Les Hannah, day 26, part 1

When I awoke the ship was in Danish waters. I showered and dressed and made my way to the breakfast buffet where I joined several truck drivers who had no choice but to ride this booze cruise with the students; this ship is also a ferry that regularly transports commercial trucks from Norway to Denmark. I did have a few nondrunken, nonstudent fellow passengers.

And speaking of the students, well I went out on deck as we were pulling into port. There was vomit everywhere on the foredeck. Unconscious students littered several areas of the ship. And the ship, well the ship looked like a tornado had hit it. Seriously. Debris was everywhere. I was (and still very much am) thankful I was not part of the cleanup crew. Dear god what a mess.

But I was off the ship and headed for a train. Back on the rails again. From the harbor to the train station was a short walk of about fifteen minutes. I stopped a local woman and asked her for directions; she said she was headed to the station and I could just follow her. It felt good to be back in Denmark; I was back among friendly people, genuinely friendly people. I got to the train station by following the young lady; got my seat assignment on the next train to Aalborg, where I had to change trains to Fredericia, where I had to change trains one more time before Esbjerg. By the time all of this happened and the final train rolled into Esbjerg it was around 3pm.

I knew I had to go back to Copenhagen tomorrow for a series of meetings with the Danish Fulbright Commission, so I debated on whether to go straight back to the house or to spend more time wandering around. Well, the wanderlust was still strong I guess because I decided to get right back on the rails and head to Ribe (pronounced Reba, you know – like McEntire). Ribe is the oldest continually inhabited settlement in Denmark, and it is only thirty-two kilometers south of Esbjerg, which is actually one of the youngest cities in Denmark. I have been told that Esbjerg is only about 100 years old, whereas Ribe has documentable history of around 1300 years. So Ribe-bound I was.

As with my Scandinavian rail “plan” there was really no plan here other than just to get to Ribe and walk around. The train ride was short, only about thirty minutes including the six stops previous to mine. One thing I knew already about Ribe was the Viking Museum; I had been told that this city really is hard into their Viking heritage, so of course I wanted to see that – and of course by the time I got there the museum was closed. I missed it by just under an hour, but I was still in Ribe and planned to walk around some. I can always return to Ribe, well until I leave in December that is. I will.

So fighting off the rain that came and went every few minutes I made my way into the interior of Ribe. It was clear by the many shops that what I had heard of this small Danish town was accurate – they are really into their Viking heritage. Parts of the town looked ultramodern, and then just a few steps away were relics of the past. Operating water wheels, small walk-through “museums” illustrating the history of Ribe and this area of what is now Denmark. They were not truly museums in the manner of those I had spent the past few days examining, but these appeared to be private buildings that someone (or several people) had designed just to show off the history of the town they call home, one they are certainly proud of.