Odense Things to Do

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Sjaelland bridge / Sealand-bridge is the name of the giant bridge taking you from the island of Fyn to Sjaelland, that is the large island where you will find Kopenhagen and by another bridge even forth to Sweden.
That bridge was opened in 1998 and has a total length of 6700 meters, and the highest point of the street is 71 meters above the sea-level.
Driving on that bridge is no really a lot of fun, when it is windy and also, when you try to take pics, while driving, because you simply wont find parking-lots anywhere.
205 DDK / 28 Euros is the toll for an ordinary car
The return-ticket is 360 DDK / 39 euros between friday 02.00p.m. and sunday at midnight

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"Hans-Christian Andersen-village" is of course not the real name of this part of Odense, but it is the area around of the H.C. Andersen-museum and his house of birth and it exsisted already a long time before he was born there in 1805 in this part of the city. These buildings are in fact a lot smaller than ordinary houses and this surroundings might also have had some influence for the fairy-tales of Odense's most famous son.
The Hans Christian Andersen museum is open :
2 January to 15 June, Tue to Sun, 10.00 - 16.00
16 June to 15 August, Mon to Sun, 9.00 - 18.00
16 August to 30 December, Tue to Sun, 10.00 - 16.00
The museum is open on Feb. 12th+19th,
march 9th, may 28th, and oct.15th
The museum is closed on December 24th, 25th and 31st
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Admission is 60 DDK for adults
and children are free untill 17

The relics of Kong Knud IV(King Canute, 1043-1086, canonized 1101)

Illegimate son of King Sweyn Estrithson of Denmark. Nephew of King Knud of England. King of Denmark as Knud IV. Married to Adela, sister of Count Roberts of Flanders. Spread the gospel through his kingdom, supported missionaries, and built churches. Tried and failed to conquer England to press his claim to the throne which he saw as his through his kinship to his uncle, King Knud. Following his defeat, he fled to the island of Funen. Murdered with his brother and 17 followers while kneeling at an altar immediately following confession. Miracles reported at his tomb.
(source: www.catholic-forum.com--I sure hope I have identified the right person...)

I have not yet visited, but this is a village built by combining old houses from all over Funen into a great open air museum. Half timbered houses looking much like they did in H.C. Andersen's days. It is probably at its most fun in summer when there are animals all over and people demonstrating various handicrafts in the houses.

This museum, itself housed in a nice building, houses Danish art from various times. It was created in the 1880s to complement the capital's art museums and has done a good job, showing such famous artists as Juel, the Anchers and Kroyer along with more modern ones and local Funen stars.

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I have never been that keen on Andersen throughout my childhood, as I often found his stories too tragic. However, as far as interesting personalities go, I have become interested in him as an adult, and this is thanks to this museum. It is built in a park at the back of his presumed birth house (the yellow one) and here, you get his whole story, put in relation to what else was happening in the world at the time. There is also a library with all his books in all translated languages. It is a huge amount of languages and also includes a data bank where you can look for copies of the books. You also get a collection of Andersen sketches and travelogues as he was a keen traveller (although his poor English did not impress Dickens with whom he stayed for six weeks). You can follow his travels too, which is of course fun to a VT member as you see which were the cultural places in Andersen's days - much the same as today :) In the basement, there is a room dedicated to real Andersen gadgets and here, you will find the rope he always brought with him to be able to escape hotel fires, his hat and his bed amongst other things.

Adjacent to the museum is a house for children (see the travelogue) and there are also shops, both there and in the museum itself. The park outside sometimes has a stage in summer, where Andersen's stories are put up. Summer of 2005 was a bit special because of the Andersen jubilee, but then there was a medley of stories and the narrator (Torben Iversen) impressively kept track of both Danish, Swedish, English and German titles to explain what we saw.

Carl Nielsen is one of Denmark's most famous composers and the museum is dedicated to his life and works, but also to that of his sculptress wife Anne Marie. It has appropriately been opened adjacent to the Concert Hall in a new and ugly building but it fills its purpose inside. If you are interested in classical music, you can also visit Nielsen's childhood home in Årslev, just south of Odense.

Probably the building did not look the same at the time but it was here that King Knud of Denmark was slain on 10 July 1086 when he fled to Odense after a peasant revolt. His tragic death is said to have been followed by a number of miracles and poor harvests till the time he was canonised. His body is now buried in the crypt of the cathedral, which was named after him. The skeleton bears evidence of a lesion in the pelvic area, presumably caused by a club swung from behind, thus supporting the tradition that the king was killed while on his knees praying before the high altar.
Unfortunately, the church was closed and the plaque by the door was in Danish only, so I could only make out it was St. Albani Kirke, no more. A pity - the building looked so pretty and imposing at the same time.
Update: VT member Fillen claims that the murder took place in a different church, now non-existent as it burned down some time ago, situated between this church and the cathedral. This particular church is no more than a hundred years old, something I couldn't know, unable to read Danish. But in fact I did not say it happened in this building only on this site. Thank you, Fillen.