OY-9797 birthday, celebrated in Skælskør

My OY-9797 turned 2 years on the 23rd April. Time flies! I had a glass of pilot’s champagne (sparkling water) before going for a flight:

Last year I celebrated with my club mates, DanAero (who delivered the aircraft), champagne and a custom-made cake. This time I just wanted to have a flight and see something new, I haven’t experienced yet. Så I chose Skælskør, a small town in the southwest corner of Zealand. I could get there with a taxi from Korsør airfield:

Flemming joined both the flight and the celebrations:

We landed in Korsør, it was a bit bumpy 🙂

It showed up, I knew the owner of the airstrip – Ivan, from the Danish Aviators assosiation. My red Aeroprakt matched good (in colour) with his helikopter:

Ivan’s friend, who happened to be there, gave us a lift to Skælskør, and recommended a place for lunch – Skælskør Fiskehus.

The weather was so nice, warm and sunny. Skælskør Fiskehus had a very good menu. We sat outside, and enjoyed our smoked herring:

After lunch, I was reading FLYV – Danish magazin for aviation enthusiasts. There was an interesting article about Thomas, a pal from my flying club, and his Cessna 140. Flemming went to have a look at the Harley Davidson bikes:

We decided to go have a look at the Danish Bus Museum, located 1-2 km from the town centre. In Skælskør, there is a vintage bus going every half an hour to the museum, it will also bring you back, for free. Flemming and I wanted to rather have a walk, so that we could also experience the town on our way.

The bright red half-timbered building on the photo below was once a grocery store. The house is named after Peder Reedtz, who owned this property in the time around 1580. Today, there is Skælskør City Museum.

We noticed many colourful ceramic tiles on the pavements, but no info about their origin:

The bus museum wasn’t as exciting as it was promised (I guess it depends on your interests), though it was definetely fun to see some of the models from the 1950s. There was also a workshop open, and everyone could see how the buses were restored. Great work to keep them on display!

We got back to the old town of Skælskør, and just walked around, enjoying the nice day off.

Some of the older houses had those high stairs:

Afternoon coffe and cake in one of the cafes:

And we continued to the Town Hall:

Coat of arms of the Danish town Skælskør, which is based on the town seal of 1608, quite beautiful one:

The arms show the bridge between the two parts of the town, the church and the town hall. A small mussel shell can be seen in the waters between the two town parts – the town’s name Skælskør means something like “shellfish on a gravel shoreline”.

We visited the St. Nicolai church that had unusual architecture – there were huge columns in the middle. The church is known from the 1200s, and was later expanded and renovated. It has 3 bells from the 16th century.

Beside the church, there was this small read building that attracted our attention:

We learned, it was a Latin shcool for the boys from the town’s rich families during 16-18th centuries. A local merchant Lorentz Pedersen bought the building in 1748, and gave it to the “poor and decent citizents” as free housing. In this connection, the house was rebuilt, where several smaller rooms were decorated and the ceiling lowered. The entrance was moved to face the street, and a sandstone plaque with an inscription was erected over the door.

It was mainly older residents who lived in the building. In the 20th century, there were several families with children. After the WWII, it was used by homeless people.

In 1956, it created a public debate that people were housed in a building that was way too primitive for that purpose. I don’t know what happened after that, but today the building is owned by the Slagelse Municipality. The Old Latin school is used as a loom, and for school classes by Skælskør City Museum.

So much interesting history for such a small building!

Flemming and I went to see the marina, and the sailing club. Many people were sitting outside in the sun, having a meal or a drink, with all those gourgeous views:

Stray cats were kind to us, and we befriended a couple of them by feeding a bit:

We soon got a taxi back to the airfield, said “till next time” to Ivan, and did a round over the charming town of Skælskør before heading back to Holbæk:

There was just one but big and dramatic cloud on our way:

It was a day well-spent. I was happy the weather was good so that my aircraft’ birthday could be celebrated with a flight.