Danish Remembrances

Danish Remembrances

Tuesday, Dec. 5, 2006--Bangalore (Cont.)

For my final meal, I ordered a good one. I went back to the nearby Andhra-style restaurant and ordered chicken tikka masala, naan, and a fresh lime soda. The chicken was authentic. It was reddish from the seasoning, I could see the holes in the chunks to indicate that they actually had been cooked on a spit, and they were so tender. The sauce was very spicy. Delicious!!

I should have stayed longer at my hotel. I checked out about 9:30 to head to the airport. Well, I still had to pay the 50% bonus for night trips in autorickshaws, and I wasn't allowed to enter the airport terminal for two more hours after I got there. The problem is due to the fact that the airport is a small, old one. A new one is under construction far out of town and will open in a little over a year. In the meantime, they control entry to the terminal based on whether the airline has a flight soon and has started checking people in for it. It was a nice evening, and there is a covered area with concrete seats in front of the domestic terminal, so I sat there and finished reading A Frolic of His Own by William Gaddis. It won the National Book Award a few years ago. It's a satire on law firms and how they operate, on people who are suing and how they get caught in the costs of it, on insurance firms and how they operate to try to keep from paying off appropriately, on contemporary Americans who lead self-centered lives, etc. Unfortunately, I don't have much interest in any of those topics. Instead of being greatly entertained like most of the critics were, I found it to be too close to the truth and unfunny. I gave the book 2 1/2 stars out of 4 and passed it on to an American traveler who was there to catch a flight, too.

Wednesday, Dec. 6, 2006--Bangalore to Frankfurt to Copenhagen

They let me into the terminal just after midnight (of Dec. 5). The flight still didn't leave until 3:40 a.m. So I began reading the last book I had carried with me on the trip. I was lucky that I got a seat in the terminal. An Air France flight to Paris was delayed, so there were people from two flights waiting with only enough seating for people from a little over one flight. Many people had to stand as they waited for our flight. Then both flights were boarded at the same time through adjacent doorways which made it crowded and confusing.

I was lucky on the flight. No one sat between me (on the aisle) and an Indian woman by the window. And no one sat in the seat in front of me. Two lesbians sat up there in adjacent inside seats. So there was no seat back pushed against me, and there was room for me to turn sideways during the night while trying to sleep. I did sleep off and on. It was never long at one time, because I kept waking up and turning. Every little bit helps, though.

Before I started sleeping we were served dinner. It was so nice to have good western food. We had chicken in a brown gravy with pasta and fresh steamed vegetables. There was chocolate mousse for dessert. But what was nice was that there was a roll to go with it all which tasted so good when I would sop up the brown gravy with it. An Indian man across the aisle saw me doing it and did the same with my roll, but I bet he didn't appreciate the taste as much as I did. The Indian lady beside me was going to Houston for a month for work, so we talked about the city, I suggested she should try to make a weekend trip to San Antonio and Austin, and I introduced her to Baily's Irish Cream when they served it after the meal.

Because of the time zones, our flight was over 8 hours, yet it still arrived in Frankfurt by 8:00 a.m. We were served breakfast around 6:30, and I wolfed it down, too--poached eggs with a tomato mixture, potatoes, yogurt, vanilla pudding, and roll with cream cheese, butter, and jam.

I only had 1 1/4 hours before my flight to Copenhagen, so it was nice to go through immigration and customs, find my gate, and board my flight within just a few minutes. We even got to Copenhagen early because of a tailwind. I took the train and metro and was at the apartment of my friends Jens and Robert about noon. They served us sandwhiches--one with smoked salmon and one with ham. Then Robert and I went to his bank and arranged for the transfer of funds to cover their costs when they visit as Winter Texans in San Antonio in February and March of next year.

I brought my things to Nurse Grethe's apartment around 4 p.m. She was already home. Her place was very Christmasy with deorations out, music playing, etc. She told me all about her recent 12-day trip to Japan, then she made dinner for us--pickled herrings in honey mustard sauce on brown bread; Danish meatballs, boiled new potatoes, and salad; and rice-almond pudding. It all tasted so good to me. I had been starving for traditional Danish food.

I made a couple of phone calls to talk to Torben and Erik, because I was told earlier in the day that they were going out of town for the weekend and I wouldn't be able to talk to them if I didn't connect with them soon. I was tired soon after that and went to bed about 9 p.m., but it was so nice to be back here and to be able to drink the water straight from the tap!!!

Thursday, Dec. 7, 2006--Copenhagen

I was up at 5:30 this morning. I had a bit of trouble sleeping due to the right side of my nose being stuffy. But that was late enough that I had a good 8 1/2 hours of sleep and have done fine the rest of the day. I just got on the computer and started taking care of checking accounts, sending e-mails, etc.

Grethe had left two Danish pastries for me, and I ate one of them just after getting up. Then I ate the other one about 3 hours later. Finally, at noon, I ate a meatball and some potatoes on brown bread with mayonaise. I seem to be hungry all the time!!!

The day has been one of remembrances for me. I needed to go shopping for some things for dinner tonight, so I went to the supermarket in the apartment building where Arne and I lived. It's easier to be here now that 2 1/2 years have passed since his death. Still, it hurts to be in the old building. I wasn't in the supermarket long. Images of watching Arne stand around the meat counters checking out the possibilities of what we might have for dinner came to me. Then, there were memories of him all over the place.

I left and went to a nearby small shop to buy what I needed. From there, I crossed the street and went to Arne's gravesite in the cemetary. Of course, being anywhere like that just reminds me of how much I miss him and how my life has changed since he died.

I returned to Nurse Grethe's, because I have to start the preparations for dinner. Grethe has planned it all, but she left instructions for when to put the meat on the stove to start cooking. And I need to help by putting away the computer and setting the table. Kurt and Finn are coming for dinner. Grethe likes them a lot, so I'm sure we will have a lively evening.

Spending Update for India and Whole Trip: Now that I am in Denmark and am returning to Texas on Monday, I will stop maintaining records of my costs. Here is the final summary for this trip of the expenses. Through Dec. 6, I have traveled 67 days in India and spent $836.40 for an average of $12.48 per day. Since leaving Texas on Aug. 18, I have traveled a total of 111 days and spent a total of $1937.32 for an average of $17.45 per day.