the area from the English.  At the time the castle was already decapitated and the Spanish did what they could to keep themselves warm and accidentally burnt the castle nearly down to the ground.  The brown parts as well as the roof are part of the major restoration of the castle.

 

 

 

On the lake at the castle is this very modern glass swim hall/exorcise/sports hall.

The tan apartment complex at the very top of the hill is where Jens lived with his family when he was 10 years old.  Just on the other side of the apartment complex and 3 streets away is where his mother lives now.

 

And this beautiful windmill is just 2 minutes away from where Jens' mother lives now.

             So now we are home again and I want to thank all of you for your very kind b-day greetings.