Another day in Denmark:

Took the train south to Kvaerndrup today to visit Egeskov Castle. Beautiful country.

So much open land.

This is not a road, but a bike and pedestrian path! It was a long walk from the train station to the castle...

The road kept going, and going, and going...

Finally the entrance!
It is claimed to have been rated in the top 50 places to visit in Europe. The grounds are huge. They have over 1500 plants and 7 kilometers of hedges.

There were numerous peacocks on the property.

Here are two

And the castle!

I got there when it opened and ran around to get pics before it got crowded, so almost all the pics don't have other people in them :)

When I went into the castle, the Count was coming out with his kids! He said hi. He was super nice. It was cool. They still live in the castle. Only half of it is open to the public, the rest is private and their actual home. Must be nice, hahaha.

More garden

Garden looking towards castle and over the moat.

Another garden and another peacock

They have a tree walk...you climb a circular stairway 15 meters up and then walk along the suspension bridges.

Great views from up high.

They have a ton of playground area and stuff for kids to do. It IS an awesome place to visit. it was super fun.

They also have a labyrinth in the hedges and when you get to middle you can climb to top and then walk the elevated plank out to the giant slide on the top right and slide down and out of the maze. 

Panorama of some of the property.

Rose garden.

They have a clothing collection on display from 1800s. Here is a wedding dress that was part of the family's

This is actually one of Marie Antoinette's dresses...and one of only a few remaining ones.

They have two hunting areas - the hunting room shown here and next pic and a deer hallway. Apparently, the counts father was a huge hunter and one of best and few licensed bow hunters in Denmark. There are swords, bows and arrows, and firearms all on display along with a crazy collection of game.

More exotics.

This is the deer hallway. It says the small arrows still have poison on them. There were so many mountings along the hall!

They also have a huge car museum, with some airplanes, camping displays, motorcycles, scooters, etc.
The place is huge!

And they have a rescue vehicle and equipment display...Ryan would have been in heaven!!!

They serve ice cream/gelato everywhere here...and everyone is eating it...but it is exceptionally warm. Again, around 88 F today.

Another pics of finish line for tomorrow's two races.

I thought this was a barrier or marker at first...this is actually on open air urinal! Pull right up and go. Only in Europe.

A few pics from Denmark:

Took bus out to Middlefart, Denmark from Odense, Denmark for the ITU World Championship Aquathlon race on Thursday July 12. It was a pretty ride with lots of nice scenery.

The race was held in the small town of Middlefart. Here is pic of swim area. We started just on the left and swam out along jetty until the end and then turned right and went inside the harbor and exited the water.
The air temp was 88 F and the water temp 60 F, so neither was great. And there were hundreds of jelly fish in the water. Everyone got stung including me with both hands, left foot and face - lips, forehead, chin, cheeks!

Panorama area along jetty

We started in the water about 100 m out from the beach on the left in the photo.
Race start was 1430...early afternoon...very different from US standards.

Hahaha...gave us Heineken 0.0 in our race goodie bag. Took me a while to figure it out but the 0.0 is 0% alcohol. Pretty funny. I saw some people pounding them after the race...they were giving out more...I am not sure if they had figured out the 0% alcohol thing. I think they thought it was regular after race beer garden. Hahaha

Hopefully someone got a few pics from the race. I'll see if I can dig some up. It was cool venue and lots of great competitors. 

Some new pics:

Fun google animation of Colleen dancing:

Hopefully it works!

Some pics from Denmark @ the ITU Multisport World Championships:

Passed by some beautiful scenery on the train from Copenhagen to Odense.

If you look carefully out the train windows you can see wind turbines out in the water.

There are gyros everywhere...and they are delicious! I am not sure what Denmark is know for as far as a food specialty, but I am not sure if I care...I might not make it past the gyro!!!

I think the biggest thing that Odense, Denmark is known for is that it is the birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson on April 2, 1805. There are statues, streets, and other things all named after him. There is a museum, a cool park, and his childhood home. Here is a statue near the cathedral. 

Pointing the way towards the museum.

The Radisson hotel is named after him...the HC Anderson Radisson Blu hotel.

His street

His house

Part of his part...one of his fairy tale castles. He is best known for his stories:
The emperor's new clothes, the little mermaid, the ugly duckling, thumbelina, etc.

Just a random statue.

Next to the park where most of the events are taking place.

Finish line chute for many of the races along with the stage in the background for post-race concert. The sunset is almost 10pm and sunrise is 04:50am. Weather is good. Almost 80 degrees F for the high and upper 50s for the low.