AROUND FUNEN & ABOUT

Randoms taken over 2 days in Funen.

From top:

Cute little towns in Svenborg and Faaborg. We went for a little evening drive after Egeskov on the same day. Nothing was opened, but the streets were peaceful and quiet.

In Odense we stayed with Michael. The rooms were very comfortable and clean, but the most fun part of the stay had to be long talks over breakfast with Michael himself. We talked about the importance of laughing, Maersk Shipping, China, how Viking land used to stretch from Sweden to Hamburg, furniture design (he has two Spanish chairs!), Danish jazz, the right way to eat pork liver (straight onto rye bread!) and so much more. 

We were sorry to go.

Before leaving Odense we stopped over for lunch at Carlslund (highly recommended by Michael), all-you-can-eat Danish country omelet, topped with tomatoes, bacon and yes, the golden strips that you see is pork fat. They've apparently been making this omelet in the same way for the 150 years they've been around.  A nice old man at the next table smiled at us as he was leaving and asked where we were from. I in turn asked him if he eats here often, 'No, just once a year, when the beech leaves turn green again.' 

Something about his words stayed with me the whole way, even after we left and headed for Ribe.

EGESKOV

I started laughing halfway through this post because I suddenly remembered seeing my mom's Paris photos once and not having a clue where she had been because they were all close-ups of flowers, well mine here are nothing but trees (oh and maybe HC). Must be some hereditary streak of a dominant gene.

Other randoms. HC's stickman found a new friend, though I've never heard of a C-3PO lookalike being friends with a trooper.

The Egeskov castle was very beautiful but it was the grounds that I loved the most. Near the main castle were huge barns housing museums of vintage Harleys, fancy sportscars, firetrucks and even WWII planes, but I had to fall for the only bus in the collection, a 1950 Bristol K. After all those years of service, it drove itself to its final resting place all the way from the UK.

You can find out more about the castle here if you like.

BEGINNING WITH THE 'FIRSTS'

My first jet-lagged view. Hello København.

First encounter with Danish humour (I like it). Oh and in case you didn't know, the UN said so.

Our first destination, the pretty city of Odense. After 13 hours overnight on the plane, HC drove for almost 2 hours in a fully manual car on the complete opposite side of the road. Yes, he's a very good driver.

The home and museum of the most famous writer of fairy tales. Ugly duckling, princess and the pea, little mermaid, the emperor's new clothes... ...all that we knew and loved as children, but wait, what about the metal pig, the dumb book and... ...the girl who trod on a loaf?

The writer himself, a funny man who was too tall for his time and loved paper cuttings. It sounds terrible but to be honest, I don't quite remember a lot of what else I saw inside.

In fact, I don't think I quite remember much of what happened on that first day... ...

Oops, did I mention the jet-lag already? I promise you a better post for the second day.

DENMARK HERE WE GO

Hello we are back. 

It was an almost full 14 days trip and only in Denmark alone. Our choice of country and duration of stay seemed to have baffled a lot of people, judging from the many (often unsolicited) comments we had around us.

"2 weeks? Denmark only?"

"I've heard the shops close early, what're you going to do all day?"  

"Sounds like quite a boring place."

The funny thing is, especially for the boring part, I often like to ask them why this is so, and the answers tended to vary on the same notes of "I don't know, I can't think of anything, what's there?".

I think it's not very nice to say bad things about something you barely know, no?

Maybe the way we do things are a little bit different from other people, but we really like to take our time to explore and prefer not to touch and go.

Denmark is not a place for epic monuments but there is a lot of beauty we found in this country of rolling pastures, shifting sands, storybook towns, everyday design, kamikaze cyclists and the people, we found the most beauty in its people, and in the 2 weeks we were there we met many, some of whom became friends, but let's talk about that as we go along :)

This is the start of 24 rolls of exposed negatives, have heart and be brave *lol*.

COUNTING DOWN

Everyday scenes at home :)

I've finally took the plunge and got myself a new old camera to replace my Minolta. The Minolta has been a really good companion for the past six years, but recently I've been craving for better and unfortunately, more expensive lenses (ouch).

I've been so busy though that I haven't had much time to test it out, except for a few quick snaps around the house. I think I'll need a few more rolls before I can deliver the verdict, hmm.

Meanwhile we're off to Denmark come end of next week! No grand plans, just driving around, enjoy the country and hopefully visit lots and lots of design museums (Arne Jacobsen! Finn Juhl!). I hope to have plenty of photos to share when I'm back (oh please don't fail me my dear new old camera).

Oh and if anyone's interested in a vintage Minolta X-700, do drop me a line. It's in a good condition except for some general servicing needed, which I'll probably do so before I pass it on. I'll be sad to let it go but there's really no point in letting it spend its days in a dry cabinet, a camera's got to be well-used and loved.

Chat again when we're back ;)