Denmark Trip - Day 10 - Tved, DK to Aarhus, DK

Summer House, Tved – Woke around 7 AM. Weather was another beautiful day with blue skies. Lotte said she would be proctoring 6 student oral and written exams in the morning and would come to the summer house around 12 noon.

Then, we planned to return Marie’s car to her in Aarhus. Carol and I drove to Lotte’s house and washed Marie’s car using water from Lotte’s rain barrel. Around 10:30 AM, Carol and I drove to Ronde where we filled up Marie’s car with gas (425.5 DKK, 24.5 Liters or $60, 6.5 Gal, $9.26/Gal). We then drove to the town of Ebeltoft where we parked in the church parking lot.

Ebeltoft is an old, picturesque, somewhat touristy port town with cobblestone streets and ancient half-timbered houses. We walked around town and found a little café on the central plaza where we got coffee (me) and a cold drink (Carol).

The plaza was busy with local vendors selling crafts, clothing, etc. Carol bought a nice sun hat. We then walked to the waterfront where the frigate Jylland is moored. The ship had been beautifully restored since when we saw it back in 1992.

According to Wikipedia, the Jylland is one of the world’s largest wooden warships and is both a sail propelled and screw-propelled steam frigate.

We left Ebeltoft around 1:30 PM and stopped at our favorite fish store (Fiske –Mols Rogeri) and got fishcakes (fiskefrickadeller), smoked salmon and smoked salt on the way back to Lotte’s house.  Lotte was back and was trying to finish some schoolwork.

She said her back ache had returned and she was having a hard time sitting.  We all had lunch of smoked salmon, bread, and cheese. We then loaded a bed frame in Marie’s car to take to her place. The frame barely fit after pushing the back seats down and the front passenger seat all the way forward.

Marie had bought the frame for the summer house, but it turned out it wasn’t the right size. So, she arranged for someone to buy it. I drove Marie’s car and Lotte and Carol drove in her car. Marie’s car was a small Peugeot with a stick shift that was fun to drive. I also appreciated how easy it was parallel parking in tiny spots when we got to Marie’s, LOL.

The two young ladies who were going to buy the bed frame showed up and we all helped them cram it into their car. After that, Marie took Lotte, Carol, and me to her place where we sat outside in her backyard and chatted. I also took some photos of some framed photographs of Lotte’s parents and family that I planned to put in her Ancestry family tree I was working on. We returned to Lotte’s house and had bread and cheese.

Later, Lotte took us to a small concert at a local church. The concert was interesting and included a band of about five (singer/guitar, second guitar, keyboard, drums, percussion) plus an elderly man who told stories in Danish throughout the concert. After the concert, Lotte dropped us off at the summer house where Carol and I crashed for the night. 

Things I Learned On This Day (#TILOTD) –

• Gas is about twice as expensive in Denmark as it is in the U.S.
• Fregatten Jylland hasn’t changed much in the last 30 years
• A queen size IKEA bed frame will fit into the back of a compact Peugeot car

Denmark Trip - Day 9 - Tved, DK to Sletterhage Lighthouse

Summer House, Tved – Arrived at Lotte’s at 8 AM. Lotte had prepared coffee, bread, cheese, smoked salmon, salami for a little breakfast picnic on the hill by her big brown metal barn. It was a beautiful day, and the spot had an awesome view of the surrounding wheat and barley fields and bay in the distance. 

After the picnic, Lotte and Carol picked elderberry flowers that Lotte was planning to use to make elderberry flower juice.

At around 10 AM, we helped Andres remove some of the concert equipment that was used for the Waterfahl concert (speakers, lights, etc.). We also moved most of the chairs, tables, etc. back to their original locations. Around 11:15 AM, we had some toasted bread, cheese, and coffee.

Lotte showed us how she makes elderberry juice. Basically, she boils the elderberry flowers with lemons, and sugar. After letting it sit for a few days she filters out the flowers and lemons and voila! The juice was delicious and is good for you too!. The plan for today was to visit the Sletterhage Lighthouse where Lotte volunteers.

On the way to the lighthouse, we stopped to see the Helgenaes Kirke (church) that was built in the 13th century. The church had a flat, wooden beam ceiling which Lotte said was unusual. It also had a large model ship hanging from the ceiling near the entrance which Lotte said is common in Danish churches.

According to Wikipedia, the ships are known as votive ships and started becoming common throughout Christian Europe around the Middle Ages. After touring the church and surrounding cemetery, Lotte led us to a vista point with a spectacular view of the surrounding countryside and bay.

Luckily, I had a tripod and was able to take a nice photo of all of us sitting with the beautiful view in the background.
On the way to the Sletterhage Lighthouse, we passed a house where roofers were replacing the thatched roof. Carol and I were curious, so we pulled over to the side of the road and watched them work.

It was fascinating watching them tie and shape bundles of thatch and how they attached the bundles to the roof. I can’t even remember seeing a thatched roof in the U.S. So, it was amazing to see so many in Denmark. According to ITS (International Thatching Society), thatched roofs are considered more climate friendly. So, hopefully, it’s not a dying craft and thatched roofs may become even more common.

We continued to the Sletterhage Lighthouse where Lotte works as a volunteer. The lighthouse is open to public and has educational displays showing the history, geology, and nature of the area. According to Wikipedia, Sletterhage Lighthouse was built in 1894 and was used to help guide ships to and from the port of Aarhus.

According to Lotte, it was also used during the cold war to look for Russian submarines. After touring the lighthouse, we got ice cream cones from a little food cart near the lighthouse. The girl at the food cart asked if I wanted some guf. I had no idea what guf was, but Lotte said I should give it a try. So, feeling adventurous, I agreed. It was a bit like mousse but a little more gooey.

We returned to the summer house around 4:40 PM and then took a walk to the nearby beach with Lotte. The bay was beautiful and calm. The beach was gravely with lots of flint and other types of rocks that were brought down from the north by ice sheets during glaciation periods.

Lotte said she finds a lot of fossilized shells along the beach. After the walk, Lotte returned to her house and was planning to go to another meeting about the proposed summer houses. Carol and I returned to the summer house where we vacuumed Marie’s car in preparation for returning it to her tomorrow.

Things I Learned On This Day (#TILOTD) –

• Thatched roofs are climate friendly
• Guf is a gooey marshmallow fluff that Danes like to put on ice cream cones

Denmark Trip - Day 8 - Tved, DK to Hovedgard, DK

Summer House, Tved -- Woke at about 7 AM, had coffee and drove Marie’s car to Lotte’s house. Carol helped clean up the kitchen a little and at 9 AM, Carol, Andrii, and I left. We dropped Andrii off at a place where Andres left a car for Andrii to borrow for the day and continued on to Bill and Bente’s house in Hovedgard.

We arrived around 10:45 AM. Bill gave us a tour of his house and gardens. The house looked like a classic old Danish cottage, but Bill said it was built in the 1960’s. It had a beautiful, thatched roof and classic black wood beams that framed a white exterior.

Bill thought the property was about 1 acre which included paths that wound through the gardens to a large pond. While walking through the garden, I almost stepped on a snail that was the biggest snail I’d ever seen.

I’m not a snail expert but, I suspect it was Helix pomatia or escargot which, according to Wikipedia, is one of the biggest snails found in Europe. 

Besides snails, Bill said he occasionally sees a variety of birds and animals including European hare, deer, fox and hedgehogs. Carol gave Bill a quilt she made for him and then Bill treated us to salmon lox, bread, cheese, prosciutto, salami, fish in mustard sauce, etc. outside on the patio. 

Bente arrived after work around 2 PM and we had coffee and cake. We talked for a few hours and left around 6:30 PM.

After getting back to the summer house, Carol and I snacked on crackers, cheese, and drink.
Talked with Lotte and made tentative plans for taking a walk on the beach tomorrow. Lotte said she would have coffee ready at her house around 8 AM.

Things I Learned On This Day (#TILOTD) –

• Denmark has hares the size of U.S. Jackrabbits
• Denmark has huge snails 

Denmark Trip - Day 7 - Tved, DK

Summer House, Tved -- Woke at about 6 AM and drove Marie’s car to Lotte’s where we had coffee, toasted bread, and cheese (Tilsit).

Carol and I drove with Lotte to the Tved Kirke (church) which is near where her family used to live. We walked around the cemetery and saw where Lotte’s parents, grandparents and aunt are buried.

Lotte talked with the caretakers who were preparing to move two children’s graves to a sunnier location at the request of the family. The inside of the church was beautiful with amazing wood carvings on the priest pulpit.

Lotte explained that the church used to be Catholic but switched to Protestant after the reformation. When it was Catholic, the inside walls and ceiling were much more colorful but were painted white when it became Protestant. Lately, people have been working to uncover the paintings.

Which explained why the front walls and ceiling of the church were colorfully painted with religious symbols and figures. 

We drove with Lotte to the local market (Dagli Brugsen) where we got some groceries and I found some licorice for my sister, Susan.

Lotte showed us the automated machine she uses to recycle bottles. The machine would scan and read the bar code on bottles and then produce a credit voucher that could be used as money in the store. We returned to Lotte’s house and started preparing for the Waterfahl concert tonight.

Lotte and I hung a huge tarp over a strap to block the view of the cars, trailers, riding mower, etc. that were being stored in the barn (cars included a BMW hearse and vintage MG the owners were planning to restore). We were trying to figure out how to move the riding mower. Lotte had never actually driven it but with a little encouragement, she was able to drive it to the other side of the barn. 

We then swept the floor and moved four picnic tables, benches, and chairs into the barn for people to sit on. Next, we setup a small stage where Waterfahl would be performing. The stage consisted of wood pallets with 4x8 ft. plywood on top covered by a blanket. We hung some colored lights around the stage and organized the snack area where people would help themselves to snacks including onion dip, and skittles. Later, Andres setup the sound system and lighting which gave the stage a very professional look.

Carol and I then went to the summer house where we cleaned up and then returned to Lotte’s to help prepare dinner. Lotte had agreed to provide dinner for Waterfahl members (Finn and Hanne) before the concert. So, around 6 PM, Lotte, Finn, Hanne, Carol, and I ate dinner in Lotte’s dining room. Finn and Hanne were incredibly nice, and we talked about their music and concerts they’ve done and would be doing in the future. After dinner, we took snacks (chips, onion dip, skittles, drinks) and dishes out to the barn. 

Finn and Hanne did sound checks and finished getting setup. The concert began around 8:20 PM. Lotte introduced Waterfahl and told people to be sure to help themselves to snacks in the back. Onion dip and Skittles are somewhat of a novelty in Denmark

and throughout the concert, Hanne would amusingly remind people to help themselves. That must have motivated people because most of the onion dip and Skittles were gone by the end of the concert. 

Waterfahl began the concert with Otis Redding’s Dock of the Bay, then Neil Young’s Harvest Moon. I love Neil Young and was quite touched when Hanne said they chose the song to honor Carol and me visiting from the U.S. I recorded the entire concert with my iPhone 12 and later asked Finn and Hanne if it would be OK if I posted any of it on social media. Both said that would be perfectly fine. 

• Waterfahl Concert 
• Lotte's Introduction
• Sitting On The Dock Of The Bay
• Harvest Moon
• My Heart Will Never Fly
• The Flowery Banks of Cree
• Blame It On The Rain
• Takes One To Know One??
• Urban Caveman
• All Of Me 
• Angel from Montgomery
• Loch Lomond
• Help Me
• No Man Is An Island
• Moondance
• Goodnight Moon
• Falling Through The Floor
• Stand By Me
• Crazy Little Thing Called Love
• Hvis Din Far Gir Dig Lov (If Your Father Gives You Permission)
• Sweet Caroline
• Romance

Me & Carol with Erling & Lene

The concert was a big hit and around 50 people showed up. It was really nice to meet more of Lotte’s family, friends and neighbors, including a German work study student who was staying with Andres and Ann-Dorthe,and two of Lottes sisters and their husbands.

Finn & Sine

After the concert, we talked with Finn and Hanne and asked if we could buy one of their T-Shirts and CDs. They said they would give us a T-Shirt and their first CD for free! We also ended up buying one of their older CDs.

Lotte's neighbor Andres

Later, Lotte’s neighbor Andrii asked if we could give him a ride in the morning. We agreed and said we would meet him at Lotte’s house at 9 AM. We cleaned up the barn a little and returned to the summer house around 12 midnight.

Things I Learned On This Day (#TILOTD) –

• Tved has an incredibly beautiful church 
• Danish graveyards re-use gravesites every 20 years for caskets and every 10 years for urns unless the family reserves it for another period
• Denmark has its own version of Find-A-Grave called DK-Gravsten
• Danes appear to be fond of onion dip and Skittles 

Denmark Trip - Day 6 - Tved, DK

Summer House, Tved -- Woke at 7 AM (10 PM PT), showered. Lotte came and picked us up and we went to a local bakery named King Carrot where she bought some sourdough and rye bread (best bread ever!).

Lotte then took us for a quick tour of the area. Lotte had been telling us how narrow and winding the roads are in Denmark and I was beginning to see what she meant. The roads were paved barely wide enough for two small cars to pass without driving off the pavement. Which meant, one or both cars usually end up driving off the pavement when passing. We drove through several small, quaint villages that seemed like they belonged in a story book.

When we returned to Lotte’s house, Lotte’s neighbor, Andres, came over to check on setting up the stage for the Waterfahl concert on Monday. Lotte said the stage would be setup in one of the big barns basically like it was setup for the concert she had a couple years ago. Lotte thought maybe 40-50 people would show up for the concert! A little later, Lotte left to go to a local community meeting about a proposal to build more summer houses down the road from where she lives. Most of the local community was against the proposal because of the amount of traffic it would bring and other issues it would cause.

After the meeting, Lotte went to a friend’s 80th birthday celebration. So, Carol and I were on our own for a while. We drove to the local fish store (Fisk Mols Rogeri) and bought some smoked salmon and fishcakes (fiskefrickadeller). We then drove to Ronde and stopped at a grocery store (Netto) and got some crem fraiche (sour cream), potato chips, apples, coffee, coke, tomatoes, and milk.

The sour cream would be used to make onion dip for the Waterfahl concert. We then drove back to the summer house where we took a little snooze.
The weather has been somewhat humid and warm (63-79 deg F) and rained a little in the morning. Lotte got back from the birthday party at around 6:30 PM. 

She said the party went very well and people gave speeches and sang songs they wrote that went with known tunes. We then enjoyed a nice meal outside on Lotte's patio of salmon, fishcakes, rolls, salad and drinks.

Things I Learned On This Day (#TILOTD) –

• King Carrot is a person who thinks they’re better than everyone else
• Denmark's roads are freaking narrow
• Most cars in Europe and Denmark have manual transmissions rather than automatic
• Crem fraiche is Danish for sour cream

Denmark Trip - Day 5 - Tved, DK to Aalborg, DK

Summer House, Tved -- Weather sunny to part cloudy. Lotte, Carol, and I planned to go watch Erik compete at the Taekwondo competition in Aalborg. Marie will also be going.

So, the plan was to meet Marie somewhere along the way and carpool in her car. Lotte said we should leave a little early so she could do some errands along the way. Plus, we needed to drop Gismo off at Erik’s place. Our phone cellular service was barely working so Carol called T-Mobile. They reset our cellular service which totally disconnected both of our phones and left us wondering what to do next.

Our first thought was maybe we just need to reboot our phones. Thankfully, that worked, and our cellular service came back. Ironically, after rebooting, we received a text message saying we need to reboot our phones for our cellular service to work, 😕.
Carol and I walked to Lotte’s house from the summer house and had coffee and muffins with Lotte. We left to see Erik’s Taekwondo competition at around 10:30 AM and stopped at a jewelry shop where Lotte looked for a gift for a school colleague. We continued our road trip to a highway rest stop where we met Marie and switched to her car for the rest of the trip to Aalborg. 

In Aalborg, we stopped at Erik’s place and dropped off Gismo and continued to the “Gigantium” arena where the Taekwondo competition was being held. Lotte called Erik’s phone and arranged to meet him near the entrance. 

Erik said he would be doing single and double competitions a little later which gave us some time to get food (French hotdogs) and drinks. After getting our food and drinks, we found a place to sit near where Erik would be competing. Erik did very well and won several awards. 

After Erik finished, we watched some other team competitions and eventually left to pick up Lotte’s car and carpool to Marie’s place in Aarhus (Carol with Marie and me with Lotte). 

We all hung out for a while at Marie’s place in her back garden where she showed us her cool little greenhouse and later watched her open some gifts including a few vinyl records (The Worst Of Jefferson Airplane, Fleetwood Mac - Rumours, and a Best of 1960’s record set).

We left Marie’s and on the way back to Lotte’s house, stopped at the Mols Bierge National Park Visitor Center. The Visitor Center is in an ancient building with huge wooden beams and cool displays that describe the Mols Bierge National Park and Kalo Castle.

After that, we stopped at the Mols Organic Butik (Store) and bought some cheese and a few gifts for folks back home. The store seemed strange because there wasn’t anyone there to take money. So, it depended on people being honest and paying for what you take by putting money in a little cash box or by using a phone app. Amazingly, Lotte said this was a very common way to do business in Denmark.

We returned to Lotte’s place where we snacked on bread, crackers, cheese, beer, or vino. Carol gave Lotte two puff quilts she made. The quilts were a little different than her normal quilts because each individual square was stuffed with batting rather than the whole quilt being stuffed. Lotte and Carol prepared a veggie omelet for dinner and after that, Carol and I returned to the summer house.

Things I Learned On This Day (#TILOTD) –

• American hotdogs are quite different than Danish hotdogs
• Erik kicks ass in Taekwondo 
• Danes are very trusting
• The Kingdom of Denmark has six National Parks