A Summer Holiday Special: Once upon a time in Denmark

Ferdy's year has been dominated by a quite few topics but those that stand out are Star Wars, Lego, stories (particularly about Vikings), fairy tales and Greek and Norse Mythology. Flexischooling doesn't necessarily stop over the holidays, so what better place to take the boys for lego immersive, viking influenced, enchantment seeped extravaganza, than Denmark.

We went to Finland together last year - Billy can't take any time off until the end of the summer so it's an adventure just for us three - on a Moomins pilgramage, and it had been quite a lot of fun so the plan was to do a similar thing ie using public transport, staying in a few places and trying to be as intrepid as is possible with a four and six year old (hence Scandinavia not Sudan).

Our first stop was LegoLand, in Billund (which calls itself Capital of Children).

Fundamentally, LegoLand is a theme park. Although quite enjoyable, a couple of hours was enough for someone who doesn't like heights (me), someone who is only just 100cm tall (Gil) so can't go on a lot of rides, and someone who doesn't love crowds or fast rides.

I think we may have enjoyed the dot to dot in the hotel room and chocolate spread breakfast and delicious supper with beer and chips more.

The next day we set off for Odense (named after the Danish God Odin, one of the most powerful Gods in Norse mythology, and has been one of the coveted Gods in our house this year, along with Yoda and Zeus).


This involved a bus to Vejle and then a train to Odense.

Our Hans Christian Andersen (HCA) pilgrimage began with meeting the Great Dane himself.

Ferdy loved spotting the sculptures all around the city of characters from all his stories, and as well as visiting the museum, we also found his birthplace and an utterly serendipitous place called the Tinderbox. The Tinderbox, housed within the Møndergarden, is a rabbit warren of storytelling and playing and immersion in fairy tales and feasts and magic.

Top: The Bat King selects his food. Bottom l-r: a puppet show performed by Ferdy; playing a treasure hunt game;
setting the table for the feast; the Minotaur in his den; contemplating the next story.

We could have moved in there.

The next day, in search of more adventures, we went to the Funen Village, a 19th century farming village which would have existed in the time of Hans Christian Andersen. Our journey consisted of a walk down to the river, a boat along the Odense River, spotting mermaids (if mermaids live anywhere inland, it must be in the place where HCA wrote the story) and red pandas (past a zoo) along the way and then a walk through the woods. And a not insignificant amount of moaning and 'carry me's.

When we finally got there, we were just in time for a show about a man who kept trying to perform The Little Match Girl but was constantly being disturbed by other characters in the HCA tales. I think. It was all in Danish; we didn't understand a word and I don't think I have ever seen Gil laugh so much.

I could write a whole blog about each of the places that we went to in Denmark (I won't because I want to get on with my summer), but needless to say, we had a brill time discovering the village, riding on the horse and trap, weaving in and out of the gardens, reading fairy tales and doing jigsaws in the schoolroom ('please don't make me do any writing Mummy'), eating lunch in the candlelit cafe, finding a hidden tree playground in the woods.

It was back to Billund the next day, and this time to take in Lego House.

Sorry, I mean the brilliantly innovative, epicly awesome (can one even say that?), stimulatingly vibrant, architectural and interior design masterpiece that is LegoHouse.

What. A. Place.

This place is as much for parents as for kids (is it even for kids...?), which is rare in our experience. It is divided into different zones with abundant lego related activities, lego bricks galore and nothing you can't touch. We were even allowed to eat ice creams whilst making Lego ships.

tl clockwise: dinosaur sculptures made of guess what; the Lego tree reaching from the bottom to the top of the house;
making minifigures; looking at all the Star Wars minifures; making a ship; running in the rain; our pufferfish;
reading about a Lego Zeus; reading a lot more books (if possible every book there please Mummy).

I was far too busy to take many photos, but we made lego insects disco dance and race, we created a lego pufferfish which featured in a seascape film, we invented mini figures to go on the front of magazines and we even found an exhibition of every Star Wars mini figure that has even been made (over 1500 in total although I had to draw the line at us standing there naming each one and the film in which they feature). In true Ferdy fashion he spent a lot of time in the lego book corner and managed to bring all his interests together by sniffing out Lego Greek Mythology books and Lego Fairy Tale books - please imagine how unglamourous Cinderella's slipper was.

I could go on as I haven't even mentioned our evening meals (they are very important especially when they involve Danish beer for Mum) and the lovely people we met, and the words we learnt, and the books we read, and the slow motion fights in windmills and then fast motion fights in windmills (Ferdy & Gil) and the yoga in hotel lobby doorways (Ferdy) and the bedtime map game, and the laughing and crying (me..), but I won't because this post is too long already and it's time to end the story.