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Published: April 25th 2009
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This morning, with quite an effort, we managed to squeeze 400 years of Danish history into just 40 minutes at the National Museum - we were rather impressed with ourselves!
We checked out of the Absalon Annex and caught the train to Malmo, Sweden. Here we were to spend 10 hours waiting for our night train to Stockholm, and trust us, there are certainly worse places to spend hours waiting. The town is absolutely gorgeous, and the main park completely picturesque, although overrun by geese (much to Michele's delight!).... We also visited the old Royal Palace (which turned out to house a museum, art gallery, aquarium and nocturnal zoo) which we thoroughly enjoyed. We are now just hanging out at the station, planning our few days in Stockholm and writing this blog...
Our stay in Malmo began on a negative note though, with a long and somewhat painful hunt for lockers large enough for our backpacks. Speaking of negative notes, we feel that now is as good a time as ever to let out a rant that has been building for days now.... WE WERE ALMOST COMPLETELY STRANDED IN SCANDINAVIA THANKS TO THE COMPLETE INEPTITUDE OF OUR TRAVEL AGENTS.
There, we said it. We had been promised a night in a hotel in Myrdal for Monday 27th April - when the hotel that had been booked was presented to us, we actually did a little research and came back to our travel agent with concerns that it was not near Myrdal at all. Our concerns were put to rest by not only our personal travel agent but her boss (the owner) - so we decided "what do we know? we're not travel agents!" and continued with the booking.
In Norway, we showed Bri our itinerary... and asked her to double check with her host family that our hotel was indeed in Myrdal. It was not. Infact, it was approximately 2.5 hours driving NORTH of Myrdal. Myrdal, as it happens, is a tiny town only accessable by train, and is in the middle of a mountain range... So, had we not had a lovely Norwegian friend, we would have been stuck outside, overnight in the mountains in sub-zero temperatures.. We are really grateful for Bri.
We thought it would be a simple matter to swap it over, but were told that we would have to pay a full
Malmo Aqurium
It's an Ig-you-anna! (An Iguana) cancellation fee before any other accommodation would be booked for us. Also, we were told to try and call the hotel ourselves as our flight attendant couldn't do it on account of her RDO. When we tried to call the hotel, we found out that the phone number she had given us was incorrect. Luckilly, the incredibly helpful staff at the Absalon Hotel saved us, and we changed our accommodation around and re-booked things ourselves. (Also, a big "thank you" to Linda Clarke (Michy's Mum) who liased on our behalf in Perth, running back and forwards and throwing her credit card details around like they were going out of fashion.)
We feel that the whole thing was handled unprofessionally and, given that when choosing a travel agent you look for reliability, we will never be using this particular institution again.
*roar*
Good to get that out of our system.
That was all written prior to catching the night train to Stockholm, but we had no internet connection.
Now we are in Stockholm (although THIS hotel turned out to be not a "few minutes from central station" but a 10 minute walk from a train station that
Malmo Aquarium
It's a lizard! is 15 minutes out of the city centre - *sigh*) and have had a full on day and are ready to sleep...
We visited Djurgarden, a beautiful island in the middle of Stockholm and visited Skansen Park, where we witnessed traditional glass blowing and pottery making and some wicked old buildings. Skansen also has a "Scandinavian Zoo" featuring animals from the Nordic region. We spent some of the day apart, with Michele kayaking for a good two hours (and consequently skinning her hands) around the island, and Alyce visiting the Vasa Museum (a giant war ship which sank just minutes into its first ever voyage) and the aquarium.
Fun times. Will upload photos tomorrow from Charlottenberg.
Love to one and all...
-Michy and Alyce.
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