Danish town in California
We've heard about the Danish town in California for a while, but never bothered looking it up. When planning this trip we finally did. The name is Solvang, and what do you know it's one of the places Jack and Miles visited in the movie "sideways ". Being big fans of the movie and lovers of small, quiet towns, we made Solvang the first stop of our road trip.
We had a late start, and by the time we pulled into town it was already dark. We quickly checked in at the Royal Scandinavia Inn and headed out to explore and find a place for dinner. The hotel is close to the town center and the town center isn't that big, so we just walked around. We immediately fell in love with the town. All buildings are Danish style, and several have windmills (probably not working) attached to them. There's just enough people walking on the streets, not too many so it feels crowded, and no
t too few so it feels likes a ghost town. We went in a restaurant called "Red Viking ". Their Danish sausages and meatballs are excellent. They even have a Viking helmet with big, big horns hanging on the wall, with some other Viking weaponeries like swords and axes.
When we were walking down the street after dinner, bells in a nearby church started to ring. I think they were playing a song but I can't remember which one.
Walking down the streets of Solvang we noticed something that you don't see very often in other U.S. cities: public toliets. We soon come to the conclusion that they are a convenience facility for the numerious liquor and wine stores around. To fit in the spirit we went to a liquor store and got some wine, thus started the signature activity of this trip :).
Back at the hotel we found that it has a heated pool! It was such a treat.