Scandinavian Vacation, Part I

Day One: We took the UBahn from a nearby corner to the SBahn to the airport. About an hour's trip. Then we flew from Munich to Frankfurt, and from there to Copenhagen. Got on a train, and went to our hotel. Our first room smelled much like a cigarette, so we asked for another room. Much better smelling. It was a bit small, tho. I could just barely touch both walls at the same time. It was cool, tho. Very old and pretty hotel. Just for reference, it was the Hotel Opera. We walked up to the canal to search for dinner. The canal area was very pretty, with colorful buildings, boats, and pedestrians. We ate at a restaurant with a 17 in its name. Watched a hooker make a date with a man.

Day 2: we walked all over. Saw lots of shops, bought my first souvenir, a keychain with a viking helmet on it. I've decided that I will collect a keychain from each country I visit this summer. It's simple and won't take up much room. Then we wandered down to Tivoli Gardens. We bought tickets to go on some rides. Eventually our feet got tired so we found the train to go back towards our hotel. We rested awhile and then went out walking again. This time we walked over a bridge, towards a big pretty tower, a park, a museum, etc. Rested again, and then went in search of dinner. We went to a Mexican place. We noticed pretty quickly that if you don't want to inhale smoke, you have to sit inside where smoking isn't allowed. Got some Ben and Jerry's ice cream on our walk back to the hotel.

Day 3: Got up early to catch a train. It was a little over a 3 hr ride. We arrived in Arhus (the A needs a little circle over it), which is still in Denmark. We dropped off our luggage and then took a city bus to a viking museum. We couldn't figure out how to buy a ticket, so we just sort of snuck a ride on the way there. (In Denmark, you enter the bus thru the back door, and they trust you to have a ticket). In the museum, we saw the body of a really really old man, who had been discovered in a peat bog in fairly well preserved condition. It was a little bit gross. They had some rune stones on display, so here is a picture of my favorite one. Guess where we ate dinner? On another canal! This time it was more of a family restaurant. We started noticing that lots of families have 3 children. No more, no less. Don't know why. But they are all so blonde haired and blue eyed. And tall. All the people are tall! I thought they'd all be skinny too, but we saw our share of pudgy people. Walking up and down the streets, going into shops, we were able to use English usually. Whenever I heard someone else speaking English in an American sort of way I'd listen, just because it is so nice to hear. We went to bed at the Scandic Plaza Arhus Hotel.