J&J's European Adventure

24 June

Copenhagen, Denmark

Germany won, but both teams advance due to prior performances, and everything seemed to be functioning normally this morning. Our hotel must have good windows, since we heard very little horn honking and shouting from the streets last night.

We traveled to Copenhagen by train/ferry on what will hopefully be the most interesting leg of our travels. The train drives onto a ferry boat for a one-hour crossing to Denmark, and one must leave one's luggage on the train and ride across in the passenger areas of the ferry. We were on an outside deck, watching the docking procedures. There were numerous loud speakers on the walls around us, but they never made a sound. We returned to the train deck of the ferry just in time to find all of the doors shut and to watch the train drive off of the ferry with our luggage, but without us! We had to trot along after the train like the kid in Shane. Fortunately, it stopped at a station about 1/8 of a mile from the ferry terminal. I abandoned Janene to jog down and get the conductor's attention, and succeeded in getting the train held until Janene huffed and puffed up and staggered aboard. We got a huge ovation from the other passengers, many of whom had watched us through the windows as we stood helplessly while the train left the boat.

The people at the Copenhagen Tourist Information place were not very helpful. Some of these places are great. You never know what kind of assistance you'll get – it's about a fifty-fifty deal. We wandered around on our own and found a pretty nice cheap-for-Copenhagen hotel a couple of blocks from the station. As we walked around town, we kept getting caught up in huge crowds of flag-waving, horn-tooting, beer-drinking football fans. Denmark plays Japan tonight, and must win to stay in the tournament. I got a Danish flag painted on my face, just to make sure nobody mistook me for a Japanese tourist. We did about half of the recommended walking tour before catching the Metro back to the hotel. The famous mermaid statue is on holiday in China. They even took her rock!

Copenhagen is certainly the most expensive place we've been. Finding a Coke for under $3 U.S., even in a grocery store, is a shopping coup.

Daily miles: 8.98

Expenses: 1.89€ (charity)

to Copenhagen

mass transit

train on ferry

ferry from ferry

lunch on the ferry

Joe on ferry deck

Land ho!

docking

Storstrøm Bridge

Copenhagen

Hotel Astoria

Tivoli Gardens Star Flyer video
(28s, 2.6MB)

Copenhagen City Hall

face-painting

futball fans

blending in

Here stood the city's pillory
for a period until 1780

Court House (on right)

sweet relief

closed to traffic

Bishop Absalon
Copenhagen founder

statue plaque

Christiansborg Palace	Børsen	Børsen spire	The Royal Playhouse & The Old Stage
The King's New Square	Stærekassen concert hall ceiling mosaic	Nyhavn harbor	Vor Frelsers Kirke spire from Inderhavnsbroen