Odense

Odense, Denmark is most known for being the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen. It is also the hometown of  Janis' grandparents, which is the reason we picked it as a destination. Our hotel is right in the core of the historic area.

Such a delightful cafe

There are sculpture everywhere and it seems like every other block has a street that is just for pedestrian traffic, full of shops and sidewalk cafes. Since we arrived a couple of hours before check in, we dropped our suitcases off in the luggage room and struck out. 

We found the most delightful café for lunch. I ordered a salad, because the menu was all in Danish and that was the only word I could understand (Salat) and they brought out the most beautiful salad I have ever seen!



Plaque outside birthplace
Unlike some places I could mention **cough- Naples**,  Denmark does a fantastic job of labeling the streets. I may not be able to pronounce them (without sounding like a Muppet) but I can match them up with the map! The streets are still cobblestone or interlocking brick, but it's mostly flat. We managed to find the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen without any trouble. There are lovely signposts that point to historic sites or places of interests. 

Birthplace of HC Andersen









The first night we found a restaurant that serves traditional Danish food. We didn't have a reservation, but we put on our best Canadian manners and they found a spot for us. I ordered crispy pork - which turned out to be huge, thick pieces of bacon. Janis got a roast chicken which was served with stewed rhubarb (rhubarb seems to be very popular here) and cucumber salad. The cucumber salad turned out to be a little dish of bread and butter pickles! Not everything translates straight across!


The architecture makes you feel like you have stepped into the pages of  a fairy tale. There are cobblestone streets and sidewalks, which are very picturesque to look at, not so lovely to walk on!



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