Aarhus, Denmark

Hi,
we are in the land of windmills, smoked salmon and Danish. So far I think it's a great place to visit. Our flight was realitively easy. Newark to Amsterdam, Amsterdam, Billund Denmark. The taxi that was supposed to meet us in Billund didn't show up but a few phone calls later we had a car & driver getting us to Aarhus (about an hour's drive from the airport).

Aarhus is very quaint. Cobbled streets, low rise buildings, street sculpture and gelatto shops on every corner. They can afford to eat gelatto every block because everyone walks & cycles here to get anywhere,.Once we got settled we spent the afternoon wandering. It's a very small town and in just a few hours we were able to walk a good part of downtown. We ate at an outdoor cafe and had the best smoked salmon sandwich in the world. Fresh dark pumpernickle bread with a pile of dark greens & avocado topped with the yummiest salmon on top of it all. I'd stay just for the lox ("laks" in Danish... leave it to me to make my first word in Danish food of some sort).

Tomorrow I plan to roam the art gallery next door to our hotel, the 'old village' where they have moved a bunch of 14th & 15th century homes & buildings into an area to celebrate Danish history. I also hope to go to the royal grounds and check out the Queens gardens. She's out of town right now so the grounds are open to the public.... my royal invitation must have got lost in the mail. This place is really pretty. We ended up talking to this family in the park for over an hour this afternoon. He was Australian, she's from Aarhus, they have 2 little boys 2 &4 years old and his mom was visiting from Brisbane. We had a fun time talking to them about living here: taxes, the cost of living, politics, the great outdoor spaces, local gossip.... it's so interesting talking to locals and ex-pats about a place. It gives you insight and a true perspective. All useful info. The dad turned out to be an engineer so he & Marshall had a great time... his wife shouted "nerd allert" when they realized they were both engineers. It was a terrific chance meeting.

Everyone speaks excellent English, I feel stupid not being able to speak any Danish but no one seems to care. I will have to get brave and test out my bad pronunciation of things on menues or maps. The worst they could do is laugh. Danish is not easy to follow and of course they all speak it at warp speed. Signage is all in Danish but I'm able to follow the map with no problems. Shops and restaurants are all easy to get help in English, menues are mostly in Danish but have photos of the food.... I'm not going to starve at all.

Time to crash, tomorrow more from across the pond
xox
m