August 26
After getting the rental car, we headed west a couple of hours to Odense.
On the route we crossed the Great Belt Bridge, setting us back about $40 US.
August 27
Our lodging was at the edge of Odense - so in the morning we drove into town and found parking below this Celtic looking tree mural (our car is the black Toyota C-HR).
 We set out to explore Odense... |   |
Rick Steves' Guidebook: "Founded in AD 988 and named after Odin (the Nordic Zeus), Odense is the main city of the big island of Funen and the birthplace of storyteller Hans Christian Andersen. Although the author was born here in poverty and left at the tender age of 14 to pursue a career in the theater scene of Copenhagen, H.C. is Odense's favorite son - you'll find his name and image all over town. He said, 'Perhaps Odense will one day become famous because of me.' Today, Odense is one of Denmark's most popular tourist destinations."
Gigantic Bronze Potted Tulip
Gerri takes a seat next to Hans, on his gigantic overcoat.
Moving along, apparently on a path opposite to what the town's tourism office suggests.
Someone locked up their mighty "Urban Arrow" bicycle to this post...
At the H.C. Andersen Haven - a museum providing the "Hans experience" through his stories - we passed on entering, but the grounds were amazing.
 | This corner "cut-out" gives space for remnants of a 600-year-old medieval structure that may have been a residence (they're unsure). It's actually been moved 50 feet or so, twice, over the last 100 years to make it fit within the evolving design of this plaza. |
"Odense's City Hall, with its medieval Italian look was actually built in 1883 - it combines red masonry brick with sandstone decorations, stepped gables and a saw-tooth roofline. The building stands on the site of a smaller building from 1480."
The original St. Canute's Cathedral was completed in the 11th century, but in 1247 was burned severely along with much of Odense during civil war. A new church gradually replaced the old stone one between 1300 and 1499.
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 |  Plaque on the sidewalk translated here by Google... |
Horseless Chariot
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"For centuries buildings throughout the Nordic region have been painted to protect them from the weather. By tradition these colors have been dark, often deep reds or ochre yellow, although by the 18th century more ostentatious or more fashionable buildings were usually painted softer grey or buff colours to imitate expensive stone. Color was increasingly used as a signal of wealth and social status.
Many of these dark colors come from minerals including Swedish red or Falu rödfarg that is made with an iron oxide from copper with zinc and silica from the mines at Falun in Dalarna. This pigment was held in a starch binder (often rye flour) mixed with linseed oil that gives a matt but durable finish.
The paint protected timber cladding and framing and its infill and in some places it was popular because with white painted or inscribed lines it imitated high-quality brick - a much more expensive building material.
Blue paints in particular, using ultramarine or Prussian Blue and later cobalt, were not only expensive but faded or reacted with the lime in mortar and plaster so the color was used less often on the exterior. Chrome oxide and zinc were available for deep green colours from the early 19th century onwards but again these were expensive pigments and were not as common as red or ochre yellow.
It is deep dark red that is seen most on the outside of buildings throughout the Nordic region for farm houses, barns and summer houses and there is a Finnish expression - punainen tupa ja perunamaa - a red house and a potato field - said to suggest that that is all you really need in life to be happy."
Many of these dark colors come from minerals including Swedish red or Falu rödfarg that is made with an iron oxide from copper with zinc and silica from the mines at Falun in Dalarna. This pigment was held in a starch binder (often rye flour) mixed with linseed oil that gives a matt but durable finish.
The paint protected timber cladding and framing and its infill and in some places it was popular because with white painted or inscribed lines it imitated high-quality brick - a much more expensive building material.
Blue paints in particular, using ultramarine or Prussian Blue and later cobalt, were not only expensive but faded or reacted with the lime in mortar and plaster so the color was used less often on the exterior. Chrome oxide and zinc were available for deep green colours from the early 19th century onwards but again these were expensive pigments and were not as common as red or ochre yellow.
It is deep dark red that is seen most on the outside of buildings throughout the Nordic region for farm houses, barns and summer houses and there is a Finnish expression - punainen tupa ja perunamaa - a red house and a potato field - said to suggest that that is all you really need in life to be happy."
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