The quiet Odense and the Irish girl

The view from the train was like a painting by Købke Christen, endless sunlight filtered through the clouds, gulls made their appearance in the sky as travelers at the borders between land and sea, colored with thick and full white, outlined by the profiler of nature. The waves came and turned to dip, in contrast with the eternal presence of the meadows, covered by a wet and deep vegetation, as befits to Freya´s Garden.

Odense, the name of the city resonates in the ring of bells, it evokes “Odin” etymologically, but nobody as sacred as Hans Christian Andersen, born in the poorest part of town, back in the ashes of time, in the 19th Century.

Heroic warrior and writer - a contumacious wandering man, by the way, author of several travel diaries -, they are the pagan gods who protect the city, while St. Knut Cathedral, protestant temple, owns an organ which is played to interpret beautiful pieces of religious music. Near the Catholic Church - the only one in Odense, next by Hans Christian Andersen Research Center- a gravestone lies beneath the legend of a Spanish soldier, a member of the Hispanic contingent in Napoleonic Wars, the so called "Dragoons of Almansa", led by “Marqués de la Romana”.

- How can I get to “JB winslows Vej”? Is it here? - Michelle was asking inside Cabinn Hotel.

The receptionist gave her a shiny brochure and marked the route. He spoke English with a very sweet accent. Not a big phonetic change for the Danes when they speak other languages with Germanic roots.

-Just go through the cemetery and get to the hospital. There is the building that you want - sounds encouraging.

The city was similar to Michelle´s hometown in Ireland, but only as a sketch: the smell of the sea, bicycles everywhere, licorice shops.

Finally she arrived at the hotel. There she would live during her stay with Marie, Carmen and Li, Danish, Colombian and Chinese - Bei jing - respectively. She established a good relationship with everyone, including Li, although she barely could speak English.

At St. John´ s Eve, "Sankt Hans", all of them crowded into the largest window of the hotel, that of Carmen's room, to avert their superstitions together in the fiery red sky.

The last day, Michelle received affectionate invitations from all of them. "And if one day you come to Barranquilla...", "if you ever travel to Jutland..." and she offered: "If one day you come to Ireland – because she was living in Howth – I will show you our sea, I see it in front of my house" .