According to Wikipedia, Solvang was founded by Dutch educators in 1911 and most of the city features traditional Danish architecture. There are also many restaurants, bakeries and shops offering Danish and other Scandinavian fare. Most of the movie "Sideways" was also filmed here.
One of the first things we saw upon entering the city limits was the Viking Motel:
One of the first things we saw upon entering the city limits was the Viking Motel:
This pretty much fits right in with the Danish theme. However, the entrance to the motel caught my attention...
Now, I'm no scholar but as far as I know the Vikings never made it to China during their years of pillaging. How exactly do the two Foo Dogs guarding the entrance to the Viking Motel equate to anything remotely Viking, Danish or Scandinavian? And no, I don't think the fact that they're white qualifies.
We were both very hungry by the time we got to Solvang so we decided to have lunch at the Heidelberg Inn.
I had the Bratwurst (they also serve German food) Sausage Plate.
Being the amateur foodies that we are, my wife always likes to take pictures of our dishes right before we dig in. She understands that the presentation is also part of what makes food great.
With this in mind, I had planned on taking a picture of the sausage plate once it arrived. I was unfortunately thwarted by two things : my hunger and my bad memory.
As you can see, the meal was quite good. Sadly, my wife will have to imagine a whole sausage and a few more potatoes. I added the mustard right before I started eating.
Now, since I will probably make a return trip here with my wife, it was important to test out the other things Solvang had to offer...
In keeping with the Danish theme, I decided on a cheese danish.
Rick had apparently saved a substantial amount of room for dessert and had a blueberry danish and a raspberry danish. A double taste of Denmark.
After enjoying these pastries we walked around to check out the scene. It was a sunny day and it was busy with tourists from all over the world (we heard at least five different languages spoken besides English). Overall, Solvang is a nice place to visit with good food and interesting sights. And did I mention the windmills?
No comments:
Post a Comment