For a mini vacation Solvang is just about perfect.  It is not a long distance from the huge population centers to the south, it is just the right size for exploring the downtown on foot and of course, thanks to its Danish decor and ambiance provides a new  and foreign styled  experience.  It is easy to think you are in Denmark so the 2018 car-free promotion to visit Solvang using Amtrak and then a bus from Santa Barbara sounded like a sure winner.
 One Wednesday morning it was "All Aboard" as we met  and boarded the Surfliner at Chatsworth Station for a two day visit to Solvang.    The route of the train offers different scenes of Moorpark, Camarillo, Oxnard and Ventura.  Then the  delightful coast  watching seaside views on to Santa Barbara.
 Waiting for us at the historic Santa Barbara Station was the Amtrak bus which would take us to Solvang in less than one hour.
Off the bus in downtown Solvang we moved to the Solvang Visitors Bureau,  1639 Copenhagen drive, a two minute walk from the bus station.  It is open daily from 9 a.m. to 5 p.m. Here we were handed a fistful of invitations and discount offers available to those using the Amtrak promotion which extends through all of 2018.  These included the Solvang Heritage Walking Tour App with free gift of audio ear buds, admission to Wildling Museum of Art & Nature  and Elverfhoj Museum of Danish History and Art.
  First stop for us was a three block walk to the Mirabelle Inn.  This Inn offers a French flair and ambiance to add to the European ambiance of Danish Solvang.  Now operated by Jonathan Rosenson the Inn received in 2015 an extensive renovation to its suites and rooms as well as its  restaurant named First  & Oak.  Our room offered all the amenities including a bottle of wine, 2010  Ciquelicot Sangiovese which is a winery based in nearby Buellton and owned by our Host Jonathan Rosenson.  The Ciquelicot name is from a poppy native to France.
 It was then time for lunch which was at a Solvang restaurant that has earned a world wide reputation for its version of a very traditional Danish dessert.  It is Solvang Restaurant and the dessert 'Arne's Aebleskiver.  This is a dough made puff cake served with raspberry jam and a dusting  of powered sugar.  Legend has it that Vikings made an early version of this on their heated shields.
 Owner Jeffrey Paaske is a fourth generation member of a family that arrived to found Solvang in 1911.  His father, the late Raymond Paaske, was a B 17 pilot who flew missions over Germany until shot down and made a P.O.W.  When he returned after the war he was one of planners of the project that would create Solvang as a replica of an earlier era Danish community.  A plan that mushroomed, from beginning in 1947, to the city, as it is known today, with a world wide reputation.
 Jeffrey Paaske has owned and operated Solvang Restaurant for 35 years and continues to feature the dessert Aebleskiver every day.  The restaurant shows a decor and ambiance that is traditional Danish with wood carvings on booths and open beam ceilings.
 Solvang Restaurant features a large breakfast and luncheon menu and is open from 6 a.m. to 3 p.m., till 5 p.m. on weekends.  Address 1672 Copenhagen Drive, Solvang.  Telephone 805 688-4645,  web,www:solvangrestaurant.com.