Take it easy

The train ride from Copenhagen to Hamburg was a little odd- the water between Denmark and Germany is so far across there is no bridge to connect it, rather a ferry that the train actually went inside. The passengers had to leave the train during the crossing, which lasted about 45 minutes, and go up into the boat itself. It kind of seemed like a truck stop on water, especially since the ferry also hauled semi trucks and cars.

When we got to Hamburg, our hostel was rather easy to find, and actually quite amazing - it was much like a hotel. We ended up buying some food at a nearby supermarket, then walking toward the harbour for a short while. We didn't really see much of the city, deciding to take it easy after all of the the hard core travelling we had done until that point. It was mostly just a halfway point between Copenhagen and Amsterdam for us anyway, so we didn't mind not seeing as much as in other places.

We got up early to catch a train first for Münster, where we caught a second to Oberhausen, then finally getting on the train for Amsterdam - probably the longest overall journey we've had to this point. When we got to Amsterdam, we didn't plan on staying very long since we were to spend the night in Brussels, and this ended up bring the right choice. I don't think Amsterdam was really my kind of city - the "coffee shops" left what seemed like a permanent cloud of smoke around the canals, and much of the signage and memorabilia was for the red light district and of course Amesterdam's drug trade. After only a few hours we were bored of it anyway, so getting on the train for Brussels was a bit of a relief.

We got into Brussels in the early evening, going straight to drop off our bags and check out the sights. Stevie had gone to Brussels once before, so she was able to sort of guide me about the city. There were a lot of neat sights outdoors, but being Easter and all, a lot was closed. We decided to splurge on an Easter dinner, and ended up eating at a Mexican restaurant. It was good, especially since it's been a while since I've had any. It was very expensive, though, way more than I'd ever normally pay for that kind of food. It was nice to have a real meal though, and I had a good time overall in Brussels.

In the morning we decided to take a quick trip to Brugge, being only about an hour from Brussels. It was quite a lovely little town, old and quaint, and quite a beautiful excursion. We walked through the streets, admiring and taking it all in. We had a sort of picnic on a park bench overlooking the water, and it turned out to be quite the wonderful morning. We went back to Brussels for an hour before heading on to Luxembourg for the night.


It was about a three hour ride to Luxembourg city, so it was evening by the time we arrived. We met the people we were staying with at the station, and they drove us to the centre of town, showing us around for a while. We had ice cream and walked for a while, but the town being rather small it didn't take us long to see everything. We went back to their flat where we had a delicious dinner and watched a movie. Overall a good time.

So the past few days may have been at a slower pace than before, but I still feel like I enjoyed myself in places I never imagined I would be! In the morning we head for Paris, one last train ride before we fly for the last of our journey...

Leaving on a jet plane

A change from our normal routine meant getting up early and finding our way to the Prague airport for our short flight to Copenhagen. It wasn't at all difficult, just the metro to the end of the line and then a short bus ride. We got there too early for check in, so we sat and waited, finally checking in, waiting some more, taking off, and landing just before noon at Kastrup Lufthavn.

Our hostel was within walking distance of the airport, convenient for dropping off bags but far from the city proper. We checked in and set down our stuff, then setting out in search of a bus that would take us to central Copenhagen. We got off on the far end and headed first to the one sight I remembered being interested in, the Tycho Brahe planetarium. The admission was a little out of our price range (everything in Denmark is...) but we looked in the little shop and the information centre and whatnot, so I was mostly satisfied. We headed from there out in a line of sights, walking by an amusement park (we didn't know that's what it was at first; on the map it just looked like a park), seeing many old buildings and fancy streets.

We ended up sitting for a little while in the King's Gardens, before walking to the Citadel. This was a military fortress built into an impressive trench, complete with barracks and high walls. We wandered around there for some time, admiring the scenery and climbing the hills. After this we wanted to find the Little Mermaid monument, so we tried going straight there... Only to find a sort of moat in our way! We had to walk the long way around but eventually found it. This is based on Hans Christian Andersen's original fairy tale, he being a Danish fairytale writer there were many monuments to him around the city. It was by far the most crowded area we'd been to in Copenhagen, perhaps it's top tourist attraction?

After walking back through the streets and absorbing a little more Danish culture, we got on a bus back for the hostel. We realized after it was too late that the bus we had gotten on didn't go as far as the stop we needed, so we ended up having a long walk back... It's okay, though, I know I needed the exercise!

After spending the night we're heading to the airport train station, and making our way to our next stop: Hamburg!