An entry in The TFS Travel Journal.
Just a lazy morning, to best maximize our enjoyment of the tranquility and beauty of Falsled Kro. We passed on their over-the-top breakfast and opted instead for lunch there. We loaded up the Silver Vectra, and then lunched in a lovely solarium with subdued, subtle, Danish flower and fruit print linens and tablecloths, with the water in the distance and greenery in the foreground. Wendy started with a salmon and smoked herring salad (though Milton enjoyed the herring and the raw quail egg in its cute, little shell) and had the perfect leg of duck with lentils in a red wine reduction; far better than it even sounds! Milton had the fish fricassee — salmon and halibut (I think) in a deliciously rich broth of cholesterol. Dessert was the fromage plate, which you have to do every now and then. . .
Then it was off to Odense, the birthplace of H.C. Anderson. Actually quite a large city, with a small cobble-stoned square in the center that looks exactly like the Disney version of Denmarkland. Wendy toured the house/museum, and Milton ran in a frenzy to find the Kunst Fotografik, which turned out to have some old standards, as well as some interesting shots from a Polish photographer with a ghetto theme (interesting sort of double exposures of families fadedly imposed on the ghetto shots, and some with pictures of children on the cover of beat-up books enclosed in frayed twine that looked like cage wire).
We then rendevoused and sped to catch our 4pm ferry. Had an uneventful 1 hour ferry ride, except for the flock (does that mean dozens?) of seagulls that flew a few feet alongside the boat, gliding for so long they looked as though they were tethered, or they would hover like patzers looking over one’s shoulder during a chess game.
As we were both busy reading, we had to scramble to get to our car as the ferry docked, but unfortunately, this ferry was so much bigger than the others we took that we didn’t know what level the Vectra was on, and had to race up and down ladders, since every deck with a hundred cars and Danish signs sure looks alike!
Found the car and sped to Helsingor (that’s Elsinore, according to W. Shakespeare) to catch our next ferry. Wendy did yeoman’s work driving the whole day, including during the daily downpour (vociferous one, today), though she seemed to have a little trouble staying under 140km/hour. An observation on their radio stations — they sure love their Euro-techno-pop, loud beat kind of music. And always one American heavy metal station. Though the country’s remarkably flat, stations all seem to have a range of about 20 miles, strange. . .
Caught the 18:56 ferry to Helsingborg, Sweden, and it was only about 12 minutes; nice! Drove to Viken (about 10 miles up to coast) to the home of Olof and Anna Markoo. Wendy has known Olle since about 1983. They have two children — Christopher -7, and Anna Clara - 3. Unbearably adorable and Scandanavian, though he’s sweet and seems quiet, and she never shuts up! (it’s all in Swedish, so we find it perhaps more entertaining than we normally would)
When we arrived, Anna was out kayaking for some excercise; you know, just like most of the American women we know. . .
As dinner cooked, Milton went for his first dip in the Orensund — surprisingly warm (22 c) for a sound off the North Sea!
Dinner was a large Halibut steak (topped with a melted butter and freshly shaved horseradish sauce) and a Swedish summer specialty — boiled fresh beets which actually tasted like pretty good summer corn from upstate N.Y. Dessert was a two large round pieces of a sweet, nutty flatbread, with raspberry vanilla ice cream in between, all topped with freshly whipped cream (whipped patiently by Christopher) and raspberries. Again, even better than it sounds!!
We all then sat around talking about how funny it was that we were actually here, and about life and business (!) etc.