Subject:  4th of July in Denmark 

Hi Mele,

Well, here I am in Frederikshavn, Denmark. It is raining this morning, but I dare not complain. The gorgeous sunny weather has been following me around.

Yesterday I attended the Rebild 4th of July Festival I was so looking forward to. I was not disappointed. The weather turned sunny just as I arrived, and stayed that way through the evening. This morning, it was back to cloudy (normal). There were 17,000 people at Rebild Fest, according to the news. Victor Borge was also there (as always) and gave the last and funniest speech. They have a Danish program mixed with an English program (they alternate). I thought it interesting that Denmark sent artists (like film director Bille some thing or other) and USA sent politicians like the governor of USVI and the ambassador to Denmark. Oh well....  There was a bluegrass music festival in a tent across the street from my hostel, so I enjoyed the music and the company in the evening.  (Rebild is a short train ride south of Arhus. Jim did a lot of research on this before he traveled--contact him for more detail  kermit@ice.is )

I was very wrong about expecting difficulty in finding a place to stay at the fest. There was no trouble at all. Most of the locals had arrived on the 3rd, and it was that night when most places were full. But since Monday (today) is a workday for the Danes, they all left last night. I had a 6 bed dorm room at the Vandrerhjem (hostel) all to myself.

Then this morning I left. Next stop will be Gothenburg. But I haven't been able to reach Siv yet (line is busy) , so I don't know if I'll stay or just go on to Oslo.   (Siv is a Dane Jim met at TERC's last WWW Slide Show  Potluck)  Stay tuned...

I've taken lots of pictures, and I'm getting them developed as I go. I write on the back of them while I still remember. Soon, I'll have to mail a box of them back to the states - they're getting big and heavy.

A Phone Tip for travelers in Denmark: You can buy a phone card here, but you may have trouble finding a public phone that will accept it. They only seem to be around railway stations and other public squares. The common ones are coin phones. Also, the numbers on the phones are upside down from the USA, and the 0 is NOT in the middle, so watch what you dial. Also, they're NOT all the same here. They don't give refunds for wrong numbers. Another tip: start with the minimum amount (usually 1DKK) but have more change ready to add quickly, because you don't get a warning when your time is up, except 2 beeps then dead silence. You've been disconnected!

The Danmarks Vandrarhjem -hostel system is GREAT! They rate the hostels with stars - 1 to 5 stars, and they're quite good. Very clean and mostly convenient, although NOT at Copenhagen. They're too far from the center city there.

Well, off I go into the wild gray yonder.  I'll talk to you again.

Jim