Copenhagen to Melbourne

We packed up for the last time, said good bye to the nice lady in the hotel,and schleped the bags and the box down to the train station about 10 minutes away. I ran down the stairs onto the platform with the bike box, left it there, ran back up to get Anne's bag and ran back down again. When I got back to the box, an older Danish lady was scrutinising the box suspiciously, clearly just about to call security and the bomb squad. We  smiled reassuringly, just dumb tourists here, and I think she was rather disappointed, for she stalked off after giving us a disapproving glare.  Here is Anne waiting with our stuff.

Thanks to the wonderfully efficient Danish railway - a train to the airport every 8 minutes, trip takes about 16 minutes from central station - we arrived without any problems, and managed to organise the VAT refunds - some one the spot, the Brompton one via post so it won't be quick. Then we checked in bags and box, ran afoul of airport security - I forgot the tube of sunscreen and the little bottle of hand sanitizer in my carryon backpack. I forgot nail clippers coming over and the same thing happened. But after having the bag's contents emptied out and a stern lecture, they let me through, and we fought our way through the crowd to the welcome haven of the business class lounge. Ii hear that the number of points you need for a business class flight has just gone up significantly - these might be the last business class flights for a while. 

Flight to Bangkok was almost deserted up our end of the plane, which made things relaxing. But it is a long and body clock confusing flight and getting off in Bangkok we were a bit stunned. 

But not as stunned as we were when we stumbled off in Melbourne some 12 hours later. Still, getting through immigration, collecting bags, getting through customs and out into a taxi all went really smoothly and quickly, and here we are home, tired but happy, with bags that won't have to be packed again for the foreseeable future. Yay!

After sunny blue skied Denmark, Melbourne is cold, and it is pouring outside.  But it is mighty good to be home.

Copenhagen Canals and Christiania Freetown

I think we are beginning to run out of chuff. It was a struggle to get out the door this morning. We arranged to move rooms so we had to pack up every thing, which takes a bit longer. But slow cognitive tempo was the major factor.

Anne wanted to visit Christiania Free Town, so we went to the Tourist information centre for advice on how to get there. The lady behind the counter dispensed information grudgingly, and on what she considered a need to know basis. Get the 9a bus, it leaves from outside the station. We headed out, saw a 9a bus, hopped on to it, a got about three stops before we twigged that we had fallen for the old right bus but going in the wrong direction trick. Second time this month I have fallen for it. We caught right bus in right direction, but got off too early. We retreated to a nearby coffee shop with wifi, consulted Google maps, and on our third attempt made it to the right stop, a short walk away from Christiania.

The place is one of the last alternative communal social living experiments from the seventies. It has managed to survive at least, and it is said to be Copenhagen's second most popular tourist attraction.

I am not sure what people are expecting to see. I can't say I enjoyed our visit that much - it felt rather like the museum in Aarhus, like trespassing. And it was fairly grungy as well. Still, it is the place which invented and produced the first, eponymous, Christiania bikes, so it has made at least one great contribution to the general good.

It took us a while to find the way out, but we did, and caught a bus across to the spot on the canal where the tour boats depart. Our timing was good and we caught one just as it was about to depart. Seeing a city from the water has to be one of the best ways. The watery heritage of the city becomes much more evident, and you get to see some wonderful boats close up - including the royal family's splendid yacht - some waterfront appartments that I would be happy to own, kayakers, funky house boats, and some lovely swan families.

After the cruise we walked over to Nyhaven, and enjoyed a pleasant lunch and a beer, sitting in the sun watching the world walk by. Senior school students here are having their graduation celebrations at the moment. This seems to involve walking around town wearing natty nautical type caps, and drinking a fair bit. You can see the half empty wine bottle in this lass's left hand.

It all seems very civilized, and probably a lot less dangerous than schoolies back home. After lunch we stumped back along the shopping pedestrian mall, which was a mistake, as it leached away something of the benign good humour we had acquired with lunch. But we got back ok. I headed off again for a fruitless search for some little travel padlocks for our bags - the same lady from the tourist information centre sent me on a wild goose chase. But I got to see some more of the neighbourhood, good and bad. 

We have been lying low, doing some last minute research - if we actually get VAT refunds I will be pleasantly surprised, if we don't, I won't be surprised at all - and I have been pottering around preparing the Brompton for the trip home.

We have the train tickets to the airport, we have checked the plane tickets. Definitely time to go.

Copenhagen again

This morning we had our last breakfast in the garden at the back of the hotel - a bit chilly as we were earlier than other days and the sun had not risen enough to clear the surrounding tall buildings. Also the day was colder - a brisk wind and a hint of change in the air. Indeed, walking down to the train, Anne wanted one last look in Magasin, a clothing store, and I nearly froze waiting over by the Domkirke. But Aarhus was still beautiful, with unexpected bits of beauty round otherwise unpromising looking corners. Walking through a short cut between carparks, there was a lane covered with splendid roses.

The Domkirke itself has a distinctive presence. In 1500, the church owned two thirds of the buildings in Aarhus. The Reformation shifted the balance, and many of the church buildings have gone, but the Domkirke  survives.

The train trip was comfortable, coasting along through the rolling hills of Jutland, past lakes and fijords and neat farms, and we arrived in reasonably good shape in Copenhagen 3 hours later. We know the station well now, and our arrival today was a considerable improvement on our first encounter after the train from Hamburg.

We checked into the hotel, and find ourselves up on the very top floor. It is relaxing up here, a feeling of being up above things. It has been a busy few days, so we designated today a rest day, and had a siesta.

We wandered down for a meal at a nearby Italian restaurant - friendly and very popular, but the food was fairly average. The trip is just about over, and we are looking forward to getting on that homeward bound plane.

Aarhus goodbye

Another bright clear morning and we enjoyed breakfast in the pretty garden at the back of the hotel. Anne went to explore some more shops, while I did some low key organising - going through my backpack throwing out old receipts and brochures, checking our money, and doing some research for the process of getting VAT refunds.

Jeppe came round at 12 and we set off to visit the Aarhus Art Museum, only to find it was closed on Mondays. We had lunch at the nearby Musik Parken, a relaxed open spot with good views across the city, not too many people and some great sculptures.

Anne voted to have a quiet afternoon, and Jeppe took me for a walk around some of the creative spaces and nifty public buildings of Aarhus. We went through one area which was recognizably once a railway goods loading area, but now has people making furniture, prints, and most important, craft beer. Some great interior spaces with massive wooden arched girders.

Next, we visited the open air museum of Aarhus, Den Camel By. In the 1920's, when some of the older buildings in Aarhus were to be demolished, someone with a great degree of foresight had them removed and reassembled on this large site on the edge of the botanical gardens. There are buildings from the 15th Century onwards, and the place is organised into chronological zones, currently up to the 1970s. There is a Jazz bar which Jeppe visited when it was operating, but which has been reconstructed on site. It still runs as a bar, with music, on Friday nights. There are appartments which faithfully reproduce the appartments of specific people - a single mother and her son, a group of Turkish immigrants, a Somali family. They were unnervingly realistic, and I couldn't shake the feeling that I was trespassing in someone's home. There were young people photographing themselves next to a VW Beetle much like the one I used to have. There was a grocery store, a radio shop, and a hairdresser all of which faithfully reproduced shop windows and interiors from the 70s, all eerily familiar.

The really scary thing was the sign announcing that a new area, reproducing apartments from 2014, would shortly be opening. Disconcerting to see 2014 as the stuff of social history.

The last area we entered as billed as a time travel experience, showing the development of Aarhus over time. It sure has been knocked about over the centuries by various invaders. I was absorbed in the stories of the German occupation during WW2, when a chap appeared who shooed us out, as we were a half an hour past closing time. I think we were close to having been locked in for the night.

We met Jeppe and Maia for dinner up at the food market. It was so good to see them and to spend some time with such generous, interesting, energetic young people starting out on an ambitious life together. We had an icecream near the Domkirke, then said goodbye and went our separate ways. I don't like goodbyes much. I hope we see them again in the not too distant future.

So, tomorrow, up early and pack, then back to Copenhagen. Only three more sleeps till we get on the plane and begin our journey home. We have really enjoyed our stay in Aarhus, which I think deserves to be the Europe Capital of Culture for 2017.

Jelling

This morning we were a bit stunned when we woke up, despite having a very quiet and abstemious evening the preceding night. We went down the road for breakfast, then in search of a satisfactory coffee - a cafe latte with a double shot seems to do the trick. A beautiful quiet Sunday morning to be out and about.

Anne explored a couple of the nearby shops while I went for a walk down by the Domkirke and surrounding streets.

Jeppe and Maia picked us up at 12, and we drove to Jelling, to see in situ the Jelling stone. We have seen copies, in Lisbon and York, of this stone, which has been described - because the Runes refer to the country of Denmark and because of the image of Christ on one side - as Denmark's birth certificate.

When we first viewed the stone, the sunlight was bright and the sun was high, which made the carving difficult to make out. When we returned later in the day, the lower angle of the sun made the carving stand out in sharp relief.

After visiting the mound which stands in the exact centre of the site, and admiring the outline of the massive stone ship that must have predated the mounds, we visited the nearby museum. While the collection of artefacts is much smaller than Moesgaard it did a good job of conveying something of the context and history of the site. As well as having some very engaging interactive displays. Our favourite was an exhibit designed to convey the time it would take a Viking warrior to die from a variety of wounds - 10 minutes for an arrow to the neck, 30 minutes for a spear to a vital organ, 3 hours for an axe wound. The display emitted an appropriately gruesome noise and lots of simulated blood when you touched any one of the numerous weapons which were stuck into the unfortunate Viking warrior.

After the museum we visited the church, nestled between the two burial mounds, in the very centre of what was a pagan Viking site, then drove to Jeppe and Maia's new house. They don't get to move in till August, but it was good to see the house and location so we can imagine them in there. It is in a beautiful location.

We drove back to Aarhus and lounged around, enjoying their lovely apartment and admiring the great Danish design evident in the furniture and fittings.

It was good to be in a home setting - not a hotel or a restaurant, and we felt more relaxed than we have for a while. It made us extra glad we are heading back to our home soon. After a delicious dinner and interesting conversation, we walked with Jeppe to retrieve his car, getting a glimpse of Aarhus suburbia. Jeppe kindly dropped us off at the hotel.

A really lovely day, and although tired we feel sort of exhilarated, with lots of ideas for things we want to try when we get home.

Aarhus Moesgaard Museum

I am sorry to say we drank rather too much wine last night. It was fun at the time, but we didn't feel quite so good this morning. Jeppe came by about 10.30 and while Anne had a rest, we went for a walk around our neighbourhood. It was Latin Festival here today, Latin as in the Latin quarter of Paris, and the winding cobbled streets were decked out with tricolour flags, washing strung across between buildings, pots of lavender, and other french themed sort of decoration. There was a group of girls in French maid outfits dusting anyone who came too close. There were chaps from the local cycling club, dresses like Tour de France France riders from the sixties. There was even a baguette with a stuck on moustache and a tricolour scarf, cable tied to a drain pipe. It was all very festive on a lovely clear sunny morning.

We visited the Domkirke, with its whitewashed bright interior and candle stick holders on the end of the pews - even the church is hygge. Except perhaps for the alarmingly graphic and violent paintings on some of the arches, that have been uncovered by removing the whitewash layers.

We collected Anne, then drove along the coast and through the thick forest that lies only a couple of kilometres from the centre of the city, to the Moesgaard Museum. For a city about the size of Geelong,  this is extraordinarily good. They have focused on a few main themes - the evolution of humans, the bronze and iron age people's whose artifacts and remains have been preserved in the bogs of Jutland, and the Vikings.

The presentation was almost too good - after an hour pondering the confronting evidence of hapless animals and humans sacrificed and thrown into the bog, we retreated up to the cafe for a cup of tea and some sunlight before heading back down to the Viking exhibition. We now have a much better idea of Viking Aarhus. The location of our hotel is well within the fortified walls of the Viking settlement. The evolution of humans is very immediately represented by a series of life sized figures on the main stairway - VR viewers around the stop of the stairs give a representation of the environment that each human ancestor might have experienced.

We climbed up the steeply sloping external roof to enjoy the views across to the nearby islands, then drove back into town, stopping for an icecream at the yacht marina, a busy place filled with Danish people enjoying a sunny Saturday. A bumble bee joined us as we sat in the sun.

Jeppe dropped us back at the hotel and we had a much needed rest for a couple of hours, then walked up to the train station to collect our tickets for our return to Copenhagen on Tuesday, and a low key dinner in a Thai restaurant round the corner.

We like Aarhus a lot, much easier on the nerves than Copenhagen. Maybe we should stick to smaller places in future.

Aero to Aarhus

There was a storm out somewhere to the north last night, and the lightning woke me up. I lay awake listening to the church bell ringing out the hour and the half hour till 2, then finally fell asleep again. But I was feeling a little fragile when morning came round.

After breakfast we went for a walk along the poplar lined path beside the bay. A lady with a friendly Labrador passed us. "He is going to a dog meeting" she told us as she passed, and sure enough, up ahead at the point there were some people sitting on chairs and a pack of assorted dogs milling about, and behind us were a trio of more dogs, with owners, heading off to the "meeting". It seemed very Aero that local dogs had an organised event to attend.

There was a minor alarm when, a few minutes before the ferry docked, Anne realised she had left something back in the hotel room. Luckily it was not far, and I managed to run back to the hotel and then back to the ferry before it left.

Our friend Jeppe was waiting at Svendborg, and we had a nice lunch in a traditional Danish inn, where I tried the pickled herring in the interests of expanding my cultural horizons. Jeppe drove us to Aarhus, crossing on the way the vast bridges that connect Funen to Jutland.

It was great to catch up with Jeppe, and very nice to be driven. We stopped in a cool looking neighbourhood on the outskirts of Aarhus for the best coffee in quite a while, then onto our hotel, passing the striking Rainbow Panorama ontop of the Aarhus Art Gallery.

We headed out a bit later with Jeppe and Maia to a nice cafe for wine o'clock, then went to an ambitious restaurant for a self-consciously upmarket dinner. Aarhus seems to take its newfound foodie status very seriously. It was nice to have two bright young locals to talk to about Denmark and it's enigmatic ways.

Aarhus looks like an interesting and lively city. We are glad to be here, and glad we will be heading home in week.

AeroSkobing

A bright warm calm  morning, and we resolved to do as little as possible. We have an interesting chat with the young chap who is working as a waiter here. He is a bright young man, who came to the island as a social worker working with young refugees. He had lots of insights into the rivalries between East and West Aero, and into the local way of life.

After sitting around for a while soaking up the view we went for a slow shuffle round the village, had a coffee in the town square, then visited the AeroSkobing museum. It wasn't as engaging as the Marstal maritime museum. The maritime museum seemed more connected and engaged with something ongoing, while the AeroSkobing museum had various bits and pieces of old stuff, and some interesting stories around objects that illuminated some aspect of the village's past, but all a bit fragmented and remote. AeroSkobing's heyday was sometime in the past, and its main business now seems to be tourism. Which has its own energy - it is great to see people like the proprietors of this hotel rescuing a decaying place and building a vibrant business.

We wandered down to the waterfront and had freshly smoked mackerel, potato salad and a glass of Aero ale for lunch, while watching the engaging spectacle of people manoeuvring their boats in the confined space of the inner harbour. We saw a French motor cruiser have a close encounter with the ferry - which looks like it doesn't stop for anything.

Anne wanted to see if she could find out more about Rasmussen, the painter whose work we first encountered yesterday. After consultation with the local Tourist information, she decided to catch the bus back to Marstal to try the museum there.

While she was gone I walked a bit of the Archipelago Trail. I was hoping to get as far a mediaeval castle mound around the coast, but I miscalculated the timing and had to turn back before I got to it. It was a nice walk though, along the side of fields of young wheat, interspersed with poppies, Queen Anne's lace and corn flowers, with views over the rolling hills out over the sea. I have a theory that Danish horses are more reserved than Australian horses - I could not break through the reserve of these two.

Late afternoon the weather turned chilly. We hadn't booked and the restaurant was full, so we had a glass of wine and an excellent pizza on the terrace, getting only mildly frozen.

We have to pack up again and leave tomorrow. I think I could happily spend quite a bit of time here. There is plenty more to see and do, and, even better, it is a great place to do not much.

Aeroskobing and Marstal.

This morning, after a lovely breakfast on the veranda of the hotel, we went for a bit of a shuffle round the village, trying to get some pictures that would do justice to the magic of this place. Some of the buildings are so tiny, only shorter persons could live in them.

Next, we caught the free bus to Mastal, situated at the eastern end of the island, about 8 kilmetres as the crow flies, 12 by bus thanks to the circuitous route. The bus squeezes down some tny streets, seemingly with millimetres to spare, but we made it without scraping anything. Marstal is a pretty place, perhaps not quite as quaint as AeroSkobing, but still with many narrow streets and pretty houses. Hygge is big, and every window seems to have model boats or wooden birds or some artful object displayed.

After lunch we headed down to the Maritime museum. We didn't have great expectations, but it turned out to be quite remarkable and surprising. A very varied collection of objects nautical, lovingly displayed and cared for. It included a collection of work by J.E.C.Rasmussen, a 19th century Danish nautical theme of painter who lived in Marstal. He visited Greenland several times, and some of his work is a very humane depiction of life there. He apparently disappeared over the side of a boat returning from Greenland. We had never heard of him but we liked his work.

We had a very enjoyable couple of hours there. Our only difficulty, apart from the lack of English captions, was our inability to find the exit. To navigate through the maze like collection of rooms and buildings one had to follow red arrows painted on the floor. We followed arrows up stairs, through spaces constructed to look like ships, wove through street scapes with reconstructed shop fronts, startled ourselves multiple times coming upon life like figures in period costume, and all the time, the departure time for the bus was drawing closer. At last we came to a courtyard and there was a door with a not particularly conspicuous sign saying "udgang" . I thought "Exit" was an international standard, but obviously not in Marstal. A really fun museum though.

But we sprinted down and caught the bus with minutes to spare. Back in AeroSkobing, we walked over to the Vesterbro - the Western beach, and enviously admired the row of charming beach huts there. A bit like the bathing boxes at Brighton, there are restrictions - on size, no plumbing, no staying overnight. But most of them are done up really nicely - lots of hygge again. I would love to transport one home to put in the backyard.

We had dinner in a shop that sells freshly smoked fish, and ate at table watching the going on of life in the harbour. A new lot of cruising boats in, tonight some sort of group of five yachts who must cruise in convoy. We visited one of the "bog bix" which seem to dot the island. These are honesty box second hand book stalls, in a variety of locations. This one was in the Aero winter bathing club room on the breakwater. While Anne selected her book, I examined the photos of club members swimming off the nearby steps, covered not by gentle sunshine as today, but by snow, and the water filled with clumps of ice. Impressive. Even more impressive was the absence of a lock on the door of the club building - it says something about what a benign peaceful place this is.

We can hardly believe we have been here for little more than 24 hours. I realise that I really like islands. And this is a particularly nice one.

Aero

Last night we were a bit later than usual getting out for dinner, and it took us a while to find somewhere that wasn't a)full and b)too expensive/trendy. The meat market area, with the food trucks, tables, benches packed with young Danes, and thumping party music, was a bit dismal, sort of like a film set for a gritty European movie. The darkening sky as rain approached didn't help.

So we were glad to find a table in a restaurant we had eaten at before, and get a reasonable dinner inside as the skies opened. But we felt a bit frazzled by the time we got home, and not sorry to be having a break from big city Copenhagen.

This morning we caught two trains, then a ferry, to get to Aeroe, each step a bit more relaxed than the last, till we stepped off onto the wonderfully picturesque island village of AeroSkobing. After checking in, we went for a shuffle round the village, and could not help but be charmed by the quaint cottages, lovely gardens, and little cobbled streets - it really is picture postcard.

Our hotel is old fashioned and a bit funky, but the couple who bought it a year ago are working away rennovating it. The restaurant is a key thing they have focused on, and it is a big hit, excellent food, and clearly the word has got out, for it was packed. What a difference 24 hours makes - sitting at dinner here looking out over the water we felt about 1000 percent better than last night.

After dinner we went for a walk around the dock area, with a smattering of cruising yachts and some larger boats that look like they run cruises for teenagers - guessing by the groups of teenagers sitting rather mournfully on the decks. The harbour is set up very nicely for visiting yachts though, with a very solid building with woodfired  barbeques, plenty of power hookups, nice facilities block, and even a second hand book shop. I think this would be grand sailing territory, with lots of little islands and lots of anchorages. A fair bit of wind too I suspect.

We are very happy to be somewhere so beautiful, and so relaxed. This is a sort of holiday from travelling, and I think we have chosen the right place for it. 

Roskilde

This morning we got down to the station reasonably early, bought a couple of all day tickets, and caught the train to Roskilde, site if the World Heritage listed Domkirke, and of the Viking ship museum. We got there before 10, and it was lovely to be somewhere a bit quieter. We enjoyed the stroll down the main Street, looking in the shop windows, without the feeling that you were getting in the way of a crowd of pedestrians behind.

In the pavement outside the church was the familiar Camino St

Ymbol  a of the shell. A long walk to Santiago de Compostela from here. I wonder if people actually do it.

The Domkirke itself is built of brick, with details picked out in colourful paint, and as the burial place of royalty and of the rich and powerful, it is packed with over the top marble monuments. Some of the tombstones on the floor were both creepy and incomprehensible.

But there was also some great woodcarving, in the stalls lining the main altar. I really liked this lecture, representing Luke the evangelist.

After a while, someone started up the organ, playing churchy music, which drove us out soon after. We walked down the hill to the museum through a solid rain shower, and got there in time to find out that the boat tours were all booked up till 2.30. I had rather fancied the idea of rowing a Viking boat, but it was not to be. My advice for visiting Roskilde is get down to the museum early and first, and visit Domkirke second.

Notwithstanding, the Viking museum was fantastic. The whole enterprise of raising, documenting, preserving and presenting what is left of the five Skuldelev Viking boats is impressive, and is vividly recorded through videos, photos, the boats themselves and models, replicas, and the ongoing activity of boat building. The way they have made building replicas of the boats part of the museum, and the effort they go to get school kids to engage with this part of their heritage is really fantastic. There were groups of teenagers rowing and sailing, clearly having a great time.

While we were having lunch we watched two teachers with a group of tiny kids, maybe 5 or 6 Years old. With one of the people from the museum, the teachers and the kids all donned mediaeval looking hoods, then set off carrying swords, barrels and fur hides in a procession round to one of the boats. The kids were totally serious about it, as if they were loading up for a raiding party. I can't think of another museum I have seen that engaged kids so much.

By the time we were leaving it started to rain again and we had a long wet stump back up the hill. One can see why the Vikings chose this place for a fortified town - any attacking force would be totally stuffed by the time they got up the hill. We were anyway. We caught the train back to town, and headed home for a nice cup of tea and a lie down.

We are going to Aero tomorrow, which I am sure will be nice, but we are feeling a bit weary of packing. Anne is on strike packing wise. But I guess the adrenaline will kick in and that will get us out the door.

Copenhagen laundromat and museum

According to the mythology of the local bronze age people, a horse pulled the sun in a chariot up into  a the sky. Horse did a good job  a this morning, a beautiful sunny Sunday morning here, and after breakfast Anne was for a quiet morning, and I was good for a bit more exploration, so I volunteered to take our washing to the nearest laundromat, a couple of kilometres away. I unboxed the Brompton, and set off with washing loaded into its wonderful front T bag, joining the sedate flow of morning cyclists. I found the laundromat no worries, but once again dismally failed the laundromat IQ test.

First mistake, which cost me 24 DKK, was to select and pay for an out of order machine. Second mistake was to assume that the machine did both wash and spin - in fact there is a separate centrifuge machine for that. Third mistake was failing to grasp how the drier worked. It said 1 kroner for 48 seconds, but you had to press the button for each 48 seconds you wanted. Put in 10 DKK, press 10 times. Luckily nice Danish people in the laundromat helped me at each conceptual hurdle I floundered on, but I was a bit addled by the end of it all. Getting lost when I went for a ride while the washing cycle was in progress didn't help my confidence.

But, I made it back home with a bag of warm clean clothes, so it was overall a successful outing. After lunch we decided to have a look at the Nationalmuseet. I must confess we chose it because it was close by, but it turned out to be excellent. Those Danish bogs are terrific at preserving elements of the material culture of Bronze Age people's, and there are things like the clothes of the Egtved Girl 1370 BC - if you saw a teenager in the street today wearing them, it would not be too unusual - wooden shields, axe handles still with flint axe embedded, cauldrons, and even a finely detailed cart - the Dejbjerg Wagon - complete with much of it original decoration. And a fantastic model of a horse pulling the sun - the Sun Chariot. And some seriously good hoards. Really wonderful stuff, and well presented. A great Museum highly recommended.

We liked the curation style here, and enjoyed the more contemporary exhibits too, including the last hash stall from Pusher Street in Christiania Free Town. It is strange though to see clothes and artifacts in an exhibition context that we remember people wearing and using.

We also collected our tickets for the trip to Aero, so all in all a good, quiet day. Just as well as we are a bit travel weary at the moment.

Copenhagen Walk

This morning we enjoyed the very welcome luxury of a sleep in. The hotel puts breakfast supplies, like yoghurt and cheese, in the fridge, stocks up the coffee machine, and in the morning, a nice paper bag appears on hooks attached to the door, filled with some fresh rolls and pastry. And a weird Danish English language newspaper that seems oblivious of anything happening in the world.

We had a leisurely breakfast and slowly got ourselves organised and out the door. A beautiful morning in Copenhagen. We strolled along, beside the canal that runs round Castle Island, filled with kayakers, very sleek clinker built rowing boats - descendents of Viking boats for sure - and huge tour boats so long it seemed impossible that they could navigate the bends and low bridges. We sat in the sun admiring the statue of St Absolom, clad in armour, the legendary founder of the city. 

We  perused the offerings of an "antique market" which looked more like a car boot trash and treasure, the found our way over to Nyhaven canal, a stretch of canal lined with picturesque wooden sailing boats, flanked by outdoor restaurants, and packed this Sunny Saturday, with tourists and locals out to enjoy the day.

After lunch we walked back along a pedestrian only street which was also thronged with people out and about. Must be good for business, and the stores lining the street looked shiny, and high end. No trod two dollar shops. With plenty of impressive and what was to us new architecture and monuments. We liked the stork fountain, complete with a live pigeon on top - a nice addition.

A big walk by the time we got home we felt like we had a better idea of the city. We rested up for a few hours, booked our next train tickets for Tuesday, then headed out for dinner into our local neighbourhood, Vesterbro. We tried BOB, which was friendly and was in a great spot for watching the local Danes sailing by on their bicycles. Hundreds of people, and not one in Lycra. Plenty of high heels though. Our scientific sample (ok we got sick of counting after 12) confirmed our impression that there are more female than male cyclists.

We hit the supermarket, and I realised how tired I was yesterday and how much better I feel after a good night's sleep and a low key day.  We walked home via what is shown on the map as a "Food Market" - lots of stalls and tents and food trucks, with benches packed with young Danes and a thumping sound system. They sure know how to have a good time.

We are settling into our neighbourhood, described as "little Paris" in a brochure we picked up today. There sure is a lot going on here.

Copenhagen

We were up early and after a disorganised breakfast service - I thought Germans were supposed to be good at organising things - we were glad to get down onto the train platform in the early morning sun. Once again, I stood where the minutely detailed diagram said our carriage would stop, and once again it turned out to be 100 metres off. But we got our luggage stowed, and settled in for another 5 and a half hour trip.

One thing we hadn't picked up on was that a section of the journey was by ferry. The train pulled up at a very sea side sort of place. There was a mother seagull who had three small seagull chicks running round on the track next to the train. From the rust on the rails I guess no train has gone along there for a while, but it looked like an exposed spot to raise a family.

We all had to pile out for the 45 minute ferry trip across, but it was a nice change of pace, and a chance to have some lunch.

We decided to spring for a first class ticket way back when we booked, and as more and more people squashed into the second class carriages as we went along, it proved to be a good idea. We arrived at Copenhagen central station in reasonably good shape, though I managed to get ten times more Krona from the cash machine than I meant to, so obviously my brain wasn't working too well by that time. I unfolded the Brompton, loaded up our luggage, and wheeled us to our hotel, not too far from the station without too much navigational embarrassment. The hotel is nice- Anne says it is very hygge (a word which I am determined to learn how to pronounce before I leave Denmark) - and there are lots of cool looking places to eat nearby. I liked the look of Chicky Bar, Anne liked BOB - Biodynamic Organic Bar. We can try both out before we go.

Copenhagen seems like a very relaxed sort of city, with a young and seemingly well heeled population. It is eye wateringly expensive though. Basic glass of wine A$15, basic main $30+ - I will be drinking beer while I am here. I suspect the wodge of Krona I accidentally extracted will not last us too long.

But we are very glad to be here - a totally new place to explore.

Hamburg

Last night, in the long Twilight, we heard a huge racket of music and raucous singing coming from the canal below. The source was a party boat, all young Dutch women. The boat tied up at the little dock, and a trio of girls leapt off. The remaining contingent belted out a selection of Madonna songs and other hits that were popular probably round the time they were born.  General high spirited conversation and singing continued for the next ten minutes until the shore party returned bearing multiple boxes of pizza. It was as if a switch had been flicked as the crew fell to earnest pizza consumption, and the boat slipped away down the canal, almost in silence.

We went for a last walk around the canals, which become very peaceful in the late evening. We really enjoyed Amsterdam and are sorry to be leaving.

This morning we were packed, breakfasted and out the door by 7.45, and thanks to the efficient Amsterdam tram service, we were on the platform waiting for our train about twenty minutes later. There is a diagram which purports to show where on the platform your carriage will arrive. Either it was seriously wrong or I misinterpreted it, as we had to sprint along about four carriages to get to ours. Lots of other people made the same mistake, so we managed to get on and stash the box and the bags before the crowd dragging huge bags arrived.

There was a nice young American couple sitting next to us. Their first trip to Europe. They were booking travel and hotels as they went - we were impressed by their youthful energy and optimism, they were impressed and a bit envious of Anne's organisation when we showed them our red book with all our bookings.

The next leg of the journey was a little less pleasant. The train was crowded, the German lady in the seat next to Anne seemed to resent someone in what she clearly thought was her space. And a lot of the view out the window was just a green blue as the train belts along at up to 200 kilometres an hour. 

 Hamburg station is, like most busy railway stations anywhere, a rather confronting place and very German as well. It was a struggle to dredge up a few words to get through the simple transaction of buying lunch.

But we found our way to our hotel ok, and laid low for a couple of hours, watching by pure chance ex FBI Director Comey's testimony. I have a feeling this might be footage we are going to see a lot of, something pivotal and historic.

We shuffled down for dinner in the bar next door, good German food. I got the small snitzel, but it still covered the plate. Just as well I did not go for large. I went out to find a supermarket to get a few supplies, encountering a few of the colourful locals en route - probably just as well I don't understand much German - then went for a walk down to the nearby water way to commune with the local feathered population. They seem pretty chilled.

Tomorrow, up early and onto Copenhagen.