Contrasts of Scandinavia and Russia – Travel Days

Contrasts of Scandinavia and Russia

Travel Days – 21/22 May 2010

I was originally scheduled to take the tour a week later but it was cancelled. Luckily, I had booked my flights through Trafalgar and they took care of changing the flights and even paid for a rushed Russian Visa to replace the one I had for the later dates.

The Russian Visa is the most complicated visa I’ve applied for and as I worked through it, I was waiting for them to ask for my first born. The visa processing company TT had recommended worked really well and answered every question I had. Since there’s no embassy in my city, I had to send my passport to Ottawa. I used the express post envelope with tracking number and put one inside for them to use to return the passport to me. I made sure to note the tracking number of the return envelope so that I could track the passport coming back to me.

I left St. John’s in the afternoon and arrived early in Toronto but the flight to Frankfurt was delayed 15 minutes while they removed luggage that belonged to no-shows. This flight to Frankfurt was later than the ones I took last year. They left at suppertime and got me into Frankfurt or Zurich early in the morning. This flight left at 11 pm and what a difference when it came to the number of people who slept. I woke after a couple hours and the plane was as quiet as a graveyard. I looked around and had a Stephen King moment, but the guy next to me twitched, so I knew I didn’t have to worry about being alone on a planeload of Zombies.

But you just KNOW there’s always going to be that one person that makes your flight less than comfortable!! Granted, nothing can beat having three kids under 6 who spend pretty well the whole eight hours marching on the back of your seat and who think “touch” screen means “pound with fist.” LOL

Well, this guy is a strong second.

And I knew he would be it the moment I realized that the guy next to me was simply too tall for his middle seat. I think he must have been one of those at the front of the line to get on board first because I’m convinced he wanted to lay claim to the armrest between us. No word of a lie – he never released control of the entire armrest. Then he started leaning in my direction, and the first time I woke up, his knees (both of them) were leaning on my side close enough to touch me. If that wasn’t creepy enough, he twitched A LOT!! Enough to keep waking me up.

He didn’t speak English, so I stuffed my sweatshirt and blanket between my arm and the armrest and stretched out my legs as close to the aisle as possible without having to worry about the meal cart amputating my feet. I think I actually slept a little.

Yup. Creepy…with a touch of freaky. LOL

We got into Frankfurt at 12:30 pm and I was quickly reminded why it’s my least favorite airport. Strangely enough, no walking ramp. We got off onto buses. I think that saved me a long walk…which gave me energy for another long walk. First I go through passport control where the young guy in front of me got the same treatment I got from the passport officer last year – we had not signed our passport and instead of just offering us a pen and saying “sign it,” the officer says “the passport is no good.” Nothing more. Knowing that the officer had done that to me last year, I dug out my pen as the poor kid turned around, blood drained from his face, and I handed him the pen and said he only needed to sign it.

Yup. He was freaked for a moment too.

I move onto the security check and then went looking for my flight to Copenhagen. It’s listed as Gate B, but no number. I ask information and they point towards the ‘B-20 and higher’ passport line. I spend a half hour getting through the line and by the time I get through, the number for my flight is up.

You guessed it.

B-13.

Yup. I had to go in circles. Left that controlled area, back down to the same passport officer, through the same security check and then took a right instead of a left to find B-13. Actually, it was a bit of a walk following inexact signage. They need to work on the arrows.

By then, I needed a Coke.

The Lufthansa flight left a few minutes late and again, we had to take a bus to get to it. That was another freaky experience…driving alongside a 737 that’s moving faster than we are…or stopping for one to let it pass.

It’s a short flight to Copenhagen – just over an hour, and best part, I got bumped up to Business Class. (Why can’t that happen on the transatlantic flights…LOL). So, I got a nice seat, a nice view and a nice meal.

Speaking of view, we flew over downtown Frankfurt. Awesome view. Felt like we were only a few metres above the tallest skyscraper. And the farmer’s fields are in bloom – green, clay and yellow. Not sure what is being grown in the yellow spots.

We got a ramp in Copenhagen. The baggage claim area was packed. There must have been a thousand people there. Great little airport. Waited a half hour for the luggage, walked out through the Nothing to Declare line, saw the sign for taxis and found it nicely set up with a line of taxis just waiting. My driver didn’t speak English, but when we got to the Mariott, I gave him 220 Danish Kroner…or what I thought was Danish Kroner. Turned out the 20 was Swedish Kroner.

Oops.

The room is quite comfortable. The bathroom is modern. There is a flat screen with a fair selection of English language stations, a safe, iron (mine doesn’t work but got replaced) and bar fridge. It doesn’t have tea/coffee, hairdryer or a balcony. Nice view though.

Internet is a little pricey but at least they have a one hour option for 75 DKK (bout $13) and 24 hours for 150 DKK. It’s cable in the room or wi-fi (same rate) in the lobby.

I’ve settled into the room, did my laundry, had a shower (nice no-leak shower) and had a chat with a really friendly concierge. He took care of the iron for me and told me about the canal tours. He also told me where I could get some water – at the railway station. It was a nice evening, so I decided to go for a walk up to the station. Most stores are closed Saturday night and all day Sunday, so the area around the hotel was fairly deserted. The station was bustling. There are thousands of bicycles outside and maybe one in fifty is actually locked on. Like Berlin, Copenhagen is quite flat and bicycles are everywhere.

I picked up some water and walked around the station to check out the shops. Not a t-shirt to be seen, but I did find an internet café. Two Euro for an hour. Funny keyboard though, but I did get my email checked. Best part is that you can log out and go back until the hour is up.

I took a longer way around back to the hotel, walking part of the way around Tivoli then turning towards the water. The number of people declined drastically the closer I got to the hotel. Tivoli is obviously the “in” place on a cool, clear Saturday evening.

I’ve decided to go for the 9 am boat tour and then take the hop on-hop off waterbus. Hopefully, there will be a souvenir shop opened somewhere.

 

 

Go to Day One

Go to Table of Contents