Day 7
Wednesday
August 9, 2000

Denmark:
The island of Æro

After breakfast we boarded the bus for a tour of the island. It is approximately 18 miles long and about 5 ½ miles at its widest. There are about 7,500 permanent inhabitants. Most people live in the three towns of Søby, Marstal, and Ærøskøbing, the town where we stayed.

Aero has a group of tiny cottages on the beach. They are used mainly for changing clothes or as a place to leave clothing while swimming nude in the cold water. We saw such one such couple in the water as we drove by the first time. By the time we reached the end of the road, turned around and drove back with cameras ready they were gone. Perhaps they were safely inside one of the cute little huts with a cup of hot tea after the invigorating swim.

We stopped at a church built by Catholics in the 12th century. The Protestants whitewashed the frescoes when the power shifted. There are model ships hanging from the ceiling to symbolize passage from one life to the next.