Idiosyncrasies of Denmark

After travelling around Denmark for just over a week there were a few things we noticed about the people and quirky things they do, which I would like to document so you don’t get too much of a shock if you ever decide to visit this great country.

1.    Mini Golf – the Danes don’t have a great deal of golf courses, but what they lack in this department they make up for in the miniature version. I cannot count the number of Mini Golf courses I saw over the 800 kms we travelled through Denmark. I guess this is why they don’t really have too many professional golfers, as their efforts are being focused on getting the little white ball around corners and through the swinging arms of miniature windmills.

2.    Ice Cream – I’m not sure if the Dane’s have a problem with soft or hardcore drugs, but from what I saw in the way they queued and consumed ice cream, they certainly have an addiction to this cold confection. Never have I seen queues so long for ice cream, or grown men eating it at a roadside layby at quarter to 8 in the morning. Claire even witnessed a man drive down to the wild camp spot we had in Svendborg, jump out of his car, get three ice creams and then drive off. How did he manage to drive the car with three large waffle cones in tow and were they all for him or was he doing a ice-cream run?

3.    Mobility Scooters – although I never saw a registration plate for any mobility scooters, it is obviously perfectly legal to drive these grey army-moving machines on open, public roads and highways. The amount of times we had to slow down to pass a mobility scooter on main roads was ridiculous! It is also perfectly legal to ride your two-wheeled moped/scooter on bike and pedestrian paths. It is quite a strange experience getting tooted out of the way by a screaming 50cc engine as your riding along a designated bike path minding your own business.

Mobility Scooter heading along the Hornbaek Coastline. With helmet in tow, this guy obviously had safety first. 

Not so safe Mobility Scooter-er on the highway to the Mon Cliffs. 

4.    Fluctuation Petrol Prices – the Dane’s have digital boards for all their service stations, which change by the minute (if not by the second)! We had been told that prices fluctuate quite frequently, but were quite shocked when we filled up our van at 9.85kr and then went to fill up our jerry can 2 minutes later to find that the price had now gone to 11.28kr! After we experienced this we realised why one Dane we held up at a Shell pay point was so anxious to pay and lock in his cheap fuel. Had we delayed any longer he may be paying significantly more.

5.    Graveyards are extremely well manicured – all graveyards that we passed in Denmark were manicured to the highest degree. Denmark itself is a very tidy and well kept country, however, they really come out in shine in the upkeep of their dead.