Denmark

I came to Denmark expecting to find of people who once worshiped Oden as their god. Instead, the Danes seem to worship this man.

Hans Christian Anderson

In fact, despite being named after Oden, the town of Odense is really known as the the brithplace of Hans Christian Anderson. Hans's bust and portrait seems to be found all over the country. I was naïve enough to believe that Niels Bohr must be the most famous Dane of all time. Unfortunately, I've struggled to find a single Bohr portrait among the sea of Andersons. While Copenhagen lends its name to a major interpretation of quantum mechanics, it seems the town has not bothered to build a monument or museum to honor the feat. Children's stories apparently are a little more inspiring for sculptors and tourists.

The Little Mermaid (A H.C. Anderson story of course)

In my infinite wisdom, I failed to note that Copenhagen lies to the North of Oxford. Those who are a tad sharper than I was will immediately realize that this means Copenhagen is even colder and darker than Oxford. Luckily, Copenhagen is full of gorgeous warm churches. This church was especially pretty, but due to its poor hours, it will not be remembered for its beauty.

The-Church-Which-Was-Not-Open-When-Todd-Was-Cold

After modern theories of electronic structure, the next most Danish thing most people think of are Danishes. In this respect I was not let down. The bakeries were most excellent, and were only mildly overpriced (a major improvement over the horrendously overpriced normal food).

You Should Be Jealous

Once I had warmed up in the churches and filled up on Danishes, I was able to see some of the most important Copenhagen sights: silly little painted houses. Actually the houses are very cute, and introduce a little bit of color to the otherwise dark winter city (the sun has been setting around 3:30 pm).

Silly Little Painted Houses

After tromping around town seeing all of the stupid things Clara wanted to see, I finally directed us towards one of the real jewels of Copenhagen, Ørsted Parken. Ørsted, you'll recall, recognized that changing electric currents caused his compass needle to move. He brilliantly recognized this as an indication that electricity and magnetism are fundamentally linked. The hoodlums of Copenhagen have slightly less respect for the greatness of this discovery, but I tried my best to cover the graffiti as I paid homage.

Todd and Ørsted

Despite the cold and dark, there was one big advantage to visiting Denmark in the winter - Christmas. The Danes love Christmas festivities. Every little street in Odense and Copenhagen was decorated cheerily, in a way that seemed much more cozy and sincere than the American mega-decorations.

Danes Love Christmas

After getting bored with Copenhagen, it was time to venture outside the city a little to the Frederiksborg Castle. The 17th Century royal castle demonstrated that the old kings were really quite smart. While everyone else was worried about stupid things like getting their next meal, the kings were thinking ahead, building mansions to rake in the 21st Century tourism money.

Not the Castle. This is just a small building near the castle.