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Billund in Denmark is home to the world-famous Lego brick. Phumlani S Langa visits this quaint town and discovers a kid’s wildest fantasy land.
Once I made it through the 11-hour flight to Denmark, a driver picks me up at the Billund Airport – the second-busiest airport in the country. The taxi is on the wrong side of the road, but is well equipped with electric doors and a card machine. As we make our way to where I’m staying at the Hotel Svanen, I take in the sights around me.
Billund has something like 6 000 residents. The town is quiet and I spot a few elderly folk cruising the streets on those electric wheelchair buggies with the roof and all.
I arrive at the hotel, which is humble and has a warmth to it. After washing off the long flight, the first thing to do when in a new city or even a different part of town is to play the block and get a sense of what the locals are like. I walk around the small village (which would basically be like Blairgowrie here) with my headphones blaring, sport my finest Joburg strut and my molasses-like skin tone glistens in the surprisingly warm Danish sun.
I’m sure you always hear how clean it can be in some of these foreign countries and this town is definitely an example. I notice a family pull over their car and get out to pick up a few loose papers on the side of the road.
As I keep walking a car pulls up behind me, moving slowly. I remove my hoodie and reveal my Joburg mean mug at which point the car halts dramatically. A blonde woman gets out and greets me with a smile. She apologises for the creepy roll up, but she just wanted to speak to me for a second as she’d never seen “people like me” here before. She asks where I’m from, she welcomes me profusely – it almost felt flirtatious. I can’t lie to you, they got love for a sun-kissed brother in this town.
No selfies on the rollercoaster
The plan was to write this story without any sleep as I thought Europe was one big party and romp, but this town is not like that. I resort to turning in early and trying to wrap my head around Danish television. The morning brings with it the prospect of the Lego park. If you Google Billund, this is the main thing that comes up and I feared it would end up being naf.
But, let me tell you, this place is something to behold. They have created intricate models of some of the most famous sights in the world. I see the Statue of Liberty, Grecian ruins and even an African safari-inspired ride which, of course, is the first thing I ride. I couldn’t help but feel sorry for the Danes – they have to build their lions.
I wander away from the remarkable miniature structures towards the part of the park where the rides are a bit more exhilarating. I head to the knights’ castle, a slow-moving rollercoaster that takes you through the world of the Lego knights. I’m on it taking selfies and, as soon as I get back, one of the ride attendants, dressed like a knight, gives me a stern talking to for doing that. I stumble out and head to the Ninjago ride which is a 3-D roller coaster experience. I refrain from filming in here for fear that a ninja will jump out with something to say when I get off.
A Zulu in Denmark
The next day sees the large contingent of journalists from around the world head to the Lego ideas house and the home of the brick.
We are given a tour of the Lego museum where the history of this toy is laid out. It turns out that the first of these toys was actually made of wood. The museum is the old home of the founder, Ole Kirk Christiansen. Lego uses the museum for its employees to work and get inspired. It’s not open to the public.
On the way to the Home of the Brick - which is the most advanced kiddies’ play arena you will ever lay eyes on – a Romanian woman seems to be touched by the fur on my umqhele (traditional Zulu head-band). I tell her I wrestled with a lion as a rite of passage to attain it. She couldn’t argue much with that.
In the middle of this hi-tech playhouse the “tree of creativity” stretches towards the ceiling. It’s made of more than 6 million bricks with each branch dedicated to famous Lego sets throughout the years. On a tour of this labyrinth of fun, we’re shown a screen with fish swimming round. The idea is that you build a fish out of Lego, scan it into this screen and you can watch it swim about.
If you’re a Lego fan and you have children, then visiting Billund should be on your bucket list.
Fast Facts
1 Lego's iconic bricks are predominantly made from plastic, but given that this material is becoming a threat to our planet the toy maker has opted to go for a greener brick. Made from sugar cane, the latest bricks are a little less harsh on the environment.
2 During our visit, to prove the endless creative building possibilities of Lego, each person was given six bricks and a machine selected a combination for these to be stacked. The possible combinations available with just six bricks is somewhere around 915 million.
3 Lego also offers Technic sets, which can move on their own if you buy the right add-on kit. Lego even went as far as building a life sized Bugatti Veyron that could travel 30km/h.
