Tour Report: Zoological Museum "Animal House"

The last location we explored on our 2019 Christmas tour of Denmark was an abandoned zoological museum. I had been tipped off about this place and told that there wasn't much left to see.

We found the location on a lonely country road in the middle of Denmark. There was one house on each side of the road. As there were no neighbors in the vicinity, we parked directly on site.

We first took a look at the smaller of the two buildings. Hanging out of an open window was a pelt that had probably once belonged to a badger. The door was open so that we could easily enter the house.

Inside, we found all sorts of things: animal skins and bones, wood, straw, jars of chemicals - and business documents. These showed that a taxidermist had worked in the house. He apparently not only made the specimens for the zoological museum, but also for private customers.

The lion we found was particularly impressive. The fur was on the first floor, but in the attic we found the almost complete frame made of wire and straw.

Equally interesting were the many empty jars of chemicals, mostly phenol and arsenic trioxide. Both are or were used in embalming and taxidermy.

After we had fully explored the taxidermist's house, we simply walked across the street. The building opposite housed the so-called zoological museum.

Unfortunately, there wasn't much left to see there because, on the one hand, a large part of the collection was sold after the museum was closed and, on the other hand, the vandals or local teenagers have of course already struck.

So the “cages” were empty with the exception of a few decorations - but you could still see that someone had obviously put a lot of effort into the museum's layout.

As it was already relatively late in the afternoon, I only took my cell phone with me to take photos. But I should be back a few weeks later for another visit, so stay tuned!

To find out about the history of the place and to check out all the photos, click the button below.

Tour Report: Farmhouse "Henry"

After discovering and photographing the farmhouse with all the beautiful vintage cars, we made our way to the second location on our 2019 Christmas tour.

In this case, too, I had been given a tip that there were some beautiful old cars on the property. Plus, the place wasn't too far away from the first spot, so we only had to drive for about thirty minutes to get there.

The nearest residential buildings were far away, so we were able to park conveniently right next to the location.

The old farmhouse consists of a residential building connected at right angles to two farm buildings. Opposite is a large barn. The residential building was completely empty and didn't really offer any good photo opportunities, nor did the two farm buildings, which were in a terrible state of disrepair inside.

The barn didn't make a spectacular impression from the outside either: there was a lot of garbage lying around outside the barn door, the walls were thin and shaky, and the roof didn't make the best impression either.

On the other hand, it was very easy to get in because the barn door was slightly open, so we only had to climb over the garbage to get in.

Inside we found... vintage cars!

Most of the cars were Ford models. I particularly liked the Ford Taunus XL and the Ford Taunus Coupe GT from the early 1970s. These models are also known as the “Knudsen Taunus” due to the characteristic protrusion in the radiator grille, named after the former chairman of the board Semon E. “Bunkie” Knudsen.

In addition to the “Knudsen-Taunus”, we also found other representatives of the Ford family: a Ford Escort from the 1980s and a British Ford Thames 400E van.

Another little treasure was the Renault 8 (R8 for short), which probably dates from the mid-1960s.

Less spectacular were the two Daihatsu Charades from the 1980s.

To check out all the photos from this amazing place, click the button below.

Tour Report: Farmhouse "Oldtimer"

It was our 2019 Christmas tour - and what great Christmas presents we received that day!

Together with my mother and mother-in-law, we went on a little day trip to Denmark. I had been given a few tips on very interesting and promising locations that we really wanted to see - but we had no idea what to expect.

The first location we went to was an abandoned farmhouse about 250 kilometers from our hometown. According to the information, there were supposed to be “a few old cars” there.

As is so often the case in Denmark, the house was in the middle of the countryside, so there was no public parking lot nearby. Parking “inconspicuously” a little further away also seemed pointless, as four people with photographic equipment walking along a lonely backcountry road in Denmark on Boxing Day would have been conspicuous in any case.

So we opted for the audacious option and parked directly in the driveway. As soon as we parked, we spotted a sky-blue old Opel Olympia Rekord from the 1950s - so it was a very promising start.

When we turned the corner to get to the two barns, we were in for another surprise: there were several Volvos in various stages of disrepair in the yard - including cars from the PV and Amazon series - as well as a Mercedes Coupe from the W123 series.

But that was by no means the end of the story.

We entered the first of two barns. It was full of Volvos. So full, in fact, that it was almost impossible to move around inside, making it difficult to take photos.

The models were exclusively from the PV and Amazon series - a total of more than ten vehicles, some of which were in surprisingly good condition.

The second barn was even bigger. When we entered it, we were greeted by a huge amount of scrap metal. This was also mostly car parts, but also building materials as well as motorcycles, bicycles and parts thereof.

We also found “several” classic cars in this barn - the highlight was a Mercedes from the 170 series, presumably a 170DS, of which only just under 13,000 were built between 1952 and 1953.

We found another Mercedes from this series, or rather the rest of it, which was barely recognizable as such, a little further back in the barn - next to a BMW 2000CS, an NSU Prinz and other cars. We couldn't even photograph some of the cars as they were buried under too much garbage and material.

In total, we found around 30 classic cars on the property - an incredible collection!

The farmhouse itself was locked and apparently completely empty, so we were able to make our way directly to the next location after enjoying the sight of the rusty beauties once more.

At that second location, more vintage cars were waiting for us...so stay tuned!

To check out all the photos from this amazing place, click the button below.