Denmark, land of Hansens

Jefferson cut my hair. Is it straight? Absolutely not. To quote Jefferson, it is asymmetrical and edgy. Did he do that on purpose? Absolutely not. I still like it, though.

      

I also took my first trip - woo! I met up with Jefferson in Billund, Denmark and we did a road trip over the weekend to Copenhagen, Odense and then back to Billund. Ever wondered what an open closed pizza was? ME TOO. And now I know. It's a calzone with a cut open down the middle. It did not taste good. Actually, besides breakfast, the food in Denmark isn't so great. We met up with our friend Britta and she showed us around Copenhagen where she lives (in the coolest apartment ever) and she did introduce us to creamy balls - a popular Danish dessert. They are usually chocolate covered (dark chocolate, white or milk), filled with marshmallow and the base is marzipan. They were fun to eat but I bit in wrong and got it all over my face. Jefferson got it on his face in solidarity.

    

The wrong way to eat a cream ball.

Solidarity, sister.

   

    

Much to our surprise, we also found the best Mexican food that we've eaten outside of the Americas. It was a family owned restaurant in Vejle that had great service, tasty beans and the only place we went to that gave us tap water for free. Thumbs up. Plus we tried an assortment of Danish beers and although most were too hoppy for my liking, it's always fun to try the local stuff.

Danish beers

 The best part of Denmark was going to Legoland together. I went three times during this trip - once by myself (fun but kinda boring), once with Jefferson (SO fun) and once with our friend Aya (also really fun and got to see way more of the park with her). It's a much bigger park than I expected and a lot more fun for an adult than I would have thought.

At Legoland replica of Nyhavn...

At the real Nyhavn!

 

Best mirror maze EVER.

 












Lego totally suckered me into buying stuff I really don't need. They have these little mystery bags that you can buy - each one has one dressed up Lego figurine in it but you don't know who you'll get until you open the package. The Disney figures just came out and they had a picture of Maleficent so I had to try to get her. I'm not a huge Disney fan, but Maleficent has been a favorite of mine since I was a kid. Jefferson and I got three packs (cheaper to buy in bulk) and didn't get her, but found out from the cashier lady that there are stands of figures at every cash register and each employee has a figure on their nametag - and you are allowed to swap out any figure you have for one you see and they HAVE to give it to you. MUA HA HA. So we did that but still didn't find Maleficent until...I was waiting for Aya at one of the shops and decided to feel out all 40 Disney packages at one of the counters until I felt was probably her - and I was right. Phew - no more need to spend money on silly Legos I don't need. But man they are cute.
    
In Odense we went to Hans Christian Anderson's childhood home and museum and found out a lot more about that guy than I knew before. He led a pretty lonely life but then found fame and friends later in life - so he had a happy ending. I never realized how many classic fairy tales he wrote beyond the Little Mermaid (The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina, The Princess and the Pea, etc.).

At Hamlet's castle!

      
For some reason I lost a lot of things in Denmark but got them all back. My first day at Legoland I lost my hat - but got it back from their lost-and-found on my second visit. I left my credit card in their machine when paying for those dang figures, but the lady ran after me and returned it. And then I left my phone at the airline counter but luckily the Billund airport is teeny tiny and the security guard knew it was mine since I was the only person in line. Sometimes I wonder how I function by myself...SQUIRREL.

There was a bug. I swear.

Posing with cute hairy cows!