Flight home

The alarm went off at 5am. Ouch, especially given that was 4am UK time. I was going to miss the huge bed with split duvets, but I wasn't going to miss the pillows.

We got ready and out the door, taking our rubbish to the bin on the way. We'd not left the boat in a bad state, though we had paid Birgit to clean it.

The drive to the airport was quiet and easy. We dropped the car in the return car park opposite the office, and left the key in the box. W just missed a shuttle bus, so decided to walk as it would take less time than the wait for the next bus.

The walk turned out to be easy. We went through a surprisingly busy fast lane at security, went to the wrong lounge, then the right one, after going through passport control.

The lounge was quiet, lovely and classy compared to the Heathrow one. I had corn flakes and a pastry, and then it was time to board. A bunch of noisy teenagers were boarding (we were too late for the early call), and a group of laughing business types, who'd also been in the lounge. I expected the flight to be uncomfortable. Some of the idiot teenagers were ignoring their seat allocations and being told off.

We had the back row of Club Europe, and the seats in front were empty. I asked if we could move forward - the joking Irish cabin guy said it would cost 10 euros, and then laughed and said of course.
So we moved forward. There wasn't a peep from the rest of the passengers, despite the flight being completely full. I dozed for much of the flight.

London was surprising sunny. We disembarked down steps onto the concourse, got on a bus, straight to terminal, straight through border control, and straight to Whitecar blokey waiting with our ride. Easy!

This was a nice trip, though it turned out to be somewhat busier and more stressful than intended. Copenhagen is open, accessible, friendly, and interesting. Looking forward to more trips to Scandinavia.

Driving adventure

Another lazy morning. Had I not been migrainy, and had I not left my trainers in the office, I might have done Parkrun, as it had great reviews and was right near our boat. Wasn't to be, though.

We left at about 10, heading north for Elsinore. The skies were grey, but the roads were good and not too busy. We arrived about 11, after coming through a nice looking town, and parked in the large tourist car park, from which you could see the harbour and sea. We decided to wander around the castle first.

We didn't pay to go in, as it wasn't cheap, but walked around the ramparts and gazed across the water to Sweden. It was very atmospheric. We dipped down to walk on the stony beach for a time, then the path led us around to face the town, and the many boats in the harbour.

By this time we were ready for lunch. Luckily, there was another street food warehouse in the vicinity. We opted for 'fisk' and chips, with some homemade lemonade to wash it down.

We then went into the maritime museum. The entry fee was moderate, but worth it. The museum is well laid out, interesting, and often interactive. We took our time and looked at everything - they covered many aspects, from life at sea to navigation instruments to ship designs and dimensions. On the way out, we had a look in the gift shop. I asked about archives - they weren't open that day, but they recommended that I send an email when I got home.

After our exertions, we went back into the street food warehouse for cheesecake and hot drinks. I actually enjoyed a cup of lady grey.

Back in the car park, we gave our day parking ticket to a surprised man who'd just arrived. I wanted to see more of the area, so we drove further north west around the top of the coast. It was a nice, laid back part of the world, with interesting houses. Very green.

We stopped to look at the beach at Hornbaek Havn, walking over the high dunes to get to the water. Both the wind and the water were chilly. I saw a 1980s Mazda 323 in the car park but resisted the urge to take a photo.

We drove on as far as Gilleleje, then headed south, through pleasant farming land. Then onto the motorway, where we had a comfortable journey, and then back into Copenhagen. We had to search for a fuel station but found one eventually, near the university precinct. We filled up (which didn't cost much), then I asked if we could do a little more exploring while we had the car. I wanted to check out Amager Strandpark and Amagerbro.

We found a place to park on the street at Amager Strandpark and got out to explore. It was a huge tree-lined green space, and it looked like the end of a festival, with jumping castles being packed away, and vehicles being loaded up. The beach was pretty bleak and empty that day but we had a wander across the bridge and up the promenade all the same. We could hear music, but couldn't tell what it was in aid of. Walked around the island, had a good view of the Oresund bridge. Then realised with dread that the music was some kind of Oktoberfest leiderhosen festival in a nearby arena. Run away!

We then drove on so I could get a feel for Amagerbro, which really wasn't anywhere near as interesting as I thought it might be. I'd pictured it to be an arty, bohemian area with good restaurants, but it was a bit high-rise and nasty, really.

We drove back to the boat, and had a night in. Christian was exhausted, so I made the pizza. We ate it, and Christian went to bed soon after. After eating the last eskimo, I joined him and we had a super early night.

Exploring the city

We had an easy morning, to recover from the unintentionally hectic day before.

We intended to see the changing of the guard, but we didn't get out of the boat until 11am. This might still have been OK, but we just missed a water bus, and I suggested getting on the wrong road bus, so we were never going to make it.

The plan changed while in transit. I had heard about an interesting shopping street, Strøget, which we happened to be en route to, so got off at its end and walked the length. It was quite interesting, with fashion and markets and funky shops. We got lunch in noodle place called Wok On. Tasty.

We then walked to Amalienborg Palace (well after the changing of the guard had taken place) via the local Tesla shop. On the way we also saw the beautiful domed Fredrik's Kirke. The nearby palace was disappointingly unimpressive - it has four identical classical facades around a large square, but it's just not pretty. Didn't help that it was a grey day. We did get to see some guards, marching back and forth by their posts. They had nice uniforms.

From there, we cut through a section with nice hedges to the river, and walked north towards the Little Mermaid statue, stopping to use public conveniences in a park on the way.

The statue was a bit of an anti-climax, as perhaps was expected, especially given half of Copenhagen was there too. It was possible to walk out onto the rocks to get quite close, and the setting was rather nice, or at least would have been on a nice day.

Christian got an ice cream and a coffee at a nearby van, and we decided to have a wander though the large star-shaped fortification we'd been following along beside on the walk, which turned out to be the Kastellet, one of the best preserved star fortresses in northern Europe. It was begun in 1626, and saw action against the Swedish, the English, and the Germans.

We walked around the top of the fort for a little way and went inside across a bridge. After going through the interesting looking barracks buildings, and seeing a few military types, we went up onto the earth ramparts. The grounds were beautifully maintained and the trees were just gorgeous. It was a lovely stroll. We left the fortress via a different bridge.

It didn't take long to walk back into the city. Though by this time, we were both ready for a sit down, and so found a cafe for a drink, and I had a traestammer finally. It was really good - worth the wait.

While eating and drinking, we talked about hiring a car to get to Malmo the next day instead of getting a train. It sounded fun, and Christian found some cheap deals online. We decided to have a look at Tivoli Gardens, and then go to the airport to hire a car, which had the added benefit of giving us a method of transport to the airport on the last day.

We got a bus to Tivoli, which dropped us off nowhere near an entrance, and bought entry tickets that didn't include any rides. We had a lovely wander in there - it's tasteful and old-fashioned, with beautiful grounds, but also has thrill-seeking rides for the young 'uns. There's a huge stage for music, and people already had their places on the grass saved for that night's entertainment (though it looked like rain and I had no desire to join them).

There were a few rides that we probably would have enjoyed (a little boat one and a couple of others), but we didn't bother buying tickets. We did enter an amazing vintage life-size chocolate wheel and won some wine gums. There were a lot of nice old games of skill that were quite popular, and we watched quite a few of them. While in the gardens, we booked the hire car over the phone.

On the way out, Christian got some popcorn, and we sat in a double deck chair. Just because we could. It wasn't terribly comfortable. As the central train station was a short walk away, we got a train from there to the airport. At the airport, we had to walk for miles to get out the other side of the terminal, and then had to get a shuttle bus to the hire car office.

At the hire car office, we got the final bill, got a shock, and found out that the tolls to get over the Oresund bridge were absolutely ridiculous (as in, more than the cost of the car), and so decided to go through with the hire, but stay in Denmark instead. There's so much to see in Sweden that it's worth another trip.

We were sent out the back of the office into a huge multi-storey, given the number plate, but still couldn't find the car in an Enterprise spot. Christian went back to the office, and discovered it was out the far side of the multi-storey. We found the car eventually, which was a black Audi A3, and drove back to the boat. Navigating up the cycle path was interesting, but Christian managed it well.

We looked at dinner options, and decided to try the nearby sushi place, but failing that, a ready meal from the supermarket was our next choice. It was a short walk. The sushi place was small but looked amazing, so we got a table, and feasted royally. It had to be up there with the best sushi I've had. Yum.

On the walk back, we stopped at a supermarket to explore the tasty things and buy snacks, tomorrow night's dinner (pizza), and get eskimo ice creams for dessert.

Back at the boat again, we sat for a bit, relaxing. Then bed. It had been another big day.

To Copenhagen!

We left home at 7.15, bound for Heathrow. Mark from Whitecar met us at the departure drop off, and we handed the Tesla off smoothly to him and went inside. Priority security was fairly quick and painless.

The BA lounge was rammed and annoying, however, with uninspiring food. We had two Americans sitting beside us, and the woman turned to me with no preamble whatsoever and asked whether porridge was made of oats. Um, yes. . .

Our seats on the plane were the last of the Club Europe section, and were extremely comfortable. The best part was that there was no one behind us so I could recline my seat all the way. We had quite a nice breakfast here (much better than the lounge). The flight took off as scheduled at 9.55 and arrived mostly on time at 12.55. We had no checked-in luggage so went straight through the small airport. There seemed to be a lot of Thai Airways planes.

We bought ourselves 72-hour travel tickets for 200 DKK each, which would cover all trains, buses and trams, then jumped in a taxi (because the journey from the airport to the boat was the only one that was difficult via public transport). The driver couldn't read the directions in Danish on my phone, even with his glasses, so he went off his own (thankfully reliable) GPS, which took us over a raised kerb onto a very curious road that was essentially a bike track, to the harbour. We thanked him and got out. The fare was about 160 DKK.

We walked around the harbour for some time, looking for the red boat next to a yellow boat, as per Birgit's instruction on AirBNB. After having gone the wrong way around the harbour, which involved going up onto the major road and back down again, we found it. The key was easy to find, and then we were in.

The boat was huge. Very nicely decorated and every comfort had been provided. The one offputting thing is that the lean, which I had expected, was actually port-to-starboard instead of bow-to-stern. Never mind. The harbour neighbourhood was quirky and alternative. I liked it.

By now it was nearly 1.30 (I had miscalculated our arrival time due to different time zones) and we had to go out in search of lunch. I'd briefly looked at a map of how to find the water bus stop, but hadn't looked closely enough. Christian took us there in the end (it was further away than I'd thought).

The water bus was a strange, yellow, almost military looking vessel - very slow, but very relaxing. We were treated to lovely views as we went towards the city, and some really interesting buildings. I'd planned an itinerary, but I hadn't allowed for Christian being dangerously hungry.

We got off at Nyhavn, which I'd planned to explore before crossing the river back to Paper Island, but there was nothing quick to eat or drink. So we strode around to the other side of Nyhavn, and over the river. Christian finally found a drink on the way.

Seems that everyone else was headed for Paper Island (Papirøen) too. I had read that it was a reclaimed paper warehouse, and was temporarily being used as a street food venue - which had been ridiculously successful. Christian had smørrebrød, which I didn't recognise at the time and wasn't tempted by. I had pulled duck and chips from a place called Duck It!, which was very fatty but absolutely delicious. We contemplated dessert, but decided against it, despite there being very tasty looking cheesecake and some chocolate log things that I liked the look of.

We decided against going into Freetown/Christiania, and went back into Nyhavn again - stopping for ice cream. It was very pretty and we saw an amazing art installation featuring the lifejackets of refugees. From there, we walked to Kongens Nytorv station and took the metro one stop to Nørreport. It wasn't obvious which train to get on. We got on a silver one that was clearly full of commuters, and stood up in the middle of a carriage. Christian noted after a while that Google maps thought we were already past Hellerup. Bugger. We got off at the next stop, which was Rungsted Kyst - well beyond Hellerup. Oops. Good thing we'd allowed ourselves plenty of time. We bought tickets at Rungsted Kyst and waited for the next train back. Christian worked out that the letter code attached to each train told you what the stops were.

So we got a (non-silver) train back to Hellerup and did the short walk to Casey's address. We weren't quite sure where to go, but luckily Rahul found us walking around and took us straight to the beautiful and interesting house. Casey gave us the tour and we had a drink and chatted to Rahul and Bella while Casey finished off the dinner.

Reg came home, and we sat down to an amazing curry dinner. Really nice. Christian and Reg found plenty to talk about in the world of business and cloud, and Casey shared some of challenges of living in Copenhagen. We didn't want to be out too late so we headed off at about 9.45. Christian had failed to bring a jacket, and by some stroke of luck, Casey and Reg had a spare left by a housesitter, which he took.

We got off the train at Nørrebro, and bought milk, and croissants for breakfast. Then transferred to a bus to the harbour. Then sleep, around 11pm.

Parkrun 28: 34.04. Age-graded: 45.50%

My first run back after six weeks, and it wasn't too shabby at all.

I wasn't expecting anything - so I set off at a steady plod, but I was able to keep it up the whole way. I never felt out of breath, and my legs only hurt in the quads after the steps, which I walked up with purpose. I only walked a few metres at the top.

Two women wearing running club shirts cut in on me - one actually crashing into me (she did apologise). But it makes me wonder whether they're taught to win by being rude.

Anyway, a good start back to running. Just need to keep it up now.