Travel to Copenhagen

Tuesday, 3rd July

Today was spent traveling. We left Amy's flat at 8.45 am for the train at Haringay Station, a walk of less than 5 minutes. At Finsbury Park we farewelled Amy, and boarded the train on the Picadilly Line to go to Terminal 5 at Heathrow. It took just over an hour to get there. After we collected our bike boxes from storage we checked in for our British Airways flight to Copenhagen. There was a long wait at bag drop (15 or more minutes) while the three guys in the queue ahead of us discussed how to re-order their 6 bags to meet the requirements of 1x23kg bag and 1 cabin bag each.
The plane was slightly delayed for take off while engineers changed what the pilot referred to as "a box of tricks down below", so we took off 1/2 hour late. The flight was mostly in cloud, but we could see the coastline of Holland as we flew over, and it was clear for the last 1/2 hour into Copenhagen. So we saw the flat Danish countryside and all the water of the North Sea and the Baltic Sea.

After going through Customs and collecting our luggage we went to the taxi stand where we're were pleased to see station wagons were available for hire - can't fit into a sedan with our luggage! So the taxi driver managed to fit our two bike boxes and bags and us into his vehicle, a Skoda.

It was a bit nerve-wracking during the ride into Copenhagen as he was going along the motorway holding the steering wheel with one hand while trying to get his chip card to drive the meter inserted. This meant he was distracted from his driving! The meter seemed to be ok when we started..... We think it was a scam so the fare was not recorded. When we pointed it out he quoted a rate which was what the guide book said, so that was acceptable. Apart from not being able to talk to him in Danish, and him not speaking a word of English, he also seemed to have no idea of where the hotel was. Fortunately we had the address written down and once we got to the street it was on we could find the number.

First impressions of Copenhagen were that there are lots of cyclists, also lots of tagging on the buildings heading into town.

The hotel (Copenhagen Crown) has a central courtyard, and the sun was streaming in our window. It was about 24 degrees, a very pleasant temperature.

After getting to our room and unpacking it was about 6pm. We were heading out to find somewhere for dinner when we met Janice and Des from Melbourne, and granddaughter Ruby - some of the folks coming on our cycling tour. So we all went off together by bus to the Nyhavn area alongside a canal. This is the very picturesque harbourside area often shown as one of the iconic views of Copenhagen. There were crowds of people out sitting at the various restaurants along the harbourside or eating their takeaway pizza or picnic tea. We went to a French fish restaurant and had a very pleasant meal - dishes chosen included herring, salmon, plaice and mussels.

After returning by bus to the hotel it was time for bed.

Liz & John