Back from Svendborg

Well my time went so quickly I went lickety-splitly
Out to my ol' fifty-five
As I pulled away slowly feelin' so holy
God knows I was feelin' alive.
-- Tom Waits

The other day I decided to take the train to Svenborg and ride my bike home. Svendborg is about 50 km south of Odense, and to get there you have to travel through the Fyn "Alps" and head down to the coast. It is not possible for me to get this far from Odense without training or busing, so I was excited.

As I knew I had a long ride ahead of me, I got an early start, and pulled into Svenborg at 10:20. Heading west out of town I followed route 55 back towards Odense. The start is along the sound between Fyn and the Island of Taasinge, but unfortunately little can be seen from the thoroughfare. Soon enough, the route turned north, and I headed into the hills of southern Fyn.

ol55

What a beautiful area. As I climbed up through fields, forest, and manor houses, the sky slowly cleared. I passed the Manor house Hvidkilde that sits on a lake. A beautiful spot, but unfortunately their front yard now consists of a major 2-lane highway. Another spot of interest was an old farm with a bit of the cobblestone road still in tact. Finally I hit the crest of the "alps, and saw the Egebjerg Mill.

I have now definitively come to the conclusion that the advertised "restored" mills are vastly inferior to those that are not attractions. Last week I found two such "surprise" mills that were perfectly restored, but mentioned no where. The Egebjerg Mill is listed as a great attraction, but is defunct and in need of repair. Same goes for a water wheel that is supposed to have the largest single drop of any mill in Denmark.

Along the crest of the hills is a foot trail that runs all along south Fyn and onto some of the islands. I think in total it is 400 km of trail, but that might be too big a number. Anyhow, for the next several hours I wandered west through the alps, crisscrossing this trail. I chose to abandoned 'ol 55 and take route 79 to Korinth, and then 51 north toward Ringe, before cutting off to Odense. This new route was longer, and allowed me to stay in the hills. It also took me by Skjoldemose Manor House and its beautiful granite barns.

In Korinth is a huge castle, with a very large church attached called Brahetrolleborg Slot. The site was originally a monastery built in the 12th century, and the current building is from the 13th century. It is one of the oldest estates on Fyn, and the church now serves as a parish church. It is also a nice lunch spot.

About 45 minutes later it all went wrong. I had already departed the text (leaving route 51 behind), and had passed the manor of Norskov as planned. But then my trusty map, which had not yet been wrong, suddenly was. There is a new road, and it is not on the map! Uh-oh. On the bonk (out of energy) and thinking poorly, I got turned around in every direction. By happenstance I headed east and ran back into...ol 55. I limped back through Odense and home. A great, but tiring day behind me.

Running with the wind...

My main exploration strategy while we have been here is to choose my ride by looking at the wind.  When we first arrived, it came primarily from the west and south, so I went west and south first (I like to go out into the wind and have a tailwind home).  It switched to the north and east a few weeks ago, so I ventured that direction.  Now the wind has shifted again, so I have revisited some of my previous haunts, but always getting a new take on them.  Three such places are Route to Longeso, Route 65 (toward Faaborg) and Route 35 toward Bogense.

Longeso (click image for more)

Longeso is a beautiful place, and a trip back out there is a nice trip.  I ventured a little further this time, swinging around the lake and finding a woodland chapel in among the trails.  I also found the Odense velodrome.  Details of interest - the forest is full of exotic American conifers.  No wonder it feels like home.  I found a bunch of very cool looking mushrooms.

brobyvaerk (click image for more)

Route 65 took be to the town of Brobyvaerk in the SW of Fyn.  What a beautiful little spot this is.  The church is nice, but even more so is the crossing of the Odense River.  Because there is some drop in the river here, there are water wheel mills.  The town got its name from the local Manor (Brobygaard) and the 17th century weapons factory that was built here.  A side note - I was eating lunch in town when a professional cyclist from Team CSC rode by.  A random occurence, but wild still.  Denmarks "own" team, and I saw one of the half-dozen Danes on it.

otterup (click image for more)

The route to Bogense (35) is mostly done through farmland.  Still, there are some things to see, including a surprise windmill that once ground grain.  No more, this is an outlet for biodiesel.  Later in the day I saw another beautifully restored mill outside the town of Lumby, between Odense and Otterup.  Speaking of which, there is not much in Otterup.  It is a bedroom community for Odense.  

OB Fotbold Kamp

On Sunday the 5th we packed up and joined the crazy hoards at a professional soccer game.  The local team (Odense Boldklub) was playing a team from the Copenhagen suburbs.  Kickoff was 5:30 and we all woke up excited to go.  But outside...torrential downpour.  Well, it was early, so we went about our day hoping for the best and preparing for the worst.  About 3:00 pm we lucked out and the rain stopped and the skies cleared.  Wahoo!

OdenseBoldklub

On the way over, we had to weave our way around people heading to the game.  Farther way there was the odd group on their way, and as we got closer, we had to walk our bikes.  We arrived with 45 minutes to spare.  It is actually a small stadium, so this was plenty of time.  The kids were so excited.  

Pre game, I had to duck out to the concession stand, and when I came back, the kids had soccer balls.  They kick balls - real, good quality soccer balls - into the stands by the dozens.  Katie and Hank both wound up with one, but in the interest of sharing we gave one to the kids of the people we went to the game with.  Smiles all around.  Later on I made a dash to get hotdogs, and then had to slither back through the crowd with 8 hotdogs in tow.  It was a feat, and only 4 or 5 people asked me for a hotdog on the trip back.

Unfortunately, the game did not go well.  They were down 1 - 0 at the half, and then about 5 minutes into the second half an OB player was sent off for misbehavior.  That sparked the team (they played better after that) but it did not help them win, as they got tired in the end.  Still, the quality of soccer was plenty high.  There are players on OB from Poland, Sweden, Norway, and Denmark.  There are also some from Africa (Cameroon and Nigeria) and Central America (Costa Rica).  It is an international league, and there are some quality players.

Another quirk was the trip home.  We got caught behind the police escort of the opposing fans back to the train station.  Since they won they were happy enough, but slow moving.  And kinda eery following a paddy wagon down a bike path at night.  And there we have it.  We have attended a Euro football match, which is an experience that we will remember for a long time.

The Zoo.

Last weekend we hit the zoo.  Not too much of interest, but there are pictures.  The most entertaining thing was watching the chimps interact.  There was a little one full of P & V giving the older males trouble.

Odense Zoo

A fun afternoon, but in the end, a zoo is a zoo.

The Doldrums...

In taking this trip, we knew we would have good times and bad times living in another society. The last few weeks have been one of those periods of down, a sort of doldrums. The shine of the new place has worn off a bit, and the reality of missing home is a little stronger. We are all missing home a bit, though we are all happy for this experience. So to mark the doldrums, I want to mark some cultural challenges:

• The language is a real challenge.  For Bev and me it is not so much of a problem.  We can exist with a little Danish pretty easily.  And Bev's group works in English, as it has a cast of researchers from many countries of the world.  The kids have it less easy, and are feeling the isolation a bit.  School is toughest for Hank, as he has few English speakers in his grade.  Soccer is toughest for Katie as the other girls on her team do not really know how to bridge the gap.  Katie is intimidated by the language aspect of the team, so it is hard.
• This place is expensive.  Ice cream is $5 per cone.  Going out to dinner is right out - the cheap places are $20 per plate, and the drinks take you to $100 before you know what happened.  Groceries are expensive too.  Danish food prices are 42% above the European average (and the highest in the EU)!  It is in large part due to the taxes they have here.  For your Danish citizen it is acceptable, because the services provided by the state are considerable (free college, a per child allowance (~$4k per kid per year), free medical care, good infrastructure, etc.), but for a visitor, it just hurts.
• Smoking, not football, is the Danish national sport.
• There is a distressing lack of daylight, and it gets less every day.  7 am = dark.  We all have SAD I think.
• The Danes are clearly descended from Vikings.  1) They are intensely competitive, to the point that it has driven Hank's football coach crazy that the team has yet to win a game (duh - they are playing their first year with kids a year older).  He wants to WIN.  It is the same with Katie's coach, who has resorted to recruiting ringers so they can win the league championship.  Football for the fun of it is right out.  2) The playground behavior, especially among boys, is hardly an example of peace in our times.  Give them all swords and sheilds and you'd have a battle royal.  3) There is, I sense, a feeling that the kingdom of Denmark will rise again.  This is behind the refusal of the Euro (see Britain, Great) and the constant reminders that Denmark used to be a vast strong kingdom.  Heck, they even have colonies still (Faroe Islands and Greenland) that want independence but are not granted it.

So there are some challenges.  They in no way reduce the good experiences we are having, but it feels good to put them on paper.  And like any trip where the wind dies, it eventually blows again, and these doldrums will end.

Life and Culture Update

We have been here for a couple months now, and have had some more time to form impressions of the Danish Culture.  What follows are some observations about life and the culture here:

• The latitude is 55 degrees here, and we lose a noticeable amount of light every day. It is darkish at 7 am. Darkish at 7 pm. And you can see it changing daily. Not good for us light lovers.
• A food update: We finally broke down and got "danish" from the local bakery. Yum, that was good. Actually it is the best thing this side of ice cream that we have had here. Shopping quirks continue - the yeast is the wet type, and that has taken some getting used to. We also have the odd failure, that can only be attributable to different ingredients. On the up side, I actually managed good pizza the other day.
  
• There are tanning salons everywhere.
• There is a Danish word that roughly translates as "cozy," that they use to describe many things, including a house's atmosphere.  One aspect of this is soft lighting inside.  So after dark, it is very hard to see anything in this place. Makes cooking a bit of a challenge.

As for reflecting on Culture, it was asked how much American "stuff" we see here in Denmark.  Strictly speaking, the answer is not much, although if we take a broader view of "stuff" there are some more things to say.  The television is full of shows that are from the US and in English.  There is almost no dubbing into Danish.  Instead, it is subtitles.  There are analogs to US institutions.  No, Starbucks is not here, but there is something called Barresso.  Ditto Subway (Sunset Boulevard).  And fast food is a global phenomenon. 

If I take an even broader view, I can say more.  Most view American culture as very consumeristic.  We are very fixated on acquiring more "stuff."  I expected to find Denmark a bit different with respect to this attitude, because it is not "America."  I have been fairly surprised to find that people here are actually quite focused on possessions, and things as status symbols.

A few examples:  The number, variety, and exotic destinations of vacations is a status item for teens in Denmark.  When we asked some 8th graders what to do in Copenhagen, they answered "the shopping is good."  So is this attitude "American stuff?"  I cannot answer that.  But it makes me wonder.  

Almost Nowhere...

Today I left the house early for a train out ride home trip from Middlefart, on the very western tip of Fyn.  I arrived early enough at Middlefart, and even got to look around the waterfront a bit.  it looks a nice town.  

From middlefart

Midlefart lies right on the Little Belt (Lille Baelt), the channel that separates the island of Fyn from the European mainland.  There is a big bridge across, and an estate (as yet unvisited by me).  It has also preserved a fair bit of its oldtown, with nice old houses and inns.

Shortly I headed east back towards Odense.  The first part of this journey is basically, getting out of Middlefart.  Once 10 or so km from town, it turns north and wanders through what I assume is nice country.  I missed it because...

Yep, a flat tire.  Confusion, a lack of tools, and imminent rain took me and I elected to walk back to the nearest train station (just a few kms).  I don't have to tell you that in another 10 minutes time I would have been nowhere with a flat tire, and that would have made for a long day.  As it was, I made the train back to town without incident.  And the bike shop guys told me "just pull the tube out and patch it while the wheel is on the bike [the wheel is bolt on].  That is what we do because the brakes and internal hub gearing make it too hard to take the wheel off each time there is a flat [duh!, why didn't I think of that?]."  Oh well, a bad day averted at least.