Returning to Copenhagen

Monday, Sept. 29, 2008--Klaipeda (Continued)

My room is nicer than the one I had here when I arrived several days ago. This one has exposed beams in the ceiling, a private bath, and a sitting area with cable TV that is shared with one more room in the same entrance.

I finished reading Mother of Sorrows by Richard McCann tonight. It is very well written. It is unique in that it tells a story as a novel, but each of the chapters was originally a short story. The life of the author is slowly revealed in the stories that were written over a period of 18 years. I gave the book 4 stars out of 4.

Tuesday, Sept. 30, 2008--Klaipeda to Palanga to Copenhagen

It is raining again today. I had hoped to spend 2-3 hours wandering around Palanga, but it won't be fun doing that in the rain. Anyway, when it appeared to be clearing in Klaipeda, I departed for the bus station and caught a marshruta for Palanga. By the time we arrived there, it was raining again.

I stopped at the tourist office to try to get some information about going to the airport by bus. But when I asked about the schedule, the lady didn't know. When I asked about the cost of the bus, she didn't know that either and acted like I was crazy to be asking such questions. The former Soviet states still don't get the idea of service. Tourist offices tend to be places to make money selling souvenirs, selling tours, making reservations (for a fee or a kickback), etc.

Even though it was raining, I decided to walk down the main street in Palanga toward the beach. The city is known as a party town, and this street is lined with old wooden houses that have been converted into restaurants and bars. They are rather stylishly done and look nice with many huge trees around them. I walked on the boardwalk over the dune line and onto the pier at the beach. Again, it was nice. Palanga seems to be a pretty town. But tourists coming here have to consider the competition--Nida on the Curonion Spit. People wanting the party atmosphere with lots of attractions to distract and entertain will choose Palanga. But people wanting a village experience with lots of nature to explore will prefer Nida. I think I would choose Nida.

I ended up walking to the airport in the rain. When I found the bus stop, I discovered that the bus only runs every 2 hours or so. And someone there told me that the charge is 2 Lati. I had been spending my money down and had only 1.30 Lati in my pocket. I had thought that might be enough, since this is a small town and I had paid only 1.50 Lati for a long bus trip in Kaunas a few days ago. Anyway, I went to the supermarket and bought me one last seeded candy bar for 1.29 Lati and started hiking. The trip wasn't really that bad. It didn't rain the whole way, because the rain continued to come and go. There were sidewalks about 1/3 of the distance. Then there were shoulders for the next 1/3 of the distance. The only bad part was the final 1/3 of the 6 km (3.6 miles) which had neither sidewalks nor shoulders. I walked on the left side of the road facing the oncoming traffic in an effort to keep safe.

The flight arrived in Palanga about 35 minutes late, but we managed a quick turnaround there. Then we made up more time in flight so that we arrived in Copenhagen only a minute or two later than originally scheduled. I grabbed my bag and headed for Jens' and Robert's. It had been agreed that Nurse Grethe would go there after work and I would come there from the airport. I expected her to be there and having a gin and tonic when I arrived, since she is usually off work about 15:30 and I was arriving around 16:00. But she was late. When she did arrive an hour or so later, she looked tired and explained that she is having staffing problems at the hospital due to people being sick--some truly so and some others apparently just saying so.

We relaxed on the glass-enclosed patio and drank champagne once Grethe was there. Then we moved to the dining table for dinner. Jens made frikadeller, Danish meatballs, for us for dinner and served them with boiled new potatoes and bernaise sauce. Later, we had Dagmar Taerte, which is crusty Danish pastry with a buttery marzipan filling, for dessert with coffee. It was all delicious as usual.

Grethe was on her bike, so she road home while I walked. The weather here is really quite warm for this time of the year, so it was a pleasant walk.

Spending Update: Lithuania was a surprise by being more expensive than I expected. It was only second to Japan in terms of expensive countries for me this year, and it actually cost me about 86% of what it cost to be in Japan--much closer than I would have expected the costs of the two countries to be. Anyway, I spent $463.57 over 8 days in Lithuania for an average of $57.95 per day. Since leaving Texas, I have spent $5784.02 over 148 days for an average of $39.08 per day.

Wednesday, Oct. 1, 2008--Copenhagen

I felt lazy today. I am so tired of traveling and feeling that I must get as much as possible out of each day that being in Copenhagen, a city that I know so well and that has little I want to see again, gave me the chance to slow down. I spent much of the morning on the computer and watching the news on TV. I finally showered and dressed just before noon.

I went to Domus Vista, the building where Arne used to live which is nearby. I looked in the supermarket there, because Grethe had told me it had been remodeled. Then I wandered through the courtyard shopping area of the building and was surprised to see how run down it is looking these days. There is a new entrance to the apartments that avoids the need to go through there, and most of the businesses have vacated the premises. Since the door to the elevator area was open, I went inside and rode up to the 27th floor where we used to live. It all looks the same except that there is a different name on the door of Apartment 18. I saw that Annette, our nicest neighbor is still living there, but I didn't ring the doorbell. It was lunch time, and also there is a language problem between us since I do not speak Danish well and she does not speak English at all.

I stopped at a nearby store and bought everything needed for making burgers tonight. I always make them for Grethe one of the evenings I am here. I brought those back, then I went to the cemetary where Arne is buried. The small number markers are so grown over with grass, that I could not find the specific marker (or any of the ones nearby). Fortunately, I knew where the gravesite is and know that I was at it even if I could not find the metal marker. By then, rain was threatening. And I had no interest in exploring the city; nothing here holds the interest for me that it once did. I come here only to see my friends who live here. Therefore, I returned to the apartment for the rest of the day and awaited Grethe's arrival.