England 40 Years Ago — August 9, 1981

We arrived at the cathedral outside Copenhagen in time to hear the service going on and find all the doors securely closed. Felt as if the bridegroom came and we missed him.

In Odense we went to a railway museum which Kate and John thoroughly enjoyed. I saw a waiting room bench I’d like to have taken home; it was painted green and decorated with gold crowns.

Upon arrival in Aarhus, we settled in our fairly spacious room and headed for the restaurant. The motel itself was dinky looking from outside and didn’t prepare us for the exquisite restaurant. The service was French style, the most elegant we had on the whole trip. The food was marvelous – and at that, we weren’t sure what we were getting. The menu was in Danish; the waiter could speak little English and knew few names of foods to describe them to us. I finally asked him what he liked best and ordered that. Turned out to be a thick pork chop with sauce, pineapple slices and water cress served with rice and two little pots of sauces. John had chopped steak covered with onions, and the girls a kind of beef stew. This was also the most expensive meal of the trip.

My jaw dropped when I noticed the hand basin in the motel bathroom – it boasted the first built in metal stopper that we have seen in all Europe. The last one we used was in Stony Brook more than a year ago!

The toilets come in all sizes – or rather, heights. The family room in Sweden with bunk beds had a very low toilet in the bathroom, probably for the benefit of small children. I always wondered half way down if I were aiming right. The toilet in Copenhagen was Just Right, and the one in Aarhus should have been equipped with a step stool.

It afforded much merriment in the car at the Danish word for entrance – infart. Exit – outfart, and a town we passed near – Middlefart. A bus of tourists was labeled right on the front – Tourisfart.

I took the photo below at some point in the trip. We must have been about to board a ferry and found this scene amusing. As cars waited, a petrol cart worked the line. How convenient to have your tank filled when you were forced to sit in your car!