NOTHING LIKE OLD FRIENDS!
2010
I have not been to Denmark in more than two years. When my mother was still alive I would go there more than once a year, but now that has stopped. It is strange to belong to and yet not have a place in a country. I am thinking these thoughts as I walk out of the custom’s area and to my delight find a familiar face with a huge smile - Anne Marie has decided to surprise me by waiting for me at the Copenhagen Airport. We take the Metro to close to her house where the sunset is coloring the prettyChristianshavn area pink. Copenhagen is so lovely - a mixture of old (very old) - and new. Anne Marie lives with her husband Jeppe in a 17th century 4th floor apartment, beautiful and spiritual and so very striking for someone from Brazil. She and Jeppe fix a delicious dinner for the 3 of us and we sit for a long time over it, drinking a lot of wine and bringing each other up to speed.
Thursday, October 14, 2010
I wake up at 6am in my cozy little room hung with Anne Marie’s gorgeous costumes, many of them made by her talented daughter, Johanne. I stay working on the computer for a long time then go out in my new Moroccan kaftan (from the St. Denis fair) to have breakfast with Anne Marie. We sit looking at the canal and at their new boat - a large open wooden life-boat with a big diesel engine in the middle, which Jeppe is working on and planning to have ready for next summer. When it nears time to have lunch with another old friend, Hanne, Rie walks me across the Knippelsbro toKompagnistræde, where the restaurant is. The sky is bright blue with scattered torn white clouds. It’s fairly cold, enough to consider wearing gloves, but so fresh! We see the underwater statues, in front ofChristiansborg, which was built, she informs me, by her great grand father, which is ironic, because she has led protests many times with just that building as a back-drop. and take spirited pictures of each other - finding no passer-by who will take a picture of the two of us. At 12.15 I am seated in a nice basement restaurant waiting for Hanne, who arrives, looking very glamorous. Another 2 hours pass by in an instant, while we talk and share past events . Hanne and I met in Brazil before Victor was even born and have been friends ever since. After lunch I walk back to Anne Marie’s apartment, let myself in through the back door and get ready for the move to the hotel. Before leaving Anne Marie gives me a sheaf of letters written by me to her all too many years ago. We wrote huge hand-written letters, easily 8 unlined pages written with a fountain pen. I look forward to meeting my old self at some point! At the end of the afternoon I am cozily installed in a comfortable room near my old neighborhood, having talked with Victor on the phone in the cab and discussed his sudden attack of diarrhea after eating at some dicey café in downtown Rio. Victor and I were conversing in English, and when I suggested he drink Coke, normal not diet, the cab driver suddenly piped in, in Danish, ‘Make sure he shakes out the gas!” He meant drink the coke flat.... He went on to tell me that he was in Thailand on some beach with his Thai wife and family and they were eating a highly spiced roast pig, which he saw them slaughter and and prepare to cook (I shudder at this, feeling very vegetarian at that moment), and after eating he was felled by a brutal attack of diarrhea - so bad he could almost not walk 3 days later.
Thus enriched I arrive at my destination, check in, unpack and soon walk down lovely Strandvejen to get a couple of things for the room. At night another old friend, Birgitte, whom I’ve known forever, stops by for drinks and we end the evening with great gusts of happy gossip washed down with substantial glasses of wine served by a really indifferent Italian waiter.
TO DENMARK AFTER A LONG TIME
Wednesday, October 13, 2010
ANNE MARIE AND I HAVE BEEN FRIENDS FOR MORE THAN 50 YEARS. SHE HAS DECIDED SHE IS NOW MY BIG SISTER. WE TALK AS IF WE SAW EACH OTHER EVERY DAY. OLD FRIENDS ARE THE BEST!
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