The Hirtshals Harbor is undergoing a total rebuilding, including the fish market, ferry and cargo ports, 
along with the aquarium (which was destroyed by fire in December 2003). 

We arrived at the Hirtshals Fish Auction at 7:00 AM and the auction was already underway. 
Registered wholesalers and local merchants bid on the day’s catch, which includes: virgin lobster, 
shell fish, small mackerel, large cod, and very rarely a tuna – some can weigh 250 kilos. 
Next year, the fish market will be rebuilt and the tourists will be separated from the buyers. 
Certainly that will not be as much fun for the tourists. As you can see, many observers were mingling 
with the bidders and Peg has selected her own fish for this evening’s meal.

Next on our agenda was the Color Line ferry company. 
The first ferry from Denmark was in 1896 to Christianson Norway as a postal run. 
Today there are nine ships in the Color Line fleet, ferrying between Denmark, Norway, 
Sweden and Germany. 
Today, the ferry ships are built for leisure sea voyages vs. simply transport from one port to 
the next and include entertainment, restaurants, duty-free-shops and overnight cabins. 
4.5 million passengers travel yearly on the Color Line. 
Katherine and Pete wait for the incoming ferry. 
And as you see in the next photo, some drivers need a caution sign when driving near open water.

Captain John Kristiansen gave us a tour of his ferry ship, which carries 2,000 passengers. 
Manual controls are required for arrival and departure and the Captain makes the final 
decision to cancel a trip when bad weather threatens safety. 
Peg looks out to the sea.

Port Captain Peter Larsen added information regarding modern day security. 
In the aftermath of September 11, the United Nations established rules for ships and port 
security to prevent unauthorized goods and services from being transported port-to-port.  
The Danish government quickly initiated these rules, plus additional steps to insure port security. 

During this segment of our tour we paused for the traditional Danish mid-morning snack of coffee, 
pastry, and as we very often enjoy with our hosts, Schnapps. 
Pictured is Ali, Kathryn, along with hosts, enjoying our mid morning refreshment.

Our next stop was the North Sea Museum. 
Pictured is Jen in the area with many open fish tanks. Jen is wearing her, 
“Oh my gosh I am surrounded by fish”, look.

At lunch we bad farewell to our Hirtshals Club hosts. 
Tomorrow we arrive at District Conference and on Sunday we begin a two-day stay at the Summer House. 
A place where the Team and relax and catch up on much needed rest, along with 
reorganizing our suitcases which have become a jumble of clothing, souvenirs, and papers.

This morning we had a tour of a school in Hjorring that houses only 10^th grade students. 
The school is optional in the Danish Educational System and its mission is to prepare students for 
high school, technical school or for the work force. 
There are 101 students and 15 teachers, which makes for a wonderful student – teacher ratio. 
It was quite obvious that the headmaster, Anni, has an insatiable passion for her school and her students.

With some time for shopping we met Per Larsen at his jewelry store, Hassing, 
After Per showed us the various collections represented in his store, including Georg Jensen along with 
Ole Lynggaard – the line that Per markets, a few of us bought some jewelry. 
This writer won’t divulge who on the Team purchased some beautiful jewelry!

We then walked to Hjorring Old Town Hall and met with Mayor Bent Brown. 
Bent has been Mayor since 1995 and he spoke about the importance of hosting international 
visitors in order to build friendships. 
The Kommunaldirektor (City Manager) talked about his responsibility to run the town like a 
business and to be fiscally responsible to write a budget and to spend tax  dollars  based on the money allotted. 
All money collected in taxes must be returned to the people. 
From the budget: Pension/unemployment/welfare/workers’ compensation makes up 25% of the budget,  
20% goes towards infrastructure, and  50% goes for social welfare and education.

The town has 30,000 citizens and the budget is $2 billion, all in tax revenue from the citizens 
of this jurisdiction. Unlike the U.S., Citizens have limited access to the City Council. 
During the preparation stage the committee or Council can ask citizens for input but citizens 
cannot attend the committee meetings. 
Citizens can attend a council meeting but cannot speak or ask for time to address an issue. 
The attitude is that the Council will make good decisions and if they have a question they will ask the people.    

After a late night settling in with our new host families, we started off on this day visiting the 
Hjorring Seminarium (teaching college). 
We became part of an English class and Professor Arne Sneskov utilized our English skills to 
motivate the students in conversation. We discussed the differences in a college education between 
Denmark and the United States. 
In Denmark grading is on a number basis staring at 3 (with 3 – 5 being a failure and 8 being the average) 
to 13 (with 13 being excellent).  Exams are standardized. 
While in the U.S. college grades are from 1 – 4 (with 3 being an average grade and 4 being equal to 
100% and the passing grade being somewhere around 2.5 depending on the school or on state requirements.) 
Additionally, Danish students receive 70 months of free college education during their adult life and receive 
a stipend from the government while in school, the amount of the stipend is based on the number of dependents. 
In the U.S., higher education is self-paid; however, scholarships from the university and various other organizations for students who excel plus students with financial or special needs are available. 
However, both Danish and American students take out loans and hold part-time jobs in order to meet their college expenses. 
Danish students frequently take a ‘gap’ year off before starting college while American students start 
college right from high school or they start later in life. 
Vibecke Toft Joergensen proved to be a great organizer for this school segment, including arranging 
for an interview and pictures with the local newspaper, the Nordjyske.

The Hjorring Disposal and Recycling Plant proved to be interesting and educational as we compared 
U.S. systems to the Danish. 
Lene Hogh, a former GSE team member, was our guide. 
We exchanged that in the United States each city or regional area handles their recyclables differently; 
various articles are recycled depending on the area, there is curb side collection and there are collections sites. 
The Hjorring center was fascinating. For general household waste, each household is entitled to 90 liters 
per week at an annual cost of 1,750.00 Krones, which includes the 25% vat tax. 
Additionally, recycling is required. Just about every item can be recycled, including: used clothes, 
electrical devices, appliances, business equipment and cars. 
2,000,000 Krones is generated annually in the store from the sale of recyclables. 
The town of Hjorring generates 200,000 tons of trash per year, 
of that amount 125,000,000 tons is recycled.  (One U.S. dollar = 5.9 Krone)
Six tons’ of collected household and industrial waste is burned per hour at 1,100 degrees Celsius. 
The heat generated from the burn is used to create electric and heat for the city’s hot water heating. 
The city has 40,000 residents and generates heat for 70% of the population. 

Rotarian Per Larsen gave us a tour of his fine jewelry production company. 
Per produces jewelry for the designer’s Ole and Charlotte Lynnggaard and he also markets the jewelry for them. 
After the design is formed by a wax casting by another company, the goldsmith removes the spruls (spurs), 
trims the item, sand blasts for a uniform polish, cleans the piece with cyanide, solders attachments as designed. 
The total process takes 25 minutes.   

The evening was spent with host families; most traveled to the sea (Atlantic Ocean) to watch the sun set.

This day started with a visit to the Sindal Kommune (Municipality) to meet with Jens Peter Moller, 
the Community Director. 
Jens Peter shared that in 1966, seven parishes merged to form this municipality of Sindal. 
Plans are now under way to merge all municipalities into larger areas known as Regions. 
A Region must be at least 30,000 people. 
During the past several years Denmark has changed its philosophy from the one started in the 1970’s, 
where the government is responsible to provide to its citizens and to equalize the lives of all through taxation. 
The new culture says that we should be responsible for your own lives and not expect the government to provide for everything. 
Jens Peter is currently in negotiations with the employees and the employees are requesting more money. 
However, taxes are capped, they can’t be raised, and it is not the country’s practice to borrow money through bonds. 
The Danes feel that it is crazy to borrow money and then have to spend tax dollars on the interest owed.  
So the only answer is to cut costs in order to find extra money.

Our second visit was to ScanBeech where we were greeted by Mads H. Jensen, Managing Director. 
Mads shared that the previous company filed for bankruptcy, Mads who started with the business in 1976, 
bought the business along with nine other employees.  
The mission of this new company, ScanBeech,, is to perform maintenance on aircraft components, 
especially Beechcraft aircraft. 
The ten new employees have 22 types of certifications between them. 
We also learned that every piece of a repaired and inspected piece of equipment must be certified. 
As a side note, while the body on older aircraft were covered originally in fiber, they are now covered in 
aluminum which is riveted to the skin of the plane for flexibility.

We finished out the evening by giving a GSE presentation at the Sindal Club. 
Visiting Rotarians from the  Hjorring Club liked us so much that they stole us away from Sindal 
and took us home with them. Thus we are spending the night with our fourth host families. 
Stay tuned for tomorrow as we get to know the Hjorring Club.

Our second and last day with the Sindal Rotary Club began with a visit to the Roblon Company. 
With the motto of “From traditional products to new technology”, this company began in 1954 by 
using left over parachutes from World War II to make fishing nets. 
Today they manufacture fiber optics and have three divisions: Engineering, Industrial Fiber 
for the communications industry, and Fiber Optics for illumination including outdoor, indoor, and decorative.

Following another yummy Danish lunch with a first course of fish and cheese and second course of beef, 
fish cakes and pickled beets, we visited the Center for Sen Hjerneskadede, a rehabilitation facility for individuals 
with traumatic physical and cognitive brain damage. Bente guided us through the facility. 
The clients are taught to reach their maximum level of functioning so that they can return to their own homes.

Next on the tour, the Mosbjerg Agricultural Museum originally belonged to a large manor house. 
In 1803 the farm house and related buildings, which today is the museum, was sold to a group of farmers. 
Additionally, the Charles Bernard Nielsen family built a farmhouse in 1914; in 1977 the house was moved 
to the Museum location. Today two-to-three day school programs, along with day visitors, 
learn how farms operated and how families lived in the early early1900s.

We also walked the Prehistoric Path which led us to grave mounds from the beginning of the Iron Age, 
50 BC – 50 AD. The sites were identified because of the layout of the stone and the human teeth that 
were found in the grave areas. Kathryn’s nature lesson for the day was learning that when you walk 
down a hill you must walk back up the hill on the return trip.

After a quiet dinner with our host families we visited the old church and the new church in the town of Sindal, 
which means Sun Valley. 
The original old church was built in 1200. 
As the story goes, when an old pastor died, a new young pastor could be appointed to the available 
position by marrying the ‘old’ widow of the dead pastor. 
We also learned that in Denmark, the Parliament makes the laws for the Lutheran Church of Denmark.

Day 9: Packed our bags and went to Karl and Helena’s for a breakfast send-off.  
I walked threw the door and was greeted by the news: my Day 7  report had not made it…..
Karl set me upon his computer and I redid Day 7 while everyone ate breakfast. 

After successfully emailing it in, Karl showed me day 8 on the site.  
Everyone laughed at the graphic web master Finn had put on it.  
After a skål and a bite, our new hosts, Sindal Rotary Club, picked us up and dropped us off at our new homes.  
I am staying outside of Sindal at H.C. and Karens home.  They gave me a tour of their property with 3 bee houses, vegetable garden, 21 sheep and manicured back yard with a vimpel.  

I have seen them in every town we have visited so far and found out they are originally from Holland.  They are a long narrow flag in the national color and is Danish tradition to fly them to show that there is someone at the house. They came from ships to show wind direction.  
After the house tour, we had lunch and got to learn about our new hosts.  
 

Then to the Eagle Reservation.  We saw and touched falcons.  Especially neat was the Peregrine falcon which is a hunting bird since 1006.  It is the fastest animal on earth and clocks in at 3-400 mpg.  The falcon is natural to Denmark and has come back from near extinction.  At the reserve they train the falcons in the classical falconer way with thick gloves, leather hoods, bells, and lures.  We also saw a Sea Eagle soar in the air. A majestic sight.  

A quick stop at a handmade glass shop then to Ole Krogsgaard’s farm.  
The farmhouse dates back to 1740-1745.  It has been completely renovated keeping the original woodwork but adding modern conveniences and decorative touches. 

The farm grows mostly grass seed to export to different countries. Not so long ago the farm employed many people but now with modern machinery  (John Deer & New Holland) it only takes a few men. 

 There were group photo’s and Pete offered to carry the girls home as our feet had had a long day.  

Dinner and much needed sleep before our next adventure. 

Kathryn Pearce