And off we go again! After a 6am departure from home (thanks for the ride dad) the first leg of the flight is over. Now, just a 6-hour layover in NY. Yes it’s a long, long time. Thankfully if you have Delta club access you can go and just sit, nap, shower, whatever until your flight is ready to leave. For almost an hour this was my view.
Once the plane pulled away I saw it had the most unique logo.
Delta doesn’t just randomly paint things like this onto planes. I wonder if this was the plane which took the remaining WW2 vets back to Paris to celebrate the 80-anniversary.
10pm and off we go towards Copenhagen.
If you were to look at this route on a flat map it’d look like we were doing a giant loop to get to the city. Important reminder that sometimes you need to change your perspective to see the truth of the situation.
On a round globe, we were doing a straight line. This also surprised me how much further north Iceland is to Greenland. Maps seem to place it much lower when in reality it’s roughly in the middle of Greenland.
Thankfully after 8 hours we’re almost done.
So pretty and yet so amazingly flat!
I thought Geneva, Switzerland was the smallest airport around. That title has been given to Copenhagen. This is what you see when walking off the plane. And if you’re not seeing anything that would be the correct depiction of how little this ‘international’ airport has.
Customs line to enter. Four lanes, maybe 30 minutes.
I’ll forgive them because they give actual stamps! No one does this anymore!!
The Customs / Security line to depart. This was 3x the entrance line, again only four agents. I worry about getting past this to get home.
In typical customs, once you’re in the country they don’t care to help you. Find what carousal your luggage is on (because your flight won’t be on any of the information boards) and get out. You might get lucky to find directions on walls.
Nothing to declare to Customs so hit the green lane and poof, you’re out of the airport.
Again, no one is around to guide you how to get to town. Thankfully if you kinda know how to get to the city center the generic signs will help guide you.
Signs to the train ticket kiosks. Again, no one telling you what station you’ll need to buy a ticket to. Thank goodness for international cell data plans.
Four stations on the train then exit the train station, walk half a mile to the local metro station, buy another ticket on the ring road and pray you’re going the right direction.
In all seriousness, this is not something I’d recommend doing if you have luggage. While the train system is a bit confusing, trains are packed with people. They’re not going to cut you a break. In spite of that, you still need to drag bags across streets that are cobblestone.
2.5 hours since landing and I’m here. In front of the hotel is this multi-level pier. Last time I was here the place was empty. Today, with the city experiencing extreme heat (mid-80s) everyone is out enjoying their ‘beach’.
Room isn’t quite ready so let’s explore the town a little.
This place feels a lot like a slimmed down version of Venice with German architecture.
It’s extremely rare the weather ever go beyond the mid 70s so everyone is out getting sun. They’re also out by the water because places don’t have air conditioning. All the water banks are stacked with people trying to cool down.
Visiting this food court was high on my list. Last visit, this place caught my attention as a creative mixed-use food court. What also was unique was that menus paired everything with lemonade. Yes, even hamburgers.
Food didn’t disappoint. Salmon and tuna poke bowl (no lemonade) was quite light and matched fairly close to pricing at home.
Heading towards their opera house is this unique tower.
The beloved town center, adjacent to the opera house.
After seeing it in various states of construction since 2018 I love how it turned out.
I may have sat here for a while enjoying the view, drinking a Coke. Tangent here, Coke formulas are different all across the globe. Prior to today I thought Mexico coke was the best version. Not anymore. Their version has only six ingredients and it’s so yummy. Why can’t they bring this formula to the States?!
To the rear of this square is the local cafe. Beautiful little building and seating area to enjoy the view in front of you.
You might recall from the previous visit the tower in the distance. That’s the one you walk on the outside, with a constant fear you might fall off. Boats are filling the waterway. These folks want to get away and have dinner on the cool waterways.
Drinking and operating a boat isn’t a big deal here. In fact, you’re (me) looked at oddly if you don’t want a beer or wine with every meal. It’s even cheaper to buy wine or beer than bottled water.
8pm – room is ready. I suppose I can tolerate this view for the next few days. Wrap around porch. The flip side of the building is the beach.
Thank goodness for this room. Like most of Europe, air conditioning isn’t standard in hotel rooms. Most rooms in town have sealed windows. Can’t image how they’re going to sleep tonight in this heat. Leaving the doors open to try to cool things down. Ok, bed time. Tomorrow’s trip comes early.