DANISH TRIVIA

                                           A Little Fun Info
    
 In Texas we look for water towers, in Denmark one looks for the church tower which is nearly always on the west side of the church. Most churches were originally Catholic. Reformation came to Denmark in 1530 and now most of the churches are Lutheran. Members support the church with 2% of their income. However, church attendance is very low with only about 2% of the congregation attending services regularly.          As in much of Europe, the church yard serves as a cemetery,

A tax rate of almost 50% support a total social system/society. All medical care, schooling, including university, are free.

The Danish alphabet contains three extra letters: o with a line through it which translates to an oe, an a with two dots over it translates to aa and a joined AE.

We found neither A/C nor window screens. We left our windows open in hotels at night and never had a bug problem.  When eating outside sometimes we had to fight the bees for our food. They were plentiful and everywhere. They were elongated kind of skinny little devils. No one ever got stung though.

 

Furniture is a major industry and export. Legos are a Danish invention and major industry. 

Half of all the three paddle windmills in the world were made in Denmark.

Although the number of farms has decreased, the farms have become bigger and ¾ of the country is farmland. Wheat is a major crop. Kellogg’s is everywhere, we peddled by many many of their fields. Sugar beets and corn follow wheat as major crops. Fresh produce was abundant and good. 

It is said there are twice as many pigs in Denmark as people. Danish ham is a big export item. Fishing, especially for herring, is also big. 

Farms, including the main house and barns are built U shaped with a central court. Quite different from our farms.

The national drink is beer; Tuborg and Carlsborg are well known. There are many local beers.

The cheeses, breads, beer, and pastries were wonderful. Danes are good and imaginative cooks. Eating is an event for them.

 Smorrebrod, no resemblance to our smorgasbord, is an open face sandwich with any combination of thinly sliced items you want. They are made to order, usually in a bakery or special shop. The only limitation is one’s own imagination.

THE ALPS

                                                              THE ALPS

            The Alps mountain range extends 750 miles across Europe cutting through 8 countries, so it is easy to visit the Alps in many places and in various countries. My first Swiss Alps visit took me to more populated places/cities, still typically Swiss and absolutely gorgeous. The scenery is spectacular everywhere.

            My first mountain was the Strasserhorn where I have vivid memories of enjoying a good cup of coffee on the top outside patio while listening to the cow bell serenade in the alpine valley below. But on the next trip, my first hiking trip, I found the hiking relatively easy as we rode gondolas, cog trains and other conveyances up, up, up, then walked down over wide well packed earthen paths. The pace was casual and you could walk and savor the scenery at the same time.

            My second mountain was Mt Pilatus. We had nice views as the cog train chugged along taking us to the top, but as we climbed the clouds thickened and when we reached the top we could see nada! The agenda had called for us to eat lunch as we hiked back down to civilization. None of us wanted to eat our sack lunches in the rain, nor was the empty foyer at the top any more inviting. Our guide, who seemed to know everyone in the country, talked the manager of the empty restaurant into letting us eat in comfort inside. We all bought a hot drink and soup as a way of saying thank you. Afterward we did hike down, but the thick canopy kept the path from being really slippery and us from getting really wet. Singing in the rain!

            After several other mountains, the last one required riding  three gondolas, the last the only rotating gondola in the world, the Rotair—the floor inside rotates 360 degrees as you pop up out of the clouds. At 10,627’ we played on Mt. Titlis, a slippery glacier. It was warmer than expected and the thin fine mist did not obstruct either our view or enthusiasm in any way.   

            I was familiar with Italian Switzerland, but was completely off balance when I found French in Villars, Switzerland on my last trip and second hiking trip. This was the start of my adventures in the Mont Blanc area of the Alps. The scenery in the area was stunning. Because of a late spring we found snow in Switzerland. A couple of days we hiked in snow and slush. With the warm temperatures, the snow melted rapidly. What a delight to see a patch of crocuses in bloom next to a good size snow patch!  Everywhere in this part of the world we were able to fill our water bottles from community pipes dripping water into large concrete vessels. Cool, fresh and such good tasting!

            As we moved down into Italy and France we found ourselves hiking on narrow cow or goat paths in single file. It also meant watching your every step as the paths were littered with rocks of all sizes from small to boulders and many many tree roots. To enjoy the scenery it was necessary to stop to avoid stubbing a toe and perhaps falling. There was little level walking--although it wasn’t straight up too often, it was one pretty good undulation after another. It is good to know that the European translation of a walk is a hike for us; a hike for them is a trek for us Americans.

            Gondolas were lacking in Italy and the only one in France was up to Mont Blanc. It was a gorgeous clear sunny day in Chamonix the day we chose to do Mont Blanc. It was spectacular!

            This trip was to small villages, seldom on American agendas. French and Italian were the norm with English, except in Chamonix,  pretty scarce. The people were friendly, shopping was limited, hotels were great, the food good, perhaps a little less cosmopolitan and a little more regional than in the past. It was a different but wonder experience and two weeks!

            Except for being unseasonably warm, the weather was fine and the scenery defies description. It is simply spectacularly gorgeous.