The official language is Danish, however they are taught English at a very young age, and 86% of the people speak English as a second language.
We woke up to a much more pleasant day. Not really that warm, but at least the sun was shining and the wind had died down.
After breakfast, we went for a walk around the town of Haderslev.
Haderslev (pop 22,000) is well known for the cathedral, which dates back to the mid 1400's. It's a really pretty town, and has a very popular bicycle culture. In fact, there was some kind of cycling race going on while we were there.
Haderslev, Denmark.
Colorful buildings.
Downtown was really quiet on a Sunday morning.
Notice the yellow bicycles?
Quite a few buildings in the central area date to the 1600's.
Haderslev Cathedral.
The interior is actually quite plain.
But the organ is stunning.
This organ originates from 1652, and was restored in 1948.
For whatever reason, this model ship hangs from the ceiling.
It's fairly large, probably over 6 feet.
I could not find out anything about it online.
Paddle boats available for rent.
Lots of flowers.
The cathedral dominates the town.
Another church.
Walking back to Max, we came across some sort of cycling event.
There were lots of cyclists!
We got on the road and did some more driving north. We had to do a short section on the main highway, and it was quite busy. Again, we saw a lot of motorhomes and travel trailers, but of course it was the Sunday of a long weekend here and a lot of people would be heading home.
Busy highway, especially in the opposite direction.
Big wheel in the center of a traffic circle.
Scenery along the way.
Much nicer on the secondary roads.
We made our way to a large gravel parking lot, popular with a lot of hikers and bikers. It was fairly busy when we arrived, but was very quiet overnight with only three other overnight vehicles.
Nice horses in the field next to us.
Max, parked at GPS 56.178298, 9.343386
Notice the vehicle next to us? The parking lot probably has room for 40 motorhomes. This other motorhome pulled in about 7pm last night and parks right next to us. I mean not immediately beside us... he left one space... but we don't get the need to park so close when the parking lot is huge. Max likes his space! Fortunately, very few European motorhomes have a generator, and they were very quiet.
This morning, we are going for a bike ride around the lake before heading further north.
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Nice price drop on this Cuisinart Outdoor Electric Grill with Stand.
And in Canada...
I did find this out about the model ship...."In many churches in Scandinavia, you’ll see a ship hanging from the ceiling, a symbol of how important the sea is to the Nordic people. The ship reflects an old Nordic tradition of giving offerings for the protection of loved ones at sea and is a reminder of those lost at sea. The ship models are often called votive ships."
ReplyDeleteThank you very much for this information on the ship, now it all makes sense. :-)
DeleteKevin, I wonder if they park near for security/safety reasons. I understand but not to park right on top or block views.
ReplyDeleteWe wonder why they do this too but we don't think in this case that it would be for security reasons because as we pointed out, Denmark is a very safe country. The motorhome that pulled in RIGHT beside us had German plates, maybe he thought he would park beside a fellow German. :-)
DeleteI knew I had read something recently about ships hanging in churches - it was in this month's issue of Canadian Geographic. Apparently it's a tradition in maritime cities in Canada as well (in this case Notre-Dame-de-Bon-Secours in Montreal). The descendants of the original sailors make a point of visiting every year.
ReplyDeleteWith all the traveling we have done, I would have thought that we would have come across this before now but obviously we haven't. Now that we know the story behind this ship and others that we may see in the future, we will understand why they are there. It is fun to learn new things. :-)
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