Fairy Tale Journey – Odense

Our Fairy Tale Road took us out of the country of the Brothers Grimm, and into Denmark, the country of Hans Christian Andersen.  We decided to go to Copenhagen via Odense, partly to see the city where Hans Christian Andersen was born, and partly because you can get to Copenhagen this way via bridge (we were still unsure about how the ferry crossing worked on the other route).  The weather was gorgeous and we made it to Odense with no problems.We had an address for the Hans Christian Andersen museum, but the GPS just took us to a point on a street and we couldn’t see anything that looked like an entrance or anywhere to park.  We drove around and followed the signs to “H.C. Andersens Hus” and found a large parking lot close to the area.  Our biggest concern at this point was how to pay for it!  Denmark doesn’t use Euro, so we had to find somewhere to get Danish Kroner.  Finally Rebecca and I just waited in the car while Roy went into the large building to ask.  He ran (literally) to the bank and got back shortly with enough kroner to get us legally parked and get us started.

As I said, the weather was absolutely beautiful.  We had a lovely little walk down a cobblestone street to the H. C. Andersen Hus.  (Apparently, H.C. Andersen is how the writer is referred to in Demark; the name Hans Christian Andersen is how he is referred to in English and German.)  The little yellow house here is traditionally considered to be the house H.C. Andersen was born in, although it’s not known for sure, as his parents did not have a fixed place of residence at the time.  However, several members of the family (of both sides) were known to have lived in this house, up to five families at one time!  The house is now part of a museum which holds a collection of the author’s effects and manuscripts.  It’s a really nice museum and probably deserves more time than the couple of hours we were able to spend there.  From inside the museum, you can actually go inside the little house; the furnishings in the house are mostly recreations, as apparently most of the original furnishings belonged to H.C. Andersen’s grandmother and were taken away when she had to go to the poorhouse.  The museum is well structured and follows the times and life of the author.  Don’t expect to see the whole Danny Kaye dancing and singing and the village schoolhouse thing like in the  movie though (that’s another one they just made up).

With our parking time about to expire, we headed back to the car and out of Odense.  We did take a small detour on the way to see the house H.C. Andersen lived in as a child.  Finally, following in the famous writer’s steps (so to speak), we’re on our way to Copenhagen!

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Tags: Odense