Odense, Denmark - Daily Photo Blog

Wednesday, November 29, 2006

River Houses

These are an example of the nice houses along the river in Odense. These houses are apparently very expensive. Just to the right of the houses in the right of the picture is the river, after a wide path for bikers and pedestrians. The houses are really nice, but I don't see what is so great about the river. In the summer its nice, but in the winter its awful.

Anyway, I like these houses because they are all painted different, bright colors. The houses in England and Canada are so dull compared to these!

Labels: bright colored paint, homes, odense river, river houses

posted by Erin @ 8:27:00 AM 2 comments

Tuesday, November 28, 2006

Danmarksgade

This photo was taken yesterday morning (early early morning) out of my bedroom window. Our bedroom is in the basement, which is why the picture is from the ground. I love this photo because of the lighting, how it shows my street on which I live and because it has a bicycle in the photo. Danes ride their bikes EVERYWHERE and I am amazed at how far they are willing to ride without thinking its a big deal. I don't mind riding my bike, but I'm not very good at riding it at far away places when I know there is a car sitting in the driveway. Yeah I'm lazy :P But I do have a beautiful pink bike of my own here, which is somewhat of an incentive for me to use it more. Perhaps I'll post a picture of that later...

posted by Erin @ 7:53:00 AM 1 comments

Monday, November 27, 2006

Dansk Øl

Something that Danes are known for: beer! Anyone hear of Carlsberg? ;)

Most Danish, if not all, love beer. It was weird for me when I first came over here, because even the girls drink beer here. I can't stand beer!

Labels: beer, carlsberg, danish beer, danish øl, odense beer, øl

posted by Erin @ 2:49:00 AM 0 comments

Saturday, November 25, 2006

Christmas Surprise! (Mega Post)

All the links in this post are full size images of what I am describing in the text.

This evening, Odense had a gathering to turn on all the city's Christmas lights. It was my first time going to this (I missed last years' event) and it is really looked forward to by Danes in Odense, especially the children because they get FREE CANDY! :D

A week or so ago, they set up this huge tree in the market square in town. Santa Claus (called Jul Mand - direct translation: Christmas man) is on this huge crane above the crowds and they slowly move him all around above the crowd towards the tree. Everyone starts to count down from 10, like on New Years eve. He has a large stick in his hand, which shoots out fireworks and lowers it towards the tree - this "lights" the tree once the fireworks start.

It was manic. I have never seen the market square that busy... you literally couldn't move at all! After the lights went on, people started moving but it took a good 10-15 minutes until we were finally able to move around ourselves from the spot we'd been observing everything from.

And if that wasn't enough pictures for you, here are some more of the Christmas lights in Odense;

The Town Hall

Looking Right...

Looking Left...

Labels: children, christmas, julmand, market center, santa claus, sweets, town center

posted by Erin @ 6:14:00 PM 0 comments

Friday, November 24, 2006

Tiny Danish Houses

Here is another picture of a Danish street. This one is just around the corner from my house. It's nothing special, but it shows those tiny little houses that you see a lot around Denmark. They're so cute, but I don't think I would like to live it in for too long. I'd get claustrophobic!

Labels: danish houses, danish street, houses

posted by Erin @ 4:01:00 PM 0 comments

Thursday, November 23, 2006

Dannebrog

This is the Danish flag, called "Dannebrog" in Danish. Not as an exciting post as my previous ones, I know, but I bet a lot of you didn't have a clue how the Danish flag looked. Well now you do - or for those who already did, here is a reminder! :D

Labels: Danish flag, dannebrog, scanndinavia

posted by Erin @ 10:23:00 PM 0 comments

Wednesday, November 22, 2006

Recycle Denmark!

Here in Denmark, they encourage people to recycle by giving incentives like, when you return a bottle like in the picture you get 1,5 kr which is around 15p in England. You take them to a machine, which can be found in most public places for example near supermarkets. You put the bottle(s) in the machine and once you're done, you push a button for a receipt. You take this receipt to the counter where the machine is near and the cashier will give you the cash amount shown on the piece of paper, depending on how much you recycled.

Also, carrier bags in the supermarket are taxed by the government, so you have to pay 10 kr or more for them at the checkout - thats about one UK pound, just for a plastic bag! That's why everyone here saves every plastic carrier bag they get and reuse them every time they go food shopping :)

I like this system a lot better than how it is in the UK. No one really gives a crap about recycling there, at least no one I've met in the 11 years I lived there! Even I never used to do it, but now I do.

The moral of this post? Go recycle today! :P

posted by Erin @ 3:26:00 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, November 21, 2006

Odense Street

This is one of the streets leading into the town center. Note the path: the large strip is for bikes and the smaller two stripes is for people to walk on. As in most countries where bikes have their own paths, pedestrians do NOT walk on the bike path. It really angers the bikers!

In the distance is the large building (in the center of the photo, under the swirly Christmas light hanging across the street) - BG bank. Its a very prominant building which you can see quite a while away from the town center. That's where the shopping area is.

posted by Erin @ 7:41:00 PM 0 comments

Monday, November 20, 2006

Hans Christian Andersen

H. C. Andersen was born here in Odense (but moved to Copenhagen as a teen to become an actor) so everyone in this town LOVES him. They even turned the Walk/Don't Walk guy on the traffic lights into his likeness. There are numerous museums around Odense for him and the house he grew up in was also turned into a museum.

In case you don't recognise the name Hans Christian Andersen, he wrote Thumbelina, The Ugly Duckling, The Little Mermaid, The Emperors New Clothes... just to name a few. People of Odense love him, as well as the rest of Denmark.

Labels: H. C. Andersen, hans christian andersen, lights, traffic

posted by Erin @ 8:33:00 PM 0 comments

Sunday, November 19, 2006

PostCrossing.com

PostCrossing is something I participate in: it's an online "project", where you sign up, request an address of a random PostCrosser and you send them a postcard via snail mail. Once they receive it, you're next in line to receive a postcard from anywhere in the world - its a complete surprise.

I just love this idea and I've been doing it since May '06, so I have around 50 postcards now. This picture shows the folder I keep them in. They also are a great, free way of decorating your room. I've made mobils out of them, stuck them on my wall, stuck them on my door... they look really awesome and it always gets a nice comment from visitors. It's not as big in Denmark, but I should try and spread the word because its so much fun!

Here is another picture of some of the other postcards which are too big to fit into the folder. I'm trying to decide how to display them next... hiding them away in a folder is such a shame!

Labels: collection, mail, postcards, Postcrossing.com, snailmail, stamps

posted by Erin @ 3:59:00 PM 0 comments

Saturday, November 18, 2006

Pålægs-chokolade

This picture, with my lovely just-woken-up boyfriend as the model, shows a very Danish breakfast: delicious Danish bread bought fresh from a small Danish bakery with something called Pålægs-chokolade on top. Pålægs are thin, almost waifer-like chocolate rectangles which you place on top of your bread in the morning. Quite a different variation of the British chocolate spread, which I am accustomed to seeing (although I always thought it was really gross and never ate it).

I don't think I'll be trying Pålægs-chokolade on my bread any time soon. I just don't like the idea of having buttered bread WITH chocolate. But the chocolate is so yummy on its own!

Click here for a close up of the piece of bread with the chokolade (chocolate) on it.

Labels: breakfast, danish bakery, danish bread, food, Johannes, Pålægs-chokolade

posted by Erin @ 2:44:00 PM 0 comments

Tuesday, November 14, 2006

First DP Post

I discovered the Daily Photo (DP) blog ring and I have spent two days looking through all the different countries. I just love this idea.

I'm still working the kinks out with this blog and, as of this post, it is after 10pm in Denmark so I won't be getting started with my photos until tomorrow. But until then, how about I tell you a bit more about myself?

As you can see on the right there, my name is Erin and I am 19 years old. I was born and raised in Ontario, Canada until the age of 8 when my father got a job offer in England. It was intended to only be a 3 year stay, but that turned into 11. Recently, when things got too difficult for me in England, I moved to Denmark.

Why Denmark? Well, my boyfriend is Danish, as is his entire family. My boyfriend had moved over in May 2006 to England to be with me, but things did not work out for us there (loooong story), so we recently moved to Denmark. And no, I don't speak Danish... well I do a little, because I have been here so often, but not fluently. Thats my main focus for the next few months: to become fluent in Danish. Its no easy feat! But I love languages and I am a quick learner, so I'm excited about it.

I decided to do this blog, because I saw the only one from Denmark was a Copenhagen blog. Well... Copenhagen is nice, but I don't think it gives a realistic view of Denmark. In comparison to other cities and towns, its a lot more multicultural and caters to foreigners. Odense, where I live, is the third largest city in Denmark (found on the island Fyn which, if you look on a map of DK, is the smaller island to the left of the largest island).

So I want to show you the "real" Denmark (don't get me wrong, I do like Copenhagen too!) as I see it... and hopefully find out a little more about this place myself.

posted by Erin @ 10:07:00 PM 6 comments

A daily photo from Odense, Denmark - the third largest city in DK! Situated on the island of Funen.

About Me

Name: Erin
Home: Odense, Funen, Denmark
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