Rames' in Ireland: August 2012

We've been back for over a week, but life took over the blogging life and I'm getting back to posting some pics and giving you the story.

Day 3 - Head toward Legoland

We left Copenhagen in the morning. The plan was to head to Odense. This is a pretty big city and most know for being the home of Hans Christian Andersen, he of the children's fairytale fame. You would think that a visit to a museum about a fairy tale author might be kind of dry, but it was actually very interesting (at least to me). It basically took you through his life and the times in Denmark during his life. Lots of great pictures and objects to make it all come together. It would be easy to spend a few hours going through it, but we probably hung out for a couple and made our way to Billund, the home of Legoland.

We rented a self-catered B&B, which means no food just outside of Billund. It was an old farmhouse and the owners were very pleasant. It had room for 8, so Lynn and Lucca joined us. Out in the country. It felt a lot like eastern Iowa. Lots of wheat and farm animals.

Day 4 - Legoland
I could write for a long time about Legoland. We spent the entire day. We found out that we arrived in Denmark after the season was over. Apparently summer ends around August 10th. So the long lines to get in didn't actually result in long lines inside the park. A few thoughts on the day:

Great park for introducing young kids to roller coasters. Lots of coasters for kids. The target market for Lego is about 4-13, so very accessible to people with young kids.
Cool miniature land. They had a airport complete with airplanes moving around the airport and people inside the airport moving along moving sidewalks. Fishing village with working locks. Offshore oil platforms. Cities. Windmills.
The prices at the Lego store were OUTRAGEOUS. The kids were waiting for the trip to the Lego store to buy a souvenir, but when they got to the store, the prices were about twice what they could get them for in Ireland or on-line. We ended up leaving with a couple of small things and quite a bit of disappointment. An important life lesson for kids on a budget.

Neuschwanstein

Buffalo

Lego Driving School

Mt. Rushmore

Day 5 - Safari

We found out that there was a zoo park in the vicinity and went on a safari. It was one of those zoos that you would drive through many of the exhibits. You would drive to a parking lot, get out and see the exhibits, then drive through a gate and go along with the animals outside the car. Imagine driving through Custer National Park in South Dakota and having the Buffalo along side. Same thing, but see the pictures below. Lots more security when going into the lion enclosure in the car than the zebras.

Day 6 - Off to Oster Hurup

We headed north to Øster Hurup which was our destination for the rest of our trip. We split with Lynn and Lucca who headed off for their own adventures on the other side of Denmark. On the way, we stopped in a town called Arhus. We went to the Occupation Museum (exhibits on WWII during the German occupation). It was then onto our destination to just relax for a few days. Right....

J.J. needed to practice in Arhus

I wonder what they sell here?

Grace in her movie star glasses.

Boys playing in the North Sea

Girls playing in the North Sea

Resort had a very large indoor pool

Our digs viewed from the beach

We saw an ad for pony rides up the road, so we headed over to do that. We called and the guy met us at his barn. Gave us 3 ponies and had us take them. We walked around for about 30 minutes and brought them back. Seemed strange taking a man's horses and leaving without even putting down the deposit.

Everywhere we went, we seemed to find pigs outside in little pens. J.J. was happy!!!

Day 7 - REAL horses

Fresh off our pony rides, we found out there were some real horses up the road at another resort, so the next day we went up there to ride horses in the ocean. Swam in the resorts pool as our appointment was not scheduled and we had to wait a bit.

Rod on Alsin

Martha on Stella

J.J. on Hanibal

Grace on Bandito

Joe on Raymond

Isabella - 2 flavors of ice cream, 1 softserve, and covered with marshmallow fluff, and dipped in sprinkles. I think we spent EUR100 during the week just on ice cream!!

Resort goats. Hungry enough to eat the roof!!

Day 8 - To Aalborg
We had our eyes on a couple of museums in Aalborg, which was about an hour north of where we were staying. The weather was a bit iffy, so we headed up to do some indoor stuff. There were two museum we thought the boys would like and a couple of others the others girls were going to go to. Turns out the girls decided to have fun with the boys with boats and guns. The Aalborg Maritime Museum and the Garrison Museum.

The maritime museum had a lot of historical stuff in the museum and then a lot of hands on stuff outside.

Engine room of the sub

Rod on the patrol boat

The Garrison Museum was full of stuff. The weather turned warm and the kids had a blast going around touching and reading about all things military.

Are you my Mummy?? (For those of you not laughing, this is a Dr. Who reference.)

Can I handle the WWII machine gun? Sure!!

Like mobile phone store. Cable the gun to the table and touch all you want.

Can I get in the tank? Sure. Can I drive it?? Well, no.

Armored Personnel Carrier

J.J. as a tanker?

We learned a little bit about Irish history here? What were the Dane's doing in Cork and Limerick? Turns out that the new King William who dethroned James was a bit unpopular in Ireland. He needed a little muscle to help him quell the unrest and through some relationships with King Christian of Denmark, found 6000 Danish soldiers. Turns out they had to come back the next year!!

Danish Military campaigns.

Am I in heaven? Is this a dream? No, Rod, this is Denmark.

Rames, J.J. Rames with his Luger.

Grace with a L.A.W. (Light Anti-armor Weapon)

One sweaty boy.

We met a gentleman in the Garrison museum and were talking about our plans and he brought Martha over to a WWII map and gave his recommendations on where we should go. It was the beach between Blokus and Lokken. Think Daytona Beach. I'm not sure how far you can go on Daytona, but the drive from Blokus to Lokken was 15km.

Dual carriage way on the beach

Grace: What are you doing, J.J.? J.J.: Dad told me if I stood in one spot that I would sink up to my knees.

Note the license plates from South Dakota, Illinois, & Michigan. All places Joe has lived. This kids ride was in Lokken.

A Scandinavian fashion statement. We saw a few people in these and I found one that would fit. They seriously wear these outside and IN PUBLIC!?!?!?

Day 9 - Back to Copenhagen to prepare for our trip home

We left Oster Hurup in the morning. We were heading back to Copenhagen where we had an early flight out the next day. We decided to take the ferry from the Jutland back to Zeeland (the island that Copenhagen is on). It was about a 5 hour drive to take the highway. It probably wasn't any shorter, but it made for a more relaxing day. We drove to Ebeltoft where the ferry departed from. Found another shipping museum and played there for an hour until we could board the ferry.