After leaving the busy part of Odense, I went for a long walk down the beautiful Odense River that leads to a Danish village of hundreds of years ago set aside for tourists and to preserve Danish heritage. On my way, I had a rare moment of déjà vu as I walked past huge trees on Erik Bǿgh’s Footpath to the Fyn Village. There was a certain overshadowing feeling against the backdrop of the river that made me stop.
Later on, down the path, an old man
pointed out to me some black squirrels that were playing in the trees. They looked odd enough because they were
black, but their ears were also tufted with dangling fur. The old man said that
nowhere else in the world were there squirrels like this because they had been
isolated on Fyn. I never met a people more unpretentious
as the Danes: families with strollers,
nude statues in the park, and a squirrel that locals brag about.
The lawns of the historic village
and surrounding river banks were meticulously well kept with thousands of flowers
in their wonderful September bloom. There
were small boats cruising the river including a tourist ferry that chugged by. The Danes laid out their
farm buildings next to one another against the winter wind and snow, but the
fire danger of this tradition is too obvious for most Americans. I was impressed at the complicated way the
wood was stacked and the large tails of the sheep. I saw an amphitheater and several old
thatched buildings including a mill with huge creaking gears. There was an old roofing tile factory with
dirt floor where people could see how the Danes make the ceramic tile they use even
today.
There was also a Tivoli in the
middle of this giant park, this time much smaller, of course, than the one in
Copenhagen. I soon discovered it by following
the young people up the river bank and past a hole in the fence. It was innocent enough until I saw Las Vegas and its one arm bandits. The
picture shows at least ten slot machines. It would not be the last time I saw
children gambling in Denmark. Is this America in a few years? My next stop: Thisted near the North Sea.
