Odense, Denamrk

Visited in October 2018

Autumn is not exactly the most popular time of the year to travel. I used to tend to travel during early summer or during the holidays because those were the only times I can take time off from work. When I became a freelancer, I was able to travel during off-peak seasons. There are definitely pros and cons to travelling during autumn. Pros: overall the cost for flights and accommodations are more affordable, and way less crowds at popular tourist sites. Cons: more businesses are closed or become more limited due to lower numbers of tourists, and the weather is more unpredictable. In October 2018, I went to Denmark for a couple of weeks. This was my second visit to Denmark. My cousin was working in Copenhagen at the time, so I was lucky enough to have had a place to stay at. It was significantly more cold than the first time I visited the Danish country in September 2017.

During the weekdays, most shops were closed. Perhaps it was because I was there during the week of their fall holiday. I spent a few days travelling west and north of Copenhagen since I've visited most of the tourist areas already during my trip. Odense was one of small city I did as a day trip. It is known as one of the oldest cities in Denmark, and the birthplace of Hans Christian Andersen. There were footprints on the streets that led you to all the key places associated to the famous writer's life. By following this path, I got to see the streets of Odense lined with colour houses, including the house where Andersen was born in!

As I walked into the heart of the city, I started noticing that many people were dressed in black robes... It was quite strange at first... As I wondered further into the shopping areas, there were many children and young adults dressed undoubtedly as wizards and witches!! Guess what? It was some sort of Harry Potter festival happening! The shops were all decked out in Halloween-esque decor. One of the back alleys I walked through had smoke machines for the extra spooky effect. Honestly, it felt like I was in the "real" Diagon Alley more so than THE Diagon Alley at Universal in Orlando, Florida. The vibe was very on par with the magical and exciting world of Harry Potter, so on par that it might have been a bit too overwhelming when I saw all the children playing quidditch at Kongen Have...

This entry was published on November 2, 2020.