faraway fara

For Veterans Day weekend we went to Denmark! We landed in Billund and picked up our rental a car to head to Horsens. There, we visited a retired prison that was hosting a Christmas market.

I made a video of our trip and also wrote a post below.

Following Geese around a Christmas Market in a Retired Prison

The Christmas market was in a retired prison which was so much fun. I went in thinking they closed the prison because Denmark focuses on a different style of justice. I looked it up and they closed this prison because it no longer met standards to house incarcerated individuals. However, Denmark does have a justice system that focuses on rehabilitation compared to the U.S. system that focuses more on punishment. Charlie Birnberg wrote a good article about some of the differences you can read here if you are interested.

“Denmark has approximately 73 prisoners for every 100,000 residents, while the United States has about ten times that amount at 730 prisoners per 100,000 residents. This makes for a U.S. inmate population of 2.3 million and is combined with a staggering recidivism rate of 76.6% compared to that of Denmark. This means that more than three-fourths of released inmates in the U.S. are re-arrested within 5 years.”

Midwestern Citizen, Charlie Birnberg

The Market

The market had a few food stalls and lots of stalls with goods. We got an ornament for our tree, some slippers made of leather and wool, a neat coaster with a bird on it from Something Danish, a poster to gift to a family member from Anne Birgitte Andersen, and a hand made wool hat for 25dk which is about 3 euros! I also got a cute succulent. The lady selling the succulent was entertained by me muttering to myself while I decided if I should buy one and if so, which one. Luca had to help clarify I was just talking to myself. Talking to yourself seems to be a bit novel to the Danish people. I like to think they found me entertaining.

Back to the

Ribe, Oldest Town

We stayed at an old hotel, Weis Stue, in Ribe, the oldest town in Scandinavia. The hotel had steep stairs, little rooms, and low doors. It was very cool.

We had dinner downstairs the first night and when we went to the room we could hear the staff singing in the kitchen.

We had a shared bathroom in the hall and you could hear your neighbors. Everyone was quiet and easy. I only found out that you could hear your neighbors because in the morning everyone got up to pee around the same time likely because one person got up and then everyone else heard it in their sleep and then also needed to pee.

It was a unique stay in a really interesting building made of brick and timber. We came across an artist, Rune Rotevatn, on the street packing up some of his art and one of the prints was an ink sketch of our hotel. So we bought it.

Brick and timber buildings are an old building style of the area. They even have some that are so old they are kind of slouching. It was really interesting to walk around town and look at the buildings.

Oyster Safari

On Saturday morning we got up early to hunt for oysters!

We met at the Wadden Sea National Park (Vadehavscentret) and started our day with an oyster presentation from our guide and the director of the center. They fitted us with waders to keep us dry. From there we got in our own car and drove in a caravan to a dike where we parked. Then we walked out onto the tidal flats for about 4km (2.5 miles-ish). There we found a mussel bank covered in oysters.

Our tour had about 30 people in it and most brought a bucket or a backpack to take oysters home. But we just shucked them out on the bank and ate them with lemon and hot sauce. I was even mistaken for a professional, not for my shucking skills but because I was carefully inspecting the oysters innards.

We hiked back to the cars after about an hour on the bank. Once back we handed our waders back to the guide and went to lunch.

Wadden Sea National Park, Tidal Flats

After lunch we went back to the nature center which is also an interactive museum. We spent a few hours walking around with an audio tour learning about tidal flats, flooding, and the creatures of the area. There is an audio tour included in the ticket which was helpful and educational.

Legoland

We didn’t go to Legoland, but we did fly in and out of the town that it is in! On our way to the airport we stopped for breakfast and walked by LegoHouse. We climbed some stairs and played on all these structures they have on the roof. It was a fun Lego adventure before our flight home.