Spontaneous Aarhus adventure with child + 3 great museums

Dear Ones! Happy 2020 and a happy, healthy new year for you and your families. The whole Kleine Prints team wishes you a lot of photo love and only the best for this year. Because you love it so much, ours Founder Eva sat down again at the beginning of the year and summarized a small travel report for you. This time it's about an unexpected family trip to the beautiful Danish city of Aarhus. Enjoy your little trip with Eva:

Aarhus - little Copenhagen (?)

I am very happy that my travelogues so well received by you. Today I would like to tell you about our short trip to Aarhus / Denmark in the autumn holidays 2019. And on this little trip, the story of how we came to our destination in the first place is worth telling ... So: How did we come to go to Aarhus? We were on Bornholm during the autumn break and had originally planned to go to Copenhagen for a few more nights towards the end of the holiday. We originally wanted to go camping on Bornholm, but that was way too cold for me, so we moved to an Airbnb pretty quickly. We had originally made a reservation at a campsite for Copenhagen, but after the Bornholm chill experience I wasn't really up for it. So I was looking for alternative accommodation in Copenhagen as well. Well, but a week before arrival, and during the autumn break, to find nice, affordable accommodation in Copenhagen is ... uh, to say the least: Difficult! And that's how we came across Aarhus, which is also called "little Copenhagen". For Aarhus we have a nice place to stay found by a pretty nice (and handsome, hehe) Dane named Morten. The apartment was pretty small, but functional, super cozy and beautiful. Also very centrally located. An absolute stroke of luck, especially when you consider our spontaneous decision, and I felt very, very comfortable there!

Three days, three museums

So our planned Copenhagen camping turned into a cozy "3 days Aarhus - 3 museums" trip. I thought the city of Aarhus was okay, but to be honest, I didn't really discover "little Copenhagen" in it. For me it is not a comparison and Aarhus is not a "must see" either. But when you're in the corner, it's definitely worth a detour. I can imagine that Aarhus is even cooler and more beautiful in summer, as there are many places where you can probably hang out by the water. In autumn, however, the three museums were more attractive for us than chilling out outside.

Modern museum in Aarhus: The ARoS

First we were in ARoS, a very modern museum. There you can find, among other things, the well-known "Your rainbow panorama " by Olafur Eliasson, one of my absolute favorite artists! I try to look at every exhibition of his that I can somehow take with me because I think his installations are super cool. He does a lot of art in space with optical illusions, reflections and so on. In the ARoS there is not only the Rainbow Walk by him, but also other pieces in the permanent exhibition. Another highlight in this museum for me is Ron Muecks huge Wax sculpture boy. A visit is definitely worth it and you can easily spend half a day or more there. Overall, there are many exciting, modern exhibits there, but the visit is also worthwhile for the Rainbow Walk itself. In the ARoS there is also a nice café with healthy, delicious food, where we had a very good lunch, and a nice museum shop.

A story you can touch: Den Gamle By

In the historical open-air museum "Den Gamle By" Different epochs of contemporary history are shown using replicas. There are original houses and apartments that you can enter and marvel at yourself. This is really history you can touch! One area deals with life in Denmark before 1900 - historical Danish houses from the 16th to 19th centuries are shown. Another area is dedicated to Denmark in the 1920s and the third area shows life in Denmark in the 1970s. For each of the epochs shown, there are also actors in historical costumes who walk around in the individual exhibitions, depicting the life of the respective time and also telling interesting facts. For example, there was a pastor, an old woman, maids cooking and so on. It was really cool and exciting to watch people. It's a great thing, especially for children! There are also cafes and grocery stores in Den Gamle By that sell things that were roughly what you could buy in the respective era. For example, you can buy pastries based on ancient recipes in a bakery or go to a typical café from the 1970s. Den Gamle By is just great fun and you should definitely plan enough time and breaks when you visit it because it is mega big. You can easily spend a whole day there and discover an incredible amount! So an absolute recommendation for Aarhus. The downside of this great museum: the actors only speak Danish and English, no German. Understandable and not a problem for us adults, but of course it wasn't perfect for our daughter Lotta (7). She probably would have liked to speak to the actors directly, but in this case that was only possible with translation. Ideally, you will visit this museum with children who already understand at least a little English.

Exciting human history in the Moesgaard Museum

The Moesgaard Museum is still relatively new and is a bit outside of Aarhus. It shows the life of people in the Stone Age, Bronze Age, Iron Age, Viking Age and the Middle Ages. A highlight of the museum is a bog body that was found in Denmark. A very exciting exhibit, in my opinion, similar to the Ötzi we have in Bolzano have looked at. The Moesgaard Museum really sets new (and extremely high!) Standards for museums as a whole. It is very, very elaborate and the construction itself is mega impressive. In the entrance hall there are wax figures from different eras that look totally real. (You can stand next to it and take photos, like at Madame Tussaud's.) Well, and the exhibitions themselves are just great. There are many interactive exhibits to discover, with sounds, smells, images, videos and installations. A lot to touch, press and experience, so perfect for children. I liked the Iron Age and Stone Age there best. We deliberately did not look at the Middle Ages with Lotta because it is very dark and a lot with witches, death and such. That would have been a bit too much for our daughter. The museum is generally rather dark and slightly creepy, which makes the visit even more exciting and was also ok for Lotta. In the Middle Ages, parents have to assess individually whether it is okay for their own child or not. Overall, the Moesgaard Museum is definitely an absolute recommendation if you are in or near Aarhus! Maybe my little report made you want to visit Aarhus. If so, have fun there! If you are in the mood for more travel ideas, have a look at my article about ours Morocco vacation or about ours fantastic road trip 2018 past.

Would you like more exciting, photo-loving stories?

At Kleine Prints there is more than just that magical photo products for children and families, but also great blog articles and newsletters about the beautiful, turbulent life with children. Would you like to be entertained regularly and also get a 10% welcome discount? Then sign up now for our newsletter. The Kleine Prints team looks forward to seeing you!

Photo credits: All pictures are from Nils Elsner and Eva Malawska privately