Auto Tour Day 1 Sept. 2017

Our last auto tour to southern Denmark and northern Germany went so well, we decided to do another auto tour to the middle part of Denmark.  But this tour was an after thought.  I asked for time off to take a vacation to Sitges, Spain to meet my American friend, Tom.  But his plans didn't follow through so we decided to give another auto tour a go.

Our trip started midday, Thursday September 7 and we came home late afternoon the following Thursday.  We had a really nice time and the only bummer was the weather:  wet and or gray.  But everything else was fantastic.  

>>>> I have written a blog for each of our travel days so be sure to take a look a the next 7 blogs after this one. <<<<

The entire trip was pretty much the same distance as what we traveled to Germany: roughly 950 kilometers / 590 miles.

We left Copenhagen just before noon time and before we even got out of the city, we got lost. Our main destination for today is the beautiful city of Aarhus.  To get there we went by auto ferry via Sjællands Odde.  Sjælland, as you know is the island we live on and Odde is impossible to pronounce so just skip it.   It's a fun strip of land to drive on as there is water on both sides of the road.

 We stop along the highway to tank up on coffee.

When we get to the ferry, we are 2 hours too early so we turn back to the first place we see to stop and get another java.  Sjællands Odde is a summer vacation place and since summer never came, the place was kind of like a ghost town.

 We had advanced tickets that I bought on-line.

 Lots of rain.

The ramp goes up and makes a sharp right.  It was strange when the front half of the car was in the boat and the parking director stopped us with the back half of the car still on the ramp.

They pack the cars in bumper to bumper.  Jens actually had to get out of the car so that i could park our car as close as possible to the edge of the ramp.

There was a kiosk on board and it was here that I showed our ticket for the shrimp sandwich that I pre-ordered.   No, they said, You have to go up stairs to the restaurant.

Wow - the sandwich was amazing and so cheap.  

A huge pile of shrimp drowning in a deep vat of mayo - delicious!

 There was a very cute dog on board that reminded us of Bounty.

 It was extremely well behaved.  It was just like Bounty - she didn't jump up on the table at all.

 I pointed out the dog to Jens.  I knew he would be happy to say hello to this dog.

I shocked myself.  I too just had to say hello to this dog and as I walked away, 

I actually started to cry.

 They use every bit of space to pack in the cars.

Click here for ferry info in case you just happen to be planning a trip.

 We finally get to our hotel.  I am amazed by how amazing everything is.

Everything was wonderful - except the food.  It was horrible and twice the price as an ordinary restaurant.  We couldn't chew the rubber cow.  I swear the french fries were from the deep freezer.

The cute decor on the table couldn't make up for the lousy food.  The sea-view sure helped however.

 This is the old and original part of the hotel.  Real thatched roofed - not Disneyland fake.

 Here is the newer part of the hotel.  Great huge lobby.  Soooooo nice.

 We got lucky.  All the rooms on the ground floor have a huge patio with table.  This is not the room to have however if you are shy as the tables are for the gust upstairs too and anybody and just walk by your room.  The sea-view was amazing.  Aarhus is the second largest city in Denmark. You can see it in the background.  The city is too far away to walk from the hotel but only a 3 to 4 minute drive with the car.

Here is a link to the hotel - click here and read the history of the hotel and take a look at the gallery.
Oh and by the way.......... This year Aarhus is the European Culture Capital of Europe.  Which is kind of funny since Aarhus is not the capital of Denmark.  But click here to see more of what has been going on and what is coming up this year in Aarhus.

And be sure to go on to day 2 of our auto tour in the next blog.  Click here if you can't find it.

Auto Tour Day 2

It's only day 2 and we are already behind schedule.  We should have done this museum yesterday after checking into the hotel.  But today is the day to see it and it is for sure museum weather.

We drive from our hotel to the city center and go to Aros Museum.
An amazing Museum with a rainbow colored sky room at the top of the building.

 The first thing we did was take the elevator to the top. 

On a sunny day, you can go out and admire the view of the city.  

You can go out as well on a wet day but we decided to stay indoors.

I can see now that I should have stepped into the clear space to shoot the red and orange color - but you get the idea.

 A bust sculpture of Her Majesty Queen Margrethe II of Denmark.

Here you can see an up close pix of brush stroke details by Vilhelm Lundstrøm from 1933.

A lot of fantastic art work has come from different artist who lived and painted in the northern tip of Denmark.  You may know know it by you are actually are aware of these works as they are used for different purposes around the world.  This painting is from Krøyer, painted in 1898.  Abercrombie and Fitch surely got their ideas from this painting.  Here is the Wikiedpedia link to the painters of Skagen, as they are called.  Click here and see if you don't recognize at least one or two of the paintings.

Another very famous Danish artist, Michael Ancher, from the same place and same era.

I don't know this artist but if you had stuck your face as close to this painting as I did, you would be sooooooooo amazed.  The detail is that of a 20 mega bite camera.  I've been to Norway and it looks just like this painting.

I didn't catch the name of this dude but I was wowed by the brush strokes and detail.

From one of the upper floors you could look out over the wet city of Aarhus.

We could never have done this museum with out the help of some wheels.

I thought I would just snap this text and read it at home to get the explanation of this big boy - wrong.  Nevertheless, the text is interesting regardless of the artwork.

I wanted to put my foot next to this one to show how huge it was. It was about the size of a bathtub.

 There were light boxes of photos from different places around the world - none of LA :-(

I wanted to wheel Jens around this installation but I guess the rope is to keep people like me away from the artwork and from being cheezie.

After the museum we drove into town.  We found a place to park and asked a person which way to restaurant row.  Go this way and that way and hang a right - a woman told us.  We hung a left and didn't find anything.  Eventually we come to this coffee shop.  It was tasty and luckily it was right next to the cathedral that Jens wanted to show me.

After cake, coffee and sandwich we walked into this cathedral.  It was tiny and no big deal.  Church service was going on - It was Friday - It was 2:30 in the afternoon - It was in Korean.  And oddly enough, there were 2 priest - one at each end of the middle walkway and none at the alter.  It was a catholic church so at mass, we stood, kneeled, sat, stood, kneeled, sat, stood, kneeled, sat,............. crossed our selves a number of times to show respect and go along with the program, yawned and then left.  A woman followed us out and said - I think you are looking for the cathedral down at the other end of the street.  Oops.

 Jens is the official dog petter of Denmark.

 The pedestrian street was festive and wonderful so I am glad we went the wrong way.

I don't know how they did it.  It was truly bizarre. We are walking along the pedestrian street - ground level - looking at all of the buildings - window shopping - and before we knew it, we are up in the sky, on a bridge over a river.  We were on the ground - how did we get so high?  But here we were, over restaurant row and just a stone throw away from the Cathedral.

 

In these 2 pix (above and below) we are still over the water but on a lower bridge.
You can see the higher bridge in the background.

 

Here's the Cathedral. The exact year is not know but it seems that construction started around 1200.  It is the tallest and longest church in the country;  93 m (305 ft) in length and 96 m (315 ft) in height and a lotta bling.

 

My poor husband was exhausted but I just kept wheeling him all around the city.

I was totally mesmerized by the beauty of it.

 

Be sure to go onto Day 3 of our tour.  

Click here if you can't find it.