After a quick (1 hr) plane ride from Oslo, we landed in Copenhagen. I did not realize that Copenhagen is on an island (called Zealand). It is the largest city in Denmark by far - about 1.2 million people, and somewhere in the range of 2 million in the Greater Copenhagen area. For those of you counting at home, that is about 1/3 of all the people in Denmark, which has about 5.6 million people.
We were excited to arrive. However, after waiting 30 minutes or so at our luggage carousel, we slowly, begrudgingly came to the realization that our luggage was probably not going to appear. After a bit (1.5 hours or so) of investigation, conversation, and confused phone calls to Youth for Understanding (YFU, the Danish host organization), we met up with Erik, who met us at the airport to escort us to the train to get to our first destination. Luckily we all carried on a change of clothes. The Scandanavian Airline folks were nice enough to give each of us a bag of toiletries and a t-shirt.
It was actually pretty hot when we landed. We got some fresh air while waiting for the next train, and saw first-hand the proliferation of bikes in Copenhagen. Apparently there are more bikes than people in the city, and after seeing the bike rack (pictured below), I believe it. We also experienced how expensive Copenhagen is - $4 for a bottle of water (20 kroner) and $4 for a coffee! It's an airport, but still...
We got on the train to go to Odense, where we were to catch the next train to our final destination (!!!), Tommerup. When we got to Odense after two hours, Erik suggested going to sit in the park while waiting for the connecting train. Side note: Danes appear to be good at relaxing. The park looked like a great place to throw a frisbee, so I asked Erik if Danes play frisbee, and it turned out he had one in his bag. It felt good to unwind a bit on such a nice day. We caught our train and were only 10 minutes from Tommerup.
We saw many windmills on the way. This was the first of many, many that we would see on this trip. They are everywhere.
We were excited to arrive. However, after waiting 30 minutes or so at our luggage carousel, we slowly, begrudgingly came to the realization that our luggage was probably not going to appear. After a bit (1.5 hours or so) of investigation, conversation, and confused phone calls to Youth for Understanding (YFU, the Danish host organization), we met up with Erik, who met us at the airport to escort us to the train to get to our first destination. Luckily we all carried on a change of clothes. The Scandanavian Airline folks were nice enough to give each of us a bag of toiletries and a t-shirt.
It was actually pretty hot when we landed. We got some fresh air while waiting for the next train, and saw first-hand the proliferation of bikes in Copenhagen. Apparently there are more bikes than people in the city, and after seeing the bike rack (pictured below), I believe it. We also experienced how expensive Copenhagen is - $4 for a bottle of water (20 kroner) and $4 for a coffee! It's an airport, but still...
We got on the train to go to Odense, where we were to catch the next train to our final destination (!!!), Tommerup. When we got to Odense after two hours, Erik suggested going to sit in the park while waiting for the connecting train. Side note: Danes appear to be good at relaxing. The park looked like a great place to throw a frisbee, so I asked Erik if Danes play frisbee, and it turned out he had one in his bag. It felt good to unwind a bit on such a nice day. We caught our train and were only 10 minutes from Tommerup.
We saw many windmills on the way. This was the first of many, many that we would see on this trip. They are everywhere.