Denmark

Land of genius detectives with terrible personal lives, funny musicians, serious authors, Legos, fairy tales, sweet pastries, and open-faced sandwiches, Denmark has something for everyone. I had some help on this blog from my friend Barb who has been to Denmark twice.

You might remember Barb from my Croatia blog. Kaitlin and Andrea call her my badass biker chick friend. She had just returned from Denmark and showed me her travel photos including the little mermaid in Copenhagen harbor when we were taking masters classes together at UC San Diego, so I emailed her in her Sicilian retreat for more information.

Barb says Copenhagen is beautiful, crazy expensive, with incredible black licorice (more information here: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zir6VqY0Lw0). She and the friend she was visiting found awesome cake at a centuries old tea house (more information on Danish recipes below).

Barb also referred me to the psychological thrillers - The Alphabet House and the Department Q series, all books by Jussi Adler-Olsen. The Alphabet House is creepy and set in World War II. The Department Q series is about a ragtag team of detectives solving cold cases. Your library has these books and the Harry Hole books by Jo Nesbø. They confirmed for me that Hamlet is not the only conflicted Danish man trying to solve a mystery. (Search Hoopla or YouTube for Hamlet and take your pick of the many videos and readings to review that Danish story.)

To lighten things up after those dark stories, check out:

· Danish born musician Victor Borge: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RtDX1Vl-Jxk

· Babette's Feast, a movie based on a story by Danish author Isak Dinesen/Karen Blixen (I picked up the DVD from the library)

· A Royal Affair (I watched it on DVD from the library. It is also available on Overdrive)

· The Danish Girl (on Netflix at the time of this writing)

· Borgen, a Danish TV series (also on Netflix with subtitles)

· Smilla's Sense of Snow by Peter Hoeg (the book; I haven't seen the movie). This is one of my favorites because it has humor, cultural diversity, science, and time spent in Greenland, Denmark's territory (as we learned when President Trump tried to buy it a few years ago)

Denmark is also a great place for kids. In fact, if we count huge Lego constructions on our living room floor as a visit to Denmark, I have been living in Denmark since our first child became old enough to give Allan an excuse to buy Legos. Even now that our girls live on their own, our last big date before the pandemic was a trip to “The Art of the Brick” at the California Science Center. This inspired a whole new Lego vision at home. Check out this brief video if you want to be inspired yourself: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ojARBmg-j5w

Another excellent way to share Denmark with kids is to read them Hans Christian Anderson stories. There isn’t just one book by Hans Christian Anderson on Project Gutenberg, there are many! The most popular of course are the fairy tales, but here’s the full list: http://www.gutenberg.org/ebooks/author/2298. If you want to go straight to the fairy tales, click here: http://www.gutenberg.org/files/1597/1597-h/1597-h.htm

Older children will enjoy Number the Stars by Lois Lowry which tells one story illustrating how the Danish resistance evacuated most of Denmark’s Jews to Sweden when threatened by Hitler’s order to arrest and deport them during the Holocaust. Denmark continued to advocate for those who were captured, leading to a 99% survival rate, a testament to Denmark's ethics.

To be a kid again, watch this brief video showing a place to visit trolls in Denmark https://www.visitdenmark.com/denmark/explore/six-forgotten-giants-gdk1091362

Food from Denmark is still available in California even during the pandemic. I know this because the air conditioning in my car went out on the way to northern California this summer during some essential travel. I had to reroute up the 101 to avoid the heat. I passed through Solvang around lunch time and was pleasantly surprised to find that restaurant tables had been spread into closed streets to allow social distancing. Just to be safe, I grabbed a takeout sandwich at one place and an apple strudel at another and got back on the road. It was nice to have that brief taste of Denmark. Besides Solvang:

· Those of us who often drive between northern and southern California know we can stop at Pea Soup Anderson’s on Interstate 5 at Santa Nella for both a Danish restaurant and bakery.

· Nordic House at 2709 San Pablo Ave in Berkeley is a grocery store/deli which represents all Nordic countries well, with the father of the current owner being Danish. The sandwich I had was good. It was my first time having remoulade.

· Gladys and I took a trip to San Diego a year ago to meet up with Vonnett at Taste of Denmark at 142 University Ave. We ate Denmark’s famous open rye sandwiches (I love that dense rye bread!), a puff pastry tartlet with organic chicken, aebleskiver (pancake balls with powdered sugar and jam), and risalamande (rice porridge with almonds and cherry sauce). It was probably the least Americanized Danish food I’ve had, really delicious and I especially appreciate the owner/hostess for explaining not only the food, but also Danish customs.

If you aren’t ready to risk going out for Danish food yet, you can try making it yourself. Here are some recipes to get you started: https://www.allrecipes.com/recipes/1892/world-cuisine/european/scandinavian/danish/.

If you are thinking of traveling to Denmark and want to check out some of the options, Rick Steves has put out a video on Copenhagen https://www.ricksteves.com/watch-read-listen/video/tv-show/copenhagen and another one on Denmark Beyond Copenhagen https://www.smithsonianmag.com/videos/category/arts-culture/denmark-beyond-copenhagen-rick-steves-europe/ Also TheCrazyTourist has seven galleries on Denmark expanding even more on what we have seen. Here is the main gallery: https://www.thecrazytourist.com/15-best-places-visit-denmark/

When planning travel to Denmark, I recommend using your local travel advisor. Shout out to my favorite travel advisor, Kaitlin Darnell at Laura's Travel in Redlands. May the travel industry survive and thrive - may we all survive, thrive, recognize our mutual humanity, learn to deal with our conflicts, and allow peace and health to flourish in Denmark and throughout the world.

Photo Credit: https://www.dailyscandinavian.com/trolls-danish-artist-thomas-dambo/