Jyllands Tur!

Jyllands tur! I just got back from a huge week-long trip through Jylland (Jutland in English)with 40 other AFS exchangies, and it was a week I will never forget! Basically a week-long party on a bus, sleeping in different schools every night, seeing such AMAZING sights, swimming in the ocean, having a blast! And I am so sad it’s over… I think it will be easier to tell you a little about the places we saw. Here is a map of our 6-day trip.. Monday we started catching the bus down in Svendborg. We drove to the famous Egeskov Castle (which is only 7 kilometers from my house…) You should DEFINITELY check it out and read more about Egeskov at the official site http://www.egeskov.dk/en/node/378 . We slept somewhere near Silkeborg that night. Tuesday morning we drove to the bottom of Himmelbjerget, the second tallest point in Denmark (I used to think it was the tallest but actually.. it’s not) and “hiked” to the top from the beautiful lake. It was so pretty as the sun was coming up! Afterwards we drove, stopped and had lunch and then visited Århus Den Gamle By (the Old Town) which is a collection of houses from all over Denmark all dating around the time of Hans Christian Andersen. It was VERY cool! People were dressed from that time period and making food as they used to. A really great place to visit! We got a tour around and met the baker, and other towns folk! Read more about Den Gamle By at http://www.dengamleby.dk/english.htm .
We slept somewhere on the coast and Wednesday morning we drove up to Skagen and Grenen, which was absolutely AMAZING! It’s where the two oceans meet. SO the waves are not coming onto the shore, but crashing into each other! And it’s so unbelievable! We ran out into the water and got SOAKED! And the wind was incredible! Then we visited Skagens Museum which is famous for painters in the 1870s and the many paintings like Summer Evening and the Fisherman. Read more at http://www.skagensmuseum.dk/index.php?id=7&L=2 . We slept at a boy scout house on the beach and Vero, Francesca, Sara, and Benthe (who is in charge of AFS Fyn and who organized this trip) went swimming in the frozen ocean! It was SO wonderful!
Thursday morning we went to Rubjerg Knude where a huge sand dune, that is being moved across the country by powerful winds is covering a lighthouse. And we saw Mårup Church which used to be over a kilometer from the ocean, and because of the eroding cliff is now only meters from dropping into the sea. The wind there was SO powerful and it was just an incredible sight… Then we drove down to Esbjerg and saw the Fishery and Marine where we saw a seal show and got to touch a stingray (it was really icky but super cool!) Check it out at http://www.fimus.dk/eng_index.html . And we saw the big art statues, the white men as I call them, looking out to sea…
Friday we visited Ribe, the oldest town in Denmark and went up in the big church for an amazing view all the way to Esbjerg! You can read more about Ribe at http://www.visitribe.dk/international/en-gb/menu/turist/turistforside.htm . And then we hit the famous LEGOLAND. All I can say is… “I LOVE LEGOLAND!!!!” I’ve never seen so many legos in my whole life! Everything was legos… everywhere and there were such cool rides and shows and sites.. it was fabulous in every way! So click HERE to read about Legoland! http://www.legoland.dk/?lc=en
Saturday we drove back to Odense.. and visited the Hans Christian Andersen Museum and house which was really interesting! I was surprised at how many stories I know that were written by him, the little mermaid, the princess and the pea, the Emperor’s new clothes, Thumbelina, etc. I learned so much about him.. and his life.. it was a really great museum! Check it out at http://museum.odense.dk/H_C_Andersen/H_C_Andersens_Hus.aspx?lang=en .

God I had an AMAZING time on Jyllands tur and I feel bad for all the exchangies that missed out on it… for those kids coming to Denmark next year, you do NOT want to miss this! You can see ALL my pictures at http://picasaweb.google.com/perkypiano/JyllandsTur# , all Vero’s at http://picasaweb.google.com/ito.folles.llojas/JyllandTur?feat=directlink# and soon there will be more on another site. Thanks for reading! Francine