Ferry ride and night train
Trip Start
Sep 08, 2008
1
19
40
Trip End
Dec 16, 2008
Copenhagen,
Zealand,
Denmark
Tuesday, October 21, 2008
Well, here we are finally in Berlin! It is exciting to be in a city with so much recent history, especially events that have occured during my lifetime. We have only arrived this morning, so I haven't had the chance to visit or see any sights here yet.
On Monday, we took a day trip to Lübeck, a city northeast of Hamburg which is on the Baltic coast. Lübeck was once the centre of the Hanseatic League, a medieval trading cooperation between cities in present-day Germany, France, Belgium, etc. Now, Lübeck is very nicely maintained, and the entire place is a UNESCO World Heritage Site. We took a nice walk through the Altstadt, visiting churches, etc, then we took a quick train ride to the beach, and walked along the beach for a couple hours! It was very relaxing, and of course, we waded in the water briefly, but it was much colder than in The Hague.
Tuesday, we embarked for Copenhagen! It was a very cool ride. The train we took went north through Lübeck to the port at Puttgarten, then the whole train got on a ferry! We had to get off and we were able to walk around the ferry and shop, buy food, etc. Most importantly, we bought some Danish kroners, which are very expensive! Then, we got back on the train and got to Copenhagen! The city is VERY nice, VERY clean and quaint. We saw the Christiansburg Slot, the old castle where the seat of government still works, and the famous Little Mermaid statue, fashioned off the book by Hans Christian Andersen, which of course, also spawned the Disney movie. After we spent the whole day in Copenhagen, we had a bite to eat (döner kebabs, of course!) then got on our night train! We had only bought seats, but we had an entire compartment to ourselves, so we were able to sleep across several chairs each. The train ride was very long, and though I slept well, I'm still over tired. The train actually led to Dortmund, which was very far out of our way, so then we got on an ICE to Berlin. Our hostel here is further away than any hostel we've stayed at yet. It's ridiculous. (Search Google Maps for "Hermsdorfer Damm 50, Berlin, Germany". You'll see!)
Anyway, now I'm very tired, so time for a nap. In response to some comments I got: The spandex is still very much alive, and there are no mullets. Or at least, no more than you'd see at home.
Take care!
Wayne
Comments
Back from Vegas
Hi, Wayne---Is it true the statue of The Mermaid is smaller than you expect it to be?---Love, Mom