23 Jul 1985, Posted by Scott An Chora in Travelogue, No Comments.
07/23 Arhus, Denmark
We entered a compartment that could be best described as humorous. There was a young lady traveling by herself, who had spread her clothes from one end of the compartment to the other. This was orchestrated to persuade us to look elsewhere. We just laugh since this was a technique we often used to maintain our privacy. We found it amusing to watch her reaction to our comfort. She acted as if her mother unexpectedly allowed her new boyfriend into her unmade room. As we danced between subjects we discovered that a few years back this young lady had spent some time in our back yard, Oxnard California as an exchange student. She expressed an interest in American slang and had inquired if we knew any new words she could add to her dictionary. Our conversation matured into an invitation to sleep over at her parent house. When we arrived in Aarhus she contracted her parents and obtained permission to bring two strangers home. We wandered through Aarhus with our own personal travel guide, who pointed out the major landmarks and added stories from her past. Once we reached the edge of the city we chartered a bus to reach her family’s homestead. When we arrived, the family was waiting in the doorway and greeted us with “We don’t have a lot to offer. Make yourselves at home”. We where then shown the basement, gathered up our dirty clothes for washing, showered and then the dinner bell rang. Little sister was all smiles, enamored with possible of new play mates. For dessert we were given a piano concert. The entire family went out of their way to make us feel as much at home as possible. It was lovely and memorable.
We were up with the morning sun. Everybody in the household had plans. Little sister was trying to obtain her driver’s license and had to meet up with a driving instructor while big sister had a morning engagement to break in a horse. Jim and I set off into the countryside, wandered in the villages and passed through the city’s garden. As the sun positioned itself for the afternoon, we found ourselves in front of a church with a pair of beers, in need of a church key.
We had agreed to connect before dawn to attend a local concert. Big sister was following a band from Iceland and had been anticipating seeing for some time and we had made additional plans to visit the local Tivol. We spent the remainder of the day watching the summer crowd meander around the city square. Both Jim and I fell asleep on the train ride back and slept right through our stop. I guess it was a combination of the long day and all the walking, oh the beer probable helped. As it turned out there were no trains heading back that would allow us to meet our pickup on time, so we quickly looked for alternatives and located a bus going in our direction. It was a bus by all definition but I swear we could have walked faster. Recently this had been par for the course. These local bus drivers just like stopped to wave hello or shoot the breeze with anybody they knew along the way. Nobody is ever in a rush. At the exact moment we exited the bus, the sky open up. Luckily our late arrival aligned precisely with our pickup, so we spend very little time in the elements.
There was quite a crowd, girls everywhere, all dressed up for the night. There were many inviting smiles and curious glances but we pretty much stayed to ourselves. As it turned out the crowd was much larger that the space available. There were just too many of us trying to stand in the same space and it became impossible to avoid the heat. I couldn’t wait to get back outside under the cool canopy of clouds. On the way out I stuck a coin in a slot machine, it only gave tokens back and it just wouldn’t let me lose. I ended up leaving the machine filled with rewards for the next patron. The band was really good. They had no singer but their melodies were ingrained in my head. I found myself humming a few of their tunes on the bus ride home. A comfortable bed and hospitality was the recipe for a good night’s sleep.
We were all packed up and ready to explore the Dutch countryside. It was nice to pack nothing but clean clothes for a change. Our hosts attempted to persuade us to stay a bit longer but I always hate to wear out my welcome and prefer leaving things more pristine. A beautiful, warm family setting and a kindness shared that will remain with us always. One of the wondrous benefits to traveling was the opportunity to meet people with different perspectives and then to discover we are the same, sweet memories. We headed north toward the coast and spent the day in the sand. There was a cool breeze coming off the water that contrasted with the hot sand and made it a perfect day. Besides the beautiful surrounding, there wasn’t all that much else for us to do. We found ourselves wandering back toward the hostel in Sickeborg where we had made reservations a few days back. When we reached the edge of Sickeborg I jumped in the canal for a brief swim. The water was cold and the banks were muddy but why not?
