Carlsberg Factory

Danish Gastronomy: Skipperlapskovs

That was the last danish meal I tasted during my Erasmus trip. It was 2 weeks ago when we were in Aarhus because of a student event, I just met a danish friend who made me discover that old speciality. Basically it's made with potatoes, beetroots, pork and other different ingredients I don't know. Because of the meat aspect and the potatoes I guess it has been boiled for a long time as a "baeckeoffe" (meal from my region).

It's really tasty and my friend told me that people are usually eating it as a snack while drinking cold beer. The bar was proposing a lot of old danish speciality in order to allow people (danish and foreigners) to taste the old local food.

Finally, the only things I was knowing before the erasmus trip was smorbrode and it's the only meal I haven't taste. It seems to be an appelation for danish sandwich in general. Special bread with a lot of mix isn't that special at the end.

Danish gastronomy: Gulerodskage med laekker cremet topping

The origin of this meal is disputed between the USA, the Great Britain and sometimes Denmark. Actually after some research, a lot of people tasted carrot cake in scandinavian country.

I get the occasion to taste it at a dinner with friends who bring it randomly. It's sort of a dessert here in Denmark or people can eat it while drinking coffee, tea etc...

As always I like to find what it's made of regarding the taste, the different flavours exploding in your mouth and that time I wasn't able to decide between cinnamon and gingerbread. Finally it's seems that it's made with cinnamon and cardamom. This last one is used in order to give a lemon taste and a "pine sape" taste which is really interesting. It's called a carrot cake but because of this spicy mix we can't really notice its presence, only the color
and the little pieces for decoration are arguing in the right way.

Danish Gastronomy: Gravad laks

My parents visited me one week ago and for that occasion, we decided to test a danish meal together. The one we've chosen is called Gravad laks (Gravlax in french) and is the way scandinavian people are preparing the salmon. This one is completely different to the smoked one because it's prepared with salt and sugar at the same time. The salt is used to "dry" the fish and the sugar, mixed with different kind of herbs, is the one which will give that special taste to the meal. First step is the marinade of salmon during 2 days at least. Then the second step is also a marinade but that time you have to cover the entire salmon with dill. Danish people are used to eat that meal with a sauce made of mustard, dill and sugar which complete the explosion of flavours in your mouth. While slicing the salmon, the Chef told us a story about the gravad laks and the way to slice it : Danish Chef had invited a queen to test this gravad laks. When he served her the meal, the taste was great but the presentation was ugly and the lady told the chef that she was pretty sure to slice the salmon much more nicely. The Chef accepted the challenge and the lady sliced the salmon as it is prepared nowaday. That's why, as a tribute we are preparing and presenting the gravad laks that way.

Nicolas

Skagen

On April 21^st, we visited Skagen, and after the Grenen's beach.

  

According to “Guide du Routard”, Skagen is famous for its painters. It has the highest number of sunshine hours in the country and the exceptional light attracted many artists over the years. Apparently, the sunset is spectacular.

Krøyer, more than any other painter, sublimated this was mid-blue mid-golden light that seems to melt into a sea and sky.

P. S. Kroyer - "Jour d'été à Skagen"

Skagen is the city the most in northern Denmark. With only 9000 inhabitants, Skagen is a small town, based primarily on tourism. Restaurants are spread along the port. More in the center, the yellow tones of the houses  illuminate the streets.

We had the chance to see seals basking on a rock.

The beach was full of starfish stranded. We believe this is due to either a violent storm that occurred the previous day, or fishing. Indeed, some fishing techniques scrape the seabed and thus drop starfish

At the extremity, the two seas meet. Left the North Sea, the Baltic Sea to the right, creating a meeting between two currents. Swimming is also prohibited because of too strong currents on the extreme tip.

Clémence & Juliette

Danish's habits

Danish’s habits are rather different than ours. Actually, it is possible to notice that the organization of their day is not similar to our. 

First, if we take a day at the university. We have classes only the morning or at the beginning of the afternoon. No student can finish after 16:15 pm. Moreover, we only have 45 minutes to eat, twice less time than in France.

All stores close at 16 p.m. or 17 p.m. maximum, even on Saturday. The first time we visited a town on Saturday, we were really surprised about that, because in France it is the most business day. People finish their job rather earlier during the week so it can explain the difference shop opening. The only stores open until 21 or 22 p.m. are supermarkets.

The way of moving is also different. As in France, there are a lot of buses; tram and cars are used too. But it should be noticed that bike is more used than in France. Roads and side walk are suitable for cycling. There is one track for bike. It is also important to mention that walkers are not priority on bikes.  Furthermore, traffic lights are adapted to bike. Their involvement shows that Danish are more concerned by safety and environment.

Copenhagen

Friday the 16th we went to Copenhagen. There was a journey organized by the university to discover the town. The price was really interesting compared to the train, which is expensive.

The day was divided between two parts. The morning and the beginning of the afternoon was reserved for a tour. Indeed, in a first time we visited an area called Ørestad which actually is in development. More and more design buildings are poping up. For lunch we ate in big mall called Field’s. In the afternoon we visited other buildings. Then we departed closed to the center to see Carlsberg’s brewery. It was really pleasant to understand the history.  For instance, we learnt that the father of Carl live with Scientifics to keep his house safe if he dies.

We were filed in the center.  We decided to stay one more day to visit the center. We slept in a hostel. It should be noted that hotels are so expensive in Denmark so hostels are very well seen by people because they look like hotels. Thus, the Saturday we went to the channels and one of the most beautiful is Nyhavn.

I also went to Copenhagen the week of Saturday the 27^th. I visited lots of things, Copenhagen is attractive. I went to the botanic garden: lots of greenhouses with impressive plants and trees.

 

 

I also visited Carlsberg Glyptotek. This last is not a brewery but an art museum which is free on Sunday. Most of the collection was assembled by Carl Jacobsen, son of the founder of the Carlsberg brewery. There are a lot of sculpture, pottery and paintings.

 

Juliette

 

 

Trip on Copenhagen’s Island : Seeland Island

During Easter holidays, I went to visit the Copenhagen’s island, most commonly called Seeland Island. I went here in car, which allowed me to visit many small places.

I based my trip on the advices of « Guide du Routard » to discover the areas of this beautiful island.

For the nights, I found a pretty good site, which can let you sleep to someone’s house for a very reasonable price (www.airbnb.fr). Indeed, in the heart of Copenhagen, I booked one night for € 41 with kitchen. I did the same for the other nights, finding rooms in different cities.

Copenhagen

Obviously, I did the attractions of the city: the Little Mermaid and Nyhavn.

Nyhavn

 

The little Mermaid

I also came across Les Halles, attended by a large number of stands. Halle was for a pastry, another buffet (cheese, fish, meats ...). I even came across a stand of French, and found some inevitable products of France (cheese, ham, pies ...).
For lunch, I decided to try the Smørrebrød, the famous Danish sandwiches! There are different components ingredients: smoked salmon, pate, cheese, etc.. These sandwiches are quite expensive, or 45-50 Dkk part (6 €).
 

Smørrebrød

Louisiana’s Museum

It is a museum of modern art, renowned. Some might say that this is one of the finest modern art museum in Northern Europe. The entrance fee for a student is 90 Dkk (about 12 €).

Some works of art are displayed outdoors, such as "The Owl" by Juan Miro. The park is quite large, and when the weather is good, it must be really nice to walk around.

Inside, there is a lot of room. In fact, some are dedicated solely to one artist: the case for Andy Warhol. I've seen a lot of work of this artist.

Finally, there is a shop to buy various trinkets in memory of certain works. It should be noted however, that we must pay the price!

North cost of the island

Dronningmolle : Located on the north coast of the island, this small village and other surrounding are considered the Saint Tropez for the more-at-ease people of Copenhagen.

Dronningmolle

Hillerod : I went to see the Frederiksborg Castle, the largest castle in Scandinavia. I have not been inside.

Frederiksborg Castle

Møn island

On this island, south of the island of eeland, I went to see the chalk cliffs. To get there, there is little more than the car. There are two walks along the cliffs from the top, and the other along the beach at the foot of the cliffs.

Clémence

Sports

Because sport is one of my main activities here on the Campus, I'll try to expose you his importance in a danish student life.

First of all, about the organisation, I would like to say that I'm really impressed by their professionalism though that's a student organization. In order to be as efficient as possible about the schedule, they provide us an online time table. Then we have to register for each sport session we went to attend, the bad point is that we have to be quick because places are limited, especially for badminton.

There is a lot of different sport such as volleyball, badminton, MMA, latin dances, yoga, basketball, Hip-Hop, Insanity which a sort of hard stretching and handball. This plenty of sport is spread all over the week from monday to sunday! This allow us to practice sport even the week-end to make a break in our studies for a couple of hours.

Otherwise, there are a lot of other sports in the city but you have to get there by yourself. You can also run around the Fjord for example, play football on the campus field or go to the aquaforum for a little swim (completed by sauna, hammam etc..). Moreover, as explained in a previous article, student can get free entrance for a lot of event such as basketball match in order to support the local team.

Nicolas

Sunset on the Fjord

Odense

On Saturday March 2nd, we started exploring the city of Odense, on the island of Funen.

Odense is the third biggest city in Denmark, after Copenhagen and Aarhus, with around 188 000 habitants.

This city was the birthplace of H. C. Andersen, a famous writer of the nineteenth century. Indeed, he has written, among other "The Little Matchgirl", "The Ugly Duckling", "The Princess and the Pea," and many others.
Their is also a museum around his personnal life, his period and obviously all forms of art he had tried in his life. This tall man has spent most of his time alone, that's why he was used to practice carving, writting, drawing etc..

Juliette and me came here by car: 1h20 from Horsens. And, in the city, we found free parking all day! It's cheaper and faster than train, Nicolas would agree.

On this day, we visited :

- A cathedral and a church

The Church Saint Albani

The Cathedral Saint Knud 

- The museum dedicated to H. C. Andersen

- Two parks

Andersen Haven

Andersen Haven

Munke Mose

Munke Mose

- the alleyways

Throughout the city, you can find statues, plates, etc.. the effigy of H. C. Andersen! Because of his freaky "overflowing" imagination, people just avoided him but now his art is spread all over the city.

"Hans Christian Andersen is confirmed in this church on April 18th 1819"

Clémence, Juliette & Nicolas

Aarhus

Last weekend, all of us went to Aarhus. It is a town of about 243 000 people which only is at 30 minutes by train from Horsens. We took the decision to arrive at the beginning of the afternoon in order to visit.

The first thing on our way was the ARoS Aarhus Kunstmuseum. This is one of the largest art museums in northern Europe. There were lots of beautiful paintings and attractive creations from modern art and golden age. However, the museum closed at 17 p.m; that was the bad point of the visit.

Thus, after the museum we tried to visit the city just walking in the street without precise goal. But all of the shops were closed too. Indeed in Denmark, Saturday isn't the better day to visit because everything shut relatively earlier compared to France.

This town is really bigger than Horsens and I thing we will go back there because we just visited the quarter.

Next destination should be Odense!