Fri, 18 Jul 2003

author Tim	location Billund, Jutland, Danmark
posted 09:45 19/07/03 CEST	section Europe2002/Europe/Danmark/Danmark 1 ( all photos )

Legoland ( 57 photos )
(Continued from Deutschland 1)
Liz powered Rosie along what had suddenly turned into horrible rainy motorway - was this a sign of things to come in Scandy? The new country we had found as Danmark (or Denmark).
We rounded the city of Kolding, and headed off through the back roads, winding our way towards Mecca for so many children - proper Danish Legoland, just outside of Billund.
We found a place to park but were not quite sure how to get out again. Trusting the gods of Lego, we wandered over to the park entrance where we noticed they had thoughtfully placed a cash machine. I say thoughtful because Denmark does not use the Euro, preferring to dictate its own monetary policy for fear of being swept under the carpet by the stronger nations (only 5.5 million people here versus about 85 million on Deutschland alone). As such, we withdrew some Danish Krone and joined the first of many queues to buy a ticket to get in.
The rather steep price was offset by the fact that all the rides and things were included, but to be honest we would have preferred a cheaper ticket and to pay for the rides, most of which we avoided like the plague due to their huge queues.
Here's a fun game - can you spot the tourist?
The place is divided into lots of zones - Pirates, Castles, etc. Most of the place was a complete waste of time and space. Of mild interest was the Power Builder - a ride where you can program how you want it to twist you around yourself, then you get in and it behaves accordingly. Opting not to join the immense queue, we instead headed towards the exit, thinking by now that we should have taken everyone's advice and avoided the place.
But, the fat lady had not yet sung - we still had to exit past Miniland. This is where it all started, before they built the rest of the garbage to suck the kiddies in. This part of the park was absolutely fantastic. Think entire villages, towns, famous landmarks, all re-created with thousands of man-hours and millions of Lego bricks. Trains which ran on tracks, only to stop while a bridge opened and boats went under, before resuming on their journey between three or four of the different displays underfoot. Airports with moving planes and baggage being loaded. Cars which drove around the place on their own (not quite sure how yet - magnets?). Interactive exhibits where you could fire water cannons, take movies in Hollywood, race drag racing cars and lots of other stuff. I say give us a cheaper ticket where we can wander around this part for the day and forget the rides.
By now the crowds had thinned, so I whinged like a little kiddy until Liz came with me on the Lego Train, Lego Monorail and Lego Mining Train. We then found where the crowds had gone in the overly-packed shop, where we resisted spending up big on bricks, instead grabbing a few little token things to remember the place, before fighting stroller-weilding families for the exit.
We had been given a ticket to get out of the carpark, and from there it was a short drive to Billund Camping, where, after fourty-five minutes wait in the slowest queue I could have possibly picked, we were booked in. Dinner was cooked and bed was constructed.

author Tim	location Billund, Jutland, Danmark
posted 09:43 19/07/03 CEST	section Europe2002/Europe/Deutschland/Deutschland 1 ( all photos )

Kiel and Flensburg ( 5 photos )
We set out north, destination Danmark. This took us through Kiel where we stopped for our last naughtly McDonalds stop while we could still afford it.
Onwards North, we found cheap-ish fuel in Flensburg, before passing through the rather intimidating border into Danmark.

(customised)