Day 15 - Copenhagen to Aalborg

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Last night we went for dinner at our hotel, the AC Marriott Bella Center, at their Basalt Restaurant. Their food is all cooked on charcoal priding themselves on fire and their use of local produce a lot of which is grown for them directly off the farm. The meal was outstanding, a shared piece of Nordic Beef cooked on the charcoal and desserts and coffee were equally outstanding. The amusing part was our waiter, for the sake of this blog let's just refer to him as Manuel as in the 70's television show Fawlty Towers. While our Manuel was not Spanish, he was in fact born in Greece but has lived extensively throughout Europe. His mannerisms were classic Manuel, fluttering from table to table without actually achieving anything. He did recommend us a beautiful Italian Sangiovese to accompany the beef so he wasn't totally useless.

On to today. We checked out of our Copenhagen base around 9am and the check our process was perfect. Upon hearing the hair dryer in our room didn't work he scanned our bill, asking who we'd called in Australia. Wayne explained it was his mum, who he hadn't spoke to since leaving Australia 2 weeks ago. He said that call is on the hotel to make up for the hair dryer. Now that is service (and totally not expected)!

We caught a taxi from the Marriott to Copenhagen Central Station. To our surprise there was little to no traffic this morning, not that we were expecting a Sydney traffic jam, and the drive in took no time at all. This had us arriving nearly 1.5 hours prior to departure. We went in search of the first class lounge at the station but it closed on weekends. Wayne then went in to confirm our tickets with the ticket office, amazing service. You speak to a concierge about your enquiry, if he can't help you he gives you a number and then you talk to one of the people in the office. As is the European way there is no such thing as air conditioning and it was really stuffy in the office. Wayne organized a couple of seats in the silent section of the train. This was going to be a challenge as 4.5 hours without us making each other laugh out loud is a very long time.

On boarding the quiet section there was a business woman already seated working on her laptop. There were our two seats plus two others in the quiet compartment with no one sitting in them. After a ticket inspection the lady business traveler said she just asked the attendant why the carriage was so hot. There is no air conditioning on the trains so we had 1st class tickets on a train that comes with a complimentary sauna. The lady laughed at this point so we had broken the silent carriage bit and the mood was a bit more relaxed. Wayne said he knew this wasn't an Australian train, because it had no air conditioning and also because it was running on time, more laughter.

After proceeding for another stop or two a young man joined us in the quiet carriage. Once the business lady had disembarked the train our travelling companion, Deni, opened up and we had a great conversation with this extremely smart man who is an Engineer in Aalborg. Wayne then got on to talking about astronomy and they hit off like old friends as Deni also has an interest in the night sky. Vicki then showed her photos of her cooking and he was most interested in these covering the great divide between Australia and Deni's home nation of Croatia.

We arrived in Aalborg around 15 minutes late, due to track work. This was hardly a concern, firstly it is no big deal but secondly the countryside is just stunning. Green as far as the eye can see and so many wind turbines generating power. Note to the uninformed. Danish long distance trains do not have a food service on them. As we'd left at 10:50 and it was now 3pm we were both pretty hungry. Nothing is open in Europe on Sundays as we're finding out except for the 7/11 at the railway station. Just in case, we've picked up some salads for dinner as well as a sandwich for a late lunch. We caught a taxi to our B&B that we're staying in. It is a nice old home on two levels less than a kilometer from the centre of town. We said our goodbyes to Deni, he'd Facebook friended us both, and on leaving he said if we need anything at all while in Aalborg to just let him know and he will help where he can. Such a kind offer. We also said when and if he is in Australia to look us up and he can stay with us if he wants to. Like we said a very kind young man, his parents would be so proud of him!

We're now checked in to our B&B and just working out our plans while we are in Wayne's dad's birth place. This aren't many pictures in this blog, as is becoming the norm on our travel days but Wayne did take a few of the grand old railway station in Copenhagen but none on the train as the reflections on the glass would have spoilt them.

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Photos

Copenhagen Skyline
18th floor Marriot Bella Center, just had to take one more photo of the city.

10:52 to Aalborg
Spot on time!