2008 Rediscovery Tour
from Day 34, Odense–Kerteminde-Slagelse 80 km (2341)
After a good night’s sleep at Valdemar Slot in
the largest bedroom I have ever slept in (I
believe it is the same size as the tennis court
at the Residence), I was thrilled that my day was
starting with good friend, and “celebrity guest
rider of the day” Mads Ulrich. Mads had been
worried about whether he could make the 75 km Day
or not, and I think he was encourage when we left
Valdemar Slot in my black armored Cadillac with
the bikes in the van behind us, drove 45 minutes
to Odense, and then took the bikes out of the van
just a few hundred meters from the Fraugde Skole,
which was our first destination. “So this is
how it works!” Mads said with enthusiasm ‘You
don’t actually ride the whole way on bike, you
just pull up in the car a few meters from your
destination, get the bikes out, and throw a
little water on your face so that it looks like
you have been riding!!” The bodyguards and I
laughed really hard and explained to Mads that we
did this to start the day so that we could pick up
exactly where we left off the day before, but from
here on out it was all on bicycle!! (Mads was a
real Champion and made it in great form for the
entire 75 km, looking pretty good, I should say,
in his “designer” cycling jersey and pants!)
As we were unloading the bikes to start the day I
was pleased to see the great article and
photographs from the day before in the local Fyns
Stiftstidende newspaper showing the “Elvis
Twins” entertaining the crowd in front of the
Odense Zoo. I was afraid the image would be a
little “undiplomatic”, But the media seems to
have understood the point about the celebration of
the Great American rags-to-riches success story
that Elvis represents, which I call “Elvis
Diplomcay”.
The biking day started In Tingkjær to the
Fraugde Skole which was having its annual sports
day. It was great fun riding in to the school
with the enthusiastic students eagerly wanting to
shake my hand and try out their English. I was
hosted by Henrik (“Elvis”) Busborg, who is a
teacher at the school, and clearly a very popular
teacher. The School honored me with the
opportunity to address all the students, and then
about 30 of them joined me for the 12 km ride into
Odense. The ride into Odense was one of the most
delightful of the Tour. Each of the 30 students
took turns, usually in pairs, riding beside me to
have a conversation. Some were a little shy but I
think all eventually opened up and shared their
thoughts with me. Two of these young people had
been in a group that interviewed me last year at
the News Museum in Odense. (that was one of the
most fun interviews I have ever done.) I learned
a great deal from these young people, mostly
between 12 and 15 years old. I learned that they
are curious about America, that they like
American music and American movies. The boys like
American sports, mostly base ball and basketball,
and the girls would like to go to New York to
Shop. These young people have an impression of
America that is large, open minded, with lots of
opportunity and powerful, but that is too
“war-happy” , not healthy enough, and does
not take care of its poor people. My favorite
response on the” What does America mean to
you” question was “The Green lady”, meaning
the Statue of Liberty. These young people are
split almost 50/50 on their preference for Martin
or Basim! (I invited them to all come join Basim
and me for the Tour-ending celebration on July 4
in Copenhagen.) I told several of the students
how proud I was when I joined the President at
his private home earlier this year to host Prime
Minister Rasmussen, when the Prime Minister
mentioned to the President the “great Elvis
party” we had hosted at the Residence last
year. I told him all about Henrik and the
“Power of Elvis” in Denmark. I think their
teacher got a lot more cool all the sudden!
The great group of young folks, along with
Henrik, rode with me all the way to the
headquarters of TV2 in Odense where News Director
Michael Dyrby met us out front and provided
welcome refreshments for all the young people. I
presented the commemorative coin to all my
guests, and then headed to the offices of IFAD, a
very impressive small company involved in software
design Here the 20 employees do very
sophisticated design, including design of certain
software in the F-35 Joint Strike Fighter
airplane. Their primary expertise is in warfare
simulation software, which I got to see tested.
I’ll bet these guys are really good at video
games.
Our next stop was in Munkebo where I was met by a
group of Gymnasium students who joined me for the
ride into Kerteminde. These young people were
great conversationalists on the 13 km ride into
Kerteminde (giving me 7.1 and 7.7 on my Third
Question), and I was really happy that they could
join me for the very unique experience in
Kerteminde at the “Dialogue Bench.” Mayor
Palle Hansborg-Sørensen explained to me upon
arrival that the town several years installed
several benches outside of their beautiful
cathedral for people to sit on and “talk”.
They were inspired by the “Speakers corner’
in Hyde park in London, and I could not wait to
take my turn on the bench, where I was surrounded
by my young riders from Munkebo, and by a dozen
new young friends from schools in Kerteminde. I
was particularly pleased that two of our new
group included two students who had travelled to
America last summer with our “Windows on
America” program. This is a program we
initiated, along with a commitment from the
Egmont Foundation, to send 15 young people from
ethnic backgrounds in Denmark on a three-week
study tour in the US. It is a fabulous program,
and these two students reported enthusiastically
about the positive experience they had had. They
said they returned with a whole new appreciation
for the people and spirit of America.
I spent about 30 minutes on the Dialogue Bench
talking with the young, and some not so young,
people. It was really funny trying to talk while
eating a huge ice cream cone that the mayor
handed me as we were just beginning the dialogue.
I kept watching Bo, Claus and Alex laughing and
pointing, when I finally realized that I had been
speaking for about ten minutes with a big glob of
whipped cream on my chin. (thank you Alex for
finally giving me the not-so-subtle sign to wipe
it off.)
We left Kerteminde for about a 20 km ride to
Nyborg with the imposing bridge growing larger in
the distance. On the way to Nyborg we were a
little ahead of schedule so we stopped at a great
antique store where I was able to find a few
things to add to our collections. Arriving at the
foot of the bridge we packed up the bikes and
drove them across.
I have now returned to Sealand, almost completing
the 2500 km odyssey I started 34 days ago.
Arriving back on solid land, we unpacked the
bikes in Korsør and were joined by Kim Carlsen,
the Director of Tourism, and Per Christiansen
from the Danish Cyclist federation who gave us a
“riding tour” of Korsør and the beautiful
countryside as we made our way toward Slagelse.
On the way we stopped at Trelleborg to see the
historic Viking fortress. We were met by Mayor
Lis Tribler and Mads Thernøe, the director of
the Trelleborg museum. Trelleborg is the only
Viking museum in Denmark actually located on an
ancient Viking settlement. I was treated to a
Viking feast and hand-to-hand Viking combat by
two valiant authentically dressed Vikings who
were fighting over a woman, also dressed in
authentic period costume, and who happened to be
from America!
In Slagelse I was invited to visit the beautiful
performing arts hall and participate in the Nordea
Business Awards Ceremony. I felt a little
underdressed as I greeted the crowd of 100 guests
and was invited to speak, but it was a grand
opportunity to talk about the meaning of the
ReDiscovery Tour, the spirit of innovation that
the Nordea Business Award celebrated, and of my
joy at returning to Slagelse which is the home to
my favorite of all of our initiatives: our
“Taking the Lead “ summer leadership camp for
young people from ethnic neighborhoods. It will be
held the first week in August at the Gerlev Sports
Academy and is designed to nurture the next
generation of leaders within the ethnic
communities of Denmark.
Returning to Valdemars Slot for the evening, Mads
and I were delighted to have the opportunity to
sit down and enjoy a fantastic meal with our
hosts and a very interesting gathering of guests.
We shared stories of the day, talked a little
politics and faith, spoke of Denmark’s unique
role in the world, and learned of the history of
the grand castle, including its legendary ghost.
When I retired in the wee hours of the morning
after enjoying the best of Danish hospitality,
tradition and fellowship, I tried to stay awake
long enough to hear if the ghost had arrived, but
I am afraid that the rigorous day had zapped me of
my energy, and I was soon fast asleep dreaming of
knights and battles and castles and ….