ROOTS - not the movie - 13

     Today, which again was almost 7 years ago, Norma and I are off on an excursion to the city of Varde on the Jylland peninsula, the only part of Denmark attached to Europe proper. The reason for this excursion is two-fold; my brother Max belongs to a group that plays hunting horns and they are in a competition in Varde. In addition, Varde is well known for its miniature city. So off we go across the island Fyn to Lillebælt which means "Little Belt" and is the sound or narrow "belt" between the island of Fyn and the Jylland Peninsula. The last town or city on the Fyn side is the city of Middelfart - yes,  you can imagine the jokes about that particular town - they just can't do a real fart, just a middle one. So in order to understand the meaning of the name follow the link attached: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Middelfart

Note on European highways, the exit name is in blue and the exit in green.
Here we are just 1000 meters from the Middelfart exit.

     Then it is across one of  two bridges which are interesting; http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Little_Belt

First is a link to information about the new bridge: 

http://www.visitdenmark.com/en-us/denmark/the-new-lillebaelt-bridge-gdk614479

If one drives the new bridge during high winds one can be in for a surprise. This is a suspension bridge and as such it will sway considerably in high winds, enough to at times reduce traffic to one way.

Then a link the old bridge which was actually a work brought about by the great depression which not only hi t the US but also Europe and most of the rest of the world, and because of it, the depression, Hr. Hitler of Infamy came to power:

http://www.visitdenmark.nl/nl/denmark/the-old-lillebaelt-bridge-gdk614471

And a link to some images of the bridges: 

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=lillebaelt+bridge+denmark&qpvt=lillebaelt+bridge+denmark&FORM=IGRE

     After driving some time across Jylland http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jutland we arrive in Varde

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Varde     http://aroundguides.com/Varde and find the location of the 

hunting horn blowing competition. Via one or two phone calls we meet my brother Max and his wife Mariann and find a place to sit. Here are a few photos of the horn blowers. They played tradition hunting notes as well as a number of jazz pieces which surprised me as the horn has no keys or valves as does most musical horns, meaning that every note must be made by the mouth and the amount of air passed through the horn (middelfart?)

http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=hunting+horns&qpvt=hunting+horns&FORM=IGRE

My brother Max is the seventh head from the right, he is the tall one.

Again Max more or less in the center, and he is the tall one.

Max playing his hunting horn.

      Then it was time to visit the other attraction in Varde, the miniature city. This is a most interesting place; everything is 1/10th scale, brick by brick, door by door, window by window, roof tile by roof tile, house by house, building by building, of the City of Varde. One feels like a giant in a very small place. In Danish it is called "minibyen" or translated "mini town". It is a reconstruction of Varde ca. 1866 after most of the town was destroyed by arson. The reconstruction is made by a number of very good craftsmen.
http://goscandinavia.about.com/od/denmar1/qt/minibyenvarde.htm
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=varde+miniature+by&qpvt=varde+miniature+by&FORM=IGRE
http://goscandinavia.about.com/b/2012/10/24/minibyen-varde.htm
http://www.visitdenmark.it/it/denmark/minimurerne-i-varde-gdk609623

     So we took off looking at this little wonder of nimble fingers.

The invasion of the giants.

The church, which is still standing (the real full size one)

A street view of the buildings.

And to give it perspective.

An aerial view

Norma in the middle of town

A close up of a balcony. Also note the roof tile.

My brother Max and his wife Mariann in front of the church.

An aerial view over one of the streets.
Norma is in the background.

     Then it was time for a nice dinner, and since it was a nice Danish summer evening we decided to eat outdoors at a little cafe named "Sillasens Hus" on the city square which is located right next to City hall (Raadhuset). It is said that this is the oldest original building in the city of Varde but I have not been able to find any history on the building. Had we known that it is also one of the models in the mini town we would have photographed it there as well.

http://www.tripadvisor.com/Restaurant_Review-g227590-d1125067-Reviews-Sillasens_Hus-Varde_Varde_Municipality_South_Jutland_Jutland.html

      It was a fantastic meal with three courses and three bottles of wine and, and, aaaand, hold on to your seats now, a rather hefty price tag. When the waiter brought the bill to my brother I happened to see the total; Danish Kroner 1,900.00 or about US $325.00

Here we are waiting for the dessert.
Notice that I have managed to make the flagpole grow out of the back of my brothers head.

Sillasens Hus restaurant in the town of Varde, Denmark.
Well worth the visit, especially if someone else is footing the bill.

      The it was time to head back to Svendborg, about 105 miles / 175 km away.

     This was the end of a great day. More to follow in the next post.

ROOTS - not the movie - 12

      Today, which was almost 7 years ago, is a day of relaxation without actually going anywhere or having a specific agenda. We had a leisurely breakfast, sat around the house and talked, we walked the neighborhood and we went to the grocery store for some needed items and to the bank to change traveler checks into Danish Kroner. While at the store we were in for a surprise, as we found some TEX MEX hot sauce, and there is a big but attached; this stuff was made right next door in Sweden and the price in US dollars at that time was about $4.50 per jar not including OMS and MOMS, which we call sales tax. The direct translation of OMS and MOMS would be a "transaction fee" and "more transaction fee" - isn't that what our current president proposed to raise revenue - whenever currency changed hands he wanted a piece of the action for the federal government, in addition to the taxes already being assessed.

     Denmark is a land of old and ancient windmills and some are decorative pieces only and my brother has one in his backyard. They seem simple enough to build out of wood. This particular model is of the windmill at EGESKOV MØLLE, which means Oak Forest Mill. Here is a link to the history of the mill and there is a button on the page where one can get the information in English.
http://www.egeskov-moelle.dk/page3.html
http://www.sologstrand.com/holiday-denmark/buildings/egeskov-moelle.htm
and here is a link to a short youtube video, but the language is Danish
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-7NFiUEgBmY
This particular mill was even depicted on the 10 Kroner note
http://www.tomchao.com/eu/eu14.html

     There are many other windmills in Denmark and I have added a few links below.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_windmills_in_Denmark
https://www.google.com/search?q=danish+windmills&tbm=isch&tbo=u&source=univ&sa=X&ei=Ie4VU-TODKb22AX2vICYAw&ved=0CCQQsAQ&biw=1455&bih=691

      Then we had a nice dinner, BBQ, but not Texas style. The meat was Crown Deer from Australia. Crown Deer are also referred to as the "Red Deer". It was very good. The dinner and company was enjoyed. At this dinner we met my sister in laws son and the son's wife, but I must admit I can't remember their names.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Red_deer
http://50mmfromtheworld.blogspot.com/2011/02/kronhjorten.html
So the obvious question is this; why would one buy crown deer meat from Australia when the deer is in Denmark? I have not found the answer.

     Tomorrow we are off on another excursion so we have to get up early to rent a car.

More to follow in the next post.