Flensburg, Germany - 17/08/18

Flensburg - COA

A harbour in Flensburg

Fulfilling a life-long dream for many of us, we continue our journey, this time going through Germany and visiting it's iconic places and attractions. Our first stop in the country is Flensburg in Schleswig-Holstein, the third largest town in the region (87,432 inhabitants as of 2016) after Kiel and Lübeck.

Schleswig-Holstein

Interesting Fact: The town was the seat of the last government of Nazi Germany, in 1945, and it's one of the few that were not destroyed during the war.

IF: The city's center lies about 7 km (4mi) from the Danish border.

Walking around this city famous for it's Pilsener beer and the greeting 'Moin Moin' in the German-Danish border, we start to get the feel of the country. Germany differs in many ways to Denmark, but here on the border there are still signs of our last stop. The city is the center of the Danish national minority in Germany where there is a considerable danish community running their own schools, libraries and churches, co-existing with the Germans. This symbiosis created a mixed German-Danish language in the region called 'Petuh', which is used in signs throughout the city. There are currently no official registration of ethnicity as German law prohibits government registration of persons due to their ethnic origins, and any membership in Germany's ethnic minorities is based on self-identification, so the disparity of the population is not known.

Petuh example

Petu	German
Wie kann ich sitzen bei ausses Licht un szue Rollo'n un nähn abbe Knöppe an?	Wie kann ich ohne Licht sitzen und bei geschlossenen Rollos Knöpfe annähen?
besüsseln	jemanden hegen und pflegen
figellinsch	schlitzohrig
Kinner einlegen	Kinder ins Bett bringen

English 

How can I sit and sew buttons without a light?

To care for someone

crafty

Take the kids to bed.

Interesting fact: "In Denmark, Flensburg seems to be mainly known for its border-shops where one can buy alcohol, sweets among other things for cheap. The prices are lower because the tax is lower and excise taxes are either lower (e.g. on alcohol) or do not exist ( e.g. on sugar). Currently the border shops are able to sell canned beer to Scandinavians without paying deposits as long as the beverage is not consumed in Germany."

All transport systems in the city subscribe to the 'Schleswig-Holstein tariff system whereby anyone travelling from anywhere in Schleswig-Holstein or Hamburg may use Flensburg buses free to connect with their final destinations. A rider boarding any bus in Flensburg need only name his destination anywhere in Schleswig-Holstein or Hamburg, pay his fare, and travel all the way to that destination on that one ticket. We found that awesome! Imagine using buses like taxis, for transportation, germany holds many surprises..

Our only visits here will be museums, firstly what, as we were told, is an Ice age museum, from more than 13 other museums in the city:


          

Eiszeit-Haus 

'Naturwissenschaftliches Museum und Eiszeit-Haus (Science Museum and Ice-Age House) and Museumsberg Flensburg - located on the museum hill next to eachother, same opening times.


           
 Phänomenta- an interactive science museum, where you can try experiments on you own, especially interesting for families and children and anybody interested in science.

Flensburger Firth

Lastly, we visited the fjord, right next to Phänomenta museum, and then headed to our next destination.

Flensburg is quite a small city, with only 58km²

52 MILES TO KIEL

Meaning of the COA: "The lions symbolize Schleswig, and the nettle leaf Holstein, thus expressing the town's unity with these two historic lands. The tower recalls Flensburg's old town rights and the old castle that was the town's namesake (Burg means "castle" in German). The waves refer to the town's position on the Flensburg Fjord. The coat of arms was granted the town by King Wilhelm II of Prussia in 1901, and once again in modified, newly approved form on 19 January 1937 by Schleswig-Holstein's High President (Oberpräsident)"

Arhus, Denmark - 14/06/18

Our next stop in Denmark, after a large hiatus, was 90 Mi away from Odense, in Arhus, Denmark's second largest city on the east cost of Jutland Peninsula.

The city is located in the geographical center of Denmark and approximately 120 miles from the border of Germany (~20 miles more than Odense)

and the inner urban area contains circa 273 thousand inhabitants (2018) while 340.421 live in the municipality.

The name of the city originates from it's geography, meaning "ar(river) oss(mouth) "Mouth of Aarhus river". Since a spelling reform in 1948 there are still disputes on how to write it- and we know people can get very personal about this - At the time the council embraced the reform, changing the spelling from 'Aarhus' to 'Arhus', while many cities and institutions still resisted the renaming. Later in 2010 it was changed back to the double A's, 'Aarhus' as well as the spelling of the river and other affiliated names. Now there are institutions using the old reform 'Arhus' spelling as well as the previous (and actual) 'Aahrus.'

 

The city has been invaded by the Germans at least three times, twice in the Schleswig wars and during the entire Second World War.

Aarhus is one of the oldest cities in Denmark, Along with Ribe and Hedeby, which we have heard of but won't visit for now. "Discoveries after a 2003 archaeological dig unearthed half-buried longhouses, fire pits, glass pearls and a road dated to the late 700s. Archaeologists have conducted several excavations in the inner city since the 1960s revealing wells, streets, homes and workshops. In the buildings and adjoining archaeological layers, everyday utensils like combs, jewellery and basic multi-purpose tools from approximately the year 900 have been found" [wiki]

Port of Aahrus

The economy is predominantly knowledge and service-based, and it’s port “Port of Aarhus” is one of the largest in Europe and the largest in Denmark, handling over 50% of Denmark's container traffic and accommodating the largest container vessels in the world.

Getting to our first stop, ARoS Museum:

ARoS Museum

The first stop we made was in ARoS Kunstmuseum the second most visited museum in Denmark (after Luisiana Museum in Humlebaek) and one of the largests in Northern Europe.

The museum was opened in 1859 and is the oldest in the country outside the capital, it is today most famous for its rainbow skywalk ‘Your rainbow panorama’ by Architect Olafur Eliasson on the roof of the museum, which guided us here just upon arriving in the city.

Interesting Fact: The name ARoS refers to the old spelling of the city’s name, Áros, while the capitalized letters of the name hint at the Latin word for art, ‘ars’.

Tivoli Friheden(Amusement Park)

Right next to the museum, after having a illuminating experience going through the 9 circles of Dante’s Inferno until reaching the heavens in the rainbow arc, experiencing the best and most impressive galleries from talented local and international artists, we went to amusement park and had some fun in the 40+ attractions in one of the city’s most visited places. Some of us went for a run instead, or used the equipments for calisthenic exercises.

                                                                                   Aahrus Bycycler

Again, expanding our cycling city dreams even further, we learned that this is also a cycling focused town with many interesting cycling solutions, as Aarhus Bycykler (Bycyklen); a municipal bicycle sharing system, currently consisted of 450 bicycles and 52 hubs. It is free to use, requiring a DKK 20 kr deposit that can be retrieved once the bike is returned.

Transport-wise, Arhus is ahead of most cities in Denmark, specially with the opening of Aarhus Letbane, an electric light rail system, in 2017, which is the first in Denmark. And a seaplane transport which makes trips to Copenhagen 4 times a day.

Our last stop was at Den Gamle By (The Old Town), an open air museum opened in 1914 as the first in the world. It is one of the few top rated Danish museum and consists of 75 historical buildings collected from 20 townships in all parts of the country. What surprised us is that it’s in the city center and is set just like a living town, but upon getting in the buildings we realised it was actually a gallery. There are also 5 gardens around the museum, representing various periods in time, from the mid 17th to the early 20th centuries.

We found 5 exhibits, The Danish Clock Museum, the Toy Museum, a silverware exhibit, a pottery exhibit and what was called the Textile Museum, in addition to several smaller exhibits. Besides the town itself, these exhibitions form the centrepiece of the museum and contain some of the largest collections of historical artefacts outside Copenhagen.

From there we just enjoyed the city’s atmosphere, walked, cycled and talked a lot. Making our way through the roads, this time heading to Germany.

Can you guess where we are heading to next?

Odense, Denmark - 04/24/18

Odense COA

City of Hans Andersen

  From Slagelse we headed further west towards Odense, Denmark's third largest city, with close to 200.000 inhabitants.
  It is a very interesting stop for us, because it's actually the birthplace of Christian Andersen (1805-1875), the godfather of fables, of who we found trails all over Denmark.

  It seems times are good in Odense, (unlike in Sweden) with recent projects and redevelopments. - The city has been recently cited by The Guardian as the world's most liveable city. wait, wasn't it Copenhagen:?

  The 30 billion Danish Crone redevelopment is creating a modern, green and enviromental friendly city, with a special project to make Odense the cycle city of the world. Odense, being a cheaper place to live than the capital (Denmark is the 5th most expensive city in Europe), is competing head to head against Copenhagen and gaining ground. 

As we walked around we realized this was the cycling city we always wanted but could have never imagined, there were bike counters on the streets, many parking places and cycle only roads, a design complety thought out for pedestrians and cyclists. This city is a gem. 

The origin of the city's name is 'Odins Ve', meaning "Odins Sanctuary" as the area was know as a sanctuary for worshippers of Odin (Norse god). 

"More cycle friendly than a velodrome in the Olympics"

Interesting Fact: 

• Until WW2, an observation tower called Odinstårnet' (Odin's tower), built in 1935, was the second tallest in Europe, (after the Eifell tower, 175 to 177m), before it was blown up by Nazi saboteus in 1944. It took over 10 years to clean the rubble. In 2004(the 69th anniversary of the innauguration), Students of Odense Technical School made a 12 meter(39ft) replica of the tower in it's original place.

Of the places we can cycle to here, we picked the Hans Andersen Museum, the zoo and a few parks and squares.

IF: 

• The last viking king, Canute IV of Denmar was murdered by peasants in Odense's St Alban's Priori in 1086 Odense.

• Odense University Hospital is the city's tallest building. Established in 1912, it is of major regional importance, both for healthcare and research. OUH is the largest hospital unit in Denmark and the largest employer in Odense with over 10.000 employers.

Events: 

We got here early, barely missing a new music festival held in the city, called Tinderbox. Many intersting artists such as Depeche mode have played here.

In December 2017, the world's largest E-Sports event, ESL PRO League Offline, was held in Sparekassen Fyn arena in Odense.

Hans Christian Andersen's Museum 

Hans Christian Andersen's Museum was the first place we visited. The current museum is based at the home which is thought to be his birthplace, displaying documents which tell his life as the son of a shoemaker and some of his stories.. The museum is more used as a library, selling collections of his works and other books. - Though a new museum in his honor is under construction and is expected to open in 2020.

Can you guess where we are heading to next?

Slagelse, Denmark - 03/26/18

 The Great Belt Bridge

62 miles southwest of Copenhagen, we visited a small city called Slagelse, in Zealand, with about 32.333 inhabitants. contrary to our expectations, it is actually very small and not a common touristic attraction.

The city is still within our our European stantard cliche, with shopping centers, squares, elegant streets and lively cafes. (we are still to find an exception to that rule).

H.C Anderson Statue in Central Park-
NY

H.C Anderson's Statue in
Copenhagen

The most interesting thing we found that involves the city, were the life and stories by the world known author Hans Christian Andersen, who studied in a grammar school in here for a few years. He was a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels and poems, but he is most acclaimed by is his fairy tales.

 H.C Andersen wrote tales such as ; The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling and The Emperor's Clothes, among many others. In fact, he produced over 3481 works.

H.C Andersen Statue in
Odense, Denmark,
his Hometown

  Slagelse is a small city, still trying to create it's image. The city is developing as a center for education, and becoming known for it's educational institutions and student-friedly environment. It's also a cheap accommodation only 45 minutes from Copenhagen by car.

Slagelse is also a big hub for eastern Denmark.



The only place we visited was the Viking Museum and market Trelleborg, a Viking fortress from around the year 980. - There are many festivals and events here, specially during summer, when you can become 'viking for a day', shooting with bow and arrow, make your own butter, visit the blacksmith and make your own jewelry or your own knife.

Copenhagen, Denmark - 03/05/18

 

 And so we arrive in Copenhagen, after a mere two stops trip in Sweden (we shall come back one day and visit at least Stockholm) via the famous Oresund Bridge -(which has no walkway)
 Copenhagen is Denmark's capital and largest city with 775 thousand in the city and 1.3 million in the urban area. It's interesting that the cultural economic and governmental center of Denmark is closer to Mälmo than it's own country's, creating strong relations and the creation of Oresund region, where Malmo is located.

Interesting Facts:

• Copenhagen is one of the most bike friendly cities in the world, with solutions such as tilted garbage cans so that cyclists can toss while passing by.

• Copenhagen Airport, in Kastrup, is the busiest in the Nordic countries.

• The Chemical element Hafnium is named after Copenhagen, where it was discovered.

The name of the city derives from Danish "Kopmannshafn" meaning 'merchant's harbour' (lit. Chapman's haven)

History: 

The Battle of Copenhagen, considered the first terrorist attack against a major city in modern times

Denmark didn not participate in WW1, but was occupied by the Germans during WW2

After the war, the 'Finger Plan' was implemented to modernize and further develop the city.

Superkillen Park

Our impression of Copenhagen was marked by large walkways and it's extensive cycle lines, making us feel right at home, and a little jealous at the same time. The incentive to walking and active locomotion, as well as a healthy lifestyle, over the chaotic reality of motor vehicles makes the city enjoyable and alive. Some say the most "liveable city", as it was selected in 2013

Copenhagen is recognized as one of the most enviromental friendly cities in the world, taking cautious measures just like our previous stops in Scandinavia. Measures such as; Wind farms, sewage treatment, waste and biomass incineration and large investiments in carbon neutral transport, as well as incentivizing walking and cycling through architectural planning.

• IF: It's official municipal policy in Copenhagen that all citizens must by able to reach a park or beach on foot in less than 15 minutes (*about a mile or 1.5 km)

• Nordic Film, stablished in Copenhagen in 1906, is the oldest continuously operating film production company in the world.

• Local restaurand, Noma, was ranked the best in the world 4 times (2010,11,12 and 14) by the 'Restaurant' Magazine

Assistens Cemetery

• The city has one of the highest number of bars and restaurants per capita in the world, and obviously a very liberal beer culture, though binge drinkning is frowned upon, and also has the 2 oldest surviving amusement parks in the world!

The stops we made were at Assistens Cemetery; burial place for many notable Danish people, such as; Hans Christian Andersen, Søren Kierkegaard, Christoffer Wilhelm Eckersberg, and Christen Købke and Niels Bohr.

And Tivoli Gardens : " Tivoli Gardens (or simply Tivoli) is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen, Denmark. The park opened on 15 August 1843 and is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world, after Dyrehavsbakken (bakken park) in nearby Klampenborg, Denmark.
With 4.6 million visitors in 2016, it's the second-most popular seasonal amusement park in the world after Europa-Park. Tivoli is the most-visited theme park in Scandinavia, and the fifth most-visited theme park in Europe, only behind Disneyland Park (Disneyland Paris), Europa-Park, Walt Disney Studios Park and Efteling."

IF: The band Mercyful Fate comes from Copenhagen

NEXT STOP: SVENDBORG, 144 MILES

Malmö, Sweden - 02/26/18

Malmo downtown

We don't plan to stay in Sweden for long: We changed our plans, Malmo is going to be our last stop here for now. It's sad that we couldn't even visit Stockholm, but we are surely coming back.

Sweden is currently facing grave immigation problems and a big 'muslinification' effect, with a drastic change in violence rates, security and normal day to day life.
The increase in violence is something rather subjective in more generalistic terms, but is a fact comparing with the country's own levels. For exemple, some say that the violence is the same as in some bad neighbourhoods in the USA, but a dramatic shift in the country's culture, also considering that Sweden is a relatively small country.

These problems led to the creation of No-go zones in some cities; this term is colloquialy used by the citizens and the police, and designates danger areas populated mostly by muslim immigrants.There are cases of murder, Rape, and terrorist activity/attacks, which continue to happen daily, leaving a sense of fear hanging around everywhere.

Malmö is such a city with no-go zones: that was the first thing we learned about it, and secondly, we learned that that spiralled building we saw in our last album is located here.

Turning Torso

The building is the 'Turning Torso', and its an immoble residential skyscrapper. The building was the first of it's kind in the world, and is the tallest building in Scandinavia. It was designed by the Spanish sculptor, archtect and painter Santiago Calatrava and opened on 2005. The tower reaches a height of 190 metres (623 ft) with 54 storeys and 147 apartments.

 Malmö is the third largest city in Sweden, after Stockholm and Gothenburg, and the sixth in Scandinavia. Almost half of the population has foreign background (43%)

Interesting Facts:

• In 2011, 174 countries and about 150 languages were represented in Malmö
• As of 2015, Malmö had the fourth-highest proportion of foreign-born residents of any municipality in Sweden
• Almost 10% of the population of Malmö works in Copenhagen.
• Malmö Arab Film Festival (MAFF), the largest Arabic film festival in Europe, is held in Malmö.

  

  Konsthall

Right next to the center we visited Malmo Konsthall, which is the largest exhibition gallery in Europe for contemporary art. The building was opened in 1975 and is made of concrete, glass, wood and aluminium. It was awarded a Kasper Salin Prize, given to Swedish building projects "of high architectural standard, The KSP is considered the most prestigious architectural prize in the country.

There are over 10 exhibition each year, including modern art classics and current experiments. The hall is also used for theatrical performances, film, lectures and other educational activities, recieving circa 200.000 visitors annually. Admissions are free - for the time we were there though.

• In 1994, the hall was renovated and expanded, creating space for a book store selling books, posters and postcards, a children’s area and a restaurant that offers south Swedish food.

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We also caught a glimpse of the mall we were learning about on our way to Sweden, Emporia.
We didn't know it, but it is actually here in Malmo, and is one of the largest in Scandinavia and was opened in 2012. On the way in we watched this great video, introducing it and it's design.

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Our last stop was the bridge we walked through on our way to Denmark, connecting Malmo to Copenhagen. The famous Oresund Bridge, the longest combined railway and motorway bridge in Europe with 8 km (+4km tunnel), and the setting for the crime drama series 'The bridge'.

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Göthenburg, Sweden - 02/13/18

The capital

I figured we shoud learn a bit more about Sweden before we visit Gothenburg, not no be too overwhelmed with our experiences there.

Sweden's COA

Firstly, Sweden is the third-largest country in the EU by area, with 450.255km² (173.8mi²) and a total population of 10 million, the highest concentration being in the south, just like we've seen in Norway. - Also similar to Norway, Sweden is a constitutional monarchy, with Carl XV Gustav as the current king. 
The capital, as you may know, is Stockholm, the most populous of the nordic countries. Again, as we have learned about the "Scandinavian Model" Sweden also maintains a social welfare system like Norway, and ranks highly in numeral metrics of national performance; quality of life, health, education and so on. -What we still don't know is how they affort it, in Norway's case we know is the petrol, but what do they sell here:?

Interesting Fact: Feudalism never developed in Sweden as it did in the rest of Europe, slavery also was practically nonexistent. Slavery was abolished by King Magnus IV as early as 1335 in Sweden.

We are now on the other side of the conflict between Sweden and Norway, as we got indtroduced by Fredrick III (of Denmark and Norway) and Charles X of Sweden in our last stop, Halden.
 Sweden was the 3rd largest country in Europe (after Russia and Spain) under the rule of Carolus Rex's grandfather, after the Treaty of Roskilde in 1658 which Sweden imposed over Denmark, conquering 1/3 of the land.

Interesting Fact:

• In the early 20th century more Swedes lived in Chicago than in Göthenburg (Sweden 2nd largest city)

• The country joind the EU in 1995.

• The country's border with Norway  (1.619km) is the largest whitin Europe.

• In the capital Stockholm, daylight lasts +18 hours in late June, and around 8 hours in late December

Sweden has brought up many important people, whitout whom the world as we know it would probably not exist, including: Alfred Bernhard Nobel; Inventor of dynamite and creator of the Nobel Prize, Anders Celsius; Swedish astronomer, physicist and mathematician. He founded the Uppsala Astronomical Observatory in 1741, and in 1742 proposed the Celsius temperature scale which bears his name. Lars Magnus Ericsson; entrepreneur and founder of telephone equipment manufacturer Ericsson. Carl Linnaeus; astronomer, physicist and mathematician. formalised the modern system of naming organisms called 'binomial nomenclature'. He is known by the epithet "father of modern taxonomy" Nils Gustaf Dalén: founder of the AGA company and inventor of the AGA cooker and the Dalén light. In 1912 he was awarded the Nobel Prize in Physics, and Jonas Wenström; "Edison's new invention of electric light: a glowing carbon strip, is the same thing that I discovered a year ago ... If I had his laboratory, and resources, I would have done the same and better ... a graphite strip between two mica plates provide a more effective light than Edison's."  - Jonas Wenström was an early pioneer in alternating current and is along with Serbian inventor Nikola Tesla credited as one of the inventors of the three-phase electrical system.

So now we know, most of the Swedish economy is based on the export of technical inventions and engineering, i.e:Tetra Pak.

Turning Torso - the world’s first twisting skyscraper and Scandinavia’s tallest tower at 190 metres.

Göthenburgis probably the second most 'important' and visited city in Sweden, specially the park in the city center, which is the most popular atraction in the country

Regarding recent bands and music, Sweden also presents many interesting figures, the most famous probably being the group ABBA, one of the first internationally well known popular music bands from Sweden. Other bands include: Roxette, Ace of Base, Europe, A-teens, The Cardigans, Robyn, The Hives and Soundtrack of Our Lives.

Most importantly, many heavy metal bands such as: Opeth. Bathory, Amon Amarth and Ghost, also come from Sweden!

SWEDISH ARCHITECTURE : 

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