This is the house Hans Christian Andersen was born in.

I was told I could find work in Funen (pronounced fyoon) so I traveled to Odense, which had much more charm than Copenhagen. Odense is a beautiful city and home of Hans Christian Andersen. If you want to come to Denmark, Odense is the third largest city but it is the city to see. All the charm expected of Denmark can be found here. However, things are ridiculously expensive in the Scandinavian countries. A single regular cake donut costs about $2.50. Everything is about 2 to 5 times more expensive than America (other than entertainment). The people are very nice though and I’m happy I keep running into the best people in the world. From Rotterdam on (except for Germany) people would come up and talk to me, instead of my having to start the conversation.

This is a quaint little area depicting the old style village Odense once was.

I went into a museum and ran into Ingrid, a very kind elderly woman who teaches at the university and she was such a wonderful woman full of smiles that I couldn’t help but talk with her for a couple hours. We ended up chatting in the café where she bought me a hot chocolate and a chicken and bacon sandwich on walnut bread that was excellent. I really enjoyed our conversation and wished I could do more for her.

You can't have a city with Hans Christian Anderson without a giant table and chairs.

I went to McDonald’s but my computer was conflicting with their internet connection so the manager let me connect through her own personal phone. Is that amazing or what? I don’t usually buy anything at McDonald’s but I did this time. When I bought my burger I asked for bbq sauce and it was more than the change I had and the girl said it was okay, just put what I had in the charity box and she would give me one. What a great bunch of people here. I did run into one problem in McDonald’s… I needed to use the bathroom and you had to pay so I put the 2 krones in then had a choice to open either the door with the D or the H. I didn’t know which was male and female so I figured Dave and Hannah and chose Dave but it must have been Donna because there were no urinals. I hurried and got out before I was spotted though.

One of the charming things about Denmark that I am tired of is the cobblestone streets. They are everywhere and they look cool but walking on them with a heavy pack hurts the feet. Another amazing discovery was all the very tall people. Many of the women are six foot or better. Never have I looked at women’s shoes so much in my life. When I talk to a woman looking down to me, I look at her shoes and when they are flat I have to say within me… DANG!!!

Too bad a picture cannot capture all I see in every country. I would so like to record this but it is something you have to experience to appreciate. Right now I’m sitting here alongside the river with a park in the background and along the river there is a dozen posts lining a separation in the water and I’m watching the seagulls play king of the hill on the posts. It’s funny to watch once come soaring up behind one and knock him off the post and into the water. There are also many ducks and swans (brown and white) swimming along in front of me and I love watching them come in skidding across the water as they land.

Check out the cool rock entry ways. This is actually in real rock.

I’ve often wondered if I could have lived in the old days where you claim a piece of land, cut down a few trees to build your house, clear a piece of land to grow your garden, go hunting for meat and live off the land. Now I know that I could. My addition to TV is gone having not watched it for four months. Spending only two to three hours per day on your garden and hunting to take care of your needs, and maybe building a water mill for electricity to help heat the place and have some of the conveniences of modern day… yes, I could enjoy of life like that. I doubt I could find a woman that would want to share such a life though J.

I don't know the significance of this statue but it is all over the tourist information info. I found her in a park but not in a majorly trafficked area. I like the accidental light effect my camera put on it.

This is the statue of Hans Christian Andersen.

This is a very weird depiction of Christ on the cross I found in the Odense Cathedral where I believe Hans is buried.

This is different for a Catholic Cathedral. It is all white inside. This is the same one where Hans is buried.

There was another building with similar designs but in multiple colors, which I loved, but there was a bunch of construction junk in front of it so I had to settle on this one.

This was the nicest scene for me in Copenhagen. It was a fort turned into a park.

On my last leg to Copenhagen I met a guy named Rob Smith who invited me to stay in his hotel room for the night. He was quite a good bloke from Manchester England. Really enjoyed chatting with him and he helped me out with some food and gave me the money to get a new tent so hopefully I will find something that won’t leak. Met his friends too and they also were very friendly and wanted to help as well. There are some very good people out there in the world regardless of what the people have to say about them. Rob told me about Mormon’s before he knew I was one but he allowed me to straiten out a few of the things he had been told about them like they have to give one third of their income to the church. I explained that a tithe is one tenth. I would like to remain near to be a friend to him but I do have to continue on trying to find some work shortly.

This was about the only old town looking area I came across.

Copenhagen was a disappointment for me. I guess my expectations of a charming place to visit was dashed when I observed just another big European city but without any character of its own. The buildings were flat and strait with no balconies, shutters, fancy doors or anything that would make them unique. The only thing reminiscent of its former culture was older buildings painted in different colours and even that was difficult to find. The people were nice I felt my tenure there a waste of time. The first day it rained all day long so I spent the majority of the time either in the tourist office or in the train station so my gear wouldn’t get soaked again. The next day I followed the tourist map several kilometres through Copenhagen where it was recommended to see all the sites. Other than a few unique buskers, it wasn’t worth the walk to me.

This was a rather unique Catholic church in that it was round.

I slept on a park bench next to a church but when I woke up and looked around I saw this sign. I don't know what a Slutspurt is but I'm glad I wasn't slimmed by one while I slept. I saw this again in Odense so it must have some specific meaning for them.