I am a donut

We made it to Berlin. It took some time. We started out early this morning, a phrase that sit well with neither of us. At least our hotel was near the train station, so we did not have to rush. This is good because Ellie is not a rushing kind of person. We had a little berth to ourselves with a glass door that closed and everything.

Things seemed to be going a bit slow when they arounced that, due to a signal issue, we could only for 40 km an hour on a certain section of track. This would put us in Hamburg an hour late. Fortunately there are train from Hamburg to Berlin every hour. 

Probably the best part of the ride was the ferry from Denmark to Germany.

Train number two was not too bad. We did a lot of planning for Berlin and dorking about.

After trucking our bags across town on multiple crowded modes of public transportation and checking in at the hostel we decided to get something to eat. We went to a place that did German food tapas style with plenty of vegetarian options. 

Next we decided to check out as many sites as we could that were open late. First we checked out the Branderburg Gate.

Next we went to check out the Reichstag, but things were all booked up for the day so we need to go back tomorrow. 

We then went to the Memorial to the Murdered Jews if Europe.

Then finally we checked out Checkpoint Charlie and the Checkpoint Charlie Museum.

And then back to the hostel in a super sweaty train. The showers felt good, we had a few snacks, and then some quiet reading. Tomorrow is supposed to rain like crazy so probably a good day for indoor activities. Fortunately Berlin has a bazillion museums. If we are lucky and the weather clears we might get to do a bike tour tomorrow afternoon. Fingers crossed. 

A royal whirlwind through Copenhagen

So, it turns out that I forgot to drink coffee yesterday. This is apropos of nothing, but if you are too tired to drink coffe you are probably very tired.

We woke up a bit late this morning, though not tragically so. Last night was a bit rainy and windy so we were not suprised to see some twigs on the windowsill. Turns out it was not the wind, but a bird trying to build a nest on top of the window. 

We started the morning at a vegetarian sandwich shop and juice bar near Rosenborg Castle. Most importantly they had coffee. We ate our sandwiches in the park and then traipsed about the castle and the grounds.

Rule number one - don't fall in the moat. 

The room had many mirrors.

We then took a stroll to Amalienborg Castle.

The museum is one of four parts of the palace. One of the other buildings still serves as the royal residence. The queen was home, but alas we were not invited over.

We followed the canal for a while which seems like the thing to do round these parts.

We ended up by the little mermaid. It was funny watching the crowd and this one guy who was pretty rude ended up in the water. 

Next we got ice cream and looked at boats.

We also visited a fort on an island that is shaped like a star. The buildings were red and the sky was a clear, bright blue. 

Copenhagen has a lot of canals. It is hard not to end up with many pictures on bridges. 

Next we hopped the water bus over to Nyhavn. I saw a great tiny glass house.

For our evening meal we went to Cohenhagen Street Food on Paper Island. We felt very hip.

Ellie had lemonade with fennel in it. I had beer with beer in it. The food was great. We considered trying even more, but figured we were full enough. 

And so ends our time in Copenhagen. Tomorrow we catch the 7:35 train to Berlin via Hamburg. 

Barely winning the war against time

I am extremely jet lagged. If the content of this message is bler bler bler, that is why. But despite the time shift and limited airplane sleep, we have managed to stay awake past our target time of 8:00.

Our first flight was delayed. Not by much but by enough to make things interesting. I was able to get a nice picture of Greenland though.

When we landed in Iceland we had 45 minutes to walk across the airport and board. Fortunately the airport is not too big. I did get temporarily locked outside in the rain and the cold when this door to the bus across the Tarmac closed after I exited the terminal with Ellie still inside. I was not about to get on the plane without her. But they cannot reopen the doors to the terminal for mysterious reasons. It was...bracing to say the least.

Flight number two was also running late, this time due to a labor slowdow for the air traffic controllers. Since we did not have to worry about connections it was not big deal.

We bumbled about the train station gormelessly and the attendants helped us buy the right ticket. 

So here we are in Copenhagen. Our hostel is cute and quirky.  

So much orange. So much beanbag chair.  

We went to the museum and tivoli gardens. There was a parade with fuzzy hats and a traditional folk dance competition involving lots of clapping and hopping. 

Also the lemonade was made with elderberries. Ellie was a fan.

I am going to leave it there since my ability to form coherent thoughts is not likely to return till after I get some real sleep.  

On Your Mark, Get Set...

Despite the best of intentions to blog during preparations for the latest journey, here I am less than five hours before flight time, writing epic journey post number one. My traveling companion, and hopefully co-author, Ellie and I are taking a 21 day jaunt to various bits of Europe. There will but lots of trains involved. Also mountains and ruins and food and bikes and all manner of things.

As you can see from Ellie's fabulous attire, we have been gathering up supplies since before the snow melted.  Which mean that I started packing today. Still, forgetting things is half the fun, isn't it? Ellie meanwhile started packing days ago. 

Yesterday she took a trial run at schlepping her bag around. As you can see my advice involved vigorous hand gestures which is not unusual. 

The kiddo looks a bit skeptical, doesn't she? I must be saying something fairly crazy. 

And so tonight we take off for Copenhagen via Iceland. I think I have sufficient distractions to endure the flight. Hopefully Ellie will sleep. I, on the other hand, will probably stay awake the whole time since I will have to keep the laws of physics functioning properly.