Coming to America
It is all over now. The excitement and the pre-flight nervousness... I have been and gone.
I loved flying. I loved the take off. Then I watched some movies and played some games, read my book and stared at my cross word puzzle. Listened to music. I didn't much care for the landing when the plane seemed to fall. Gave me that unpleasant feeling in my stomach. Don't like that. But otherwise it was fine, really.
And I really liked being in the States. Funny that. I've never travelled much, and I have always preferred to be on my own home turf. But the americans (those I met) made me feel very much at home.
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Being in America
My first nodermeet ended up being a very, very small one. Maybe it was my deodorant... momomom, IWhoSawTheFace, and I met up and dined together somewhere around... well, in DC, I suppose. Or Baltimore. I was being piloted around in a big car, and paid very little attention to where I actually was. It may have been Bethesda... Anyway... what the nodermeet may have lacked in quantity it more than made up for in quality: we had a terrific time. Just FYI: momomom is an absolute darling. Iwho is... well, he is Iwho. Nuff said, I think.
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Momomom and I also had lunch together one day at the Ritz-Carlton. I mean, come on: the Ritz-Carlton... The carpets in that hotel were so deep and soft I had trouble walking. It was like wading through dunes of wool. We got lost fairly quickly in a maze of hushed corridors, but momomom flagged down a passing native and asked for directions to the café. The waiters at that place had an uncanny way of materializing at my elbow every time I thought of looking for them. The waiters, that is; not my elbows. And I swear they knew what I wanted to ask them about, even before I knew it myself. The food was good, of course. We almost got lost on our way out of the hotel, too. Only by doubling back and checking our chalk marks did we make it.
There is a mall in connection with the hotel. Yikes! The prices, the prices! We went window shopping, and there were a lot of nice clothes and stuff, but... well. Still, the shop attendants were very forthcoming and polite even though I think it was pretty obvious I wasn't going to buy anything. Actually that was a nice change from shop attendants in my homeland. I've met some really snooty ones at home, especially in the more upscale shops. As it turned out I did manage to find one piece of clothing on double sale. Now I can boast of having a skirt that (originally) cost some 80 bucks! I just know I am going to spill something horrible all over it the first time I wear it. Happens to me all the time.
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We went to the Shenandoahs. That was so awesome. Denmark is a very flat little country, so driving around in the mountains - even if they may be small, compared to, say, The Rocky Mts - was great. The colours of fall were setting the trees and bushes on fire, and it was all very beautiful. I took quite a lot of pictures, some of which I am going to upload to flickr just as soon as I get the time. I saw neither deer nor bear, but a lot of big birds. I was told they were vultures of some kind; sadly I never got a good look. Driving to and from the mountains I saw circling birds of prey, and I believe they were buzzards. It's hard to tell when you're zooming along the highway... The next time I visit I shall take care not to have a painfully stiff neck, and then I'll go birdwatching.
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My next nodermeet was a bit more crowded, despite the weasels. I got to meet lovely scribe and her cute hubby cbustapeck; the divine Gorgonzola, who had picked up momomom on his way, and the handsome four: Randombit, unperson, Major General Panic, and Jubal. Whowho was the host.
We met at an Italian restaurant with a French name: La Tomate, located near Dupont Circle (I think). No one really looked the way I had imagined them - except scribe and cbustapeck, whose pictures I had espied on previous occasions. Randombit was sitting at the far end of our table, and left, right after dinner so I never got to talk with him, but I managed to chat with the rest of the crowd during the evening. And I got a picture of scribe posing with a box of Danish candy...
After dinner we walked around a little. Gorgo went to move his car to a more convenient parking spot, and while we waited for him to rejoin us we wandered around Dupont Circle. I got to taste a Krispy Kreme doughnut, and it was okay; I also encountered a very, very tired waiter at a café-bookstore... Kramerbooks. I rarely get that "Oh my GOD are you STUPID or what?" look, but that was definitely the look he gave me. I let it slide. He was at least 6'3'' and had probably had a long day. And in the end I did find the rest rooms despite his rather foggy "... around the corner and up the stairs...". He gave me a token for the restroom, but I never needed to use it, so I have it as a small souvenir. By the way: while we strolled along I learned how to jay-walk, American style.
We ended up at a café, Cosi, where we got a couple of tables outside right under the patio-heaters. That was nice. We talked, scribe took pics whenever IWhoHaveNoFace wasn't looking, and I had a very good time. Around midnight or thereabouts we said our good byes, and noders trotted off in different directions. It was a good evening.
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I'll be back...
I had a truly good time in the States. I only met one not-so-friendly american (the waiter at Kramerbooks), and he was probably dead tired. I want to come back too: I'll just have to get really, really rich, and then I'll travel around this vast country in a bigass car - with a driver, because I am a lousy motorist. When I do, I'll call ahead so's you can make some coffee...
Thank you for your time.