Day 1- Monday, 16th September, 2013 : Copenhagen, Denmark

City tour Copenhagen, Denmark

Not your organised hop on- hop off guided one. Places suggested by local friends, Map in hand, the offbeat places.

1. The royal palaces n the gardens- just a cursory hello to those. But at noon, the change of guards happened and this was a sight to behold- A troop of the King’s guard marching through the streets, from the Rosenborg castle to the Amalienborg castle, fully decked.
2. The little mermaid in bronze- over hyped; the marina looks better than the mermaid though.
3. The marble church- beautiful frescoes on the dome ceiling; quiet place for a prayer. Said and done.
4. Free riding the metro to the free city; don’t tell anyone about this.
5. A ghetto in real life- replete with a flea market and junk yard
6. A no holds barred Green light district called ‘Christiania’ – with everyone around smoking up everything under the sun. Got to see hash brownies and a bunch of other ‘stuff’ in action
7. The church of our saviour- not a church where you pray inside. We understood why it is called what it is called when we climbed all the way up the attic and the spire and stood right at the top. Up there you seek a saviour; the saviour; damn, any saviour.

Copenhagen facts:
A. The local train company is DSB, and of course the ever so useful S-trains. Ya, it’s all about the rail pass being valid.
B. The power plugs are less moron-safe, more convenient
C. Everything is still Obscenely punctual; Quite inconvenient
D. Has a green light zone. Enough said.
E. Graffiti is everywhere; Puritans brace up
F. Has a Hard Rock Cafe with Bob Dylan’s Fender on display _/\_
G. Pita bread on push carts tastes good
H. Traffic doesn’t stop to let you pass, unlike in Sweden. (Sweden spoilt us so much in this aspect that we came || close to getting run over. Twice.)

And we are on the move again…

Day 0- Sunday, 15th September, 2013

After the hustle of packing and running around to accommodate the last hour advance of the travel plan, we start off from Jonkoping to Koebenhavn. We miss the train that connects us to the long distance and have our fingers crossed to not miss the next one too. Fortunately, we don’t. And there starts the odyssey season-1.

The past week has been one long lazy time where the only productive activities were cooking and eating; if nothing else, this produced a few kilos on the body. But alongside this gourmandizing was the nagging restiveness; I am not programmed to stay put in one place.

So we get rolling again, this time to Copenhagen- Koebenhavn is how they spell it in Danska, but what the heck, we all have our own craziness. This time we roll out with a travel plan in hand and with me captaining the ship- this Black pearl ain’t gonna run aground, savvy?!

The poor little Eurail pass must be cursing its fate for having changed so many lazy bums into hyperactive vagabonds. And we poor souls travelling from the north of the wall, from the back of beyond, have a whole lot of trouble dealt to us: finding trains that don’t need a reservation for jokers with Eurail passes (that’s us). And here is a curt summary:

Dressed in shah rukh-in-DDLJ style garb- check
Carrying a huge donkey load in a rucksack- check
Running in European railway stations to catch a just moving train – check
(Since the doors close before the trains move here, and it is no fun running after a closed door :-P)

And the tale hasn’t ended. Nope, not even close…

Trying to figure out foreign language signboards – check
Failing miserably at the above- check
Asking a local for directions- check
That guy being lost himself- check…. And getting trolled too- check

Damn, this checking business is irritating…

Anyways, we walk into a friend’s place and find our long-abandoned first mate and yell, what the f***!!!
And crash for the night…