DENMARK

Esbjerg
8th February

Dear Diary,

I had an odd dream last night. It was as if something supernatural was trying to get in touch with me. When I woke up this morning, there a little piece of paper was lying on my table with some names of cities written on it: Esbjerg, Ribe, Odense, Århus and Copenhagen. I didn't know what to do with the names, and neither did I know how they had gotten there. Around noon, I went to town and took a walk down the Main Street. I entered the café Queen Louise. When I had been sitting at the café for some time, I noticed there was a statue of Christian 9. in the middle of the square. The two restaurants lying next to each other were called Queen Louise and Christian IX. Christian 9. and Queen Louise were married on the 26th of May in the year of 1842. I found out why there was a statue of Christian 9. in the middle of the square: Christian 9. was one of the founders of Esbjerg, which is actually one of the youngest cities in the history of Denmark.

9th February 2007

Dear Diary,

I had heard some people talking about a museum with fish and other things from the sea, both dead and alive, so I was going to try and get a bus out there.

As I was sitting by myself in the middle of the bus, it felt like there was someone watching me, but I couldn't see anyone. Then the bus stopped, and I had arrived at the museum, so I didn't give it any more thought. I went inside the museum. It was awfully quiet, almost no people - I had been expecting it to be very crowded. Still, I wanted to get inside and see all the fish they had been talking about. It didn't cost very much to get in, which seemed strange to me, but I didn't care. I was walking around, looking at all the things there were to look at, until I made it to an aquarium where you were allowed to touch the fish. I was on the way down to touch one of them, but every time I tried, a fish appeared from the water and said something to me, but I couldn't hear what it was, and I thought I had become insane. I just went on as if nothing had happened. I went out to some animals that I think were called seals. They were about to get fed. I think it was supposed to be the high point of the day, even though only about seven people were standing there, but I guess it was a bit nice. When one of the seals jumped to catch the little fish, it said something. I was now certain that I was insane, because it looked like all the others couldn't see or hear it talking. Now another one jumped, it also spoke, and I was just standing there, with my mouth open, looking like a man having a heart attack. At that point, I didn't really think about what the seal was telling me, I was more worried about the fact that it was actually talking. After the feeding I asked the lady who had been feeding the seals, if they could talk. She just started laughing like if I was really insane. I tried again: “Can they talk?” She laughed even harder, with a very hideous laughter. She said with her very stressful laughter: “No, seals can't talk like us humans.”

I left, feeling a little grumpy about all the things that had been happening at the museum. I had never been there before, so I didn't quite know how to get home, but then a bus came and stopped right at me, so I thought that now I had finally gotten a stray of luck, so I entered this bus, sat down and looked out the window. I thought about these strange things that had happened, and if I might be insane. But then I suddenly remembered what the seals had told me: The first one said something about, that someone or something following me that I couldn't see, but sense, the second one said some city names: Ribe, Odense, Århus and Copenhagen. I started wondering why these names popped up again. Perhaps it wasn't just my imagination running wild. Perhaps there was something after me, or someone who wanted something from me. But when I came back to the hotel, I went straight to my room and fell asleep right away.

10th February 2007

Dear Diary,

Three days have now passed, and I have experienced some peculiar things. It's like there's someone after me but I can't see who it is. At night, I have strange dreams, and I can hardly ever sleep. I've been thinking a lot about the names I am told. On the 15th I'll go to Ribe, and I hope it will be a nice trip.

Ribe
15t February 2007

Dear Diary,

Well, I have now arrived in Ribe, but the trip was a bit special, just listen: I had decided to take a train to Ribe, but when I came down to the station there were no people. At first, I thought I had misread the times, but no, because when I entered the train, hordes of people suddenly arrived and entered the train. I ended up sitting next to an old gentleman reading a newspaper. Some time passed where none of us said a word, until I finally said: “Uhm, where are you going?” He responded: “I'm going to find a treasure.” “Aren't you a little too old to go treasure hunting?” I asked, with a small smirk across my face. And he answered: “Certainly not!” I thought I had offended him somehow, and figured that I should probably try to make up for it, so I asked: “So, where is this treasure located?”

“Where the bells always chime,” He said with anger in his voice, and left.

The train stopped, and I had to get off, and I decided to solve the old man's riddle. I took a walk through Ribe, and suddenly, a bell rang from Ribe Cathedral. I looked at my map, and there was the following information about Ribe Cathedral:

“In the years 1110-1134, Bishop Thure started the process of constructing Ribe Cathedral. The church is 63 metres (206,69 feet) long and 36 metres (118,11 feet) wide. It's the only church in Denmark with 5 naves. There are 3 towers on the church. The Rytter tower is placed above the choir, the Maria tower, which is the smallest of the towers and the Borger tower is 50 metres (164,04 feet) tall, and there are 248 steps up there.” When I was reading this, I suddenly came to think of the old man's riddle: Where the bells always chime. Of course, where the bells always chime, that had to be the cathedral! So I hurried to the door to pay for a ticket to the tower. I went up. The stairs were scarily small and I felt like I was cramped in there, but then I suddenly spotted a light up ahead. It came from a window. I hurried up there to catch some light, but the window wasn't opened at all. Instead, there was a little piece of paper lying there. I read it: “Where the streets are narrow and the houses are slanting.” Now what did that mean? I stood and looked out the window for a while, and was about to give up. But then I finally saw what I had been looking at all the time: Ribe city. Ribe was one of the oldest towns in Denmark, so there, the streets had to be narrow and the walls slanting. But it was late, so I decided to find out the next morning. And now I'm here in a small motel, pondering all the mysterious things that have happened today.

16th February 2007

Dear Diary,

So, today was the day where I was to solve yet another riddle. But it developed into quite a trip: I started out early at 7:45 AM, so I took another look at the map: “Ribe experienced its period as the centre of trade until the 16th century, where the Reformation, the sanding of the river, the plague, city fires, flooding and war inevitably changed the entire picture. Ribe is dominated by numerous houses from around the year 1600, where a lot had to be rebuilt after 213 houses – almost the entire middle part of the city – burned down in 1580. The houses are there today because of the fact that ever since the fire in 1580, Ribe has been spared for city fires, and that the city from around 17th century lost its economic importance. There was no money, neither any need for new houses on a larger scale. Already in 1899 a union of tourism and preservation was created, and in the year of 1963, the local authorities made some preservation rules for the entire old city core. Therefore, Ribe is still preserved and today it has more than a hundred protected houses.”

Ribe was one of the oldest cities in all of Denmark, and I just had to find out if the oldest city in Denmark had some proper beer, so I went into a little tavern and ordered a beer. After a few minutes, the waiter came. I was really thirsty, so I took a sip. I put the beer on the table and discovered that it wasn't a Tuborg or Carlsberg as I had ordered. Instead, there was a little piece of paper saying: “They'll always be a part of us.” What was that supposed to mean? I finished the beer and went out on the street again. I decided to go for a walk up and down Ribe's streets and ponder the riddle while I was doing it. Just as I was wandering, I spotted the man from the train. I ran after him, hoping he would be able to help me:

“Hello, remember me?”

“How could I not?” he responded sourly.

“Anyway, how goes the treasure hunting?” I asked, trying not to smile.

“Very well, thank you,” he answered. A long time passed where we just stood next to each other, but then I finally asked:

“Who or what wants to be a part of us?”

“Oh, are you treasure hunting too?” he asked with a mocking look in his eyes.

“No, I don't think so,” I answered.

“Well then, the one who will always be a part of us is from our past,” he said and moved quicker. I stopped to think about the riddle, when suddenly I remembered that if it was people from our past, then it could only be the Vikings. I looked in the little brochure, to find out, if there was any place here in Ribe, where the Vikings could be found, perhaps a museum or something like that. In fact there was, a pretty big one:

“Archaeologists and historical interested people have always known that the area around Ribe played an important role in the time of Vikings. By several excavations it has been proved that the area around Ribe has been one of the world's most important centres for craftsmanship, trade and farming in the time of Vikings. Excavations have proved that ceramics have been rotated about 500 years earlier than anticipated. The findings of hops can possibly change our understanding of when the Danish began to brew beer. Among other things the many excavations, Ribe Vikingecenter was established in 1992.”

So, I went to Ribe Vikingemuseum. It was a pretty long way, and on the way there I pondered all the strange things that had happened lately. But then right ahead of me, it was there, Ribe Vikingemuseum. I went in and paid for a tour. I didn't quite know where to start. All over the place there were axes, tools, clothes and bits of clay pots from that time. I started walking over towards a large ship standing in the middle of the museum – it was made so you could enter it, and of course I had to try that. In the cabin of the ship there were some wax figurines, looking like the Vikings, and there, in the hand of one of them, was the paper. This paper was different. On it, there was no riddle, but three city names: Århus, Odense and Copenhagen. I had found those cities before on a piece of paper, but on this one Ribe was deleted? Now I'm sitting in a train towards Esbjerg. I've just bought a brochure about Århus, because I think the paper is telling me that I should go to Århus – but first, I want to go home and get some different clothes on.

Århus
19th February 2007

Dear Diary,

I was sitting in the train going to Århus. I was eating some Danish and drinking a cup of coffee. I sat there and wondered about the little note I had found with all the city names on it. Now there was just missing one city name. I was scared. I didn't know what was happening around me, and it scared me. Then the train stopped. I got off. The cold morning air hit me in the face. I looked at the clock; the time was 6:05 AM. There were no people on the station. It was a weird atmosphere. Suddenly, I felt chills going down my spine. I got goose bumps and got stunned. I heard some weird words, and then I knew that it was the spirit. Even though I was paralyzed with fear, I was struggling to get my legs moving. Finally, they obeyed, and I ran out of the station, into the street. After I had recovered from the shock, I knew where to go. “The Old Town”! There was probably something I could use.

I waited a couple of hours for “The Old Town” to open, and I started walking around, looking at the little houses. It felt like someone was following me. On a sign it said: “Smithy”. I opened my flyer, it said: “In the Old Town you can enter shops from the 1800s to see how people lived back then.” I decided to enter the smithy. There were a lot of copper pans, but there were also tools from the old days.

One of them had the initials “T.F” written on it. I asked one of the smiths what the letters meant. “It stands for Tivoli Friheden. The copper pan was given to us by Tivoli Friheden.”

“Thanks” I said and he went over to some other tourists. I looked in the brochure. “If the family would like a nice trip, if your friends and you would like to experience something wild; go to Tivoli Friheden. You can try anything from little things to Bulmer cars to the wildest tours. We have Pegasus.”

I got hold of a taxi. It cost 50 kroners to enter. I checked my pockets. I only had 25 kroners. “Here” an old, grumpy voice sounded. I turned around, startled. The old man from Ribe stood there looking at me. “Here” he said again. He gave me 25 kroners. “Meet me by the place where the ships sail vertical and the pirates stand calmly like pillars made by iron.” Then he was off again.

I wanted to call out after him but the ticket lady interrupted me. She asked “Are you going in or what?” I nodded and paid the fare. I took a brochure and looked through the entertainments. “The pirate ship” one of them said. I went there. By it an old man stood and I wanted to ask him what I was to do here, but he interrupted me and said “Now you have found your vessel. Enter the house of horror, where grimness and the supernatural rule. Jump off the tour by the animal which has glowing eyes.”

It was easy to figure out that he meant The House of Horror. Now I just had to find a monster with glowing eyes. The corridor twisted and I came by different scenes of horror. One of the scenes was a library with a dead man in an armchair. Above the fireplace was a trophy. I saw the deer head just before the wagon left the room, and I noticed the deer's glowing eyes. I jumped off the wagon. I went over to the fireplace. Behind the false flames there was a note where all the city names stood – except Århus and the other cities I had been to. I hurried out of Tivoli and went over to the train station.

On The Way
19th February 2007

Dear Diary,

ƒ It was late night, and I was sitting in the train to Odense. I wondered about all the little pieces of paper I had gotten, with all the city names on them, and how there were always missing the one name of the city I had just been in; but I knew one thing:

I was going to Odense.

I was reading the newspaper, and suddenly I noticed an ad that said: “When everything is dark, and all things come to a halt, I want to see you by the coals.” I thought it was a weird thing to put in a newspaper. I looked again, but I couldn't find it. It was late, and it had been a peculiar day. I fell asleep, and woke up in a strange place. I was sitting in an old train. The kind that are fuelled by coal. COAL! Everything had come to a halt, and it was dark!

“When everything is dark, and all things come to a halt, I want to see you by the coals.”!

It all made sense to me now; I was supposed to go to the coal wagon! I thought it was strange, all the things happening to me, but the strangest thing happened on the way to the coal wagon. When I was walking through the train, I saw a lot of old people sitting around me. Then I noticed that they weren't just old people, but spirits from the past. It looked as if they couldn't see me, but I could see them. I kept on going through the train to the coal wagon. Then I knew that I had to go over the coals and into the lead wagon. When I made it to the lead wagon,a spirit looked at me with a smile on its face. “I've been waiting for you,” the spirit said. After I had recovered from the shock, I asked: “Who are you, and how do you know me?”

The spirit just laughed at me, and said: “You dealt with the first of the riddles, but can you handle this? >>Just where road makes a bend, there's a house which beauty will blend.

Solve this, and you'll be close to the first ending of your trip.”

After all that I had been through, I just wanted to go home. But I couldn't… When I woke up, the old man from before was sitting next to me, and he was looking funnily at me, before he said: “Aren't you hungry?”

“Yes, a bit,” I answered. From his pocket he took a Snicker, and threw it in my face, whilst he said “Here.” I got offended, and asked: “Why did you do that?!”

“Because you said, that you were hungry, now eat,” said the old, sour man.

Suddenly the old man laughed and said: “Now we're even.”

I looked at him sceptically, and said: “okey”

The old man said, that we could get off the train at the next stop; he had a friend who lived close by. We got off and went to his friend's place. The friend's name was Flemming, and he was very generous. I got the guest room and went to sleep.

20th February 2007

Dear Diary,

When I woke up, I felt great. I had had a good night's sleep, even though it wasn't my own bed, which had 3 mattresses. The 3 of us went to a café, where we had breakfast. There the old man decided to travel on by himself, because we had had a discussion, and I had to go to Odense the next day. I had to go by train, even though I wasn't feeling safe by doing so, after what happened yesterday. I took the train, and it only took 30 minutes. I had just time to read the newspaper, before I arrived in Odense. “Just where road makes a bend, there's a house which beauty will blend.” – isn't that a song I've heard before?

Odense
21st February 2007

Dear Diary,

I'm pretty confused about all the things that have happened. I feel constantly watched, and it's quite scary. This “spirit” has now led me almost across all of Denmark, and I'm out of money!

At the moment I am in Odense without any clue of my next mission. I want to try and find a job, whilst I still have the time. That's why I have contacted my cousin, and just 20 minutes ago, he returned my call. He said that he had found a job with reasonable salary, and that I could start tomorrow. Now we'll see what that is.

22nd February 2007

Dear Diary,

You've got to be kidding me! I'm a toilet cleaner! That was not exactly what I had counted on. But I found a note, in the office where I went for the job interview, that said “Copenhagen you cannot go to, when you do not possess money.” Argh! That's the only reason why I am taking the job. I was supposed to start cleaning some toilets down town. I wanted to get done as fast as possible, and I did it in nearly half time. That looked like it pleased my boss.

1st March 2007

Dear Diary,

Just as I thought - the boss was delighted. I have received the great honour to clean H.C. Andersen's toilets for a big tour, where the queen is coming! Jesus Christ, that's a bit better than the old hotdog stand I used to work at, isn't it? Well no actually, I guess it isn't. Just thought for a second, the queen is coming, and I might meet her! It would be good:

“Hello, your Highness, Queen Margrethe the 2. of Denmark.”

“Hello, you polite, young man, what kind of hardworking worker are you?”

“Why thank you, I've just cleaned H.C. Andersen's toilets, which you probably will be sitting on!”

Well that'll be an interesting conversation!

3rd March 2007

Dear Diary,

Why do I always mess things up? Listen to this: My alarm clock rang at 8:30. Yes, you heard me, 8:30! I was supposed to get up at 7:30! I put on my cleaning clothes, put my fine clothes in a bag, and I was quickly done with the first toilet. Then the next one and the next one. Then I slammed my head into the door, and I had to sit down for a while before I moved on.

I'm glad nobody noticed. All the guest toilets were fixed now, and I just needed to clean H.C. Andersen's toilet for the tour. I looked at the time. It was half past 9 now.

The tour started now. They were going to start in the kitchen. I managed to sneak past them without them noticing. I sat on my knees, looked in the toilet, and I found out, that someone used it – a lot. It was clogged. I grabbed my suction disc and put it in the toilet. That must have done the trick. I took it back up. Or rather, I wanted to take it back up, but it was stuck. I could hear people getting closer. I got on the toilet and started to pull frantically. I just needed to get it up, before the Queen came. I ripped and pulled, and suddenly it let go. My legs slipped off the toilet seat, and then I was stuck halfway down the toilet.

“And here's…” The tour-guide was standing with his mouth open, staring at me. My face got red. Everybody was just staring at me! “Um.. Sorry,” said the tour-guide, and slammed the door. No, no, no! Now things couldn't get worse. I was about to stand up when I found out that I was stuck. After a long time of struggling I had to yell for help and they came and got me out of the toilet. I've never had a more humiliating experience before in my life. My boss was complaining about that I had come in late, and given his company a bad reputation. I was fired, but I was paid my well-earned salary.

When I shook the Queen's hand, she started to laugh. Not mockingly, but because she thought it was funny. It was awkward, but yet, it's nice, that you can laugh about the things that are embarrassing here in Denmark. That's a good thing. The Queen also thanked me for the funny situation, so there was a bit of good that came out of it anyway. The Queen also gave me a check! Now I've got enough money for a long trip. I'll just need to go to Copenhagen, so I'll also have a bit of money when I get home again.

5th March 2007

Dear Diary,

Today, when I was eating breakfast at a small motel, a note flew in the window. “Copenhagen's waiting,” it said. I'm taking the train this afternoon. Then I just need something to eat. I wonder what mysterious (and awkward) things this trip still has in hold for me.

Copenhagen
5th March 2007

Dear Diary,

People rushed out of the train and the little girl fell over her own legs. She looked at me with her big blue eyes, which suddenly turned to be wet. I took her hand and helped her up. I asked if she was ok; but she just looked at me and went on.

I looked around and saw a big poster, which said “TIVOLI” with big letters. It looked interesting so I decided to go there. In front of Tivoli there were many people. I queued up. It was beautiful in Tivoli and there were many more things than I had expected. I passed by a tower and next to that was a sign that said “The golden Tower”. It was very big and people screamed when they actually flew down towards the ground. I only tried a few of the activities e.g. the little train. I won a teddy bear in one of the booths where you could shoot at a target. It was a pink teddy bear. Later on I chose to go to the tower because the queue was not so big any longer only a few girls who talked rubbish which I did not understand.

Soon it was my turn and I sat down and buckled up. When I was all up I had a fantastic view and I noticed a big round tower; but I hardly reached to look around before I rushed to the ground. I was about to vomit. When I was down on the ground safely I looked around a little. The round tower I saw from my view must have been “The round Tower” which was built by the king Christian the 4th (or his workers had built it). I could go and see it. No, not this time, maybe another day.

On a bench behind a tree the little girl from the railway station sat. I sat down beside her. She did not say anything; but she was just looking at her hands, which were in her lap. There were some wounds on them.

“What has happened?” I asked without looking at her. At first she did not say anything she still looked at her hands. “I fell”, she said. Suddenly I heard some loud music a while away. I looked towards the music. It was a theatre that had started. When I again looked towards the girl she was gone; but instead there was a note. I read what it said: “See you at the Madam of the sea”. I put the note in my pocket and went on.

I chose to stay at a hotel close to Tivoli.

6th March 2007

Dear Diary,

When I woke up the next day I read the note again. I could easily figure out that I should go to the statue of “THE LITTLE MERMAID”. I put on my clothes and went out into the street. A bicycle taxi came along and I stopped it and entered it and it drove me to the statue. There were many people. I went to stand in front of it and it was as if it stared at me. “The bridge leads to the country with the blue/yellow flag”, it suddenly said. I looked around very confused; but it did not look as if anybody else had heard it. A little longer ahead I could see the little girl I had seen before. I went to her and asked: “What's your name?” She did not answer, instead she said: “Listen to the loudspeaker!” then she went to the statue where the old man, I had talked to earlier on my trip, was. Together they went away. I did not understand anything at all and I did not want to think about it any longer. Suddenly I heard a voice say: “Remember the bridge to the country with the blue/yellow flag”.

I started my trip to Sweden.

Chapter 2