Off to Copenhagen and points beyond..........

Yes, this photo is of Susie and myself, taken in July 1969 on top of the ferris wheel in Tivoli Gardens, Copenhagen. It might appear that Susie has a "lazy tongue" which she does not. We were on the ride with Susie's St. Olaf roommate, Nancy, and a friend of Nancy's from Germany, Ute. The operator of the ride let us stay on the ride for almost an hour and Susie used this photo-op to pretend as if she was sick. (Truth be told, after all that time we were all feeling a bit squemish). Forty two years have passed and Susie and I are once again going to Copenhagen....I don't know if we will attempt to recreate too many of the old experiences.....that you will just have to wonder about!

We are in Copenhagen for a few days of nostalgia before we embark on a Baltic cruise. This cruise was particularly interesting to me because it will enable me to cross off another line on my bucket list. One entry on the list is to visit the great art museums of the world. THE HERMITAGE, in St. Petersburg, Russia, is one of the world's art museums I have always wanted to see. Granted, I will only be able to see a fraction of it, I have only two days. It is one of the world's largest and diverse art museums with a collection of approximately 2.7 million items. I have been told that if you were to see all the items in The Hermitage it will take you eleven years. I have a tour ticket for The Gold Room, which Liz Ober (Liz, Bob and their children lived in what was then the USSR for seven year's during the cold war and frequented The Hermitage when they were in what was then called Lenningrad, now St. Petersburg). I also hope to see Holly Clayson's favorite painting, Degas',Vicomte Lepic and His Daughters Crossing the Place de la Concorde.
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At 3:00 p.m. on Saturday afternoon, May 7th, Susie and I will be meeting a friend of fifty one year's, Lene Thorbjornsen Andersen-Gott, at the main gate of the Tivoli Gardens. Lene is my Norwegian friend who is coming from her home in Vagamo, Norway (near Lillihammer) to visit with Susie and I. The first time I met Lene in person was in 1962. She was standing at the pier in Oslo, Norway with flowers in one hand and a sign in the other. The sign said "Karen, Here I am, Lene". I was on the docking ship with my parent's, Susie and Vicki. Jimmy had binoculars and spotted Lene on the pier....it was all very exciting. I vaguely remember a old slide my Father had taken of Lene that day, I wish I had known what happened to it. I don't think either of us will need a sign announcing who we are on Saturday. We have seen each other since that day and exchange photos of ourselves and families.

This should be an interesting trip.....kind of reminiscent of the Chevy Chase movie, IF IT'S TUESDAY IT MUST BE BELGIUM. We have a busy schedule and in the next thirteen days we will be in Copenhagen, Berlin, Riva, St. Petersburg, Helsinki and Stockholm. The opportunity to see Lene again and to visit the Hermitage will make this whirlwind worth while. We have a non-stop SAS flight to Copenhagen leaving tonight at 10 p.m. The flight is almost nine hours long and given my the fact I'm up hours past my usual bedtime, I should sleep like a baby.