Lego is one of the most successful and best known Danish companies (other very successful Danish companies are less of a household name, such as the shipping giant AP Maersk-Moller).
Lego's headquarters are located in Billund and this where the first "Legoland" theme park opened in ... 1968!
Having heard that the city of Billund itself is not particularly scenic, we chose to drive there in the morning from Vejle (about 40 km away).
The venerable age of the park is likely part of why, as theme parks go, this Legoland is quite unlike the big US parks in Florida and California (there are 8 Legolands in total).
The park occupies a much smaller area than a US theme park would, and a large part of it is dedicated not to vaguely themed joy rides but rather to what Lego is famous for, building miniature scenes.
The scenes are choke-full with breathtaking detail and make you feel like you are visiting cities and landscapes from Northern Europe in a helicopter
A large part of the model vehicles (yachts and ships, trains, trucks, cars and even planes) are nicely aimated and you can watch their mesmerizing back and forth for hours on end.
A miniature quarter of Amsterdam, built with tens of thousands of Lego bricks
This is a miniature of the port of Bergen, in Norway
As far as rides go, though, most seem to be targetting younger children but we did enjoy the elevated monorail that allows one the get an even better view of all the miniature scenes built with Lego bricks
To cater to a slightly older audience, there's a "Nintendo booth" with free console games and also a small yet nice aquarium to visit
Playful Lego figures decorate the inside of the water tanks
... and you can crawl under the tanks and enter "observation bubbles" which allow visitors to enjoy the fish at much closer range
For teens and older children there also a track for electric karts that is laid out not for racing but rather as a city grid, complete with crossings, with either "give way" markings or traffic lights
After driving mindfully for about 20 minutes, without crashing (in as much as possible) the children get a "driving licence" which made both my girls quite happy
Overall, you can expect to spend about six to eight pleasant hours and your children to be rather reluctant to leave ...
In the evening, we drove back to Vejle where our hotel was located and, because it was her birthday, the younger one chose "sushi" for dinner ...
... but like most non-japanese kids she's not a big fan of raw fish, so these were "fried shrimp rolled in rice" makis rather than proper sushi ...
Having found a very good bakery, we enjoyed a birthday chocolate cake as well
Next morning, before leaving the Jutland peninsula and heading to Odense on the Funen island, we toured the small city of Vejle
the pedestrian zone in the city center of Vejle
... got closer to the "Fjordhus", built on the water of the fjord, ...
... and to the beautiful condominium complex called "The Wave", where residents can enjoy breakfast on sun-bathed balconies facing the calm waters of the fjord (I woldn't mind retiring there) ...
Next stop will be Odense, the third biggest city of Danemark and home of famous author H.C. Andersen.