All Good Things

Today was the day!  This was to be the day of our great sightseeing....and it was.  It was chilly, and very windy.  We walked to another local museum which was built by a man named Carlsberg.  If that name sounds familiar to you, it is because it is the name of some very famous beer....Danmark's own.

He built a spectacular museum which houses art.  We looked through the special exhibits of French and Danish sculpture and French and Danish painting.  It was most enjoyable.

I know.....I took way too many pictures of the courtyard....I am only showing you a few here.  But as you can see, I was quite taken with its beauty.  See SK standing there in the doorway on the right?

Views from the inside looking out and down.

I love sculptures!

SK showing you the skyline of Copenhagen...with Tivoli directly behind him.

SK says this is a waterway .... I prefer to call it a moat...around the castle at Christiansborg Castle and the building where the parliament meets, which is below.

After spending a few hours there, we thought we would wander through Frederiksberg Park.....reputedly one of the most beautiful, at any time of the year.  We have wanted to do that for months and today seemed like an ideal day.   Our apartment was on the way, so we stopped in for a few moments.

While we were there, the Assistants to the President called.  A few weeks ago, an invitation was extended to the young missionaries to come to lunch at a member's home.  She is 85 and has fed the missionaries every year at Easter for the last 20 years.  She seemed much younger.  When the invitation was extended, she asked that they bring Elder Madsen and his wife.

She had two shifts for the meal....one at noon and one at 5.  We both had forgotten about the lunch (!!!)....we were blissfully wandering through the museum.  But thanks to the call from the Elders, we cleaned up real fast and were ready to go when they came to pick us up just a few minutes later.  The elders mentioned that perhaps SK had known this sister when he was here 50 years ago.  

They were driving a large van, and I was notably impressed at how the elder negotiated his way through the little one-way streets and busy main thoroughfares with ease.  We drove by the large Frederiksberg Park which whetted our appetite to visit there on the next free day we have.

When we got there, the sister looked at SK for a moment, asked a few questions and then pronounced that he was not the one she thought he would be.  He asked, "Shall we leave?"

She answered, "No, you can stay."

It was all kind of funny.  She put out several kinds of bread...two kinds of rye bread...dark and thick and nutty and dense.  There were many different kinds of toppings for open-faced sandwiches, which are a very Danish meal.  The sister had instructions about what to put with what.  For instance, shrimp was slathered with mayonnaise and topped with a boiled egg.  Smoked salmon was topped with dill, remoulade sauce and cucumbers....ahh.  A very delightful frikadiller or meatball was served with ...well, I put tomato, cucumber and something else with it.

Dessert was crackers and soft spreadable cheese.  And then a final treat was little chocolate eggs filled with marzipan.  Marzipan is an almond paste and it is absolutely delectable.  I am unsure why it has not caught on in the states, but if you have Danish ancestors, you should cultivate this taste!

You would have been so proud of each of the young elders.  They tried pretty much everything as they chattered away in Danish to our host.  The ate the liverpostei, the fishy fish filets in oil, the lard topping..which they said is very tasty, the very salty dark brown gelatin.  They were all so polite, yet so cute!  No wonder she loves to feed the missionaries,

I tried out my Danish and asked a few questions....and listened carefully for the answers, but to tell you the truth, most of the time I just talked in English and one of the elders translated for her....then translated for me when she answered.  They are all comfortable conversing in Danish and caught all of the conversations.

When dinner was over, the two APs each shared a message from the Book of Luke about Easter.  She seemed to enjoy it as much as I did.  Have I mentioned how impressed I am with these young missionaries?  After doing what they do in the mission field, how can they possibly fail at anything?

We got home in time to join a group of senior missionaries at a little Greek restaurant across the street from the apartment.  We were too full to eat, but had dessert with them.  It was a pleasant time to sit in the candlelight and enjoy everyone's company.  It is still, after all these months so interesting to see and hear these people talk about their missions here....going back and forth between 50 years ago and today.

One thing is certain, their missions today are vastly different than what they were so long ago.  Could they have ever imagined that they would be back after all those years, retired from long careers, husbands, fathers, grandfathers, church leaders?

I wonder if the young elders ever look at them and think "Someday I will do that!"...or perhaps they just can't even imagine being 70.  At age 21, I thought a 30-year-old was ancient.

Perspective is an amazing thing.