Denmark



SUNDAY, September 24, 1995.

Yesterday morning at 9:30, I finally arrived in Copenhagen after a brutally long 17 hour journey. It wasn't so bad, but I'd swear I grow an inch every time I try to lay down in a couchette. In the morning, the two Swiss girls who were in my compartment went out to chat in the corridor while I and the older German couple tried to catch a few more Zs. Eventually, I got out of bed, mainly because I had to pee and then I had to wait because we were stopped gathering our train together after the ferry ride from Germany. Before long, an American guy was flirting with the Swiss girls who giggled at the presence of another American since they knew I was listening from inside our compartment. The guy showed us a picture of a Swiss girl he'd met in Paris and tried his best to impress us with stories of meeting girls everywhere he goes. At some point, I showed my face and joined the conversation. The Swiss girls got off somewhere about 1.5 hours shy of Copenhagen, and I was left to pass the time with our American friend.

We went looking for coffee and worked our way completely to the other end of the train, teetering back and forth, stumbling, and banging our shoulders into the walls. Finally, practically hanging off the back of the train, we found the coffee guy. We both got coffees. I got a croissant, and he got a beer! This after we'd (at least I'd) been making fun of Belgian's drinking beer on tap at the train station at 7 am. We finally pulled into Copenhagen right on time at 9:30, and Kaia was waiting right there on the platform! Behold! The rendezvous!

I bid my American buddy good-bye, and Kaia and I took a taxi to our hotel so I could freshen up. I was exhausted from the journey, and I continue to suffer a little bit from my sore throat. We freshened up, ate breakfast, and I called Lonnie, my Danish friend from Siena. We agreed to meet at 1 pm in front of the Hard Rock Cafe near Tivoli gardens. To get there, we walked from the hotel down the full length of the Strget, the longest pedestrian shopping street in Europe. We met up with Lonnie and her friend Lena and ate lunch at a local chain restaurant, a Danish version of "Chili's." From there, we headed out for some sightseeing. We snaked our way to the starting point of a boat tour through Copenhagen's harbor and canals.

Photos of Copenhagen

The 3 pm boat was too full for us to get on, so we dawdled for an hour, examining the outside of the locked stock exchange. Then we tried to see the inside of the Danish Congress, but it was also closed. We did manage to see a museum of royal horses (they may be royal, but they still stink) and carriages before catching the 4 pm boat.

The tour guide on the boat was about my age - maybe a few years older - and was having trouble keeping a straight face after an undoubtedly long day of repeating inane tourist information again and again in four languages. A few times she laughed and we laughed, too. We speculated whether she really knew all the languages she was speaking. A few times, I stood up to snap pictures and said, "Oh, this is a good one" and I felt like a stupid tourist - yeah, as if I wasn't on a boat full on them.

We saw various buildings and churches, cruised the harbor, gaped at the huge ferries to Norway and Sweden, and stopped to pick up more tourists in the colorful, ship-lined New Harbor. The boats were great with colorful old buildings (some of which housed Hans Christian Anderson) in the background. The harbor reminded me a bit of the canals in Amsterdam, but it felt more spacious. It had the picturesque-ness of Bruges but different. The ships were unlike anything I've seen this year. New Harbor is special and charming in its own unique way.

After the boat ride, we went for coffee at a crowded cafe, and I resisted sampling the Danish cakes. We explored the city for a few more hours and then went for dinner at a small Danish restaurant along New Harbor. I had "Mrbradbeof" - easy to remember because it's like "More Brad Beef," and I'd been craving beef. It's a peppered beef dish with a thick brown gravy accompanied by a vinegary cucumber salad and little whole peeled potatoes.

On Sunday, we day tripped to destinations north of the city. The Danish train was only two cars long! It had super clean bathroom, vending machines, and a LED scrolling sign giving times of stops. Super modern! Our first stop was in Humlebaek for the Louisiana Art museum, a fabulous modern art museum on a seaside estate. About a 20 minute walk from the train station, it gave us our first glance at the lush green Danish countryside, tree lined streets and quaint brick houses. After the art museum, we continued north to Helsingor. Because of the train schedule, we just took a very quick look around and then continued on to Hillerod where we visited the impressive Frederiksborg Slot (castle). We were back in Copenhagen for dinner.

In the morning, it was time to leave Copenhagen. We had reserved a car in Arhus. To get there, we took a train and then a ferry. After we picked up the car, we drove to Arhus' main attraction, a recreated old Danish town. Old buildings we moved in from around the country. The town was completely deserted - not surprising, considering it was drizzling and the off season. Still, it was charming, and Kaia and I enjoyed walking around. Then we drove to Silkeborg.

Photos of Hillerød, Arhus and Herning

We didn't have a hotel reservation in Silkeborg, in fact we hardly had any information at all except that there was a 2,000 year old dead guy to see in a local museum. The first hotel we found was a bit expensive, but we decided to just go for it; we were hungry and didn't want to spend an hour driving around looking for another hotel. We figured, "At least we'll get a good night's sleep." We went to a local restaurant called "Piaf" where we had a very tasty French meal, the best food we ate the entire week. We were awakened by jack-hammers right outside our window at about 7:30 am. I did my best to make a scene, arguing with the desk clerk in my pajamas, surrounded by business men headed for the breakfast buffet. The hotel did not offer us a discount. We took a quick look at the old, dead guy (actually pretty cool) and then left town.

On Tuesday, we just went for a drive. We were up in the northwest area of the Jutland where the land is broken into islands and peninsulas. Basically, we were curious about the terrain, and the drive was enjoyable. We spent the evening in Herning and ate some mediocre Mexican food. Will I ever have a decent Burrito again?

On Wednesday, we went to LegoLand! It was a gas. I didn't know what to expect. I was hoping for a theme park constructed entirely of Lego, but this was not the case. There certainly was a lot of plastic in Lego colors, and no shortage of Lego either, but they managed to stop short of erecting every last building from tiny plastic bricks. Unfortunately, it was raining, and I felt like a complete buffoon riding in a plastic boat designed for someone two feet shorter than me through an exhibit of Lego replicas of the White House and the Taj Mahal holding an umbrella between my knees. We retreated to the cafeteria for a cup of hot chocolate before heading to the Technics lab. We had a blast building small motorized Lego creatures. We even got "diplomas!". What a blast from my Lego childhood past! To be fair, the park would be a scream for kids; Kaia swore that her 8 year old nephew would simply refuse to leave. The fairly large Lego replicas of Danish and other European cities were impressive and sophisticatedly animated. Maybe I should go work there.

After we left the LegoLand park, we drove to Ribe for the night. We ate at a seafood restaurant that was over 400 years old! In the morning, we walked around Ribe. It was the nicest town we visited in Denmark, nothing in particular, but it was just the "look" that our tourist eyes were craving. I'd been looking around for something to buy as a souvenir. I didn't end up with anything Danish, but I got a nifty hand painted wooden bird made in Africa. Yeah, made in Africa, a little something to remember my trip to Denmark.

Kaia was anxious to visit Odense, because of her family roots there. Navigating the Danish road system and small towns had been unthinkably easy, but Odense proved our first challenge. With a population of 160,000, it's a bit more than a small town and it had plenty of streets to get lost in. After a stop at an unappealing hostel, we worked our way back downtown and finally found a hotel with a free room. Several were booked. Remarkably, with the included breakfast and dinner , the hotel was cheaper than the hostel.

Photos of Billund

Photos of Ribe

In the morning, we set out to find the grave of Kaia's great-grandparents. Her grandmother had given her the name of a church. We visited the church, discovered that it had no graveyard, that no one had been buried inside the church for hundreds of years, and went to Town Hall in search of information. They sent us to an office near the town cemetery. Kaia provided 7 possible spellings of the family name. The clerk came back with an 8th spelling and a plot number. A 15 minute walk later, we were standing in front of the grave of her European ancestry. I thought this was really cool. In America, I always hear about how we're from the old country, but here was the proof.

From Odense, we headed down to Svenborg to see another castle. At that point, the Danish attractions were growing a bit monotonous, but we were still enjoying our vacation. We were playing lots of backgammon, drinking plenty of hot chocolate, eating all meals out, and having a generally great time. Saturday morning, we drove out onto the Langeland, visited yet another castle (Egeskov), found an ancient burial site, and then dropped the car off. We were back in Copenhagen on Saturday evening and we met up with Lonnie and Lena for some night life at a small Mexican bar.

Our last Sunday in Copenhagen, we took the train back out to Hillerd to visit some old friends of Kaia's family. One of the guys was previously engaged to be married to Kaia's mom. The other was his brother. They were a couple of old business men who reminded me a bit too strongly of the two business men who play a trick on Dan Ackroyd and Eddie Murphy in "Trading Places." When this connection came to me, I couldn't suppress it. I said, "You know that movie, Trading Places, you guys are like those two old businessmen...." Kaia promptly jammed her elbow into my side and I realized my faux pas. Nonetheless, Ifound them extremely amusing. They provided us with a heavy dose of conservative Republican politics, an extremely traditional home-prepared Danish lunch, and a walk around the local residence of the Queen.

For the trip to Zurich, I'd reserved a first class couchette because I knew that Kaia wouldn't like the cramped and sometimes unpleasant conditions in second class. The difference shocked me; it was night and day. We had our own compartment. We had hangers for our jackets. We had a mirror, a sink. The attendant set-up and made our beds. With only two people, there was plenty of space and head room in the bunks. The attendant was friendly and respectful, instead of a grunting drunk. The bunk was still too short, but it was a bit wider. All in all, not too bad, and it didn't leave me with that night train feeling in the morning, though I could've used a better night's sleep before hitting the ground running for a week full of work and entertaining Kaia in the evening.

Photos of Odense, Svenborg and Strasbourg


MONDAY, October 9, 1995.

On Thursday, Kaia left Zurich for Strasbourg. Gaelle and Imet her there on Friday night. The plan was for the three of us to enjoy a fine French meal. On Saturday, we met Kaia in the hotel lobby just before noon and the three of us headed to Buereheiser for lunch. It took us about an hour to stroll there, past all the familiar sights of Strasbourg, the Cathedral, the river, the Orangerie.

The meal was a three hour affair filled with tasty treats and overwhelming desserts. For me, the highlight was one of the cheeses I had during the cheese course, a soupy, strong cheese. Yum. Over all, the meal was a blast, largely due to the company. I was relieved that Kaia and Gaelle got along and that our conversation flowed effortlessly. Three chatterers, three eaters, wasting away the afternoon in France.

Unfortunately, the meal didn't get a chance to settle nicely. We'd planned to stroll slowly back to the hotel, but instead ended up in a frenzy, hurrying so that Kaia wouldn't miss her 5 o'clock train. She made it by a few minutes, leaving me sweating in my suit and ready to return to the hotel.

Around 9, Gaelle and I headed out looking for music. Eventually, we ended up at "Les Catacombes" sitting on stools, listing to some great music and sipping Rum and Cokes. The place got really crowded and the crowd starting dancing. People were up on tables, up on chairs. There was even a guy taking off his shirt. It was wild and fun and rocking, but not threatening in anyway. Just good clean fun. Much to our dismay, the music soured and the DJ started playing tunes like "YMCA." Buzzed on our 4th rum and cokes, we headed out to find more.

We returned to a techno-club we'd spotted earlier. I didn't dig the techno music too much, but I put back my 5th drink and was out on the dance floor giving it all I could. My clothes were completely drenched. Then, to my surprise, the music changed to Madonna, U2 and Beach Boys - stuff Ilike better. I found myself up on a little stage miming the lyrics and rock, rock, rocking. Around 3 am, the music returned to techno and my body caught up with me. I was dehydrated, drunk, tired, and ready to drop. Gaelle danced out one final tune and helped me stagger my way through the cobblestoned streets to the hotel where I quickly drifted off to sleep.



Copyright 1997 by Bradley Edelman
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E-mail: Brad Edelman