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.