July 10

 7/10 - Odense (Pronounced Oo-Den-Sah, not O-Dense, for the record.  Learned that one the hard way.)

I'm pretty sure Odense will be using this picture in its ad campaign in the near future.

News of the day: Maryanne slept until 1 p.m. 

While she was sleeping, Karen was elected queen of Denmark, built a home, and made blueberry pancakes.  She may not have done all of that, but she did make an American breakfast for Sara, who really liked it!

Maryanne's attempt of being humorous aside, making pancakes in Denmark was an experience! First, I went to the store to see if they had syrup.  It was SO difficult to find the syrup because people kept pointing me to honey and jam! Once I finally found some, I went back to make the pancakes and all of the pancake recipes online use customary units, as opposed to metric units of measurement that Denmark uses.  Sara and I sat there calculating the measurements in order to make the pancakes, but they did turn out wonderfully!

An American breakfast!

Then we headed into the main part of the city of Odense (which was walking distance from where Sara lived) to see a short play of Hans Christian Anderson's works and see what else Odense had to offer.  

Odense was adorable!

The skits were in Danish, but we still liked watching.  They did stories like The Little Mermaid, The Princess and the Pea, and The Emperor's New Clothes.  
 

The H.C. Anderson  playhouse!

The Princess and the Pea!

The Emperor's New Clothes!

After this we picked up sausages for lunch and just meandered around Odense.   We saw Hans Christian Anderson's childhood home and appreciated that all of the "people" in the walk/don't walk signs had canes in his honor!  

Lunch!

H.C. Anderson's childhood home.

The crossing sign - Notice the man with a cane! That's H.C. Anderson!

Sara the viking at a gift shop!

We stopped at a large market before heading home, where Sara prepared traditional Danish meatballs, sauce, cucumber salad, and potatoes.  It was great! Karen and I wouldn't mind eating Danish food for a while longer.

Our amazing, authentic Danish dinner prepared by Sara!

Enjoying a post-dinner Odense beer!

Passion fruit? We bought it at the market!

Our dinner conversations led us to learning a lot about Denmark, but one story that Sara told us stands out in particular.  In Denmark, it is quite normal for a parent to leave his or her sleeping child in his or her stroller outside a restaurant, cafe, or even their apartment, so that he or she can get fresh air! Apparently a Danish woman came to New York City and practiced this Danish custom, and almost had child services called on her!

Below are a few more pictures from our day in Odense!