søndag, november 25, 2007

More places I might take you if you visit me: Odense

A week or so after our drip to Dragør, Annemarie and I went a bit farther afield, to the neighboring island of Funen, and it's main city, Odense.


Odense's main claim to fame is as the birthplace of H. C. Andersen, famed as a writer of fairy tales, along with multiple other lesser-known talents (poetry, paper-cutting, theater come to mind). And though he didn't live his whole life here by any means, he's everywhere in this town, starting from a sculpture across from the train station, where a trio of H. C. Andersen figures play a mystical game of twister surrounded by a variety of motifs from H. C.'s original stories.


Of course, there are other things in town besides the fairy tales, but I, at least signed up for the journey in order to go to the H. C. Andersen Museum, in what may or may not have been the building in which he was born. O.K., truth be told, I used to work in Fredericia, which is on the other side of the island of Funen from Zealand, the island where one can find Copenhagen, and my house. Which is to say that I passed through Odense multiple times a week for many months...without ever leaving the train there. And it seemed time to see what I had been missing. And I was, in fact, missing lots of H. C. Andersen imagery.


Even Hans Christian himself is there, waiting outside of a big hotel, always ready to talk to visitors. Here he is schmoozing with Annemarie. I got to schmooze with him as well, but we'll save that photo for another day, shall we? I have the idea that he is sitting there still, waiting for you to visit me, so that we can together make the pilgrimage to pay homage to the man directly, where you and he can sit a spell and converse.

7 kommentarer:

Devil Mood sagde ...

Now there's a town that knows how to honour its symbols!
Same thing can't be said for some over here...

Chipper sagde ...

That's so great! wait, I may be a bit confused here...did you go to the H.C. Anderen museum?

kimananda sagde ...

Ms. Mood, I'd say the whole country honors H.C. He's pretty much of a national symbol, actually.

Etchen, I did go to the museum. It was really interesting, and gave so much information about his life. I'd recommend it.

Unknown sagde ...

Strange, I was just at that hotel 3 weeks ago for a workshop with my work. A very nice hotel I might add, but I thought it a strange concept that they have a casino in the basement. But then again, I've never been to Las Vegas or even the SAS hotel so that's probably just me.

But I've grown to love Odense for its train museum and wonderful atmosphere. A city I actually hated for many years just based on one very boring childhood visit to the city.

kimananda sagde ...

Is there a train museum? I may have to go back to see that. Otherwise, I thought it was a very pleasant town, but feel no urge to visit again.

And I've been to Vegas, and I also find it strange that a hotel in Odense would have a casino its basement.

Anonym sagde ...

my wife and I also visited Odense a few months back. We found our great hotel through http://www.hoteller-odense.dk/

kimananda sagde ...

Well, considering how close I live to Odense, a hotel would be overkill. But thanks for the information anyway.