Odense, Denmark | Daily Photo

Same old, same old...

2008-06-20T08:53:00.000+01:00

Bus Sign

2008-06-19T15:20:00.000+01:00

This yellow bus sign signifies stops for the city buses. If you see a blue bus stop sign, it signifies a Fyn bus stop.

Random Garden

2008-06-18T22:53:00.000+01:00

I was walking through the suburbs one day and this garden caught my eye. Well, it wasn't really a garden it was just the side of someone's house but the wall was so striking and then there were these skinny trees in front of it. I dunno, I just thought it was a funky way of spicing up a suburban house - they have a tendency to all look the same.

Supermarket Supplies

2008-06-17T21:15:00.000+01:00

Photo of men unloading a supply truck to one of the supermarkets near Pårup (a suburb of Odense). Nothing spectacular, I just thought it was a nice looking photo.

City Bulliten Board

2008-06-16T17:17:00.000+01:00

These circular notice boards are found scattered around the city with bar flyers, band adverts, that kind of thing. This one is placed near Kongenshave, the big park across from the train station right in the city center.

Agricultural College

2008-06-15T09:00:00.000+01:00

Sorry for the crappy quality; this photo was taken from a bus!

I'm told this is an agricultural school on the outer parts of the city (not in the center), which hosts quite a few foreign students also. It's a really beautiful big old building, which is why I took a photo of it and then I found out what it was.

Funny Street Names

2008-06-14T14:10:00.000+01:00

Found these in the suburb of Pårup here in Odense. Both Stig and I agreed the Jupiter one would be cooler to live on ;)

Tanning Center

2008-06-13T18:39:00.000+01:00

These, as well as fitness centers, are everywhere in the city so I suppose they must be popular although no one I know uses them. It's a place where you go in, pay 20kr or so and get a certain amount of time on an un-attended sun bed. That means no one works there, you just pay money to gain access to the beds. Well, as far as I know :S

City Map

2008-06-12T10:45:00.000+01:00

The third part in my series of Odense Bus Culture! Here shows a map which is on all the buses. Between this, and having the street names electronically flashing at the front of the bus, it's pretty hard to get lost.

Newspapers on the Bus

2008-06-11T09:03:00.000+01:00

All the city buses have a supply of free daily newspapers put on every morning. They are attached to the holding poles on the bus with these sacks and rope attachments. Generally by the end of the day they are all gone. They are always placed in this part of the bus, the bit where parents can put their baby strollers/the eldery can park their zimmerframes... you know, the widest part of the bus. That way, everyone can access them easily as they pass through the bus.

Bus Stop Info

2008-06-10T14:02:00.002+01:00

On each city bus, there is this black noticeboard (I guess you'd call it) which changes to show each street that the bus is on as it drives down it. That way you know when to push stop if you are unsure. A computerized voice also reads out the names of the streets as it changes.

Taking Photos

2008-06-09T13:49:00.001+01:00

"The new guy" (who's helping me with the blog), Stig, taking photos when we were at the bus terminal :) Now you have a face to the name!

Bus Terminal

2008-06-08T13:21:00.002+01:00

Looking into the bus terminal of Odense Banegårdcenter on a sunny day.

Train Station

2008-06-07T11:17:00.002+01:00

This is Odense train station from the back; the ticket office is one or two stories up along with some shops, a cinema, net cafe, etc. The escalator (that long box-y structure in the center of the photo) takes passengers down to the platforms.

City Office Sign

2008-06-06T14:35:00.000+01:00

Suburban Intersection

2008-06-05T13:58:00.000+01:00

Dogs Day

2008-06-04T08:56:00.001+01:00

Peanut (my 1-year-old dachshund) watching the buses coming and going.

Pretty Old Windows

2008-06-03T17:54:00.001+01:00

Saw these on a building in the city center. They are very common around here in the city, but I still think they look nice - especially next to a cloudless, blue sky!

Street next to the bus/train center

2008-06-02T10:09:00.001+01:00

DanHostel

2008-06-01T15:14:00.002+01:00

This is a hostel right in the city center. It's conveniently located RIGHT next to the train station; you could literally thrown a stone onto the tracks from one of their windows. Maybe a little noisy for the residents of the hostel yes, but usually they are only passing through or stay for a few days.

City bus

2008-05-31T10:29:00.000+01:00

Ocean of bikes

2008-05-30T10:20:00.001+01:00

This is one of the many "parking lots" for bikes.
This one is located behind the old train station in the city center.

Pool Hall

2008-05-29T09:00:00.002+01:00

There are quite a few pool halls in the city (along with a large number of fitness centers which annoy me to no end, but that's another story for another time). This one is on "Skibhusvej" (Ship house road?), which is near where I live. I don't really go to them, though.

Deserted (Almost) Gågade Shopping District

2008-05-28T09:00:00.002+01:00

This is another part of the shopping district called "Gågade" in the center of town. It begins near the town hall, which faces onto the city square called "Flakhaven". You can see a web cam of Flakhaven here, among some other cams around Odense.

Magasin Window

2008-05-27T09:15:00.000+01:00

"Magasin" is a department store here in Denmark, known for being a little pricey so it's funny that their sign is associated with something so falling apart. Stig took this picture, I'm not sure where he found it!

Happy Tuesday, everyone :) Hope your week is going well.

Huge Chimney

2008-05-26T10:49:00.002+01:00

This chimney is right next to where the hama bead graffiti is situated. I believe it's an old clothes factory chimney which is now a museum in town. And look - you can even see the moon! (Even though this photo was taken mid-afternoon). That's very common in Denmark, seeing the moon during the day.

Hama Bead Close-up

2008-05-25T14:10:00.001+01:00

As promised yesterday, here is a close up of the hama bead grafitti. It's really quite something close up (it's even better in person) :)

Hama Bead Grafitti

2008-05-24T00:02:00.001+01:00

Thought this one was really interesting; it's graffiti made out of Hama Beads stuck on the wall in the shape of a spray can. I'll post a close up picture of it tomorrow, perhaps. It really inspired me to do the same - I wonder how long it took the person to make it?

Old, unused pulley

2008-05-23T22:57:00.001+01:00

Shopping District

2008-05-22T22:56:00.000+01:00

Pink Flowers

2008-05-21T22:55:00.000+01:00

H. C. Andersen is watching you...

2008-05-20T18:10:00.000+01:00

"You Are Not Alone"

2008-05-19T18:57:00.003+01:00

Saw this covering the entire side of a building. It's real human hand prints made in paint, though I don't know who did them. The text reads, "You are not alone" with a link to cancer.dk.

Erotic Laundry

2008-05-18T18:51:00.000+01:00

"Cycling Forbidden" Street Sign

2008-05-17T13:16:00.001+01:00

This is a funny picture because the sign, which reads "Cycling Forbidden", is actually the signs they use for street signs. They normally use another type of sign to tell you when a path is not allowed to be cycled on, but for some odd reason they used a street sign. Maybe they ran out of the other kind of signs? :/

Waiting...

2008-05-16T18:19:00.000+01:00

Boy waiting on a bench in the main shopping district.

Surf's Up

2008-05-15T20:04:00.002+01:00

AAAAAAND she's back! So sorry for the long delay (I hope my blog images still show up on the Daily Photo website image feed - does anyone know if a haitus results in you being taken off the list?) but I am back with a vengance and I brought someone with me. Introducing Stig, who has taken many of the pictures I will be posting in the coming weeks, as a new blog contributor.

I try not to bring my personal life too much into this blog, but I will say that it is the reason I have been absent for such a long time. Big changes, new apartments, new school, etc... I hope you will all understand and continue to enjoy the blog, because it's not going anywhere for a long, long time :)

Apologies

2007-11-06T23:33:00.001+01:00

I apologize for the long delay in posts. This blog isn't closed, but it will be taking an indefinite break. I'm finding it hard to find new material to photograph and put up here, but once I get inspired again I'll be back with a vengeance!

As proof of my willingness to return, I have made a new header/banner for the blog which - I think - looks a lot simpler and less cluttered than the old one. Tell me your thoughts on the new header :)

Thank you to all who have supported this blog throughout the years it's been around. I promise it will continue - just keep checking back! :)

Erin
xox

2007-09-11T09:53:00.000+01:00

For being apartment complexes, there's a lot of variety in them around here. Whichever horrible 70s style they're done in! (They're much nicer inside). But these ones even have their own little backyard/court yard, which I think is cool.

Balcony View (Again)

2007-09-10T11:26:00.000+01:00

You can actually see the whole of Odense from our apartment. In the back, you can see the city center with all the church spires, the hospital, the Sonofon satellite dish, the huge shopping mall, parks, schools, main points of interest in and around the city center...

And on the other side of the apartment, looking out the kitchen window, you can even see the bridge from Funen (our island) to Sealand (where Copenhagen is). I can't get a good picture of it, you really can only see it with the naked eye, but I'll keep trying! And let me tell you, it is quite a drive to that bridge so it's amazing we can even see it!!

Test

2007-09-10T11:19:00.001+01:00

This is a test post. Blogger has not been publishing my last 3 days' worth of entries to my blog.

EDIT: Okay this post showed up. So I'm going to try a real post with a picture now...

2007-09-09T11:20:00.000+01:00

I'm not sure what this is to do with Odense (I've been too busy to get out and take photos apart from my balcony and kitchen windows and I fear those are getting repetitive) but it was bought in Odense and I just love them. My Marilyn Monroe place mats! Kind of Warhol style, but not a copy of his famous painting of her.

Night Time at the Apartment

2007-09-08T09:34:00.000+01:00

This picture was taken in our apartment before we got our new couches in; it shows Johannes (my boyfriend) laying on the floor in a beanbag watching TV. It was a very "hyggelig" night. I've mentioned the word "hyggelig" before; it's a Danish word which doesn't really have a direct translation to English but it means cozy or somewhere with a nice atmosphere.

View From My Kitchen Window

2007-09-07T10:56:00.000+01:00

Marilyn Monroe

2007-09-06T09:31:00.000+01:00

I love love LOVE these Marilyn Monroe placemats I got a few months ago from Søstrene Grene (that really awesome, cheap shop I keep raving about) and now I actually have a table to put them on! :D

100th Post!!!

2007-09-05T09:17:00.000+01:00

Quite a simple picture but I thought it was perfect to celebrate my 100th post in this blog! I honestly can't believe I made it this far :) Even with a 2 month hiatus!

This is a photo of the sky I took yesterday. The sky was really beautiful yesterday - all day. I took this series of photos:

Netto Offer

2007-09-04T14:50:00.000+01:00

The day before yesterday, Netto (a cheap-y chain of supermarkets, not exclusive to Denmark), had a special offer on... one 1,5 liter of coca cola for only 8 kroner. Those who have a rough idea of prices in Denmark knows everything is VERY expensive, and cola doesn't escape this fact, since all sugar in drinks are taxed here in Denmark. So usually a 1,5 liter bottle costs upwards from 22 kroner - which is around $4 US! A LOT. So whenever we buy a bottle, it's considered a luxury.

This is a picture of all we bought - excluding the 3 we have chilling in the fridge! We're not huge coca cola drinkers (I am more than my boyfriend and even then I only drink diet coke because it's the only taste of all of them I like) but when an offer like this came around, we just had to buy all that. It will last us a very long time!

View from the Top

2007-09-03T17:34:00.001+01:00

This is what I see when I look down from my balcony (we live on the 8th floor). It's a basketball/football/roller blading/skateboarding park for the kids who live in the area. I think it's just such a great idea - apparently the kids do, too!

Born Again!

2007-09-02T21:42:00.000+01:00

My apologies for the 2 month hiatus. First I went on a - as I said - MUCH needed holiday in the south of France (my father has a house near Perpignan) and then I was on a hasty apartment search after a bit of a sticky situation at my last residence.

Now all settled into my new apartment, which is just on the outskirts of Odense city center (still in Odense, just not in the heart of the city as I was before), I'll be posting a completely different perspective of Odense.

People in Odense fear coming to where I live now (it's called Vollsmose), because a lot of Muslims live here and people on social benefit. I was always told, from native Danes, with a passing hand gesture and a grimace that this is where all the... other people live.

Instead I have found I am much more happier here than I ever was in the city center. For one, everything is a LOT cheaper and there's a shopping mall right around the corner - two, in fact, the second one being a bit of a bike ride.
Residents smile at me and talk to us whenever we go out of the apartment - hardly the rough lot which was described to me. I never got so much as a glance when I lived in the city center. But that's just my experience. I hope it doesn't put you off coming to visit Odense if you ever plan to - Danes are extremely friendly to tourists.

But anyway, this post was just an update on where I am 'taking' this blog. I'm starting with a picture of my now-5-month-old puppy, Peanut, and my two guinea pigs settling into their new home :)

I hope you are still reading, DP people!

Further Delays on the Metropolitan Line

2007-08-14T10:31:00.001+01:00

Unfortunately I'm going to have to extend my hiatus for another few weeks. I have been back from holiday for almost 2 weeks now but a personal emergency has occured since I have returned from vacation, which requires my utmost attention right now.

This blog WILL NOT be closing down. Just please be patient for another few weeks :) Thank you!

Rosengård Centre

2007-07-05T11:00:00.000+01:00

Rosengårdcentret (the Rosengård center) is one of the local shopping malls. Not very many statues inside it, but this one is in the center of it all and it's nice to stop and look at while you're shopping.

Also I will not be posting until August 2nd/3rd, when I get back from my holiday. It's a very long holiday... but a VERY much needed one :(

Have a great summer, everyone!

Under the Ever-Watchful Eye of Darcy

2007-07-04T22:51:00.000+01:00

Our guard dog, Darcy, as she glares out the window at anyone who dares to go onto her "turf". She loves watching the wild cats across the street, making sure they don't get too close to her territory. She's a tiny dog, but a great watch dog (as dachshunds usually are). She would never hurt anyone, though, she's a very nice dog :)

A common sight in our living room window. We even put little mats for her up on the windowsill so now it's become "her space" hee hee.

Some City Apartments...

2007-07-03T22:44:00.000+01:00

Odense Special: Copenhagen Day Trip

2007-07-02T20:05:00.000+01:00

Today is not a picture from Odense, rather it was taken from the car FROM Odense driving towards Copenhagen (Danish: København). This is the bridge which connects the island we live on - Funen (Danish: Fyn) - to Sealand (Danish: Sjaelland) where Copenhagen is. It was a rainy-sunny-rainy-sunny-again-rainy kind of day - this was just before it rained, but I got a beautiful picture of the bridge here.

We were going to Copenhagen because my boyfriends' little sister was performing at the Royal Opera in Copenhagen; she's a ballerina. They had this special project where a group of all-female ballet dancers from Jordan came over and they worked together to create a Denmark-meets-Jordan themed show. It was really amazing to watch :)

Summer Thunderstorms

2007-07-01T23:27:00.000+01:00

This is what you saw out of every window today - rain, rain and more rain! Summer thunderstorms are upon us and I love it; my favorite time of the year!

Oh yes and please take time to admire my new layout. I made it myself yesterday and spent the day tweaking it until it was to my satisfaction. Tell me what you think of it in my "ShoutBox!" (scroll down, it's on the right hand side).

Happy Canada Day!

2007-07-01T01:10:00.000+01:00

Not posting a regular picture today, as it's Canada day! There is a group of Canadians who get together every Canada day in Copenhagen but it's too much trouble for me to get in there (not to mention too expensive, too) so we're having our own small Canada Day celebration here in Odense :)

I'm sure most of you don't celebrate it, but now you know it's on July 1st, if you didn't already ;)

Parking Sign

2007-06-30T13:37:00.000+01:00

Building Top

2007-06-29T11:32:00.000+01:00

Beautiful Old Danish House

2007-06-28T21:21:00.000+01:00

This is a picture of one of the old buildings around Old Odense (you can also see my pretty pink bicycle in the shot! hehe). Unfortunately at some point, someone thought it wise to paint over the lovely old beams with that horrible yellow... and as you can see it didn't really work! They should paint over them a darker color, I think.

Man Hole Cover

2007-06-27T21:18:00.000+01:00

Some other DP blogger - I can't remember who - posted what their man hole covers looked like in their city and I thought it was a really cool idea. I've never really paid attention to them in my city so I don't know if they all look like this one, but the image is of one of Hans Christian Andersen's (I told you they love him in this city) famous paper cuttings.

For some information on his "paper cuts" (they are pretty fascinating) click here (link opens in a new window).

Old Odense; take two

2007-06-26T10:15:00.000+01:00

More photos of old houses in Odense, on the other side of the small cobbled street which I showed you all yesterday. The background is not as nice in this image, but you get a further idea of what the houses look like. It's really lovely to walk around the cobbled streets around this area. It's actually quite a bit larger than you think.

Old Odense

2007-06-25T22:11:00.001+01:00

Here are some of the old houses of Odense, right up the road from where we live. The supposed birth place of Hans Christian Andersen is in one of these homes, which as I mentioned before, has been turned into a museum. To the left of this photo and up a short path is a very large, loud main road. To construct this road, they tore up so many of these beautiful old houses to make way for this obtrusive road, which everyone hates. Even they (the people who built it and commissioned it, I guess) realized it was a BIG mistake and are making plans to remove the road. But you still can't get all those old houses back. So they really - excuse my language - fucked themselves and Odense out of beautiful building history.

Skovsøen

2007-06-24T12:43:00.000+01:00

Last night - like they do every year around (though not always on) the longest day of the year - they had a big bonfire, gathering and music... I wouldn't call it festival but there was a large stage with music groups playing on it for hours. It's out in the forrest; "skovsøen" literally means 'the forrest lake'. A phenomenal amount of people turned up - I think it must have been all of Odense! Here - taken on my not so great camera phone which seems to turn all my photos blue - shows a very wide street usually totally empty but now filled with thousands of people. It was so much fun. Everyone brings a blanket, some drinks, maybe a disposable BBQ and has fun with family and friends. Then at 9:30pm they light this HUGE bonfire which has a "witch" at the top of it (it's an old tradition but for what I don't know - I guess the old witch hunts).

Oh yes, and to give you an idea of the scale - this is just the street in the middle of two HUGE fields. In the one on the left is the lake with a huge fountain in the middle. It goes back really, really far.
On the right of the road pictured is a large field now completely jam packed with people just like how you see on this road; some sitting, some standing and some walking around.
This picture really doesn't show how big the place is or just how many people there are. Just multiply what you see in this picture by 20 or more!

Danish Desert

2007-06-23T11:15:00.000+01:00

I'm pretty sure the Danes didn't invent this, in fact I know little to nothing about it except the name: jordbær tarte (strawberry tarte). I kind of associate it with Denmark, because I tried it for the first time over here but I had heard of it before I came to DK. This particular one was extra good; we got it from the bakery just down the road. Very expensive (about 5.60 GBP / 56 DKK) but well worth it. I thought I would post a picture to entice you all to treat yourselves with something yummy today!

What are the bakeries like in your city? Do you frequent them often? It's a very large part of the culture here still.

EDIT: Sorry I forgot to include this part - the 56 kroner is for the ENTIRE cake not just that one little slice! Also 56 kroner is about $10 (US dollars).

Bilka

2007-06-22T10:49:00.000+01:00

Not a very good photo, but it shows one of the big supermarkets here called Bilka. It's almost hypermarket, but not quite as big (at least this one in the outskirts of Odense city center). We've started going here more often now... they're a tiny bit more expensive, but they have the best offers on so in the long run I guess it saves you more money.

Odense by Night

2007-06-21T23:07:00.000+01:00

Taken last night while out driving. Random location around Odense.

Inside St. Knud's Cathedral (A Series) - pt. V

2007-06-20T22:59:00.000+01:00

I think this will be the last of the "Inside St. Knud's cathedral" series - for now at least. I definitely intend to take some more (better) photos soon, when I have some free time to go back inside. I'd like to thank my little sister, Shannon, who was the guest photographer in this series :P

This shot is a close up of the coffins I was describing in yesterday's post. VERY dusty. This is in a different area than the armour I posted a picture of yesterday. There are quite a few coffins and bones lying around the church.

Inside St. Knud's Cathedral (A Series) - pt. IV

2007-06-19T21:30:00.000+01:00

Here is the far back right wall of the church, next to the altar but not up the staircase. There are a number of coffins here, along with old armour (as seen in this photo) and swords, some shields, artifacts and things like that. All very dusty!

Inside St. Knud's Cathedral (A Series) - pt. III

2007-06-18T13:15:00.000+01:00

As seen in both previous photos in this continuing series, this is the priests... uh, I don't know what you'd call it. It's a little booth which is raised over the pews and is accessed by some (blocked off) stairs. I don't think they use it today, but I could be wrong. It just seems very off limits and unused. It would be cool to go up it to see what the view is like!

Inside St. Knud's Cathedral (A Series) - pt. II

2007-06-17T10:32:00.000+01:00

(Again, I did not take this photo).

This was taken from the altar at the top of the stairs I described and showed you yesterday. This... is the church's organ. Well, one of them. There's another smaller, newer one to the right of where this photo is taken, at the top of the staircase, but I don't know how often they use it.
THIS one is HUUUGE. It doesn't look like it in this picture, but it's very far away because the church is so long. But it is so enormous and it's actually very active in terms of people playing it. I've gone in twice and found people playing it. It actually sounds very creepy, because the church is so old and usually quite empty (during the times I go in, anyway)

Inside St. Knud's Cathedral (A Series) - pt. I

2007-06-16T10:16:00.000+01:00

In case you have forgotten, this is St. Knud's Church, which I have posted about before. It's such a HUGE beautiful church, but I've never shown you inside it. Today I'm going to start the first part of a series which will do just that!

Sorry for the crookedness of this photo (I am not the author, it was my younger sister). But you can still get the gist of what it is; it's the inside of the church looking straight down towards the altar. Behind me is the big double doors which go outside. Ahead of me is the pews, the altar, a huge holy water holding bowl then stairs going up to the altar. It's very awe-inspiring and impressive.

Shopping District View

2007-06-15T14:50:00.000+01:00

This is exactly what the shopping "strip" or area in town looks like on a normal day, especially around 2 o'clock and after.

Roof tops II

2007-06-14T14:49:00.000+01:00

Terrible News

2007-06-13T14:20:00.000+01:00

I apologize for not posting the past couple of days; something bad has happened here in Odense (and unfortunately it's not as rare as one might think). They found a baby here in the river in Odense - it had been put in a plastic bag with a rock in it. On the rock it said, "Sorry. Rest in Peace. Mom and Dad love you, my little one..." The parents did it a few weeks ago perhaps, the police say, even a couple of months ago. It's such a horrible, horrible thing. That poor baby. And the awful thing is, there is three reported abandoned baby findings by or in the river in RECENT news; the last one happened in 1999. All the babies found all died.

I know it's not directly related to me, so it shouldn't prevent me from posting a photo, but I really don't feel like walking around Odense and taking photos today. I hope you understand.

Normal posting will commence tomorrow.

Nature

2007-06-12T14:48:00.000+01:00

WARNING: Do not enter!

2007-06-11T19:49:00.000+01:00

Here is a picture of my boyfriend, Johannes, and I at a Mexican restaurant here in Odense called El Torito. NEVER go here, I repeat, NEVER. We'd been there once before and it sucked, but my little sister was in town a couple weeks ago and she loves Mexican food so we decided to go there. It was worse than before!

Last time, they only forgot to bring us things, like salad and so on. This time the entire table area/room smelt like sewage - and we were at the BACK of the room away from the toilets! We ordered some things we never received (but thankfully were not charged for) and most ridiculous of all, they wouldn't even give us an extra plate! Johannes and I were sharing a meal intended for 2 people and asked - obviously - for a spare plate, and they refused. They didn't say why, but we soon found out.

My little sister, for some reason, only wanted a salad and you can "refil" it from the salad bar as many times as you want. But only YOU, the person who is eating it/ordered it. The first time, I went up with my sister because she couldn't see any salad dressing (there wasn't ANY) and helped her with her salad... I got the WORST evils from every single member of staff in that room. As if I was trying to ham on HER salad and steal their precious lettuce away from them. Their eyes followed me all the way to the back of the room where we were sitting and stayed on me for quite a while.
Then... they ignored us. It's a quite a tiny room and we were trying to get our bill, but they refused to acknowledge us. Never have I felt so unwelcome in a restaurant in my life!

I think they are doing incredibly bad for business, which is why they were refusing to give us an extra plate (in case we "stole" salad or whatever) but the staff were so unbelievably rude and the quality of food and the atmosphere (especially the awful smell) was so unbelievably poor. I am not one to complain usually, so you know how bad this place must really be!

Hopefully they will go out of business soon and someone else will replace them, someone who runs a better restaurant. But all I have left from this is a beautiful photograph of us both, which I love :) So maybe it was worth it anyway.

Close up of the He/She statue

2007-06-10T19:47:00.000+01:00

Here is my little sister posing in a close up of the he/she statue I've posted about before, which sits right in front of the city hall and across the way from St. Knud's church. Like I said before, kids love climbing on it and apparently my sister is no exception! :P

Pretty Fountain

2007-06-09T18:30:00.000+01:00

I hope my sister doesn't kill me for posting this, but it's the only picture I had of this pretty little fountain in the back streets of Odense and she just HAPPENED to be in it :P
Anyway, I am posting this because Odense is FULL of statues and fountains, often in places you never visit or would think of. I just love finding a new fountain. I've known about this little one for a while; you see it as soon as you come out the back entrance of H&M in the shopping high street of Odense center. Not too many people walk back there, so it's a nice surprise when you walk by it :)

Old Bed

2007-06-08T18:27:00.000+01:00

When my little sister was over from England, we went to the Hans Christian Andersen museum here in Odense, which is actually a museum adjoined onto the house he was allegedly born in (it's not proven and it's not the house he grew up in here in Odense. You literally walk from the museum, which has a collection of his personal effects, drawings, paintings, paper cutouts and stuff, right into this really old Danish house. It's pretty cool.

Anyway, here is one of the little beds in the house, which me and my sister loved because it's like a little cubbyhole! It's under the stairs and when you go to sleep, you just pull the curtain across.

Visit if you get a chance! You wouldn't think there's much to see... but you'd be wrong! There is TONS!

H.C. Andersen Museum

2007-06-07T16:19:00.000+01:00

Here is a picture of my little sister, who came over to visit last week from England, as she sits and listens to one of Hans Christian Andersen's fairytales. All throughout the museum, they had these telephones where you could select which story you wanted to hear on a computer and then listen through the phone. We listened to the Princess and the Pea story :)

Some Beautiful Old Buildings...

2007-06-06T12:30:00.001+01:00

Unidentified Ruins III

2007-06-05T11:25:00.000+01:00

God summer is just zooming up on me. Is it coming up quickly for everyone else too? I don't mean weather wise, I mean... gosh, it's already June! I'm going on holiday in a month to the south of France, near Perpignan where my dad has a house. So excited!

Anyway, today's picture is of the staircase at the side of the unidentified ruins in town. I was surprised to see it was a very old looking wooden staircase. They were big fat beams of wood leading right down to the outside cellar door. I still haven't found out what it is!

Unidentified Ruins II

2007-06-04T21:43:00.000+01:00

Here is another photo from this post about the unidentified ruins in town. Shown is my 12 year old sister standing in what used to be the chimney so you can get an idea of the scale. It's actually pretty big! I have another picture of the stairway going down to the cellar from outside which I'll post tomorrow.

Abandoned Bike

2007-06-03T21:40:00.000+01:00

An extremely common site in Denmark, an abandoned bike. They're everywhere. But they generally don't tend to stick around for long, someone will always come to pick it up whether it be a new owner or the police (they auction them off). This one was in a fountain in town and I thought it actually looked quite pretty in the water. It was removed sometime before the next day, though. Usually put there by drunk people who destroy the bikes first.

We actually had one sitting outside our house for 5 days a couple weeks ago. Nobody came to get it and it was in perfect order so we thought we may as well keep it. You're meant to turn it into the police, but you can always do with a spare bike, especially as we're always having guests and tenants stay with us.

Tivoli Fair... Leaving!

2007-06-02T21:38:00.000+01:00

Here is a photo of the Tivoli fair I posted about previously (when I went to the fairground here in Odense that they'd set up). I was surprised to see them driving along side us on the E20 (motorway) as we were driving to Billund airport last week!

St. Knud's Church from Behind

2007-06-01T18:01:00.000+01:00

Here is a photo of what St. Knud's church looks like from behind and it also shows how close it sits to the river. It's sooo beautiful around this part. One of my favorite places to go and sit in Odense.

We did a lot of tourist-y things today, because my little sister is here (as I think I've mentioned). We went inside the church pictured after a nice picnic by the river. So nice! But now we are all so exhausted.

Sun Rise

2007-05-31T00:02:00.000+01:00

This was taken from our bedroom window at sunrise about a week ago; I can't remember the time. I just thought it was so pretty :)

P.S. My little sister, Shannon, is visiting over from England so I haven't posted since Monday! Oops! Sorry... I went back and post-dated some entries so it looks like I posted it then. A little sneaky but better late than never ;)

Hope you are still having a good time here in Odense, Jan, if you are still here :)

Kings House

2007-05-30T00:00:00.000+01:00

I mentioned before in my "Park" entry, when trying to describe that park I took a picture of, an old residence where an old Danish king died. Well here is a more close up picture of it. I don't know too much about it... I think I'll try and find out more about it. As far as I know, it's a private residence - in fact, I think the local council now uses it as offices. I think I remember hearing that somewhere. Anyway, it's a really beautiful long, white building which is nice to walk past as you walk through the park.

Summer Nights

2007-05-29T23:54:00.000+01:00

Ahh summer nights. We're almost there! Sunset isn't until around 10pm now and I love it. Warm, summer nights with those who you love. That's one of my favorite things in life :)

Tivoli Fair

2007-05-28T21:20:00.000+01:00

Finally I got my phone working so I can show you this picture! This is how I spent some of my Friday night. Man, I got so sick on these rides. And they were so expensive! You know you're getting old when you start complaining about these things. But it was a lot of fun; you just have to watch out for pick pockets!

Hello to Jan and her husband; I hope you both are enjoying Odense immensely! Also, your hotel is actually a 30 second walk from where I live ;)

Where was this photo taken?

2007-05-27T21:19:00.000+01:00

My phone is not connecting to my laptop, so I can't post some pictures I took of the fair that's in Odense right now, something I REALLY wanted to show you. But hopefully I can get it working within the next day or two and show you what we saw.

Instead, I have this strange picture from you. Can you guess where I took it? Hint: It's in our house...

Front of the House View

2007-05-26T12:45:00.001+01:00

This is the view from the roof of our house facing the street (yesterdays post was from the back). The entrance across the street goes into the music school across the street; the cars parked on the right is where we park our car (that grey car isn't ours)... there's about 5 spots there in total. We do have a driveway but it's kind of a double one we share with the neighbors, so neither of us tend to use it unless we HAVE to - like for instance if we just went grocery shopping and we don't want to lug 10 bags across the street...

Also above the grey car on the right, beyond the fence where that bush is... that's the WW2 bunker I posted about before :)

Roof tops

2007-05-25T12:43:00.000+01:00

Here is a picture of Johannes, my boyfriend, looking from our roof top window over the other roofs of the houses in Odense. Behind us there aren't that many houses, because where those trees are at the very back of the photo is where the river is :) After the river, the houses are more heavily condensed.

Houses and Flagpoles

2007-05-24T21:56:00.000+01:00

I don't particularly like this picture but it shows the Danish style of houses common here and the flagpole that SO many people have. This flag is one I thought was so weird when I first saw it: a skinny flag. Some flagpoles have regular big flags, but most - I have found - have this style. Unfortunately ours is so skinny it got wrapped and tied around the top of our pole :( So we can't get it down. Not easily anyway!

View from Our Window

2007-05-23T21:34:00.001+01:00

Here is the view from one of the windows from the very top of the house; the window is in the roof (I can't remember the name of that style of window). As you can see, you can see the two churches, St. Albans Kirke and St. Knud's Kirke from our window. It shows how close inside the city center we are! Right in the middle of things.

Odense is stretched out with a lot of suburbs sprawled out for miles - Johannes and I drove through one yesterday and agreed on how much we loved living right in the middle of the city. So much nicer!

Magasin

2007-05-22T22:42:00.000+01:00

I'm having a much better day today - despite hearing some more bad news. Yesterday just got a bit much, because I was suffering the worst of a cold. I'm still sick today, but feeling infinitely better than yesterday so... on with the post!

This is a close up photo of a department store here called Magasin - it's not selective to Odense, though, I believe they have branches in other towns and cities in Denmark. Magasin of course means "store" in French, but I'm sure most Danes don't know that. It's just a regular over-priced department store, but I love having a browse through there on a rainy day or when I'm walking through town. I don't know why, but when I didn't live in Odense and I came here, I would go in there ALL the time. It's not even that great. I guess just because I was used to department stores and here was one that was very similar to home. I don't go in there too much anymore.

Actually, not long ago they did this "Girls Night" - which I am SO bummed about, because I didn't know you had to get tickets and I missed the deadline for buying them - where they shut down the store to only the guests, had fashion shows, a life and style coach talk with you, free hand massages from The Body Shop (who has a corner in the store) and free gift bags... things like that. I think they do it every year, though, so I will NOT miss it next year!

Thank you very much for all the kind comments on my pictures. I have had NO time to do anything but post once a day (I work 2 jobs and right now I'm sick, still having to work so...). But I really, really look forward to your comments. They really make my day!

Hope you are all having (or had) a wonderful day today :)

Green Filled Path

2007-05-21T19:58:00.000+01:00

Not going to post anything else today... having a really bad day today :(

Our House

2007-05-20T16:17:00.001+01:00

Here is a picture of where we live in Odense. It's funny, I STILL remember the very first time I came to Odense and when I pulled up outside this house for the very first time. It's such a different image of what I have now, but I can still remember the old one very clearly.

Danish houses typically have very high ceilings and large, long rooms. The white bit at the bottom is the top of the basement; the ceilings aren't AS high down here. That's where Johannes and I live, the bottom floor. There's a shower/bathroom down here, a toilet room, a kitchen and 2 storage rooms.

Then on the second floor (where you enter up some steps at the side, which is the front door) is a clinic for Johannes' moms' homeopathic practice and two rooms (+ kitchen) which are let out. The third floor is the huge kitchen and living rooms and the top floor is bedrooms for Johannes' parents and his little sister.

As you can see, we're very spread out :P I love this house, it's really old and it's in - I think - a nice area of Odense, because it's right in the center of it. And I love living in the basement, believe it or not!

Anyway, just thought I'd show you where we live :) And what the houses are like here.

McDonalds

2007-05-19T18:33:00.000+01:00

A very boring post today, a picture of McDonalds which is in the Odense train station. I don't even eat there, but just wanted to show you how a Danish McDonalds looks like (i.e. exactly the same everywhere else :P) It looks small from the other side of the street, but that's only the entrance where the counters are. Then it goes off to the right which is the seating area and then an indoor exit which leads straight into the train station.

Exciting stuff!

Copenhagen Today!

2007-05-18T18:24:00.000+01:00

This photo was not really taken in Odense, per se... I would say it was taken "in transit" somewhere in Denmark, because we were on our way to Copenhagen. DSB, the national rail service, had for the first time ever a Døgnet day (don't know how to translate that) where basically all the tickets all over Denmark were EXTREMELY cheap. People went crazy for it - it's the first time they've ever done it - and they sold out quickly. We had seats reserved for the 3 o'clock train to CPH, but we wanted to go sooner than that, so we had to give up the luxury of actually sitting in seats.

The train was PACKED. As you can see here, Johannes (pictured) and I had to sit on the floor, kind of inside the luggage area! The place where you put suitcases and stuff between two chairs that are back to back. It was okay for me, because I'm small and can fit in easily, but not so much for Johannes :P Poor him!