Wonderful Denmark

We had a tremendous turnout (Thanks goes to VSTE for their great promos) for our Denmark tour.

Our gracious host, Pach Voom, was a tremendous guide, as well as, a profound source of information for our tour of Denmark.

Pach began by telling us the history of the island. This island is not an actual city in Denmark, rather it is a recreation of a town from a popular Danish Television show called, Matador. The TV series was based on the game, Monopoly. It essentially details life in a typical Danish town between 1929 and 1947. (source: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Matador_(TV_series).

We began our tour at a main town center with tables and a place to get a free bike to tour. Pach told us that most people travel by bike due to the heavy taxes places on automobile use. The Danish, speak DANISH and not Dutch as many commonly believe. They have very few natural resources with the exception of some oil resources. Also, Greenland is part of the Kingdom of Denmark. (a little known fact)
Pach spent several minutes talking about the Danish education system which has a great deal of contrast to our American system. He told us that education from young to old is "free" in Denmark, including Colleges and universities. He mentioned that there is actually a system where many students get paid to attend colleges and universities by the government. He conveyed the Danish idea that "welfare" by Danish definition is a philosophy based around education rather than handouts.
He did discuss some of the drawbacks of the system, which were high taxation, and a very high dropout rate of males.

Also, mentioned briefly, was the concept behind the Danish health care system that is also socialized with "free" health care for all.

Although I had to step aside for a minute of the tour, Pach did relate the history of Denmark with their Viking and Medieval past of rugged seamen and explorers, to their medieval feudal system aligned with other European systems.

We then visited a church and were told that Denmark has a nationally sanctioned church. This is the Lutheran Church. Citizens are voluntarily taxed to support the church. Many churches are located close together to allow residents a common location and some security through close communication.



Lastly, we stopped at the harbor to discuss a main staple of Danish economy, the Fishing industry. Danes may come to the docks daily to collect fresh seafood right from the fishermen themselves, tax-free!

This was a fascinating tour and Pach was a very informative host and welcomed all of us back and offered friendship to all.

We were then given time to explore some of the other aspects of Scandinavia from Norway, to Swedend, and Finland.

I made it to Norway, but stopped there, as it was getting late and so many of us were overwhelmed by the great sights and facts from the tour.

This was a wonderful evening filled with facts and interesting information about the culture and history of Denmark.

Big thanks goes out to Serena for setting this up for us. She is an invaluable member of the group!!


Thanks Serena.

Spiff