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Published: October 24th 2007
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Forget common security, trade, economic or cultural interests. I think the greatest way to promote warm relations between two countries and their citizens is for one country to have one of its own marry into the royal family of the other. This is a big concession to make for an ardent anti-royalist like me, but as an Aussie visiting Denmark, one can't help but feel that the proof is in the pudding. Danes seem to love Australians, and we love them back. If you are an Australian and you don't, well, wake up to yourself. All the Danes I have met thus far on my travels (and there have been a few - they are prolific travellers per capita) have been warm, friendly and a good laugh, and it was no different when I was surrounded by them on their home soil.
My gracious hosts for this leg of my trip were Oli and Juliane, a couple I met in Mendoza. I was barely a week into my travels at that stage, and while my first stop in Argentina feels like a lifetime ago, when we met up it felt like just yesterday that I had seen them both. They
My tour guides
Juliane and Oli met each other while studying at the University of Arhus. Though I knew it was a longshot, I told them that I knew a Swedish guy from school called Carl (Aberg) who had also studied in Arhus and asked whether they knew anyone that matched that description. Oli said he knew one guy, showed me a picture on his computer, and lo and behold it was Aberg (who I was heading to visit in Stockholm straight after Denmark). Even more coincidental was that we had made plans for later in the week to go out with a group of Oli and Juliane's friends and Aberg's two best mates in Arhus, Ash and Morten, just happened to be in the group. Though it may have become a cliche, this is why people say "it's a small world."
While it is not generally considered a tourist Mecca, Arhus (Denmark's second largest city after Copenhagen) is a pretty town which combines big city fun and facilities with small town charm and pace. As I have already learned over and over, it always helps to have locals to show you around the place. Not even the most comprehensive travel guide book could provide
Bon appetite
HJT, Oli and Juliane enjoy a terrific feed a worthy substitute for this for mine. With Oli in the middle of the job interview process, there were some free days when he was able to take me around and give me the insider's perspective on Arhus. After a quick glance at the old town section (which is actually more like a theme park than a genuine window to the past), we headed home to grab Juliane and head to the ARoS (Arhus Art Museum) for a dose of culture.
I have not always been known for an appreciation of the fine arts (and I'm sure the following paragraph will not gain me any further respect among the fine art clique), but there was some terrific things on show which really made me think. However, I couldn't help but be reminded of the story "The Emperor's New Clothes" as we took in the featured exhibition by Japanese artist Mariko Mori. Maybe it was due to the fact that I wasn't wearing my angora beret, plum coloured velvet jacket, bottle green corduroy trousers and sipping a Cosmopolitan, but much of her work seemed a bit too 'post-modern' (ie weird for the sake of weird) for my liking, visually impressive
The royal couple
Oli and Juliane in front of the Danish royal summer residence though some of it was. Call me obtuse, but my bullshit sensors were flashing bright red when I read that the theme was "oneness". Perhaps I could occasionally see what she was getting at now and then, but I think in the end myself and Ms Mori simply have a different outlook on life. I like to try to be at one with reality now and then.
More thought provoking for me were the free bicycle hire stations around town. You just had to stick your 20 Danish kroner (about AUD$5) in, take the bike and cruise around wherever you wanted, then you'd get your money back when you locked the bike up again at any of the stations. Granted it doesn't sound that interesting on the face of it, but to me it provides an interesting illustration of the socially-minded psyche which allows the Scandinavian countries to get away with flaunting the contemporary neo-liberal economic orthodoxy of small government, yet remain prosperous. It would be easy to argue that Australian economy would go into meltdown if the basic tax rate began at 42% and peaked at 68% (as it does in Denmark), and that half of Australia's population
Our Mary's beach house
HJT at the royal summer residence would head elsewhere to work. In the same vein, I think free bicycles would end up thrown off bridges, ridden into the Yarra, or stripped for parts if they were to be introduced to Melbourne. I'd like to say I knew what it was which makes the Scandinavian model work and could bottle it, but I was unable to figure it out in one short week.
I didn't detect any further clues on my final night in town when we made a night of it after starting off with a succulent spag bol care of Oli (that lad sure can cook) and a few bottles of Argentina's finest red. I was reminded once again of the affable, easy-going ways of the Danes when I met their friends, including Aberg's two best mates referred to earlier. We were all having such a laugh that I lost track of time and arrived home in the wee hours. It was mainly due to some excellent looking out by Oli and Juliane that I made my early morning train to Copenhagen, the last in a long line of wonderfully hospitable acts they had performed for my benefit. I really think I should stop
Not only in Holland
HJT at the local windmill scheduling early morning departures, cos the close shaves can't go my way forever...
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