A pain of living on an island is the ease with which you can get to other places. Believe me! I know! I lived in a country the size of Als for the first 21 years of my life with no bridges to anywhere! It is true that Als is connected to mainland Jutland by two bridges. However, the traditional way of connecting islands is with the use of ferries, and Als is not lacking here either.

One of the ferries connects Fynshav on Als to Bojden on Fyn. The trip takes around 50mins. This means that rather than spending around 1.5hrs on a motorway you can get to Fyn within 10mins driving on country roads and 50mins relaxing on a ferry (+ time to drive to you destination on the other side).

You can easily make reservations online or by calling the company. Learning from our mistakes we would strongly suggest you do that! If you don’t have a reservation you will only make it onto the ferry after all the people who have reserved have. We managed to get on the ferry in both directions without a reservation. However, it was tight both times, and a 2hr wait for the next ferry is probably not your idea of a good time.

This ferry provides a useful connection between the south of Jutland and the south of Fyn, facilitating the ease by which you can go from Als to the two main Danish islands (Fyn, and Zealand further on). It is also a pleasant way of getting to Egeskov Slot from Sonderborg as we did. Way more relaxing than being cooped up in a car for the time required!

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Denmark is one of the oldest monarchies in the world. This long legacy of royalty and nobility has resulted in many fine castles and manor houses dotted around the country, often in the most scenic of places.

Amongst the best preserved of the castles is Egeskov Slot. Egeskov slot as we know it today was completed by Frands Brickenhuus in 1554. As a defence system the castle was built on a foundation of oak pilings in the middle of a lake. Today, the castle is owend by the Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille family, who have opened up the park to the public for several generations.

Today, the castle is a family-friendly attraction on the island of Fyn. On the site you can, of course, visit the castle. However, you can also spend time at a number of museums dotted around the lands, gardens showcasing different periods or plants, as well as a lot of space and activity spaces for kids (and the not so young) to use up their energy.

I would say that visiting the castle is a must if you haven’t been there before. It costs 30-45DKK more to have access to the castle, but it is worth it if you have the time (plan at least 4hrs if you would like to see everything). A special gem there is Titania’s palace, an exquisite doll’s house built for the daughter of Sir Nevile Wilkinson by a team of outstanding craftsmen.

If you are into cars and motor vehicles most of the museums would probably be of interest. Not being that much into this (a car is a car right?), I was really enjoyed the Grocer’s Museum. This museum showcases a visual representation of grocer’s shops from the 1930s to the 1950s. Even though there were another 40 years or so till I was born, a lot of the items looked very familiar!

If the day is nice as it was when we visited, it is a shame to waste the good weather by staying indoors. Luckily, the vast park gives you ample space to roam around in. Being big kids ourselves we also enjoyed the playgrounds, particularly the Great-Grandfathers playground (where you can try walking on stilts), the tree-top walk, and the mazes. Unfortunately we were there a bit too early for all the flowers to be in bloom (early May), but from the little we saw the gardens must be magnificent later on in the year.

The wide variety of activities also ensures that pretyt much everyone would find something they are interested in. We found the park and gardens a really enjoyable way of spending a day. It is an attraction for both young and old that is worth the time and money. No wonder it is ranked #1 of 54 attractions on Fyn on TripAdvisor!

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From the early 18th century Flensburg had a booming trade in sugar and rum. Cane sugar would land from the Danish West Indies (now the US Virgin Islands) to be refined. A side product in this trade was pure rum that would get blended in one of Flensburg’s 40 rum houses earning it the nickname Der Rumstadt (The Rum City).

Once a year Flensburg goes back in time to when the sugar boats from the Caribbean would slide into the harbour with a bounty full of sweetness. From across the world gaff rig boats (with pretty sails) come together for a friendly race in Flensborg Fjord called The Rum Regatta. Up to a 100 of these classic wooden ships will come to this gathering that has been held for the past 33 years.

The programme is not the easiest to read but here is what I think are the highlights:

The event starts off in Sønderborg on Thursday the 17th of May, where the ships should arrive around 3pm after competing in the Herings Regatta.

Friday morning the boats will leave Sønderborg at around 11am to start the Flensborg Fjord Regatta – the race to Flensburg. Here is a video from Sønderborg in 2011

http://www.youtube.com/embed/qOC7zTavRR8#t=1m21s

Friday the Gaffelmarkt starts around 10am and boats will come in to the port throughout the day. At noon small boats will race in the Sail-Service Regatta the harbour itself.

Saturday at 10 the boats leave the pier in Flensburg to start the real Rum Regatta at 11. The regatta should last until 5pm with a ceremony to celebrate the winner at 6.30pm

Sunday the boats will leave but the Gaffelmarkt will be open 10am – 6pm, where the event officially ends.

First two pictures are by Arne List. The one right above is by Benjamin Asmussen.

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In centuries gone by the area around Flensburg Fjord was well-known for its brickworks, or teglværk. In fact, the area had the largest concentration of such facilities in Northern Europe. As the time past these brickworks did not stand the changing times and have mostly disappeared, with only the one Cathrinesminde surviving in the region.

As is appropriate, this brickyard has been turned into a museum of industrial history, and in 2007 named one of 25 Danish national industrial monuments. As a museum it showcases not only the history of this specific brickwork, but of the brickworks in the area.

On the technical side of the brickworks the thing that caught my eye is the big brick-making machine in the first hall you enter in the museum. You can get the machine to work with a 10DKK coin. This is more than just payment for the experience of seeing all the parts in motion: the section where the clay is ‘extruded’ into a thin layer, the section where the extruded clay is cut into tiles and, of course, the engine that allows all of this to happen.

Coming from a country without a tradition of brick making – we have a natural stone that is perfect for use as a building material – I was also delighted to see representations of designs that bricks can be built to show: from turning pillars to embossed features and various patterns. I always thought of bricks as a functional object, so this being an industrial museum I was delighted to see this creative aspect of brickworks so prominently.

Within the museum you also have the opportunity to explore the life of the worker related to the museums through a series of workers quarters each set up to represent a specific period during which Cathrinesminde was in operation (1732-1968). In these huts you can observe the changing style in living quarters, the increasing comforts the workers obtained, as well as a details on the cost of rye bread, beer and the working conditions (pay, working hours) of the time.

The worker huts are a bit away from the main museum, making them easy to miss. However, I am glad that the museum attendant pointed them out specifically as worth a visit. It was fascinating to observe the changes from the 1700s to the 1900s, and entertaining to spot items from our grandparents’ houses in the house from the 1960s. We were 2 Maltese an Irish guy and a Dane, and we all recognised an item or another!

This museum highlights both the technical aspects of such brickworks as well as the creative and social aspects related to brickworks. This gives the museum that extra dimension that may often be missing in technically-inclined museums, making this a museum well worth your time in my opinion.

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I am tired of constantly being told by certain people that the Danish education system is an all-singing all-dancing perfect affair. In the words of a friend, “the Danish education system is not backward like the education systems in Russia, France and the UK”. So I decided to dig a bit deeper.

A quick search online brought me to review on the national policies of education commissioned by the Danish Government from OECD. When I saw it I thought ‘Great – an objective report!’ and set to reading it.

So what did I find?

The report  was written following the PISA results carried out in 2000, a study which aims to investigate how prepared students are to future challenges. It is divided into 2 parts: a background report on the Danish education system, and an examiners report written by people from three reference countries (Canada, UK and Finland). In the examiners report there are sections on the strengths and on the weakness of the system, which I found particularly interesting:

The strengths

A strength of the system is, without a doubt, the interest of the state in investing in education (7.8% of GDP in 2008). This provides some of the highest ratios of staff to students, resources and equipment. The government also provides the different schools with the flexibility for innovation. Another positive aspect from my point of view is that the students are happy and feel well-supported. The parents also are strongly involved. This makes for happy customers all round, with public satisfaction being constantly high.

The weaknesses

Unfortunately, what the report clearly shows (saying it in the first paragraph of the executive summary) is that while Denmark has one of the most expensive education systems in the world, it is disappointingly underperforming. In particular, the report identifies a strong underachievement, where there are “fewer high flyers, a lower average performance, and a greater proportion of those experiencing serious difficulties” than might be expected. A possible reason given for this is that there are very few evaluation systems put in place to be able to identify if there are problems that need to be taken care of, and often very little sharing of successful practices.

However, what I found even more surprising is that, while I have constantly been told that the quality might be suffering because Danes aim for equality, the report clearly shows that this is not the case. In fact, the difference between the weaker students and the ones from less advantaged backgrounds and the average is bigger than in other countries they looked at. One particular point they picked up on was that the weaker students are often taken out of class to improve in one subject (mainly Danish from what I understand), which consequently means that the students are automatically falling behind on the other subjects, causing a downward spiral from which it is harder to get out.

I think the report really hits on a couple of things I have been feeling since I have been bombarded by how great the Danish education system is. I tried to summarise the main points that struck me, but there are others, such as that the system focuses on the social and emotional skills, but forgets that its primary aim is also intellectual skills, and that it should also challenge the kids. So I urge you to read the report yourself if you have an interest in the subject… and I am curious. What do YOU think?

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In London the King of the Road is probably the pedestrian who crosses the road at random, particularly in the centre. In Malta it is the motor vehicles who hurtle down the roads like nobody’s business. In Denmark? My vote goes to the bicycle!

Denmark being such a flat country makes cycling the transport method of choice is small towns like Sonderborg. You can probably think of cycling as something of a national sport. It knows no boundaries.  You see old ladies, style conscious teenagers, foreigners and Danes alike and also parents with a couple of kids in their carrier.  Everyone owns at least one (two or three?) bike.

However cycling doesn’t become big in a vacuum, as other countries have lately started to discover. A cycling culture arises because the facilities are right for cycling. This is true for Denmark. Bicycle stands are available all around you. Bike paths, often separate from the main road, also cover much of the road network. The paths are also decent, and more importantly, they are cleared when it snows! All in all, cyclists have a good life here.

Of course, if there is a king, there must be a pauper. Well, car being cars, they probably come a close second to the bikes. This leaves pedestrians at the very bottom of the pecking order. Why do I say this? Well, let me just say this one point. You need to look out when crossing the road on a green light – because cars crossing your path probably have a green light too! Not a very comforting feeling now is it?

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Sometimes photographs can make things you see every day look new and interesting. That’s how I felt when I came across Anne-Kathrin Pries‘ pictures where she paints with light in Sønderborg.

I asked Anne-Kathrin a couple of questions about these photos:

How did you get the idea for these light photos?

I get inspired by other photographers. I saw some night pictures where they used a torch to paint/lighten up the foreground, and I tried that and was hooked. On Flickr.com I found other people from around the world who take lightpainting pictures.

The light photos you take have a very magical feel to them. How do you create them?

I take these pictures in a completely dark environment, preferably where there are no city lights.
I take a longetime exposure (keeping the camera lense open for a long time) which can take up to 10 minutes if it is dark enough and I walk into the picture with a light source while my camera stands on the tripod and captures the movement of my light.
First I started to paint with common torches but you can use everything that lights up. I found some toys like a Star Wars sword, which is very useful. I got some good results with steel wool too. It burns very brightly and can illuminate a big area.

Do you get these photos in one take or do you spend whole nights running around with saber swords and sparklers?

The most exciting part is that you never know how the picture will look like in the end. It depends on how much light is around or if it’s full moon, then you won’t have so much time for painting and when it is really dark you can often sit for hours and wait until the camera has collected enough light. The hardest part is to focus when it is dark, you can’t really do it … sometimes I spend hours and afterwards I find out that my picture isn’t sharp :-/. Another thing is you can’t really see what you paint or where in the photo you place your light… but after some time you get a feeling for it.

Which is your favourite photo and why?

It is this one. I used a bicycle light for that and this was my second try in painting people. It is really difficult cause you need to turn off the light, after drawing one arm, to go back and draw the head, and so on. It can easily turn into a big squiggle. For this couple I just needed only one try and it was perfect … I didn’t think I would get this.

One last thing, what’s you favorite place in Sonderborg and why?

My favorite place is this one. I love the water and the beach, I take most of my pictures there:-)

See more photos by Anne-Kathrin on her website or her flickr account.

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Every month visitsonderborg.com publish a quite extensive calendar of events for the upcoming weeks. May seems to herald in a whole range of festivals and flea markets, and this being spring makes it the perfect time to explore the surrounding countryside. These are the events that caught our eye, but you can have a look at the complete calendar here.

Festivals

During the first weekend (3-6) there is the Graasten market and music festival and the Nordborg city festival. From the 17th to the 20th of May it is the turn of Sonderborg to have its own city festival. There will also be the Rum Regatta in Sonderborg and Flensburg. Nøffelskov Festival then occurs on the 26th of May.

Flea Markets

Flea markets, known as ‘loppemarked’ in Danish, appear to be a favourite activity of Danes, with sports clubs and social associations organising them as a way raising funds for their organisation or charities. On the 14th, 21st and 28th there will be a flea market at `Den Røde Plads` (The Red Square) from 10am-5pm at Stationsvej 2, 6430 Nordborg.

Get Moving

You will probably find something to catch your eye this month, whether you are interested in long-distance running (100km Als Rundt Run on 17th of May) or shorter running distances (1864-run on the 27th of May). If you are interested in something more sedate there is Ladywalk on the 21st of May, or any number of countryside walks organised by Fodslaw as well as other organisations. You can also get a tour of Graasten palace and gardens on the 17th, 27th and 28th of May (though only in Danish or German).

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Sebbe Als is a ship built on a real Viking warship found in Roskilde Fjord. It spends the harsh days of winter in The Naust (a low building at the water edge) on Augustenborg Fjord, during which time it is repaired and repainted. Every spring it is then put back into the water and taken to it berth in Augustenborg harbour, where it is docked for the summer season. Below is our experience of launching Sebbe back into its natural environment.

9:20: We arrive at The Naust. “Pirate” Kim is already busy preparing the ground for Sebbe’s exit. We find the other group members in the back room having their breakfast.

9:40: The troops are gathered in front of the Naust. Steen, the chairman of the independent society that owns and operates Sebbe (and its sister ship Ottar, which was launched a week earlier) welcomed everyone and we started getting ready for putting the ship into the water.

The first task involved lowering the ship onto pieces of wood over which it could then be rolled the 10m into the water. This is necessary as the ship is raised on wood during the winter. A lot of rocking, moving and balancing is required at this stage, though not much effort on the part of the general troops.

10:05: Sebbe is ready to roll. All the troop are aligned on each side, one at each oar hole. We are ready to push, pull and tug Sebbe over the rollers and into the sea. “En, tooo, TRE!” says Steen. A lot of huffing and puffing. But Sebbe refuses to move. We try a couple more times, before a slight change of tactic gets Sebbe rolling.

10:20: Sebbe decided to stop moving. Plan B is required. This involves the use of a pulley system to help us push Sebbe into the water. The pulley is set up

10:30: Plan B is ready to be put into action. The troops are back on each side of the boat. “En, to, TRE!”. After a couple of false starts Sebbe starts to slowly make its way close to the water. Until the pulley system starts breaking down.

10:45: We revert back to Plan A. Sebbe is halfway out of the Naust and are ready to head down the slight slope. While using the changed tactics used earlier, where the back of Sebbe is levered upwards as we push, Sebbe slowly makes its way towards the water.

11:00: Success! Sebbe is in the water. The time it has taken this year appears to be close to a record. The larger number of people helping out certainly helped. Sebbe is tied to the bridge off to the left while we all get a well-deserved drink.

11:20: Although the big job of pushing the boat into the water is done we still need to put in the fittings, including the floor boards and the oars. While we were busy relaxing “Pirate” Kim had already started, and soon the rest of us go to work carrying things from the Naust to the boat, while others sweep inside the Naust.

12:30: Sebbe is all together now! Another well-deserved break for lunch that two of the members had gone off to buy for all the rest of us. As befits a Danish lunch we had rugbrod with different toppings (and cake, of course!).

13:20: There is only the last job of the day left: getting Sebbe to its “summer home” in Augustenborg harbour. As the mast will be put up in the harbour we need to row it over to its berth. We all take our places and rowed it we did.

13:55: Sebbe is in its berth. Our day of Viking work is over.

Sebbe is berthed in Augustenborg harbour next to her sister, Ottar. You can see both of them as you cross the road on the bridge dividing the harbour.

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When I first moved to Denmark I had driven Michael’s mum’s car a couple of times. However, so far I had never driven on my own (probably as Michael doesn’t trust me!). So when this week I had to drive to another work site for a meeting I was both excited and apprehensive.

The ‘Car’

Since this was a work trip I took a departmental car. I thought I would get a car, but no! I actually got a small van! My first time driving alone in Denmark, on the ‘wrong’ side of the road AND my first time driving a van. It didn’t help matters that the van was clearly not designed for short Mediterranean girls!

Lesson? Definition of a car is not universal!

The Motorway

Before moving to Denmark I had only driven back home in Malta. Now Malta being so small  means that we don’t have motorways (the national speed limit is 80 km/h). So this time was the first time driving on one for me! It wasn’t as harrowing an experience as I thought it would be. Being able to count the cars that passed by during my ‘motorway experience’ on my fingers probably helped.

Lesson? If you want motorway practice the new Sonderborg-Kliplev motorway is probably a good place to start!

The Fog

I was meant to drive the ‘car’ back to work in the morning. Just as my luck would have it,  we woke up to severe fog all around us. It was the worst fog I have seen so far. I was slightly heartened by the fact that in Sonderborg the visibility was at around 100m. Unfortunately things only got worst the further away from Sonderborg that I got, with visibility down to maybe 20-30m at most in some areas. It was my first time driving on this road, making things a bit more scary.

Lesson? Fog in the Sonderborg area can be quite bad. Be careful!

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