Palinka Story

Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009--Sibiu (Continued)

I had written a message to Gabby in Bucharest asking if I could buy some bottles of Palinka to take to Copenhagen as gifts when I return there. He wrote back telling me that I was in one of the best places for buying Palinka now. I had already looked in a local supermarket the night before and could not find it on the shelves with the other liquors. Therefore, I went to a nearby tourist office to ask them where to buy it. The man there told me to go to the market (which I had visited last night) and go to the shops where they sell cheese and ask for it. Well, I headed to the market and found the cheese shops, but all I could see was cheese. Finally, I asked about Palinka, and one woman reached down and lifted up a 1.5 liter water bottle while another pulled out a 1 liter Coca Cola bottle. These ladies had the REAL HOMEMADE stuff! One insisted that I taste hers and poured a capful for me. It was delicious. But it wouldn't work for gift giving. I knew I had passed a liquor store somewhere near my hotel, so I went back a different way. Sure enough, there was one just a block from my room. When I asked there, the lady had it and indicated where they were. All bottles were on the top shelves requiring a ladder. My guess is that she sells little of it because she cannot compete in price with the cheese ladies. Anyway, I used her ladder and checked several brands. I eventually settled on one that seemed to be expensive enough to be a good quality and that came from a county known for its palinka. I bought three half-liter bottles--the maximum that I am allowed to take through the customs in Denmark.

Unfortunately, the organ concert at the church was canceled for the night. The organ was being repaired. Therefore, I went back to my room and repacked my bag carefully (wrapping shirts around the bottles and supporting the necks of them with soft socks and underwear) so that the bottles of palinka would be secure during my travels tomorrow. Then I sat on my balcony and drank the last half of the bottle of wine I had opened yesterday while enjoying the view of the roofs and towers of the Old Town.

Wednesday, Sept. 2, 2009--Sibiu to Bucharest

Walked to the bus station getting there an hour early. Stopped at a pastry chop and bought a savory cheese-filled pastry and a sweet coconut-topped pastry to have for my breakfast.

The bus was 30 minutes late leaving. They seemed to be waiting in hopes of filling every seat before the trip began. The trip through the hills of Transylvania and beside a flowing river was beautiful once we began. And even with the late start and the heavy traffic (one a two-lane road that should have had 4 lanes for the amount of traffic), we arrived at the station in Bucharest on time around 16:00.

I had a good experience there at the bus station. I needed directions to the nearby metro station, and I asked a woman if she spoke English. I got a rather put-out sounding resonse of "No!" As I turned, a young man said, "I'm a taxi driver. May I help you or give you information?" Most taxi drivers do not offer to help tourists except to try to convince them to let them drive them where they want to go. And in Romania, as in many places I've been lately, the taxi drivers have a reputation for ripping off the tourists at bus and train stations and airports. But when I told this young man that I had been told there was a metro station near the bus station, he said, "Come over here." He led me to the street and pointed to a Coca Cola sign down the block and on the other side of the street. He then said, "The metro entrance is behind the sign." I was very impressed.

The metro itself reminded me of the one in Tbilisi last year. The stations are far apart, the stations are rather dark and crumbling, and the train cars are rather rattly and worn. I could not clearly hear the speakers. And the stations did not have signs that I could find on the walls. So I had to read the map over the door and count the stops to know where I should exit the car.

I followed Gabby's directions and arrived at his work apartment at 16:30. (I call it his work apartment, because it belongs to a friend of his who has loaned him the use of it for writing his book. He actually lives with his parents in another apartment.) We visited. I told him several stories about my trip. Then I bathed for us to go out to dinner. We could not get into the restaurant he had chosen, because it was full. So we went to another place around the corner. We both had a beef soup with bread. Then I had a paprika chicken dish that came with polenta. We shared a dessert that was the same as flan at home. When we left the restaurant, Gabby gave me the key to his apartment where I returned to spend the night. He went to his home.

I finished reading A Thousand Splendid Suns by Khaled Hosseini. The sentences in the book are so simple, yet the story is told so well. I really enjoyed the book and gave it 4 stars out of 4.

Thursday, Sept. 3, 2009--Bucharest to Copenhagen

I slept well except that I have had a recurrence of the allergies that were bothering me recently. During the night, I found one side of my nose stopping up off and on.

Gabby arrived at the apartment around 7:45 with breakfast. He had made grilled cheese sandwiches which he had filled with onions, mushrooms, etc. And he brought hot chocolate milk to have with them. It was a good treat. I left soon afterwards, since I needed to buy my ticket in advance for the 9:15 train to the airport.

The airport train trip is rather strange in Bucharest. It stops at a station in the countryside with some nearby houses. Just down a paved trail from the station, a van labeled "Airport Transfer" is parked. Everyone from the train loaded their things onto the van and climbed inside. It then went through the neighborhood on a road that was loose rock and very narrow. A few minutes later, we came out at the airport, though, just as promised. The fare for the trip was good--only $2 U.S.

The airport in Bucharest is not a large one. The international airport has two terminals (one for arrivals and one for departures) and only 10 gates total. My guess is that it and the domestic airport together are probably smaller than the airport in San Antonio.

Check in was a mess. There is a big board which tells which counters to use. When my SAS flight was posted, it said to go to Counters 31 and 32. I got in line at a corded off area that had a Star Alliance entrance sign. As I waited, I noticed that this line came out ahead where I could see different counters for different airlines. I could not tell for sure if the line was for SAS, too, or not. And the sign at the entrance only listed Lufthansa, TAP Portugal, Austraian Air, etc., with no reference to SAS. So I exited to see if there was another entrance for the SAS counters. There wasn't, and when I got back in the original line it was 4 times as long as it had been before. As I finally got to the front of the line, it then became obvious that all the counters were checking in people for ANY of the Star Alliance flights. So where were only signs for 2 counters showing SAS? Why don't they have each sign say something like this:

STAR ALLIANCE
LH 3814 Frankfurt
OS 1401 Vienna
SK 1872 Copenhagen

Anyway, I got processed and continued through passport control and security.

Robert was at the airport to meet me. Fortunately, the flight had been on time and, for the first time in many visits here, the luggage came out fast. It's quite common for it to take 30-40 minutes for luggage to be unloaded at CPH. Robert and I caught the metro and were at his apartment where Jens awaited us by 16:00. We sat on their balcony and visited.

Nurse Grethe prepared dinner for the evening, so we walked from J&Rs apartment to hers arriving at 18:00. She was standing on the balcony watching for us when we came around the corner. A couple of minutes later, Torben and Erik, whom she had also invited, arrived.

Grethe served peanuts and gin and tonics. It was nice to relax and visit with everyone. I had not seen any of them for a whole year, but it didn't seem that long. When we came to the table, Grethe served a fantastic tuna mousse covered in red caviar with a dill and sour cream sauce on the side. It was made by a well-known shop here in Copenhagen. Then for the main course she served one of my favorite Danish meals which she had made herself--roast pork with crispy skin, boiled new potatoes, brown gravy, and salad. It was wonderful. Afterwards, we had coffee and chocolates back in the living room.

Because it was a work night, everyone left about 10:30. Then Grethe and I washed the dishes to have everything clean and out of the way. It was a great evening both in terms of the food and the wonderful conversation with friends.

Spending Update: I spent $2055.54 over 49 days thraveling through the Balkans for an average of $41.95 per day. Since leaving Texas, I have spent $5512.72 over 136 days for an average of $40.53 per day.