AARHUS
Our Aarhus day was a gorgeous sunny day. Best weather day of the trip and we took advantage of it. On the way into Aarhus we stopped at the Marselisborg Deer Park. Continuing with the trip perfectness, the herd of deer were right past the park’s entrance. We were able to approach the deer, but they seemed a bit startled when Charlotte wanted to play.
Our Aarhus day was a gorgeous sunny day. Best weather day of the trip and we took advantage of it. On the way into Aarhus we stopped at the Marselisborg Deer Park. Continuing with the trip perfectness, the herd of deer were right past the park’s entrance. We were able to approach the deer, but they seemed a bit startled when Charlotte wanted to play.
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Across the street from Marselisborg is The Infinite Bridge - a circle board walk that extends into the Bay of Aarhus. We took a literal loop around the bridge and continued into Aarhus.
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It sounds counterintuitive to write “if the sun is out to head to an art museum” unless that art museum is Aros. The roof of the museum has a permanent display called Your Rainbow Panorama, which is a giant glass ring with the shades of the rainbow. There’s not any other way to describe it - just a rainbow glass circular walkway. Great views of the city change as you walk through the glass circle. Stunning side by side color views.
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Aros also had an installation called As Seen Below. A giant light/color dome. Sit on the side and immerse yourself in the color. It had an incredibly calming effect.
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Gorgeous day so we continued to walk around Aarhus. Aros’s historical center has two halves the Latin Quarter and Midtbyen (Old Town) divided by the Aarhus River/Canal. We started walking down Frederiksgade. Checked out the canal area.
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Walked around the Lille Torv (Little Square) and Store Torv (Big Square).
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Then walked along Klostergade which seemed to be Aarhus’s hipster street. Cool vibe and could have spent the rest of the afternoon here but I had been promising Charlotte a playground stop since Aros.
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Dokke1 is a library / community center on the waterfront. The sort of public space you visit and instantly wish your city had one of its own. Around the exterior is a quasi-playground. There’s an eagle you can climb on. A mini-volcano climb and slide. The highlight is the giant bear holding a log that’s a slide. This thing was an amazing and would be the highlight of any playground anywhere. It’s a serious understatement to call Dokke1 a library. Its interior design is better than any store I’ve entered. You don’t want to simply check out books from the library but stay here all day and read to the book cover to cover. Dokke1 has great views of the city too.
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One last stop before the hotel - the Salling rooftop. Salling is a Danish department store brand, headquartered in Aarhus - I assume this is their flagship store. There’s a beer garden / public space on the rooftop complete with a sky walk that extends out and over Søndergade. Another great spot to see the city.
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That night we took advantage of the hotel pool. Charlotte is becoming quite the swimmer.
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SILKEBORG, HERNING, ESBJERG, AND RIBE
Our sunny day blitz of Aarhus opened the next morning to exploring areas I had looked at but thought we wouldn’t be able to squeeze in starting with Silkborg. We made a coffee stop here. Silkeborg is part of Jutland’s Lake District and from what I gathered reading online, a good place to own a second home and use the area as a weekend hub to get out and see nature. No boats and didn’t want to carry Charlotte on a hike so this was just a grab a coffee and go stop. Beautiful drive in and out of the town.
Our sunny day blitz of Aarhus opened the next morning to exploring areas I had looked at but thought we wouldn’t be able to squeeze in starting with Silkborg. We made a coffee stop here. Silkeborg is part of Jutland’s Lake District and from what I gathered reading online, a good place to own a second home and use the area as a weekend hub to get out and see nature. No boats and didn’t want to carry Charlotte on a hike so this was just a grab a coffee and go stop. Beautiful drive in and out of the town.
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An equally quick stop in Herning. Ate some croissants from a bakery and we were on our way. I liked the design of Herning’s pedestrian street.
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We drove down/over to Esbjerg for a quick view of the Men by the Sea statue; it looks like four giant, creepy, white guys looking like they are sitting on a toilet. We were jamming in a lot so skipped Esbjerg’s town center and continued down the road to Ribe.
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At one point I considered spending the night in Ribe. I was sort of glad we didn’t, even more so after reaching Kolding where we did spend the night. Ribe is Denmark’s oldest town, a distinction I’m sure is the main reason visitors come to town. The town is centered around a church with a large plaza and a few walking streets shoot out from there. We made it back to our car just as it started to rain. Glad we made it over here - would have been gnawing my mind wondering if we missed a worthwhile location.
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HADERSLEV, CHRISTIANSFELD, AND KOLDING
I “found” Haderslev by moving Google Maps around. The town looked cool. On arrival it was exactly like I expected. A nice small town, a welcome alternative from the large cities and guidebook recommended towns. A good slice of Danish life although quiet on a rainy day. We grabbed lunch. Popped into a toy store and were on our way. The toy store was a miniature version of a Toys R Us. Wish we had still had similar stores in the US. Cool town, worth a stop but no reason to spend a night. Christiansfeld is home to a UNESCO listed Moravian church. Photo stop and on our way to Kolding.
I “found” Haderslev by moving Google Maps around. The town looked cool. On arrival it was exactly like I expected. A nice small town, a welcome alternative from the large cities and guidebook recommended towns. A good slice of Danish life although quiet on a rainy day. We grabbed lunch. Popped into a toy store and were on our way. The toy store was a miniature version of a Toys R Us. Wish we had still had similar stores in the US. Cool town, worth a stop but no reason to spend a night. Christiansfeld is home to a UNESCO listed Moravian church. Photo stop and on our way to Kolding.
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Similar to Haderslev, Kolding was an attempt to see a daily slice of Denmark beyond the major guidebook and Instagram influencer recommendations. A larger city with more substance than Haderslev. The major “substance” was in the form of an aquatic center with a large family pool area. No photos were allowed inside but there was a giant slide, a lazy river/circle, a whirl pool jet area, a splash zone, and a giant rubber duck - I could not convince Charlotte to play on the rubber duck. Enough to keep us busy for about two hours and enjoy the local life. We spent the night in an apartment style hotel on Kolding’s lake. The aquatic center was a five-minute walk away. Koldinghus, a castle complex, was five minutes the other way along the lake. Per Lonely Planet, Kolding is known throughout Denmark for their pizza. Who are Charlotte and I to not eat pizza in a town known for its pizza? The bad weather made it a wet night, and not many people were out, but that didn’t damper, pun intended, our views on Kolding. I liked it. If we ever make another pilgrimage to LEGO/Billund, we will use Kolding as our home base to explore the area.
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JELLING
On our last day in Denmark, we zigged and zagged our way to the Aarhus airport. First stop in Jelling to view the town’s Rune Stone, a major, culturally significant site for Danish. A giant stone for non-Danes. The stone has an inscription made by Harold the Bluetooth and is the first time “Denmark” is mentioned in history - Danes consider the stone to be the country’s “birth certificate”. There’s also a burial mound.
On our last day in Denmark, we zigged and zagged our way to the Aarhus airport. First stop in Jelling to view the town’s Rune Stone, a major, culturally significant site for Danish. A giant stone for non-Danes. The stone has an inscription made by Harold the Bluetooth and is the first time “Denmark” is mentioned in history - Danes consider the stone to be the country’s “birth certificate”. There’s also a burial mound.
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RANDERS
Next stop was Randers, a similar type of town to Kolding – same size, same off the beaten path vibe for tourists but a town I think as a local you wouldn’t mind living in. Randers has some interesting sites - a recreated Graceland because a local resident is a huge Elvis fan and a tropical zoo featuring Amazon animals. We arrived too late in the day for both and limited our Randers experience to walking through the historical center, which was a bit dead, and a mall, which was livelier.
Next stop was Randers, a similar type of town to Kolding – same size, same off the beaten path vibe for tourists but a town I think as a local you wouldn’t mind living in. Randers has some interesting sites - a recreated Graceland because a local resident is a huge Elvis fan and a tropical zoo featuring Amazon animals. We arrived too late in the day for both and limited our Randers experience to walking through the historical center, which was a bit dead, and a mall, which was livelier.
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We squeezed in another Thomas Dambo troll stop on the ride to the airport - Sigurd, the Bird, and the Red Thing. I perused Dambo’s collections online and Sigurd looks to be one of his best - a troll racing down the hill.
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And one more attraction- the Aarhus airport has the best children’s play zone we’ve seen (outside of one in King of Prussia). We could have spent all morning here. I’ve never been so happy to show up too early for a flight.
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