In Århus today
Our visit to Denmark was a great opportunity to meet with old friends in Århus. I met Marianne on a textile art Compuserve forum back in the dark ages and we've got together to talk textiles and more in a variety of real and virtual locations since then: Abingdon, Brussels, Cardiff…and now she and Mogens are home in Denmark again. I suppose we could have simply found a coffee shop and talked all day, but we've not been to Århus before and how lovely to be here with a couple of locals! So we walked through the park to the side of our hotel on our way to Den Gamle By, where we planned to look around, stopping frequently to continue the lovely non-stop conversation!
Our first (short) stop was by the Pig Well, a curious sculpture which didn't keep us long! Had I read the details about it before seeing it for real I might have watched the clockwork routine through once or twice. As it is, I snapped a picture and we carried on our way.
Mogens pointed out the law courts with a fabulous roof and bell tower.
The art gallery opposite, too, where perhaps we'll visit tomorrow?
From here, we took the interesting route to Den Gamle By, through back streets which told stories and held memories. Here's the grand entrance door to the old newspaper offices in the same street as Marianne's mother lived once upon a time.
As we went, I collected yet more ideas for our planters when we get back home.
Soon, we arrived at the river. How lovely those terraces looked in the sunshine and what a fine place to sit on a warm Summer's evening.
But we learned that this river had been covered up with a road not too many years ago and looking more closely at the buildings on either side, we could indeed imagine that a road filled with traffic had been there instead. In the 1980s however, someone had proposed - and acted upon - the idea to open it up again, constructing the modern terrace structure on the northern bank.
We walked eastwards along that side of the river, soon finding ourselves in a small network of narrow streets, rather like those we'd found in Aalborg. These small houses were similarly desirable, being both attractive and well-located in the city.
We passed by a gateway and arch into one of several attractive courtyards where there were offices and another set of small but rather desirable homes.
From there it was just a short step to the entrance of the Botanic Gardens. No, I didn't take out my pocket drone, nor did I levitate above the entrance to De Gamle By. We made our way inside via the black building and whilst the others went to hang coats and put bags in lockers etc. I took a photo of the great model that was in the foyer, because I had forgotten to take one of the “real” entrance!
As soon as we stepped inside, we were in 1974, with a mini market and a couple of small workshops.
On the corner of the street was a bakery and a reconstructed German style Konditorei behind it. We crossed the bridge over the river and in doing so, went back a hundred and ten years, for we were entering 1864.
Though it all looked pretty attractive right now, life can't have been easy.
Here were dark workshops, small scale wool spinning and weaving using steam powered looms.
And small boys had been set to work carrying water they'd collected from the river.
They were bringing the water for the girls who were doing some laundry under the supervision of the school mistress, who seemed quite stern and unforgiving.
The children were from local schools who come here to spend the day learning first hand about life in 1864. As the boys were led at a brisk pace by their task master, one was heard to mutter about the weight of his (empty) bucket, though all seemed to be pretty compliant and followed their instructions obediently.
They had quite a long way to carry those buckets too, the way back being more difficult of course, as they did their best not to spill too much for fear of the schoolmistress!
Such a contrast then, to see such peaceful and apparently comfortable surroundings!
Nearby was a restaurant where we enjoyed a delicious lunch. It was very much in 2025 style, thankfully!
We loved the complex brickwork patterns here and marvelled at the hours it must have taken to construct.
Standing in front of the door, I realised how very diissimilar the details of these buildings were from those in the UK. Though the basic structural concepts were the same - the timber frame etc - the end result was quite distinctive and completely different.
Our next stop was in the Apothecary's garden of a rather grand house planted with appropriate medicinal herbs for the 1860s.
A small summer house was beautifully decorated.
We returned along a street filled with shops, each with their sign hanging above the door. This one had us puzzled until Mogens pointed out his pipe. It was the tobacconist's and the three gold cylinders represented the coils of tobacco to be seen in the shop window.
I realised at this point that I hadn't taken very many photographs at all. We'd been chatting the whole way around, had enjoyed short breaks here and there to stop and chat and then talked our way though lunch too! What better way to spend the day?!
We made our way back along the pathway that led behind the weavers and the yard where the children were earlier.
Here were more vegetable gardens and one garden recreated exactly following the plan of a Miss Wahlstrøm's garden in a nearby town.
Our minds were very much set on the idea of coffee and back at the bridge now, we crossed back into the 1970s to sample the wares of Café Bonnich. As we left Den Gamle By, we spotted the schoolchildren leaving with their teacher too, back in their 2025 clothes and, I imagine, very pleased indeed to be so.
We too returned to the present day and caught the bus back to our hotel, where we finished off the afternoon tieing up one or two conversations and leaving others to be continued online at a later date or around the next table, probably in the Cotswolds. Let's hope it won't be long before that happens.
We've had a great day here, thanks to Marianne and Mogens, who were the best tour guides ever 😀
