One of the most fascinating things inside the church (apart from the majestic organ) is the altarpiece. It is almost 4m high carved out of oak and depicts the traditional themes of the crucifixion, the passion and the crowning of Mary. I have pasted a picture below because I know there are some of you who will find this appealing. Our tour guide took us through each of the sculptures but I can’t remember what each of them represents off the top of my head. Luckily Wikipedia can fill in the blanks:
The central section shows the crucified Jesus on the tree of life surrounded by apostles, Biblical and historical figures, with Francis of Assisi at his feet. Above, Mary is crowned queen of heaven surrounded by sparkling angels. Below, Saint Anne is shown with the infant Jesus and his mother Mary. The side wings present the Passion, from the Last Supper to the Ascension with the apostles at Pentecost at the bottom right. The base shows members of the royal family including King Christian II, King Hans and his wife Queen Christine, now dressed as a widow.
Following this we got back in the bus (another 2 hours) to reach the town of Aarhus (pronounced ar-hoos). I have a funny little story at this point. For those of you who are familiar with my little obsessive-oddities I think you will find this amusing. We arrived at the hotel and rooms were distributed. I was in a room with one other girl... until... an American girl approached me and asked if I could swap.
Kri: ‘No problem’.
American girl: ‘Oh by the way, it’s in a room of four’.
Kri: ‘Are you f**king serious? No-f**king-way!’ (is what I should have said)
Kri: ‘oh... ok.’ (actual response)
So I met with the other three girls and we embarked on our room. This is what we were met with:
At this point... I’m done. Those beds are so close you could practically spoon each other. And bunk beds?! But worst of all, the bathroom is approximately 1 square metre. So just to re-cap: 4 girls, or rather 4 strangers, have to shower, blow-dry their hair, do their make-up and use the toilet in 1 square metre. While you’re still contemplating this I’ve already hauled my stuff down to reception to check availability for a single room. Result! Only 450 kr ($70 AUD) and I now have my own room which faces the canal. The other students are quite surprised by my actions but I know that the rest of you who are reading this are not.
Next bit. Back in the bus, we are now visiting Den Gamle By (The Old Town) which is an open-air town museum with heaps of historical buildings collected from different townships in all parts of the country. In 1914 the museum opened as the world's first open-air museum of its kind. The museum buildings are organized into a small town of half-timbered structures originally erected between 1550 and the late 19th century in various parts of the country and later moved to Aarhus during the 20th century. The town itself is the main attraction but most buildings are open for visitors; rooms are decorated in the original historical style. There are a few grocery stores, diners and workshops spread throughout the town and museum staff work in the roles of town figures i.e. merchant, blacksmith etc. adding to the illusion of a "living" town. It was cool. Here’s a montage:
In the evenin’ I joined up with a few girls from the tour, (a few of which were in my original room of 4, turns out they were good value, so another missed opportunity...) we hit a local French/Danish restaurant that featured a 3-course meal for 165kr ($35 AUD). We had this blue cheese kind of thing, melted on rye bread in a salad, then a rib eye in this outrageous sauce and for dessert rhubarb with fresh cream. In short it was three of the best dishes so far. Trumps that sausage. What sausage? ...Exactly. Photo break:
We then moseyed on down to the canals where we met the rest of the students who were sitting drinking beer (this is not illegal in Europe). We sat for a while and watched the night unfold around the canals before retiring. It was here that I made the decision that I would definitely be leaving the tour at this point (missing out on Lego land) in order to travel with Kasper (fellow kitchen-mate) to Samsø Island the following day. I could not handle another 2 hour bus trip, an amusement park and another 4 hour bus ride. I discovered today that I hate tours. When I think back over all of the tours I have ever had they were terrible. I hate being told what to look at and when. I have a much better time getting lost in a place and finding my way out.
The following day...
I awoke, I had some breakfast, I did some yoga (in my teeny tiny room) and then I set off to spend the day exploring Aarhus. I was meeting Kasper in the afternoon to take the færge (Ferry) to Samsøe so I had the day to myself. I really enjoyed this town. There was heaps to see and do as it is very old and the buildings are magnificent. There were markets on so I pottered around the markets, did a bit of shopping (found a G-Star store, they had 2x for 1000kr or $160 – so Matt and I got a pair of jeans. Bargain.) And then met with Kasper and his Dad, who drove us to the færge.
American girl: ‘Oh by the way, it’s in a room of four’.
Kri: ‘Are you f**king serious? No-f**king-way!’ (is what I should have said)
Kri: ‘oh... ok.’ (actual response)
So I met with the other three girls and we embarked on our room. This is what we were met with:
At this point... I’m done. Those beds are so close you could practically spoon each other. And bunk beds?! But worst of all, the bathroom is approximately 1 square metre. So just to re-cap: 4 girls, or rather 4 strangers, have to shower, blow-dry their hair, do their make-up and use the toilet in 1 square metre. While you’re still contemplating this I’ve already hauled my stuff down to reception to check availability for a single room. Result! Only 450 kr ($70 AUD) and I now have my own room which faces the canal. The other students are quite surprised by my actions but I know that the rest of you who are reading this are not.
Next bit. Back in the bus, we are now visiting Den Gamle By (The Old Town) which is an open-air town museum with heaps of historical buildings collected from different townships in all parts of the country. In 1914 the museum opened as the world's first open-air museum of its kind. The museum buildings are organized into a small town of half-timbered structures originally erected between 1550 and the late 19th century in various parts of the country and later moved to Aarhus during the 20th century. The town itself is the main attraction but most buildings are open for visitors; rooms are decorated in the original historical style. There are a few grocery stores, diners and workshops spread throughout the town and museum staff work in the roles of town figures i.e. merchant, blacksmith etc. adding to the illusion of a "living" town. It was cool. Here’s a montage:
In the evenin’ I joined up with a few girls from the tour, (a few of which were in my original room of 4, turns out they were good value, so another missed opportunity...) we hit a local French/Danish restaurant that featured a 3-course meal for 165kr ($35 AUD). We had this blue cheese kind of thing, melted on rye bread in a salad, then a rib eye in this outrageous sauce and for dessert rhubarb with fresh cream. In short it was three of the best dishes so far. Trumps that sausage. What sausage? ...Exactly. Photo break:
We then moseyed on down to the canals where we met the rest of the students who were sitting drinking beer (this is not illegal in Europe). We sat for a while and watched the night unfold around the canals before retiring. It was here that I made the decision that I would definitely be leaving the tour at this point (missing out on Lego land) in order to travel with Kasper (fellow kitchen-mate) to Samsø Island the following day. I could not handle another 2 hour bus trip, an amusement park and another 4 hour bus ride. I discovered today that I hate tours. When I think back over all of the tours I have ever had they were terrible. I hate being told what to look at and when. I have a much better time getting lost in a place and finding my way out.
The following day...
I awoke, I had some breakfast, I did some yoga (in my teeny tiny room) and then I set off to spend the day exploring Aarhus. I was meeting Kasper in the afternoon to take the færge (Ferry) to Samsøe so I had the day to myself. I really enjoyed this town. There was heaps to see and do as it is very old and the buildings are magnificent. There were markets on so I pottered around the markets, did a bit of shopping (found a G-Star store, they had 2x for 1000kr or $160 – so Matt and I got a pair of jeans. Bargain.) And then met with Kasper and his Dad, who drove us to the færge.
It is here that I am going to halt this post as what I am about to tell you deserves its own post. Everything else so far has seemed mediocre compared to what happened next. Samsø is how I have always pictured Europe in my head. Rolling hills, houses with thatched roofs, bicycles, farms and deer. It was all of that and more. I even saw deer. So stay tuned.
Love Kri xoxo
Love Kri xoxo
No comments:
Post a Comment