We're in Danmark!

We took the ICE train out of Hauptbahnhof (I first wrote Anhalter Bahnhof, an altogether different bahnhof with a spotty history, if you know what I mean) northwest to Hamburg then transferred trains and headed north to the ferry at Puttgarden. Veda read magazines whiIe I listened to headphones with Anders asleep on my chest. I stared out the window watching the Deutsch landscape blur as we sped past. The trees were of course turning in autumn’s hand but slower that I expected and there was still a great deal of greenery. I made a point of listening to Scandinavian artists to get in the mood; Bjork, The Knife, Frida Hyvonen, Stina Nordenstam*… I didn’t think of much during the journey (in fact, thoughts tends to be non-existent unless I’m actively engaged in something specific) though I did wonder how the train crosses the channel to Danmark. On tour with No Kids we had a vehicle, a lemon yellow Volkswagen van that Phil christened “the jeep”. Ensconsed in the jeep, we had driven onto the ferry from Danmark to Deutschland and I vaguely remember there were two crossing points, though the names have escaped me. I couldn’t imagine the train driving onto the ferry but when we arrived at the ferry dock we did exactly that and drove directly onto tracks set into the deck of the ferry. Unglaublich! Once in Danmark we passed many small Danish towns and crossed many a waterway until we arrived in Kobenhavn, whereupon we were greeted by a Canadian flag waving Dane! Indeed, it was Veda’s cousin Jacob, who escorted us up to the elaborate and beautifully renovated train station above, and as it was getting late we set off immediately to spend three days at Jacob’s summer house in the little village of Liseleje situated on the Kattegat Sea.

*What, no Aqua? –ed.

When we arrived in Liseleje it was dark and the grocery store was already closed but Jacob had brought wine and moussaka to get us through the night. I attempted to make a fire in the stove but it took Jacob to really get it going which very quickly removed the chill from the air. He stayed for dinner, drinks and conversation (all of which were excellent) and then headed back to Kobenhavn, leaving us to our fate. We must have been pretty exhausted because an excellent night’s sleep was had by all which these days is a rarity. The morning was exciting as we got our first look at the outside world which introduced itself first with a crash and a thud as a medium sized bird smacked headfirst into the window and died immediately and is now peacefully buried under a nearby tree, unless the slightly reddish squirrel next door gets after it. After this incident and a good breakfast this is what we saw, the house is located on a tidy property that contains a little sleeping house and a large trampoline, which Anders was alternately excited and nervous to bounce on. It is situated next to a farm who’s owner plowed up and planted over a road that has existed since the middle ages. When the locals who use the road complained to the authorities, the farmer was informed that although the road was on his property it was not actually his to remove so until he replaces it people just cut across his field trampling his crops, which is what Jacob instructed us to do in order to get to the sea. So we did. We walked to the Kattegat Sea which is clean and clear with a sandy beach and has tasty Danish sand which Anders kept eating despite the many times we said nein, nein, nein mein sohn. The peace and quiet of Liseleje is very much like being on Gabriola Island, sleeping, eating, drinking, watching the fire or the ocean and generally thinking an awful lot. We managed to go for a nice long cycle further down the shoreline one day when it was really windy and the waves were incredibly high. You know, drama waves…

Anyway, we basically slept, ate, drank and read to our hearts content (you can read into that what you will...) until Jacob and Rosanna came to pick us up and return us to Kobenhavn.

To be continued…