“We are going to be in Odense in an hour,” was how Dick woke
Patti up. He had been up already for
hours watching Denmark roll along. This
included seeing a herd of 8 fallow deer, including a large buck. He also saw so many types of flowers, trees
and some old fashioned houses with thatched roofs. It was time for Patti to get up and see the
land that she people came from.
We were both struck at how similar the land appeared to that
of Minnesota where Patti grew up. It
made a lot of sense that the mid-west of the US would seem familiar to the
Scandinavians who immigrated there in the late 19th and early 20th
centuries.
There had been some excitement in the night where someone
had jumped off a bridge and so the train had been delayed in a station for an
extra 1 ½ hours. Because of some clever rerouting, we were able to make up
quite a bit of time and arrive at the train station in Odense at about 8:20. Great.
We made up almost all of our lost time.
However, we did not have any Danish money and so could not put our
luggage in the lockers at the station and head out into the day. A nice guy at a coffee shop allowed us to hang
out for about an hour until it was time for the bank to open. Dick went and
changed Euros to Danish Kroners, and we were in business.
We are in Denmark!!!! Yahoo. Everything is written in Danish
(plus quite a bit of English and German.)
We walked to the Tourism Office, following our map. There we bought an
Odense Pass-good for twenty museums, but we were only going to have time for
three. All having to do with Hans
Christian Andersen (or H.C. –pronounced pretty close to José, as he is known in
Denmark). This is the town that he was
born in and living in until he was 14 years old. He grew up in grinding poverty, and when he
was able to escape to move to the big city of Copenhagen, his mother was
comforted by an old fortuneteller who said don’t worry, he will be famous and
someday all of Odense will celebrate him.
Was she ever right!
We went to the large HC Andersen museum, as well as the home
that he was born in. Both focused on
many aspects of his life, as well as the times in which he lived. Contemporaries of his were Abraham Lincoln,
Charles Dickens and Karl Marx. He was a theatrical young
boy, a singer and dancer, and wanted more than anything to be a stage actor.
The many photos of him, as well as artifacts of his life
were fascinating. But in some ways, the
most fun was a visit to the neighboring Tinderbox Museum (Fyrtoejet), basically a children’s
museum filled with props, sets and costumes from Andersen’s many stories. And they had costumes that were in grown up
sizes, as well as for kids. Patti was in
heaven having the chance to try on princess clothes, that of the Steadfast Tin
Soldiers, rat costumes, sail in a newspaper boat, be an old woman cooking at a
stove. So nice that they didn’t just
have clothes in small children’s sizes.
And THEN there was a storyteller doing a performance (all in
Danish) of The Steadfast Tin Solider.
She was so very expressive (it helped to know the tale), and we so
enjoyed watching her bring the story to life.
Then, afterwards, we had a lovely conversation about stories,
storytelling, and HC. Her name was Lise
Marie, and she is working on bringing more adult storytelling to the
museum. She asked if I would email her
photos of me as a storyteller from Californian visiting their museum. I will certainly do that.
Lunch was delightful, at a café complete with blankets and
heater available to the guests on this rainy noontime. These are Definitely Patti’s people! She immediately wrapped up to get warm.
We enjoyed our few hours in Odense, before needing to go
back, pick up our luggage and grab the train.
Patti was delighted to find that the main Odense public library was in
the train station, and had a quick visit there.
It looked like, well a library….except most of the items were in
Danish. Always nice to be at home in libraries
around the world.
This next part of the journey was going to take us to Copenhagen
(or Kopenhavn in Danish) where the time with Patti’s relatives would begin.
Meeting us at the train station were Willy and Karin. Willy’s grandfather and Patti’s great-grandfather
were twin brothers. We recognized them
both immediately from our SKYPE conversations over the past months. They
graciously were there waiting for us and we were swept up in Danish family hospitality. Family is wonderful, even if they are on the
other side of the planet. And such
gracious family have we been welcomed into.
We got a nice tour of some of the greater Copenhagen
area. We stopped at an art installation
that was a sculpture and stained glass. It was beautiful and very unique.
One of the fun things that was going on today is it is the last
day of school for the graduating high school students. They have a custom of
getting trucks which they decorate and then driving around the town shouting
and honking the horn. They then go to
different of their homes and parents feed them.
All the while they are drinking beer (and not driving themselves). It is quite a funny custom, but we saw them
in many places.
The Danish family has been so kind. We made a quick stop at a fancy hotel where
one of the other cousins from my father’s side, Annette, had left for us a cell
phone with a Danish phone number. We stopped to pick it up, and then discovered
that she had already put into the phone address book the names and numbers of
our family members here, as well as put some time on the phone for us to use. So kind!
Willy and Karin gave us a tour of their wonderful home,
including an amazing yard and garden area, including many different types of
berries, fruit trees and even some cactus in pots that they grew outside and
took inside in the long winters.
Dinner was lovely and served outside. We soaked in the beautiful day, knowing it
was great to be in the home of family with such a gift of hospitality. We went to bed tired, but thrilled to finally
be in Denmark. As Dick said to Patti,
“This is the land that your people come from.”
Indeed.
“I
couldn't imagine what it would be like to be one of so many, to have not just
parents and siblings but cousins and aunts and uncles, an entire tribe to claim
as your own. Maybe you would feel lost in the crowd. Or sheltered by it.
Whatever the case, one things was for sure: like it or not, you'd never be
alone.”
― Sarah Dessen, Lock and Key
― Sarah Dessen, Lock and Key
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