Go West, Denmark

Spent the past two days driving through the western part of Denmark - through Funen and Jutland.

First off, when I got my rental car, I was hoping to get some weird Euro car. You know - something different that I don't get to drive at home. An Opel or a Fiat or something. What did I get? A Ford Focus. Not quite the cultural experience I was hoping for, but at least it works.

And the back of the car has a HUGE "Hertz" sticker on it. Cracks me up that in the United States we have to hide the fact that it's a rental car, so it's more difficult for the thieves. I wonder if the thieves in the U.S. would look down on the thieves in Denmark, the way professional golfers look down on the amateur golfers, with their lower degree of difficulty.

Drove west away from Copenhagen. Crossing away from Zealand into Funen, you have to cross this huge bridge. The toll charge for it is about 205 Danish Kroner - about $34! Each way! Makes me wonder why there isn't more road rage in this country. And that isn't even factoring in the $5+ cost of unleaded gas.

Okay, onto some pictures. This is a self-portrait I took in the reflected glass of a bus stop in Odense.



I loved the painted logo on the bus stop. He looks like he's holding the holy hand-grenade.

Okay - this is embarrassing. When we parked in Odense, I had to buy a parking ticket from the machine. I thought it said that it was 5 Danish Kroner for 30 minutes of parking. The only coin I had was a 20 Danish Kroner (approximately $3), so I figured I'd plunk it in and pay for 2 hours of parking. Then the machine gave me this ticket.



My Danish isn't all that good, but I'm pretty sure I just paid for 22 hours worth of parking. Sigh.

As part of the journey through Jutland, I took the family to Legoland Billund. Now I've been to Legoland in California lots of times, but this is the original, and someone recommended it to me. While it's similar to the one I've been to, lots of differences. For starters, there's a "land" dedicated to the American Old West called "Legoredo" - where I came upon this gem.



I love that the American flag is flying proudly in Legoland. They don't ALL hate us over here. Though, the parts of Legoredo about the Native Americans? Hilariously politically incorrect. Nothing like grown adults running around with feather headbands making "oo oo oo oo oo" noises.

Also, theme parks in Europe are a great place to observe the differences between Americans and Europeans. For example, you'd never get away with bringing your dog to a theme park in the U.S. - here, not only do people bring them, but Legoland had water dishes all over the park for dogs.

And for sheer entertainment value, nothing beats the dudes who take off their shirts when it gets hot. Pasty white European guys should NOT be going shirtless in the presence of kids. The old folks smoking cigarettes one after another and blowing the second-hand smoke in all directions... are way less damaging to kids than the glaring topless white guys.

A few more thoughts on Legoland. For lunch, had the veal at the Knights Barbecue - it wasn't bad. But the real reason I had it was so I'll now forever be able to tell people, "If you're ever at Legoland, try the veal."

As we left, had to take a picture of this sign.



Is it just me, or does the term "Lego Security" bring up visions of little guys with yellow heads, huge smiles, and carrying gray plastic guns with little pieces of colored plastic at the ends?

Finally, on the way back east, stopped along the side of the freeway to grab dinner - and wouldn't you know that it was another McDonald's? I've had more McDonald's in the past three weeks in Europe than I have in the past two years. If you MUST visit a McDonald's while travelling abroad, the advice I was given was to try something different and unique to the area you're visiting. Sticking to that, I ordered the bøfsandwich. The bøfsandwich was a McDonald's hamburger, but topped with spicy mustard and a HUGE amount of dried onions. At least that's what I THINK it was.

Also at McDonald's, I took this picture of the dessert menu board.



I'm pretty sure I've written jokes where the punch-line was, "McDonut!" Apparently it's a real thing. Wonder why they wouldn't carry such a product in the United States? Or would that be too predictable?

Also watched some Cartoon Network in the kids lounge in McDonald's - Scooby Doo, Tom & Jerry, and some Foster's commercials in Danish. Yeah, I felt kinda bad being the only grown-up in the lounge, but hey - it's research.

So get outta the way kid and stop bogarting that Hamburgler chair...