25th August : London to Copenhagen

Good morning. 

** Today I embark on the main section of my tour. I leave London around 10am on a SAS flight from Heathrow Terminal 2 through to Copenhagen. One of my sisters asked if I am excited about going off again? I'm sure I am, but my mind is more concerned currently as to whether or not I have taken sufficient funds, enough medication for four weeks, clean underwear, and something cosy to keep me warm just in case the weather turns.

** I have flown in and out of Heathrow almost more times than I have had breakfas, so to speak. I do not recall where we left from in 1958 when we emmigrated, but for me the period 1975 through to May 1980, Heathrow felt like a second home. Flying to & from Southern Africa, to & from the Middle East and to & from Australia. And I think my kids have inherited that travel bug from me. Even since 2009, after my travel hiatus, i have been in and out four times.

** I may not be travelling where no person has travelled before, but I am certainly travelling to places where I have never travelled before. Given I cannot go everywhere I would like to, nor spend unlimited time or financial resources travelling, the places I will be visiting in western Europe hopefully will stimulate my intellect, fill up my senses and emotions, and from my stomachs point of view, and offer a selection of food that I am comfortable to eat.

** All things being equal I should be travelling for approximately 27 days, across five countries and eight cities. My itinerary for this part of my tour sees me visiting cities in Denmark, Germany, Czech Republic, Switzerland, and Italy. The time I calculated to stay in each city has been more or less just right. Using a simple algorithm I developed, based on the number of museums and galleries that I want to visit, and including the locations in relation to my hotels and the rough distances in-between the locations, I have more or less hit the Goldilocks number of days per specific city. And, so far, so good......... And if I can't get to see something there's always the next trip or the one after that.

** There is a cleaning robot, the size of a large dustbin, sort of like a Dalek, slowly wandering around Terminal 2. It definately reminds me of a Korean Drama called ":Where Stars Land" - a sweet romantic movie, with a bit of Sci Fi built in. Highly recommended. Anyway, on the film there is a similar type of wandering cleaning dustbin. Mel, you liked that show.

** It's 8:59 and I have just noticed an email from SAS informing passengers of a 20 minutes delay, with a postscript that if the delay extends beyond 2 hours they will offer I refreshments. The board indicates a number of delayed flights but more appear to be taking off on tim 

** The flight has now been called and the queues are building. Holding my breath over my luggage. As I bought the cheapest seat on the flight I am in the longest queue.

** Had a win. I lost my electronic boarding pass ( it will show up tonight while looking for something else I am sure). This meant I was one of the last two board. The plane is already late so they did not check the weights or number of bags for the last ten people. I was good, I think but maybe 100 grams possibly over. Anyway, all's good 

** And we're down @ 1:10 local time. And 'Hej' from Copenhagen. Great landing, so smooth. Very quiet airport. They give me pensioner discounts on the train, and they accept my phone for train payments. The tickets allow a travel window of opportunity of 1.5 hours. Strange system, but who am I to knock it. 🤓 . The elderly lady who helped me was so nice. I know it's her job but its always appreciated when a stranger in a strange city is helped that way.

** First impression of Copenhagen. Having just arrived by train from the airport I asked a young women in her 20s to just show me which exit to take for my street and she just blatantly turned around and said,' I do not have the time to point out the direction' - very weird. However a chap in a car waiting for someone to arrive, made up for her rudeness. He redirected me and I was at the door to the hotel within 5 minutes.

Another thing that stood out were the bicycles. Now every city has these electric bikes and scooters that can be hired by using your credit card on the spot, but in Copenhagen the bikes require leg power to get around. Very impressive. And so many people use them. I have since found out that Copenhagen is referred to as the city of bicycles.

** My hotel, City Hotel Nebo.

Apparently I am very central to city here. Looks clean, very friendly staff at the desk, there is an elevator and the room is about 1.5 metres wide LoL. Smallest I have stayed in. It's width is almost the same gap between our bed and the windows at home.

I have tried to show how they make the bed. Never come across anything like this before. All folded towards the centre of the bed.

Although this is not an expensive hotel ( was not cheap either) I most probably paid the most to date per square metre.

They have supplied towels but I'm not sure if there is any soap, which I may have to purchase yet again. I could not carry over 8 kilo on the plane so clothes and medications took priority. Soap is available in the shower.

** Food is expensive here. A plate of chips and a small full strength, but really nice, beer cost about a$18. The most expensive since I started travelling. Even the horrible hot dog I had was $8. I have been looking at other prices and making comparisons. An Americano in Madrid and on the average across Spain, is €3, which is about $4- 5. In Copenhagen it is 6-8 dollars. 

** I do not know what went on this evening but just after 9 pm local time there were a series of explosions, that were definately not kiddy fireworks.  If I find out what they were I will report here.