Hello All!
We have finally made it to Copenhagen, Denmark and I'm not sure I'll ever come back after the interesting trip we had to get here. Let me just tell you about our lovely train ride yesterday. Our train was supposed to depart Stockholm at 10:20 yesterday morning. We walk to the train station about 9:30 only to find out our train has been delayed till 11. Ok, so no big deal, we just walked back to the hotel and sat in the air-conditioned lobby for what we thought would be just a minor delay. The train got to the station by 11, but we did not leave till about 11:45. Please keep in mind while you're reading this that this train ride is suppsoed to only take 5 hours across the countryside between Sweden and Denmark (no big deal, right?) So we finally leave the station about 11:45 and are going strong. We all eat lunch and the train gets really quiet while everyone starts to fall asleep. About 3 hours into our trip, the conductor comes on and says the train does not meet all the conditions to cross the border so we're going to have to switch trains before about 5 miles from our final destination. Ok, no problem. Well about 30 minutes later the conductor comes back on and says we've got a problem. The electricity is out in one of the towns we have to pass through, so we're going to have to stop until the problem is fixed. Oh boy, here we go. We stop in this little town, and thankfully we are able to get out and walk around. We have about 45 minutes and then we have to be back by 4:30 for the train to hopefully depart. Well we get back at 4:30 and guess what??? folks we're going to have to wait another hour. Are you kidding me?? Alright so by this point, me and Jennifer decide to watch a movie on the laptop. Thankfully that passed the next hour pretty quickly, but not only were we delayed another hour, but we also had another hour tacked onto that. We were at the darn train station for 3 hours... just sitting there. Problem was, the last hour the air condition went out on the train. Here we are sitting there, soaked in sweat, in a train car that feels like a sauna. By this point we all stink so bad and are dripping wet. It's 6:30 and we're only 3 hours into the 5 hour ride, but we've already been on the train for 7 hours. We finally depart from the station for what we hope will be a smoothe ride the rest of the way. Well we spoke too soon, because our train begins to have problems. The motor isn't working right, and I would guess we were going approximately 10 miles an hour on what was supposed to be about a 100 mph train. So everyonce and a while we'll have a burst of speed for a little while when we're lucky. Finally the train starts to work decently, so we're making a little progress. By this point, we're all starving and trying to find any way to entertain ourselves. Thinking we only have about an hour left on the train. Because by this time, its about 8. The sun is beginning to set, and it starts to rain. No problem, the rain smells good and it's finally cold on the train again. But wait, with rain there is lightning. No worries, surely there is no way the lightning be a problem. So we're all joking, saying it can't get any worse, but wouldn't it be funny if the track got struch by lightning? Welln you guessed it, the next town got struck by lightning and power is out. Oh great,stop the train, we can't go anywhere because we have to wait for the darn power to come back on. By this time it is probably close to 10 at night, and we're all exhausted and getting delirious. We've had dance parties in the train, played every kind of game we could imagine, and done anything we could to entertain ourselves. The train finally gets going again, but for some reason we're only going about 20 mph again. The conductor comes on and says "this is not a lie, but we're stuck behind a freight train." The last leg of the trip is like moving in slow motion, and honestly I can barely remember any of it. We finally make it to the station where we have to switch trains and get our luggage unloaded and get on the right train. By this time, it's 12:30 and I'm passed the point of starving and on to the sick point of being hungry. The next annoucement comes on and surprise, this train doesn't even have a driver so we're going to have to wait about 30 minutes till they find a driver. Finally... at 1:30 we make it to Copenhagen, get on a bus, and by 2 we have arrived at our hotel. We are greeted with cold pizza, since we were supposed to be in 6 hours ago. We get our room keys and make it to our room. In Copenhagen, the high temperature is usually about 75 with a low in the 50's at night. Well there is a heat wave right now, and the temperature is close to 90 during the day and about 80 at night. Because of the temperature norms, the hotel has no air condition. The rooms are so darn hot. Since we've gotten here, I've managed to take 4 showers in less than 12 hours. We slept with the windows open and no covers on the bed.
This morning we had to be in the lobby by 10 to go on a walking tour of the city. Even though I'm not big on tours, I have so far enjoyed the tours because it helps me to become familiar with my surroundings and get an idea of the culture and the city. Well our tour guide was awful, and we were having to ask her about the landmarks instead of her telling us. And to top it off, she mumbled. So finally at noon, we split off on our own. We went to lunch at a little cafe and had delicious sandwiches. After we went shopping. It's amazing what a little shopping can do to make the day better. You forget about the stabbing pain in your feet and really start to enjoy yourself. After a few hours of shopping, we treated ourselves to a delicious crepe. Mine had nutella and bananas. YUMMMMM!!!! We came back to the hotel to only be greeted by a heat filled room. To cool off, we're about to go try and find the beach to relax a little before dinner! Hope you've enjoyed our adventure filled last two days!
Love,
Hillary
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