I just stopped in Odense to break the trip to Copenhagen, as it was about half way between the German border and my destination for tomorrow. But this town is a complete surprise. It's claim to fame is the birthplace in 1805 of Hans Christian Andersen - a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems. He is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. The place is full of sculptures representing his characters (I think!) and there is a museum at his childhood home. Odense is the 3rd largest city in Denmark. Kind Canute IV, considered to be the last viking king, is buried here in the St Canute's Cathedral's crypt. (That's him below!). The town has a kind of doll's house feel to it with lots of tiny houses.
An interesting fact is that Odenses' traffic lights have rain sensors for the cyclists, so that when it is raining they have a faster trip to work by not having to stop at traffic lights. Another interesting find was the submerged sculpture of H.C Andersen. The story goes that the artist was not paid for his work by the local council, so he took the $250,000 sculpture and dumped it in the harbour. Not a great ending for the author of "The Little Mermaid". I would recommend a trip to this town if you have time while in Denmark. BTW they have their own currency and hate being called Dutch!!
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