Day 16, Sat, Oct 12, Solvang...

Saturday, October 12th, was a day I looked forward to for a long time. We lived in Sunnymead, California when first married. I learned of Solvang then. We never visited it. So it went to our bucket list. 

Solvang is a Danish community complete with windmills, Danish bakeries, the Little Mermaid, a Hans Christian Anderson museum and the list goes on. It was founded by three Danish men who came to America, tried to settle in a colder climate, then moved and purchased land in California. The city of Solvang, which means Sunny Fields in Danish, began and continues to this day. Claude is of Danish ancestry making this more fascinating to see.

We opted for no breakfast until we got to Solvang. The drive to Solvang was along the PCH (Pacific Coastal Highway), then north on Hwy 154. The scenery was stunning. The color of that lake was unbelieveable.

We found one of three public parking lots. These lots are all free. I chose this one as it was close to the center of activity. As we left the parking lot, we found a great sign to start our journey. 

From here, we could see Mortensen's Bakery. Yeah. Breakfast. We each got a Danish and a beverage. Claude got cinnamon. I got cream cheese.

This cute little bench was in front of a children's clothing store.

This is my Great Dane by the flag of Denmark.

This is the Solvang flag that are all along the streets of Solvang.

Time for second breakfast. We passed another bakery with sign out front.

Aebleskiver is a traditional Danish dessert. When studying to prepare for our Solvang visit, I read about this dessert. I understood it was made for special occasions. I was not sure we would even come across it. Here was a sign saying they sold it. I went inside and found out a lady was making some right then. She was behind a glass window. I was invited to watch her. I called to Claude to join me for this experience. She makes a waffle like pancake and then forms it into a ball. We decided to try them for second breakfast. They are served with your choice of toppings. We opted for raspberry jam. This is the most traditional way in Denmark. It was delicious.

A sign on the side of Copenhagen House a sign stated there was a Viking and Amber Museum inside. Both piqued my interest. Outside Copenhagen House were the statues of three men. These are the founders of Solvang. 

We went in and paid the $5 per person to enter. 

First, The Viking Museum: It was small, only two rooms, but packed full of artifacts and history.

Claude sitting between two Norse gods, Freyr and Tyr.

Holger Danske

Snorri, a Viking Ship. I did not realize until right up on it that there is a body laying in it. 

Odin

Ragnarr Lodbrok

Killing of the Spear and Sword was a tradition, not only with Vikings, but a Celtic and Anglo-Saxon tradition. The sword (or spear) was heated and bent beyond possible use again. Then it was buried with its owner. This may have been thought to be restored in the afterlife with its owner. It may have also been done to prevent grave robbers. 

Odin's Ravins and Thor's Hammer imprinted on jewelry.

Golden Horns

Viking Names

Viking Swords

The Berserker 

Favorite Viking Weapons. Note the bottom portion lets us know they didn't really wear horns on their helmets!

Sweyn Forkbeard 

Vikings and Magic

Viking Shield Maiden

Second, The Amber Museum: Again two mall rooms with lots of information.

As you enter this tiny museum, you see busts of the Danish Royals who have visited Solvang.

Then you enter another small room that is the Amber Museum. 

Back to the street, we had an hour till time for our trolley tour. We decided to walk up and and down Copenhagen Drive. We first encountered a couple playing accordions. Is this a possible future course of employment for Claude and me?

Back to the place to catch our trolley. I purchased our horse-drawn trolley tour tickets in August. It turns out the driver who knows how to guided horses thru the streets of Solvang decided to go to Japan. No driver means no horse-drawn trolley tours. Our tickets would be used on a motorized trolley. 

On several of the buildings I saw cranes. These are there for good luck.

There are several buildings with real thatched roofs. Notice the cross-pieces on top. This is the traditional way to build a thatched roof in Denmark. Other buildings in Solvang have these cross-pieces even though their roofs are not thatched.

This is one if the original homes in Solvang. Only the windows have been replaced.

This tree is 100 years old. Note how they built the road around it.

It is very cold in Denmark in the winter. Homes were built like this so the family living quarters were in the middle. The large sides housed animals.

Back to our walking the streets of Solvang. We walked Mission Street. It is the main thoroughfare. This building has a Subway. Solvang does not have fast food establishments. Well, there are two exceptions. A Subway and a Domino's Pizza. These were requested by Michael Jackson. Go figure.

This building has brickwork in patterns with colored bricks. We were told the Danes love brickwork laid out in in patterns. They also apparently loved the color yellow. 

See the little house on the lower right corner of the roof eave. We saw several of these around town. Turns out they once we're speakers that played music and announcements were made over them. Now they are a novelty for which one can search.

We visited the Book Loft. Upstairs is a small museum about Hans Christian Andersen. 

Across Mission Drive, is the Little Little Mermaid statue. We saw the one in Copenhagen, Denmark. It was fun to see this smaller on right here in the United States. We saw the real Little Mermain statue in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

We turned down Alisal Street and found the oldest Danish bakery in Solvang. They are on their fourth generation of bakers!

Of the four windmills in Solvang, this is the only one you can pay to enter.

We turned back down Copenhagen Street to find a place for our big meal of the day. We decided on the Red Viking Restaurant. I found it interesting we ate at the Red Raven Restaurant in Williams. Now we would try the Red Viking. This is the oldest restaurant in Solvang. 

They have traditional Danish fair. We opted for the open-faced sandwich for dinner. Claude's (top) was the Frikadellar and Sandi's (bottom) was Danish Tislet Cheese. This is Havarti cheese. Yum!

Another Danish bakery was next door. Above their door near the roof was a pretzel with a crown over it. This means Danish royalty visited this establishment. 

We crossed the street to get a taste of real Danish chocolate. One piece each. 

The large red clog is outside a shoe store. Many children have had their pictures taken in or by this shoe.

We decided to head back to Ventura for the evening. For the drive back, we drove west out of Solvang and found Highway 101 South. This would take us back to the PCH. We would travel back along the ocean. We passed strawberry fields being harvested.

There was an In and Out Burger next to our hotel. Claude needs to eat a little something with meds in the evening. We walked over so he could have his first In and Out Burger. He pronounced it very good.