Out Of Africa

It was my free day from the nursing home so I decided to do something a little more memorable than just staying home to dust and vacuum and online banking.  I decided to take a little drive. I could easily have taken the train but I decided to take a little drive in my never-used-anymore automobile.  And what a day for a drive!  So happy that I got air-conditioning in my car, too.  My GPS wanted to send me the short way to save gas and 12 minutes but I drove the long way, up along the coast to calm my soul.  It's a leisurely drive of only 48 minutes and with a nice view over to Sweden on the other side of the opening to the Baltic Sea.

It's somewhere around 33 years ago that I had last visited the Karen Blixen Museum.  I am sure you have heard of her name before.  She wrote the book called Out Of Africa.  The story became a Box Office hit in 1985 and it won 34 awards of which 7 were Oscars.  You most likely remember it because of the main rolls played by Meryl Streep and Robert Redford.   

 

Here is a quick "copilot" overview of what the film is about:

Out of Africa is a romantic drama about Danish aristocrat Karen Blixen's life in colonial Kenya, her struggles managing a coffee plantation, and her complex love affair with big-game hunter Denys Finch Hatton.

Plot Overview
The story follows Karen Blixen (played by Meryl Streep), a wealthy Danish woman who travels to British East Africa (Kenya) in 1913 to join her husband of convenience, Baron Bror Blixen (Klaus Maria Brandauer), with plans to run a dairy farm.  Upon arrival, she discovers that Bror has diverted their investment into a coffee plantation and largely leaves her to manage it alone.  Karen faces the challenges of running the farm, navigating colonial society, and interacting with the local Kikuyu people, providing medical care, establishing schools, and mediating conflicts.

 

Key Relationships
Karen develops a deep, passionate connection with Denys Finch Hatton (Robert Redford), a free-spirited big-game hunter.  Their relationship is marked by mutual respect, adventure, and romance, but Denys values his independence, creating tension between love and personal freedom.  Meanwhile, Karen's marriage to Bror is strained by his infidelity and lack of involvement in the farm.

The film explores several themes:

• Colonialism and cultural interaction:  Karen navigates her identity and role as a European woman in a colonial setting, highlighting ethical dilemmas and cultural tensions.
• Adventure and personal growth: The African landscape and wildlife provide a backdrop for Karen's self-discovery and transformation.
• Love and independence: The story examines the balance between romantic desire and personal freedom, particularly through Karen's relationship with Denys.

Setting and Historical Context

The events span 1913 to 1931, primarily in the Ngong Hills near Nairobi, Kenya.  The film captures the beauty of the African landscape, wildlife , and colonial society, reflecting both the allure and challenges of life in the early 20th-century Africa.

Recognition

Out of Africa was critically acclaimed for its cinematography, storytelling, and performances, winning 7 academy awards including Best Picture and Best Director for Sydney Pollack.

In essence, Out of Africa is a sweeping tale of love, adventure, and cultural immersion, portraying Karen Blixen's Blixen's journey of resilience, romance, and self-discovery in colonial Kenya.

OK - now that you got what the movie was about, the museum was about Karen Blixen's life - not the movie.  The museum is actually Karen Blixen's childhood home where she was born in 1885 and lived until she moved to her coffee farm in Kenya in 1914.  Kenya at the time was called British East Africa until it became independent of British Colonial power in 1963.  After trying to run the coffee farm for 17 years, it failed miserably and Karen Blixen returned to Denmark due to poor health.  The story goes that her husband was unfaithful and infected Karen with syphilis. This is also written in her biography.  But recent information reveals a new belief that, yes she was ill but it was not necessarily syphilis.  The museum shows doubt.  It also tells that she was medicated with arsenic and mercury to cure the syphilis.  This is most likely, the museum claims, the reason for her illness and death.  I found it rather interesting that though she "had" syphilis, she lived a very long life of 77 years after years of taking poison.

Karen Blixen was a story teller and an artist.   She started to write stories after her return from Kenya to try to earn some money. She wasn't always sure if her stories would be a success so she often used a pseudonym - often a male name. Another big success was a story called Babette's Feast which also was adapted for a screen play and won an Oscar for Best Foreign Language Film.  Her first story was a total flop in Britain.  Karen also knew an American who had connections with a publisher and though her first story flopped in UK, it was a huge hit in USA.  Later, Seven Gothic Tales is published in both UK and USA.  Only later was it in published in Danish in Denmark.

I found her life story to be very interesting.  One of the things that was mentioned, was Karen's father lived in the US in Wisconsin for just over a year from 1872 among the Chippewa Indians.  He was trying to find peace from the ravages of fighting in war at the southern border of Denmark.  The internet is loaded with so much information about Karen Blixen, you can google your fingers off.

Here are a few links to get you started and then I will add the photos that I snapped.

This is the link to the museum.

And this one with very interesting facts on Wikipedia.

So the first thing I did was walk into the barn which was converted to a ticket office, souvenir shop and restaurant.  I bought a few post cards to send to my favorite people while enjoying a cup of Kenyan coffee and a French croissant.  If you didn't get your post card, blame the post office - that's what I do.

After the coffee, I stepped into the first 2 exhibition rooms.  I've been to many museums but this was the first time that I have ever read EVERYTHING printed on the displays - and there was a lot to read, like this:

I was mesmerized by the story.  Imagine coming from a fine and wealthy family and then moving to a completely different continent where you end up employing 1000 people and they look like this:

The Danish word MOD (which means courage) 

didn't quite make it in my snap shot.

The above shows the humanity and love Karen had for others.

The next just really overwhelmed me so much.

The book

So, as I mentioned, the museum is actually her childhood home that she moved back into when she returned back to Denmark from Kenya.  She was born and raised here and after 17 years in Africa, she moved back home to write her stories.  Eventually, she died here, too. These are her rooms in the house as they were when she died in 1962.

And this is her room upstairs where her life came to an end in this bed.

The family estate was huge.  It had livestock.  

It had a huge garden that was only for growing 

flowers to put in vases in the house.  

The flower garden was larger than 

what you see here in this video.

She is buried on the estate under a 300 year old Beech tree.

The house, as mentioned, is at the coast of the Baltic Sea.  Karen's mother owned land that blocked the creation of the marina.  But the state eventually saw to it that the harbor would be built.  It is 103 years old - opened in 1923.  On a much smaller scale at the time, it was the view Karen had from her death bead.

Across the street from the museum is the Rungsted marina with lots of eating options.  The kitchen of the restaurant that I planned on eating at with authentic Danish food was closed.  It would open in 40 minutes or so.  I found an option but I totally forget to take photos of the area.  I only have this view, partially covered by a sunscreen.  But it was a bit of paradise to sit here and enjoy a bite before returning home.

I wanted a Danish dinner but got a French veggie burger.

I must say, it was very tasty.

At least the beer was Danish.

Costco Cuckoo

In middle May, my crazy friend Nhu and I were invited to have a nice dinner and visit with Gorm and Stefan in their Copenhagen home just a short bicycle ride away from where I live.  One of the things we talked about was what a nice time Nhu and I had on our last visit to Stefan's home in Sweden in the country side.  He invited us again and we all agreed on a weekend in the middle of July.  

Nhu just bought a fancy new electric car and she offered to drive.  Pretty fancy car I must say and at a very reasonable price.  Very modern, comfortable and high-tech.  Nhu lives north of the city center, I live south of the city center and Gorm lives in the center.  Nhu was going to pick up Gorm and then pick me up after that.  Unfortunately Gorm wasn't feeling well, so he canceled at the last minute. 

At dinner, Nhu was telling us that she needed to stop off at Costco on the way.  Costco? Really?  Stefan was very interested to know what Costco was all about.  So since Nhu has a membership card, we all agreed to meet at the store just before it opens.  Who knew Costco had a store in Sweden?  

It turns out that Costco in Sweden is exactly the same as Costco in USA.  We walked up and down all the aisles looking and looking at all the items you never knew you didn't need.  And of course when you look at all that great food, by the time you hit the check-out counter, you're starving and the smell of the hotdogs and pizza lur the customer almost in a hypnotic trans to spend more money and eat.  So of course we had no choice but to follow the scent of cheap greasy food, order, chow down and eat American hotdogs in the culturally and historically rich country of Sweden.  Yes, a bite of heaven, actually.

After our big shopping tour, we went to the German shop LIDL - which is also a fun store to look around in - to buy more ordinary market groceries so that we had what we needed for dinner, breakfast and lunch.

Then back into the car and off to the potato patch.  We lost Stefan.  But luckily Nhu had previously punched in Stefan's address into her GPS.  "You have arrived" it showed. Wrong!  We were literally in the middle of nowhere.  I knew we had gone too far.  "Turn around," I said to Nhu.  We drove back about 2  minutes to the dirt road closest to the motorway.  "Turn here!"  I pointed from the asphalt road, "There! There's his house!"  I could see it way off in the distance.

We made it. Parked in the garden, unloaded the car and I mixed us a welcome drink.  Stephan dumped chips in a bowl and he set up a few chairs under the "palm" tree, as he calls it.  I thought I misunderstood him but he said it again.  "Gorm and I call it a palm tree because it gives so much shade."  It really does.  It is a huge beautiful walnut tree loaded with green balls that will become delicious walnuts come November.

We had a lot of fun sharing the latest updates with each other.  

It was so warm late into the evening.

Apparently Stefan and Nhu had a lot more to talk about because Stefan gave me the job of grilling the burgers, sausage, and veggies - which of course, I was sooooo happy to do.  Plus Nhu and I had quite a personal chat in the car from Copenhagen to Costco, Sweden.

Years ago, Jens and I visited Stefan shortly after he built his terrace - which is huge and amazing.    At that time, all the planks were wood color.  Years later, the wood has turned silver and the flowering vines have made it really cozy.  The grill was proudly parked on the terrace along side of a huge patio table.  But we ate dinner under the palm tree with tiny green coconuts.  It was so nice and no bugs for all this amazing nature.

The burgers and sausage are almost done.

After dinner it was time for dessert.  Stefan baked

amazing brownie and layered it over vanilla ice-cream.

And we topped that with fresh Swedish strawberries.

Eventually the wind started to pick up and I decided to put on my jacket.  It was still warm but the wind was very cooling.  My sister Jay grows her own potatoes, so I snapped this photo for her to show her that Stefan actually lives in the middle of a potato field.  Well...... this year.  Next year it will be a different crop.  But it is all just wonderful.

The next morning was perfect.  We could feel the day was going to be warm and it did get very warm.  But we started our day on the terrace with a very tasty breakfast and a much needed cup of coffee.  

Eventually the rising sun creeped over the peak of the roof making the shadow shorter and shorter until we could no longer move our chairs into the shade of the house.  So Nhu and I got up again to walk around Stefan's huge garden to admire all the flowers, fruit, trees, shrubs and bushes growing.  The amount of rhubarb was wild.  "Take all you want," Stefan said to Nhu.  "How much do you want," Nhu asked me.  "Gimme 6 stalks!"  I came home with a dozen.  Nhu took even more.  There was so much rhubarb, we didn't even make a dent in the patch.  

Rhubarb in the foreground.

There are several kinds of berries and roses, cherry trees, a pear tree, herbs, wild flowers, amazing vine hortensia in the garden and these Hollyhocks that I snapped for my friend, George.

Then there was this Christmas tree that I gave to Stefan some time ago. 

It used to be a tiny thing on my balcony.

Eventually it was time to pack it all up and make our way back to reality.  We had to cut our trip a bit early because Nhu got a last minute appointment with psychotherapist but I think it's way too late for any sign of  hope.  Costco Cuckoo can be a very serious mental disorder.

As we drove home, I quickly snapped these photos of the pylons of this fascinating bridge between Denmark and Sweden.

Why is it a fascinating bridge, you ask?  Because it doesn't go anywhere.  It just ends in the Baltic Sea.

Thanks for a great weekend Stefan.  Such wonderful hospitality.

Thanks for a great weekend Nhu.  So kind of you to drive and offer positive support.

 

It's Fairytale Tuesday

If you have been following my blog then you are quite aware that I am now taking one day a week off of visiting Jens in the nursing home.  I was trying to make Tuesdays the free day but sometimes it has to be a different day because of different kinds of appointments either for me or for Jens.  Anywhoo...... today is November 16th but I will be posting this blog as if it was Tuesday October 14.  The day that I took the train to Odense.

From door to door, it's just a little more than
1½ hours by train.

I always book the quite coupé because
old men are like that.

I tried to look back and take a video of the very 

large bridge.  Unfortunately it was too foggy.  

At the time of the bridge being built, it was going 

to be the worlds largest bridge.  

But it took too long and some other

bridge over took the title.  Still, it is one of the most

fascinating bridges in the world.  The automobiles 

and trucks cross the bridge over the water 

but the train goes under water.  

Then they all meet on a little island.

From the island, going west, all the modes of 

transport share a low lying bridge.  

Click this link to see 

more of the bridge from Google Images.

I turned 67 years old as of Tuesday, October 14th, 2025.  I was able to get my very first pensionist discount on the train to Odense (say: O'-then-suh).  I wanted to see the new Hans Christian Anderson Museum - which opened 5 years ago when Jens and I celebrated our 30th wedding anniversary - but though it was open back then, it was basically only the souvenir shop that was open.  The installations were not yet installed and they were still planting the trees and bushes in the garden.

Fast forward 5 years and here I am again in Odense to see the museum.  I got a slow start because I am now an old man so what's the rush?  When I got to the train station, I just moseyed around a bit.  I did a bit of picture taking too.  Then once I walked up the stairs from the platform into the actual station, I sat down and enjoyed a nice coffee and bread roll.  Eventually I got up, walked out of the station, and made my way to the Museum.

Doesn't this old locomotive just make you want to

start to sing: Charlie says, Love my Good n Plenty.

Charlie says, Really rings the bell.

Charlies says, Love my Good n Plenty,

Cuz there is no other candy that I love so well.

Inside the train station.

I think this is going to be a short reading blog but lots of videos. I farted around a lot between the train station and the museum.  It was around 1:00 in the afternoon when I finally got to the museum.  Here are a few pix from just out in front of the station.  It's a short walk to the museum from the train station.

A bizarre statue of old men peeing?  
Well, I hate to say it, but I can relate.

Very strange - lots of very little figures on
top of the large figures.

This is a statue in front of a street car, in front of

a train station.  On the other side of the train

station is the amazing train museum.  

This town is full of beautiful old buildings.

Just a random house gable
with a painting of 
H C Andersen.

There was a sign out front of the museum saying: City tour at 2:00.  Dang.  Now what?  I did all the fooling around that I wanted to do but now I needed to fool around a bit more so that I could go on the walking city tour.  I spent an hour in the garden which was really fancy and then the tour began at 2 o'clock.  

It was quite a fascinating garden.
You don't have to pay to go in as it is completely
open to pass thru any time, day or night.
Think of a private park open to the public 24 / 7.

I didn't know the city tour was going to be a Hans Christian Anderson tour.  I didn't know theater was going to be involved.  So it turned out to be quiet a treat.  Very cute.  The tour was about H C Andersen's family life in Odense.  Yes, Hans Christian Anderson was born in Odense. And of course the museum was all about his life which was quite lively.  Very lively, actually.  HCA really knew how to live life to the fullest.

This is the house where H C Andersen was born.
It's part of the museum.  The way you get inside is
thru the garden to the front doors of the museum.  

This is the street that the house is on.

You can see it all the way at the end.

This is the front door of the house.

The sign for the tour said to meet here.

The whole set up 

of the tour came as

quiet of a surprise for me.

Here now are several videos of the tour.  It was of course in Danish and it's all about the fairytales that Hans Christian Andersen wrote.  For you non Danish speaking viewers, turn down the sound and enjoy the amazing architecture of old town Odense. 

Just a few snapshots now from inside of the museum.

Life size - he was very tall.

185 cm / 6' 1"

This was one of the last rooms in the museum.

After a very busy tour through the town and museum, it was time to eat some traditional dinner at the old Kro.   I went to the one you saw in the video where the old man and old woman are kissing.  It was built in 1633.

• Historical Significance: The origins of the Danish kro system date back to a 13th-century royal decree by King Erik Klipping, who mandated the establishment of inns at regular intervals (approximately every 20 km, a day's journey by horse-drawn carriage) to provide safe lodging for travelers. Many kroer still operate in historic buildings, some dating back several centuries.

And this is just a small part of the inside.

After dinner, I made my way back to the train station to go back home to Copenhagen.  But earlier in the day when I arrived in Odense, in the train station, there was this bar and I new that I wanted to stop here and have a good-bye beer.

Happy bithday to me.  

Tillykke med fødselsdagen to me.