Is there any better souvenir than a piece of rav (amber)? (Photo courtesy of Sakena at Flickr, CC License.)

Hej! Hvordan går det? Hopefully, your answer is godt [got] (good)! 🙂 To many people, sommeren ([the] Summer) is a time for rejser [RYEsor] (travels). Maybe you even found your way to Danmark, to enjoy the byer (towns), strande (beaches) and øer (islands) of verdens lykkeligste land (the world’s happiest country)? Here are some souvenirer you may consider bringing home:

• LEGO. Even if you’re not a child, you’d certainly not miss the chance to fetch some LEGO bricks or figurines in their country of origin! In the Strøget [STROYeth] pedestrian street of Copenhagen there even is a whole store dedicated to the famous Danish toy, which got its name from leg godt (play well).

• Danish Design decoration figures. There are several of these, whose only ”function” is to make you relax or smile as you catch a glimpse of them in your room. There is for example the ”Hoptimist”, which is a funny face jumping on a fjeder (spring), and the famous abe (monkey) by the designer Kay Bojesen. (”Design-ish” souvenirs, unfortunately, most often fall outside of an ordinary backpacker budget…)

• any figure, t-shirt, cup and so on with Den lille havfrue (The Little Mermaid). Okay, for Danes, this has become a kind of  cliché. 🙂 Of course, if it’s your first time in the kingdom, it just might be the perfect memory. But please don’t run amuck with Danish symbols such as posters of dronning Margrethe and Danish-coloured vikingehjelme (Viking helmets) with two horns… 🙂 Fun fact: Did you know the Vikings didn’t actually have horns on their helmets?

Some decorative figures, including a ”Hoptimist”. (Please note that Transparent Language is in now way affiliated with the producer. The photo is courtesy of Armin Flickr at Flickr, CC License.)

• Dannebrog, the beautiful Danish flag, which you can get almost everywhere in a handheld paper edition. If you’re on Bornholm, you should also consider getting a Bornholm flag (like Dannebrog, but with green instead of white).

• an øloplukker (beer bottle opener) with some kind of Danish decoration. 🙂 Of course, if you’re into that kind of stuff, you should also bring back some bottles to open…

• if you visit Denmark during december, you should definitely consider buying a little nisse or two. 🙂

• danske bøger, blade, musik og film (Danish books, magazines, music and films). As a devout language-learner you definetely should do some culture shopping. Due to streaming, however, CDs and DVDs might be hard to find in smaller towns…

• H.C. Andersens eventyr (fairy-tales) – which can be found translated to many languages, including English.

Flødeboller. (Photo courtesy of Cyclonebill at Flickr, CC License.)

• things to eat. There are many Danish specialities you can easily carry with you, such as flødeboller (”cream puffs”), lakrids (liquorice), flæskesvær (pork crackling), ymerdrys (roasted rye bread crumbles mixed with sugar, used as topping on yoghurt and curdled milk).

• sten og muslingeskaller fra stranden (pebbles and shells from the beach). Try to find a nice flintesten (flint stone). If you’re really lucky, you’ll maybe find a real piece of rav [raoo] (amber). 🙂

Have you bought some interesting souvenirs in Denmark? Or is anything missing from the list? Please share in the comments section.