The Search for Vikings!
Copenhagen was never on my Top 10 places to visit. I had nothing against it, but it just never tweaked my interest. Add to this the costly reputation of Scandinavian countries and it was pretty much off the plan. But when the invite to Copenhagen, to "Come see us sometime", arose, we had a think and decided, why not? Then, the more I researched about this lovely city, the more excited I got and finally, in the spring of 2010, we went. This travelogue describes that visit as well as stuff we did out of Manchester before and after.
Itinerary:
"At least I'll be there and not here!"
Famous last words
"It's been cold and damp here for a few days and it may not be much better in Manchester though maybe a little warmer. At least I'll be there and not here!"
That's what I wrote in my journal on day one, April 30. Turns out the weather mostly was about the same, damp and chilly with a very few nice bright days. As for being there and not here, I got a few extra days there and not here thanks to the wandering Icelandic volcanic ash cloud. Early in April the ash cloud shut down all UK and other European airspace but it cleared up a week or so before I was due to leave. I crossed my fingers that I can get there. I told people that I don't mind so much getting stuck over there. Which is exactly what happened... but more about that later.
The flight over was uneventful. I was in the very last row of the plane but luckily got an empty seat between my and the other person in the middle section. I may have dozed off/zoned out a bit but no so you'd really notice. The flip to Terminal 1 in Heathrow was a bit different. It looks like they've changed it from the way I used to proceed through. It used to be security then passport and it's the other way around now and there's the stop for the photo (bio metric scan) as well. I got stopped at security because I had forgotten I put a small bottle of water in my carry on. They took that off me and they wanted to scan my camera. Whatever. You come out of there into the retail shops area and that's different too and just a bit confusing because it was new.
I tried to top up my T-mobile phone using the swipe card and it didn't work so I got a voucher. Then I checked my boarding pass and uh oh, I didn't realize I had got the connecting time of the flight wrong! It boards at 11 for an 11:30 flight. The gate is usually the back of beyond and I've got 20 minutes and I have to get hold of Graham to let him know to be to the airport sooner.
Ah. The reason my top up card didn't work is that the account had expired! Sheesh! Got through to them to reactivate it but they said it could take up to 24 hours and I needed to make that phone call! I spy a pay phone, thankfully, throw a 2 pound coin in and get hold of him. All is well but the phone kept all of the 2 quid, no change! After all that panic, the plane ended up boarding late and leaving late. I took my chances and texted Graham and it worked so I guess the 24 hour thing was just a cover-your-ass warning in case it didn't take right away.
Landed in Manchester, luggage Gods were kind, and there's my sweetie! We got back to his flat via the train/taxi route we usually take. I had a cup of tea and sandwich and we visited his dad for a bit but I really started to fade and all I wanted was the pillow and duvet. A nap, Doctor Who and a catch up later, and we're back on track.
May 2 - 4 were all easy days for the most part. Weather as expected, overcast and dreary and a bit chilly. Sunday I caught up on sleep, we visited his dad in the afternoon and Malc came over for a meal in the evening. I made Mexican Pasta and Cheese bake which they both really liked.
Monday was a Bank Holiday but the shops were open so we took the bus into the city centre. I wanted to do a bit of shopping in the Arndale Centre and found a few new tops in one shop and I picked up a hoodie to wear under my jacket. Turns out that was a very good purchase and I was very glad I had it in the coming days.
I bought the third Steig Larsson book in paperback (which isn't even out in hardback in Canada yet!) and I picked up an autographed copy of Bev Callard's autobiography. We got Graham some house things he needed and we decided to go to Henry J. Beans for lunch. We'd gone there before and enjoyed it but this time it turned out to be a mistake. Very slow service and the food was not great at all. Graham's burger was dry and tasteless and my nachos were definitely mediocre, with dry chicken on top of it. Taxi home with all the bags and in for the evening.
Tuesday was another easy day. The sun did peek through a bit but not for long. We spent a few hours recording Graham's radio show, The Autopsy Report. I got to pick the whole playlist so it was somewhat different than his usual fayre. It took quite awhile actually, almost 4 hours for a 2 hour. We record the intros and he pops in the song, does some editing as we go along to fix the levels and cut out some of my babbling! We had a late lunch, and he fine tuned it while I washed my hair.
We're all packed up for our trip to Copenhagen tomorrow! It looks like the weather is going to be a bit disappointing for the most part. At least the flight isn't at stupid o'clock in the morning this time. We've booked a taxi for 8 for the 10 o'clock flight.
May 5
Off to Viking land!
We're really looking forward to this trip. It was not a destination I had really considered before but Graham has an internet pal there who does an internet metal radio show and he had suggested we come over and visit sometime. We thought, why not? The more I researched, the more things I found about Copenhagen that appealed to me. We knew it would be expensive and it was but we budgeted for it. We stayed at Hotel Ibsens and got a pretty good price, 930 DKK a night which works out to be about $186 CAD though breakfast wasn't included. I thought that was reasonable considering the prices I'd been finding and it was actually a bit less than we paid for the Ibis in Brussels.
We were up by 6:30 and got to the airport in plenty of time for a cuppa and a snack. The flight was fine but we felt squashed as all three seats were occupied. Kastrup airport seems very nice. Very modern and open and it wasn't difficult to find our way through. A far better cry than the bottleneck that was Schipol in Amsterdam. Graham's friend, Dave, was waiting for us with a sign that said "GRANDAD". Fun-nee guy ;))) Even so, he didn't actually realize that Graham is about 10 years older than him!
We took the metro to Norreport station which is only a couple of blocks from the hotel. It's a good location as Norreport is a major train and metro station with lots of busses as well. Right across from that is the old section of Copenhagen where the shopping district is and it's not far from the Town Hall either. In fact, most things you want to see in Copenhagen are not all that far from each other and it's a very flat city. There are a lot of cobbles on some of the narrow old streets and sidewalks but they also have flat paving stone "lanes" you can walk on instead of the cobbles. That helps a bit.
The hotel room is small but not tiny though the bathroom is. And the bathroom pretty much *is* the shower stall with a drain in the middle of the room and a curtain to pull around so the rest of the room doesn't get wet. It worked ok though. The wardrobe has lots of hanger and space to stash our carryon bags. The windows are only single glazed and there's no air conditioning. It wasn't' a problem as it was cool most of the time we were here but I expect it might be difficult in the summer. Our room faced an inner courtyard so there wasn't much noise at night. Street side might be more noisy.
They don't provide toiletries and there's only a small corner shelf in the bathroom to put stuff. The hotel seems like it could use a refit but it was ok. The other annoying thing is that the television volume seems to be locked at a low level which makes it difficult to hear unless you're sitting over by it. I can understand why but I think it could be adjusted up a bit more.
Next up.... walking Copenhagen in the sunshine!
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Looking outside the hotel window
Cheeky git!