Where are Ron and Ellen?
Summer 2002
Odense, Sorø, Roskilde
Dear Family and Friends,
We spent four days in Odense, and are now in Roskilde, home of the Viking Ship Museum, and one of our favorite places so far (tied for first place with the islands of Langeland and Ærø).
In Odense we went to the zoo, one of the nicer zoos we have been in, and to Hans Christian Anderson's house, which has extensive exhibits on his life. We also visited the transportation museum, as well as an interesting group of museums in a converted textile factory: photography, graphic design, and a modern gallery with a variety of multi-media exhibits.
There was great excitement in Odense, as in the rest of Denmark, because Denmark beat France in World Cup soccer, and on Saturday 15 June was to play England in the round of 16. As we ate breakfast in our hostel, we could see workers setting up a huge outdoor TV screen in the park across the street in preparation for the 1:30 pm game. There were flags hanging across many of the streets, people were dressed in red and white, wearing fuzzy red and white viking hats, red and white scarves, and with Danish flags painted on their faces.
In the morning, we took a bike ride, going north up the canal (5 km long, dug in 1800 to connect the inland city of Odense to the fjord so it could be a port city) and then along the fjord for a ways. In a little marina, we talked to a man about his boat, which he had bought in Fåborg 25 years ago. It was an old fishing boat, and he refurbished it. He says whenever he sails to Fåborg and docks there, all the old fishermen who hang out around the harbor come and look at it and say, "Isn't that Christian's old boat?" And then they stand and look a few minutes more, and add (with disapproval), "You've made some changes."
We biked back to Odense (Ellen accused Ron of a 'forced march' pace!) in time to watch the last half of the soccer game. The crowd was very subdued when we arrived, and continued so, since Denmark lost to England, 0-3. Afterwards everyone dispersed quietly, leaving lots of litter in the park -- just about the only time we have seen people leave litter anywhere during our trip.
Sunday we took the train from Odense to Sorø. Odense is on the island of Funen, and you have to cross a large body of water to get to Zealand where we will spend the rest of our time, and bikes are not allowed on the bridge. Someone told us it is the longest bridge in the world, but we don't know if this is correct.
Sorø is quite different terrain from what we saw on Funen, with several lakes surrounded by rolling farmland. The hostel we stayed at is on one of the lakes, and we had a fine rest day cleaning our bikes, walking along a lakeside path, and sitting on the little sandy beach at the swimming area.
Roskilde, where we are now, is at the southern end of a very long shallow fjord, was originally a Viking settlement (first church was built here in 980), and was the first capital of Denmark. In 1962 they discovered 5 Viking boats that had been sunk in a narrow part of the fjord to prevent Norwegian raiders from getting to Roskilde. They build a huge dam around the area where the boats were, pumped out the water, and painstakingly uncovered the boats (all in multiple pieces and flattened by water pressure), numbered the pieces, and moved them to a restoration area. It took many years to restore and reconstruct the boats, but now there is a beautiful museum with the reconstructed boat remains (a frame for each boat with the found pieces filled in, and empty space where there were no pieces) and excellent exhibits about the Vikings. There is also a large outdoor area, with a boatyard where they are building a replica of the largest boat from the fjord, a warship that carried 80 men total and had space for 60 oarsmen), and a harbor area with many replicas of Viking and other old boats. They use the boats for school groups, and we watched as the kids learned to row and sail the boats in the big bay around which Roskilde is built. It is quite an experience to sit overlooking the harbor, where there are many, many sailboats, and see several Viking ships sailing about.
The first night we were here, we went to an outdoor concert in a lovely park, with everyone sitting or standing on a slope in front of the stage. There were two different groups, the first a woman singing in Danish what we think of as old standard tunes (we recognized Tennessee Waltz from the music). The second group was a big (~45) group singing American gospel tunes, which we thought was an unusual thing to hear in a Danish park concert. Before the group had quite finished a thunderstorm came up and we made a dash for the hostel. It wasn't very far away, but we got soaked anyway!
The hostel here is brand new, with lots of glass, and is only a few meters from the harbor, so it is a perfect location. Last night we ate dinner (mostly purchased in the Wednesday market in the main square: smoked salmon, marinated artichoke hearts, pasta salad, nectarines) in the dining area of the hostel and looked out over the harbor and bay, watching the boats going back and forth. And we finally stayed up late enough to watch the sun set over the harbor at about 10:30! Even after the sun sets, it stays light for a very long time (45 minutes or so).
We toured the cathedral church here, begun in 1170, and added to over the centuries so that it is a real conglomeration of architectural styles. It sits on the crest of a hill, has two very tall spires, and can be seen from miles away. It contains the crypts of 37 Danish kings and queens, some amazingly ornate, others very plain. It has a spectacular carved altarpiece, and an excellent organ (we're going to an organ concert tonight) It also has an unusual clock, with figures of St. George, a dragon, a man with a bell and a woman with a bell. Every hour, the dragon gives a metallic screech (sort of like a very rusty door hinge), St. George stabs him, the woman rings her bell four times for the four quarters of the hour, and the man rings his bell for the hour.
Today we biked up the Roskilde fjord, north to Frederikssund, and found the ride to be one of the most varied and interesting we've taken. For half of the way we were right along the fjord, and the other half of the way is inland on little gravel paths we never would have found without the bike route signs. At one point we even passed a reconstruction of a Viking village. (Alan T., take note, we think this ride would be a good addition to your Danish bike tour). We had planned to take the boat back down the fjord to Roskilde, but they were having engine trouble with the boat and put us and our bikes on a bus that was taking other passengers back to Roskilde. A different ending than we had planned, but still a great trip. And since it had started to rain, we were very glad we didn't have to bike back!
Tomorrow we head for the big city of Copenhagen, which will be quite different from anything we've experienced to date.
Love to all,
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Last updated: 20 July 2002