Bullet Points Over Copenhagen

Are my opinions of the Danes a mosaic? Or are they more like an archipelago? Or perhaps stepping stones across a stream? Actually, I would say they are more modernist, a single point of information in a great sea of white....

Anyway, today went better than yesterday. Ma Belle Mere had a little more energy, and I have to admit I do enjoy the herring. I have had the pickled herring in mustard sauce and the fried herring in vinegar on a bed of capers and beets. This was followed by halibut on a mound of pasta that was also quite delicious. Of course, all the good food is at San Francisco prices, but, as it turns out, we are from SF Bay, so the only sticker shock comes from the 6 Danish Kroner to one Yankee dollar exchange rate.

I keep getting stared at -- with reason. One does like to know where one's tourister sucker-friend is from, and I am wearing these bright Aboriginally patterned t-shirts we got in Australia and this slouchy hat with an Anzac feel and a HUGE backpack that would grace the hump of any German.

Also, I have a kind of antique beauty, the patina of age having enriched and in some ways obscured to advantage.

Yes, I am feeling better.

Did I mention we went to the Tivoli Gardens. I despise people who say that Tivoli is no Disneyland, that it's small, just a little shabby around the edges and essentially a very clever scam that charges you ten bucks to get access to the approximately 40 restaurants, most of which are overpriced.

Well, I've never been to Disneyland, though as for the rest....

Copenhagen residents are pretty friendly, though the waiters are well paid enough not to expect a tip unless the service is excellent, and even if the service is excellent, they might not get the tip so what the hell! (That's unfair. We have had some very pleasant waiters, and the absence of the obsequious, "I'm Bruce, and I adore being your server" is welcome. It's just that tourists want so desperately to be loved.)

That's enough. It's just after seven in the a.m. here. You guys need to grieve for another 90 minutes.