Crossing Jutland we discovered how very flat and windy Denmark really is with its yellow fields, old villages and windmills. We saw stork nests occasionally but no storks. A few forests of beech and oak, pine and lime trees. Clouds shifting as the air grew humid with the passing hours. Niki spent the entire bus trip talking to three Swedish guys who are going to the same place as us.
When we arrived, the boys went one way (place already booked and full) and we strode off to find out own digs, which we did quite easily. Our pension landlady called us ‘the two ladies’, told us what we should see in town and assured us of an excellent breakfast. This was said with a vocabulary of five English words, two of which are ‘two’ and ‘ladies’.
Our room overlooks a picturesque churchyard with lopsided gravestones but the inside demands more attention, if not sunglasses! It has a plastic shower plunked right in the middle of it, curtained with a hot pink pastic sheet. the room also contains orange drapes, green bedding, red plastic roses and silk violets in purple vases, a bronze sea-faring scene on the wall, a gilt edged mirror, multi-flowered wallpaper leaning prominently towards the pink end of the colour spectrum, and a cut glass chandelier in the middle of the ceiling that gets knocked every time the shower door is opened. When the sun shines it kind of hurts just to look at it.
Our room overlooks a picturesque churchyard with lopsided gravestones but the inside demands more attention, if not sunglasses! It has a plastic shower plunked right in the middle of it, curtained with a hot pink pastic sheet. the room also contains orange drapes, green bedding, red plastic roses and silk violets in purple vases, a bronze sea-faring scene on the wall, a gilt edged mirror, multi-flowered wallpaper leaning prominently towards the pink end of the colour spectrum, and a cut glass chandelier in the middle of the ceiling that gets knocked every time the shower door is opened. When the sun shines it kind of hurts just to look at it.
It was clear that we wanted to spend our last night here in different ways. Niki and I parted, saying “See you in the morning.” What a feeling of freedom to go out alone, wherever I wanted! I started by finding a concert by a string quartet in a little church hall, then went to a local disco where I drank a few beer and danced by myself in a crowd. I even got asked to dance by a couple of really good looking guys. It felt good to be asked when it was just me and I knew they weren’t doing it to get closer to Niki or because they felt sorry for me. I could even flirt a bit, but not really get myself in trouble. I would never have had the confidence to do this two months ago. It was one of the best nights of my life. But I have to say I’ll die happy if I never hear another Abba song ever again.
I wandered back under a sky filled with stars and sliver of a moon woven between wraiths of cloud. The air was hot and heavy and I flung myself onto the bed, too hot to crawl under the covers. A thunderstorm started a few minutes later – great flashes of lightning and more wind than usual whipping at the trees. I didn’t dare look outside, because I knew I’d get freaked out if I saw the headstones in the graveyard across the street, so I just lay there in the dark until it was over. What a way to spend my last night in Denmark, very ‘Hamlet’!
I must have fallen asleep quite quickly, because I awoke with a start when I heard Niki return. The sun was just beginning to hint at rising and my friend was silhouetted in the grey predawn. She didn’t look at me but simply collapsed into bed after throwing her clothes off all over the floor. I kind of smiled and turned over to try to get a bit more sleep.
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