TRAVEL AND WANDER

The trip to Odense was a long one; jet lag, time change, a crowded train, and missed meals.  At 16:00 on a Saturday the fairy-tale began. My friend and I arrived at the Odense train station from Malmo, Sweden with our luggage and no room reservations. Thank goodness for WI FI. We sat in a cafe at the train station with a cup of cappuccino and checked the lodging options on our phones. One hotel espeically caught our eyes, the quaint"Hotel Windsor" just a short walk from the train station. A Danish couple guided us to the"Hotel Windsor."We got a comfortable room overlooking a quiet street. While my friend Frank was taking a short nap I went downstairs to the cozy dining room and enjoyed the complimentary snacks of carrots, celery, coconut cake and authentic danish pastries (wienerbrod). After a long journey it felt so wonderful to be in a friendly hotel that felt like a home away from home. We were in the land of Hans Christian Andersen. For i

                                                        Reindeer in Oymyakon My mother who has Alzheimer's keeps asking why the northern Michigan city she lives in won't close down for the winter. "It's like Siberia" she often says. Well she's not completely accurate although this evening I went cross country skiing for only 20 minutes and when I returned to my tiny studio condo it took me almost an hour to de-thaw from the freezing temperatures oudoors. My mother and I have nothing to complain about especially when the 500 residents of the coldest place on earth deal with frigid temperatures. Where's this coldest place on earth where temperatures dip to an unbelievable -57 degrees? It's  OYMYAKON, SIBERIA. January in certain parts of the world is a cold month but nothing beats the January temperatures of Oymyakon. With my fingers thawing from the frigid northern Michigan winter I literally had tears rolling down my face as I searched the inte