We're not in Denmark anymore, Toto!

Just a little update to say that I've left Scandinavia behind and am now in Hannover, Germany. These last few days in Odense were a mix of bike riding and relaxation. Odense takes its claim to fame as a cycling city, so we put its moniker to the test and went on a 6 hour bike ride around the city. The verdict: excellent biking infrastructure, interesting cycling campaigns, and truly immaculate parking facilities. They have lighted, music-filled underground parking at the train station-- way cool! The connectivity between the park systems was also really admirable. We went around numerous parks, weaving in and out between zoos, bridges, lakes, fountains and these really cool boats that looked like swans. Being in Odense gave me a few days to catch up on some of my sleep, and was an excellent close to my time in Denmark.

Our last day in Denmark was spent on the island of Ærø, whose claim to fame is being an island run almost entirely by renewable energy sources. We visited a solar water heating farm and the energy distribution center, where they burned wood pellets and straw as a backup system if they don't have enough solar energy. It was really exciting, but my favorite part was visiting and learning about their wind power. We visited some of their turbines and a speaker told us about the shareholder system that the 6,500 citizens of the town created and use to operate and manage their power. We went inside of a wind turbine-- which was a super exciting moment for all of us. Oh, and for the record: wind turbines do NOT cause a large amount of avian accidents and they do NOT sound terrible. I actually found their noise to be relaxing and peaceful.

Now I'm looking forward to our adventures in Germany! Our first night in Hannover has already been full of excitement. We found an outdoor roller disco, which makes me realize that roller blading never died... it just moved to Germany. Also, I tried German Bratwurst Sausage....and it was quite tasty! There goes my 5 year stint of vegetarianism. Oh well; when in Europe!

PS photo cred to Christina!