Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009--Copenhagen (Continued)
After spending the morning trying to figure out an alternative plan for getting to the U.S. that would allow me to avoid the problem that getting from Venezuela to Aruba was presenting, I settled on going to Barcelona. It's a city that everyone seems to love and that I have not visited yet. And it is located on the normal routes that would allow me to go there without having to go through more airports than my ticket allows. The one problem it created is that the decreased distance would mean that I could finish my travels this year under the minimum needed to maintain my frequent flier elite status (which has privileges that are worthwhile). I solved that problem by choosing a routing from Barcelona to San Antonio through Frankfurt and Los Angeles. It gives me enough mileage to get me just a few hundred miles over the 25,000 mile minimum rather than just under it if I had chosen the routes through Chicago, Washington (DC), Denver, or Charlotte.
I went to the Thai Airways office, since my ticket was issued by that airline. Fortunately, no one was being assisted, so they saw me immediately. I could tell the woman was a bit hesitant when I first explained that I wanted to change the ticket. No one wants to work on these tickets, because it can take about two hours normally to re-ticket a person. She accepted the task, however, because the airline issuing the ticket MUST do so; that's a rule they have implemented since no one WANTS to do so. She mentioned the long period of time needed and told me to leave the information with her and that she would e-mail me when it had been done.
I stopped at the Royal Copenhagen Store and bought Grethe a gift. I looked for something appropriate in Romania, but I just couldn't find anything there that I thought she would appreciate. Here, I got her a crystal glass bowl with a Royal Copenhagen design etched into the sides.
The rest of the day, I prepared for dinner. I bought groceries to make guacamole and burgers. Grethe always asks for those each time I am here.
Hans, Grethe's nephew, came for dinner with us in the evening. I have heard about him for years and have seen photos of him, but this was my first time to meet him. He was such a delight with a smile that just never stops! We had guacamole with corn chips. Then I made our burgers fresh with each of us having two of them. We talked about so many topics:
Hans' work as a policeman and his future hopes to be a body guard with PET (the Danish CIA) now that he has been accepted for training there.
Hans' adoration of Barack Obama. Like Obama, Hans has a white mother (from Denmark) and a black father (from Nigeria). He is so proud of Obama's success and of his skills as an orator.
Hans' experience on the TV Show Robinson about 10 years ago and the resulting celebrity status and what it meant for his life. That's the Danish version of the show called Survivor in the U.S.
He is an impressive young man and such a pleasure to be around. I've known his mother (Grethe's and Morten's sister) for years, and I can see why she is so proud of him.
Wednesday, Sept. 9, 2009--Copenhagen
Grethe and I went by her bank to get rid of some of my Danish Kroner. I had been withdrawing money here to be changed to dollars, since Venezuela has such strange policies that make exchanging cash give you 3 times as much local money to spend as making a withdrawal from an ATM gives. Now that my travel plans have changed, I needed to get rid of the extra Kroner. Therefore, we stopped at her bank and she had them exchanged for Euros that I can use when I am in Barcelona.
From there, I went to the Thai Airlines office to pick up my new ticket. The woman was much friendlier today, saying that it had gone so smoothly. She kept complimenting me. She even said that she thought that I probably knew the rules for those tickets better than she does. My guess is that it only took her about 15 minutes to key my changes into the computer. The usual 2-hour length it takes involves dealing with the complications that usually develop due to the routing having too many stops, too much distance, etc. Anyway, I paid the fee to change the ticket and the additional taxes and went to explore town.
I really have not spent much time in the city since Arne died. Every time I walk down a major street, through a park, etc., there is a bad feeling in the pit of my stomach. I still get depressed due to all the memories of the times we spent together in these places. That's one reason this will be my last trip here. But it was a sunny day and I forced myself to take a farewell walk through the center of town.
From there, I walked to see Jens and Robert. They had invited me for a light lunch. We had Danish open-faced sandwiches--one with smoked salmon, one with Danish meatballs, and one with a French pate that had red peppers in it. We chatted and ate. I didn't stay late, because they have afternoon rituals that I didn't want to interrupt.
In the evening, I was invited to have dinner with Ulf and Allan. I walked there going through the park that used to be one of my favorite places in town. Like walking through the city, however, the pleasure of being there is mostly gone due to the memories of the past.
I have known Ulf and Allan for years, but I had not visited them in their apartment in town. I have only been to their summer house before. The apartment is on a grand boulevard in Copenhagen and is huge. It was just the three of us, so it was a nice, casual evening. I got a tour of the apartment. Then we sat in the kitchen and had a glass of wine as the dinner was cooking. To eat, we moved to the dining room where we had roasted duck breast with a crispy, salted skin; boiled new potatoes; steamed carrots; and a nice sauce. Afterwards, we sat in the living room to have coffee and talk. We have discussed the idea of their coming to Texas for years, and it seems that they may finally do so.
Grethe had been to a birthday party for the night, and she had just gotten home when I walked back into the apartment. We visited briefly, but we were both tired and decided to call it a night.
Thursday, September 10, 2009
Tuesday, September 08, 2009
Travel Planning
Sunday, Sept. 6, 2009--Copenhagen
The weather is quite nice here in Copenhagen. There have been some showers, but mostly it has been sunny. Today, I took a train to Farum, a suburb about 45 minutes away to visit Arne's family at their campground where they spend the summers in a camping wagon.
Evy, Arne's sister, has been in the hospital for 4 weeks, but she was back at the campground and is getting well. She had an accident where her leg was injured by a gardening tool as she stood up from her stool after weeding her flowers. Due to diabetes, she is slow to heal and needed special care. But while in the hospital a blood clot formed and lodged in her neck. They had to perform surgery to remove it. The only good part of all of it is that the doctors have found that her general health is fine. Therefore, when she is finally mended, she should be fine for a while!
Arvind picked me up at the train station. And Holgar and Anita came to visit during the time I was there. We had coffee and Danish pastry. It was good to see them all, but it was difficult saying goodbye knowing that I might not see them again. I have no present plans to return to Copenhagen. Since it will be a few years from now if I do, I have to worry about whether people as old as Evy and Arvind will still be here.
Upon my return to Copenhagen, Grethe's brother Morten and his wife came for dinner. Grethe cooked one of his favorites--stuffed peppers, potatoes and green beans. Dinner was great, and Grethe and I purposely avoided drinking alcohol after all the partying we have been doing lately. As usual, it was nice to see Morten and Helle. Since last year, they have bought a summer house that is on an island accessed only by ferry. They showed me photos and told me about it. It looks like a wonderful place with a view across the cattle fields to the sea.
Monday, Sept. 7, 2009--Copenhagen
I have not slept well since arriving here. I awaken early with worries about my travels from here. The first stop, Morocco, should be fine. But I keep encountering problems related to Venezuela. And it is complicated by the fact that to return from there, I had to book a flight from Aruba rather than from Venezuela. Today, I spent much time researching flights from various airports in Venezuela to Aruba. Part of the problem is that Venezuela puts a departure tax of approximately $100 on all international facts. With Aruba being just 15 miles (25 km) off the coast of Aruba, there apparently is little demand for flights that will be as expensive as they must be with that departure tax. For some reason, there have been no ferry services between the two countries for years. I finally found a flight that would go through Columbia to Aruba and cost over $200 without including the $100 departure tax. I found another flight that MAY exist that is non-stop and just about the same price. But nothing seems firm. That causes me to worry about getting to Venezuela and then NOT being able to get to Aruba for my return flight. Added to that concern is the knowledge that there are lots of safety warnings about traveling there. By the end of the day, I was exhausted dealing with it and starting to question whether I should change my travel plans and skip going to Venezuela.
Grethe came home from work, and we made frikadeller (Danish meatballs) together. It was a quiet dinner here together, again with no alcohol. Afterwards, Grethe watched Robinson, the local version of Survivor (and also its predecessor, since the local show started about three years before the U.S. version was broadcast) on TV.
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009--Copenhagen
I was awake at 3:45 worrying about my travels again. I got on the computer and started researching alternatives where I could stop for a few days if I decided to skip going to Venezueala. My first attempt was to try going to Iceland, since the cost of traveling there has decreased dramatically lately and it is a place I would like to see. That got eliminated as a possibility because of the number of airline segements required to go there and continue to San Antonio would cause my total on my ticket to be two more than is allowed. I tried Halifax and ran into a similar problem. I tried Dublin and did not like the choices I had for airlines. As of now, I am considering Barcelona. There are two problems related to it: I will arrive later than I want to arrive, and I will have to depart earlier in the morning than I like to depart for such a long travel day. Otherwise, it seems fine. Today, I will go to the Thai airlines office today to see about changing the ticket.
The weather is quite nice here in Copenhagen. There have been some showers, but mostly it has been sunny. Today, I took a train to Farum, a suburb about 45 minutes away to visit Arne's family at their campground where they spend the summers in a camping wagon.
Evy, Arne's sister, has been in the hospital for 4 weeks, but she was back at the campground and is getting well. She had an accident where her leg was injured by a gardening tool as she stood up from her stool after weeding her flowers. Due to diabetes, she is slow to heal and needed special care. But while in the hospital a blood clot formed and lodged in her neck. They had to perform surgery to remove it. The only good part of all of it is that the doctors have found that her general health is fine. Therefore, when she is finally mended, she should be fine for a while!
Arvind picked me up at the train station. And Holgar and Anita came to visit during the time I was there. We had coffee and Danish pastry. It was good to see them all, but it was difficult saying goodbye knowing that I might not see them again. I have no present plans to return to Copenhagen. Since it will be a few years from now if I do, I have to worry about whether people as old as Evy and Arvind will still be here.
Upon my return to Copenhagen, Grethe's brother Morten and his wife came for dinner. Grethe cooked one of his favorites--stuffed peppers, potatoes and green beans. Dinner was great, and Grethe and I purposely avoided drinking alcohol after all the partying we have been doing lately. As usual, it was nice to see Morten and Helle. Since last year, they have bought a summer house that is on an island accessed only by ferry. They showed me photos and told me about it. It looks like a wonderful place with a view across the cattle fields to the sea.
Monday, Sept. 7, 2009--Copenhagen
I have not slept well since arriving here. I awaken early with worries about my travels from here. The first stop, Morocco, should be fine. But I keep encountering problems related to Venezuela. And it is complicated by the fact that to return from there, I had to book a flight from Aruba rather than from Venezuela. Today, I spent much time researching flights from various airports in Venezuela to Aruba. Part of the problem is that Venezuela puts a departure tax of approximately $100 on all international facts. With Aruba being just 15 miles (25 km) off the coast of Aruba, there apparently is little demand for flights that will be as expensive as they must be with that departure tax. For some reason, there have been no ferry services between the two countries for years. I finally found a flight that would go through Columbia to Aruba and cost over $200 without including the $100 departure tax. I found another flight that MAY exist that is non-stop and just about the same price. But nothing seems firm. That causes me to worry about getting to Venezuela and then NOT being able to get to Aruba for my return flight. Added to that concern is the knowledge that there are lots of safety warnings about traveling there. By the end of the day, I was exhausted dealing with it and starting to question whether I should change my travel plans and skip going to Venezuela.
Grethe came home from work, and we made frikadeller (Danish meatballs) together. It was a quiet dinner here together, again with no alcohol. Afterwards, Grethe watched Robinson, the local version of Survivor (and also its predecessor, since the local show started about three years before the U.S. version was broadcast) on TV.
Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2009--Copenhagen
I was awake at 3:45 worrying about my travels again. I got on the computer and started researching alternatives where I could stop for a few days if I decided to skip going to Venezueala. My first attempt was to try going to Iceland, since the cost of traveling there has decreased dramatically lately and it is a place I would like to see. That got eliminated as a possibility because of the number of airline segements required to go there and continue to San Antonio would cause my total on my ticket to be two more than is allowed. I tried Halifax and ran into a similar problem. I tried Dublin and did not like the choices I had for airlines. As of now, I am considering Barcelona. There are two problems related to it: I will arrive later than I want to arrive, and I will have to depart earlier in the morning than I like to depart for such a long travel day. Otherwise, it seems fine. Today, I will go to the Thai airlines office today to see about changing the ticket.
Saturday, September 05, 2009
Partying in Copenhagen
Friday, Sept. 4, 2009--Copenhagen
Grethe was off to work on Friday, and I stayed at her apartment all day starting my planning for the last two main segments of my travel this year--Morocco and Venezuela. The latter is going to be a problem. Security seems to be a major concern there, and dealing with money is a major hassle. Based on everything I read, Venezuela must be much like South Africa or worse in terms of security. There are warnings about not being out in the evenings. There are parts of every city with warnings. I am hoping it will not be as bad as it sounds once I get there. For instance, there were warnings (not as strong) regarding Bulgaria and Romania, yet I had no problems at all. My biggest problem is that I am arriving at night (around 20:00) with only expensive alternatives for getting away from the airport that are safe and getting to places that are safe for sleeping for the night. Regarding money, their system is set up to try to force tourists to use an exchange rate that essentially almost triples the costs. The government sets the official rate, and that is the one applied if using a credit card to make a purchase or an ATM cash withdrawal. However, if one has cash and exchanges on the black market, there is a much better rate. Here's an interesting article that discusses it: What I need to do is make sure that I have enough dollars when I enter the country to exchange to pay for all my costs while there. That means that I must withdraw some money either here in Denmark, in Morocco, or on the day I am in Portugal and exchange them for dollars, since I do not currently have enough dollars in my money belt to cover the 20 days I will be there.
Jens and Robert invited Grethe and me for dinner at their place. Jens opened a bottle of sparkling wine and served it with potato chips to welcome us. It was a casual dinner at the table in the kitchen--pizza topped with tomato sauce, mozarella, and black olives along with a salad. Later, we had some dark chocolate with a cherry-flavored cream filling. While Jens and Grethe visited, I helped Robert solve a problem he was having related to opening attachments on his e-mails and advised him about purchasing and installing a router and a second computer with speakers so that he can be on the computer at the same time as Jens and can listen to French radio on the computer.
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009--Copenhagen
Torben and Erik invited Grethe, Jens, Robert, and me to come to their summer house in Tisvildeleje for a long afternoon luncheon with them and Ulf and Alan who also have a nearby summer house. Grethe and I were ready early and went walking through the streets of Valby, the neighborhood where she lives which was having a street festival this weekend. Then we met Jens and Robert at the station at 11:30 and took the trains northword, including the small local train called "Grisen" which serves the countryside. We arrived at the Hølløse station at 13:30.
It was a cloudy day, and at one time while we were there it rained heavily. But their summer house is bright and open with lots of windows looking out on the garden. We sat inside and visited and drank and ate. They served cosmopolitans as a beginning drink along with pretzel sticks. For lunch, we started with smoked salmon and dill on Torben's freshly made bread served with white wine. Then for the main course we had roasted lamb, boiled new potatoes, steamed green beans, and tzatziki (Greek yogurt/cucumber salad) served with red wine. afterwards, we had coffee with chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons. Time just seemed to fly. Everyone was talking and enjoying themselves. It was 19:00 when we started getting ready to walk to the station to catch the train back into town, and it was 21:00 when we reached the apartment. Grethe and I relaxed and watched TV for a while, but we were tired and went to bed by 22:00.
It is going to be a busy week. Almost every day I will be seeing people. And during the daytime, I have to spend much more time on the computer and reading my guidebook pages planning my travels to Morocco and Venezuela. That means that my 10 days here are going to pass very fast.
Grethe was off to work on Friday, and I stayed at her apartment all day starting my planning for the last two main segments of my travel this year--Morocco and Venezuela. The latter is going to be a problem. Security seems to be a major concern there, and dealing with money is a major hassle. Based on everything I read, Venezuela must be much like South Africa or worse in terms of security. There are warnings about not being out in the evenings. There are parts of every city with warnings. I am hoping it will not be as bad as it sounds once I get there. For instance, there were warnings (not as strong) regarding Bulgaria and Romania, yet I had no problems at all. My biggest problem is that I am arriving at night (around 20:00) with only expensive alternatives for getting away from the airport that are safe and getting to places that are safe for sleeping for the night. Regarding money, their system is set up to try to force tourists to use an exchange rate that essentially almost triples the costs. The government sets the official rate, and that is the one applied if using a credit card to make a purchase or an ATM cash withdrawal. However, if one has cash and exchanges on the black market, there is a much better rate. Here's an interesting article that discusses it: What I need to do is make sure that I have enough dollars when I enter the country to exchange to pay for all my costs while there. That means that I must withdraw some money either here in Denmark, in Morocco, or on the day I am in Portugal and exchange them for dollars, since I do not currently have enough dollars in my money belt to cover the 20 days I will be there.
Jens and Robert invited Grethe and me for dinner at their place. Jens opened a bottle of sparkling wine and served it with potato chips to welcome us. It was a casual dinner at the table in the kitchen--pizza topped with tomato sauce, mozarella, and black olives along with a salad. Later, we had some dark chocolate with a cherry-flavored cream filling. While Jens and Grethe visited, I helped Robert solve a problem he was having related to opening attachments on his e-mails and advised him about purchasing and installing a router and a second computer with speakers so that he can be on the computer at the same time as Jens and can listen to French radio on the computer.
Saturday, Sept. 5, 2009--Copenhagen
Torben and Erik invited Grethe, Jens, Robert, and me to come to their summer house in Tisvildeleje for a long afternoon luncheon with them and Ulf and Alan who also have a nearby summer house. Grethe and I were ready early and went walking through the streets of Valby, the neighborhood where she lives which was having a street festival this weekend. Then we met Jens and Robert at the station at 11:30 and took the trains northword, including the small local train called "Grisen" which serves the countryside. We arrived at the Hølløse station at 13:30.
It was a cloudy day, and at one time while we were there it rained heavily. But their summer house is bright and open with lots of windows looking out on the garden. We sat inside and visited and drank and ate. They served cosmopolitans as a beginning drink along with pretzel sticks. For lunch, we started with smoked salmon and dill on Torben's freshly made bread served with white wine. Then for the main course we had roasted lamb, boiled new potatoes, steamed green beans, and tzatziki (Greek yogurt/cucumber salad) served with red wine. afterwards, we had coffee with chocolate-dipped coconut macaroons. Time just seemed to fly. Everyone was talking and enjoying themselves. It was 19:00 when we started getting ready to walk to the station to catch the train back into town, and it was 21:00 when we reached the apartment. Grethe and I relaxed and watched TV for a while, but we were tired and went to bed by 22:00.
It is going to be a busy week. Almost every day I will be seeing people. And during the daytime, I have to spend much more time on the computer and reading my guidebook pages planning my travels to Morocco and Venezuela. That means that my 10 days here are going to pass very fast.
Friday, September 04, 2009
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.
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.
Tuesday, September 01, 2009
Sibiu is a Special Place
Monday, Aug. 31, 2009--Sibiu (Continued)
After resting for a while in the late afternoon, I went back out in the early evening. I walked along the old city walls. Then I wandered through the squares watching people. Sibiu has kept cars out of its most important square and off its shopping street. It also has fewer electricity wires in the way when trying to photograph its beautiful buildings. (In much of Romania, there are tens of wires hanging from pole to pole so that no nice photos can be taken of the buildings.) I walked a different direction from my hotel and went through the market. I bought some peanuts, cookies, and some toothpaste. Then I returned to the hotel around 20:00 for the rest of the night.
Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009--Sibiu
I didn't sleep well last night. My nose was sore all night from the pressure of a pimple (infection?) that was forming on the rim of a nostril. I put some antibiotic ointment on it, but it didn't stop it. Eventually, at 6:00 this morning it burst and I put some more ointment on it. But I could not go back to sleep.
Instead, I pulled out my guidebook information for Morocco and began to read and mark it. Then I opened my novel and read a few chapters.
What a disappointment. The art museum here in Sibiu is supposed to be the best in Romania. I knew I couldn't go yesterday, because it is closed on Mondays. I headed there first thing this morning only to find out, however, it is also closed on the first Tuesday of each month!! It's a day for them to concentrate on restoration work. I won't be able to see it, because my bus leaves for Bucharest tomorrow just 55 minutes after the museum opens.
Instead, I headed to the second place I intended to visit today: Muzeul Civilizatiel Populare Traditionale Astra--one of the largest open air museums anywhere. It is located out on the edge of town and has about 150 traditional structures of various kinds. Since it was only 6 km (3.5 miles) from my hotel, I decided to walk so that I could see the city on the way to there.
The museum was a real surprise to me--so much more than I expected. It is the best open air museum I have visited in terms of variety and numbers of exhibits. (It's not as good, however, in terms of allowing you inside the buildings. In most cases, you must peer through roped, open doors and through windows.) There are mills of all kinds and multiples of each--six different kinds of windmiless, for instance, and even a boat mill that allows the flow of the water to do the grinding while the boat is moving.) There are presses for oil, for grapes, etc. There's a vineyard beside each of two old wineries (the homes and the out buildings for pressing). There's an 8-seat hand-cranked "Ferris" wheel. There are farm houses, schools, churches, etc. There are special houses and their associated out buildings for shepherd's farms, candlemakers, coopers, tanners, fishermen, etc. There are the homes and buildings associated with making and dying various fabrics such as hemp, silk, goats' wool, sheeps' wool, etc. The list could go on and on and on. I was there for three hours and still did not see it all.
When I came back into town around 15:30, I was hungry and stopped at a Turkish kebab house. The stuffed sandwich was so big that I am totally full now and probably will not need anything else for dinner.
There's an organ concert at 18:00 at the Evangelica Basilica. I will go to it. Then I will be in bed early, I guess, since I was up so early today. Tomorrow is a big travel day when I return to Bucharest. I'll spend the night there and head to Copenhagen on Thursday.
Note to Nurse Grethe and Jens and Robert: Webspeed has been stopping your mail again. That's why you have not heard from me. I will still be at the airport there around 15:00 on Thursday and will see you that evening.
After resting for a while in the late afternoon, I went back out in the early evening. I walked along the old city walls. Then I wandered through the squares watching people. Sibiu has kept cars out of its most important square and off its shopping street. It also has fewer electricity wires in the way when trying to photograph its beautiful buildings. (In much of Romania, there are tens of wires hanging from pole to pole so that no nice photos can be taken of the buildings.) I walked a different direction from my hotel and went through the market. I bought some peanuts, cookies, and some toothpaste. Then I returned to the hotel around 20:00 for the rest of the night.
Tuesday, Sept. 1, 2009--Sibiu
I didn't sleep well last night. My nose was sore all night from the pressure of a pimple (infection?) that was forming on the rim of a nostril. I put some antibiotic ointment on it, but it didn't stop it. Eventually, at 6:00 this morning it burst and I put some more ointment on it. But I could not go back to sleep.
Instead, I pulled out my guidebook information for Morocco and began to read and mark it. Then I opened my novel and read a few chapters.
What a disappointment. The art museum here in Sibiu is supposed to be the best in Romania. I knew I couldn't go yesterday, because it is closed on Mondays. I headed there first thing this morning only to find out, however, it is also closed on the first Tuesday of each month!! It's a day for them to concentrate on restoration work. I won't be able to see it, because my bus leaves for Bucharest tomorrow just 55 minutes after the museum opens.
Instead, I headed to the second place I intended to visit today: Muzeul Civilizatiel Populare Traditionale Astra--one of the largest open air museums anywhere. It is located out on the edge of town and has about 150 traditional structures of various kinds. Since it was only 6 km (3.5 miles) from my hotel, I decided to walk so that I could see the city on the way to there.
The museum was a real surprise to me--so much more than I expected. It is the best open air museum I have visited in terms of variety and numbers of exhibits. (It's not as good, however, in terms of allowing you inside the buildings. In most cases, you must peer through roped, open doors and through windows.) There are mills of all kinds and multiples of each--six different kinds of windmiless, for instance, and even a boat mill that allows the flow of the water to do the grinding while the boat is moving.) There are presses for oil, for grapes, etc. There's a vineyard beside each of two old wineries (the homes and the out buildings for pressing). There's an 8-seat hand-cranked "Ferris" wheel. There are farm houses, schools, churches, etc. There are special houses and their associated out buildings for shepherd's farms, candlemakers, coopers, tanners, fishermen, etc. There are the homes and buildings associated with making and dying various fabrics such as hemp, silk, goats' wool, sheeps' wool, etc. The list could go on and on and on. I was there for three hours and still did not see it all.
When I came back into town around 15:30, I was hungry and stopped at a Turkish kebab house. The stuffed sandwich was so big that I am totally full now and probably will not need anything else for dinner.
There's an organ concert at 18:00 at the Evangelica Basilica. I will go to it. Then I will be in bed early, I guess, since I was up so early today. Tomorrow is a big travel day when I return to Bucharest. I'll spend the night there and head to Copenhagen on Thursday.
Note to Nurse Grethe and Jens and Robert: Webspeed has been stopping your mail again. That's why you have not heard from me. I will still be at the airport there around 15:00 on Thursday and will see you that evening.
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