What a longggg train ride from Amsterdam to Holbæk! It took us over 15 hours! They nearly stopped at every station between the two cities, it was amazing!
In the train cabin, it is broken up in to about 6 little rooms where you can fit 6 people. We had 5 people in our room. Three girls in their late teens were together and they were from Lausanne (one of my stops on my journey). Very lovely ladies and they spoke excellent English. It was fun talking to them! They were so full of life and so excited about the journey they had ahead of them. There was also one guy, probably in his early 20's, who is from Okinawa, Japan. Interestingly enough, he studied Danish (of all languages) in Japan and then came to Denmark to study for a year. He was on his way to Sweden for a trip very similar to what I'm doing.
It was hard trying to fall asleep on the train. One of the girls was having a really tough time falling asleep, and every time she got up to get something from her bag or to change positions, I would wake up and start coughing again. But, I think I managed to get a few hours of sleep in there... somewhere.
Once we had arrived to Denmark, I noticed on the map that the train was more than likely going to stop in Roskilde, which is closer to Holbæk than Copenhagen was. I packed up my bags and was getting prepared to get out there.... and the train doesn't stop. I was so surprised!!! It stopped everywhere else!!! It did stop in another town that wasn't too far from Roskilde, so I got out there instead and headed directly over to Holbæk. It was easy peasy!
I had sent Lenette, Morten's sister, a text message to let her know how close I was. When I arrived, there was Hanne, Lenette's mother, waiving a paper Danish flag and greeting me with her arms wide open. I have to say, it was such a joy to spend time with Lenette, Hanne, Finn, and Lenette's boyfriend, Sebastian. At first, I was a little apprehensive about staying there, but at the end of the journey, I had an amazing feeling of gratitude and happiness. They are such an amazing family!
The night I had arrived, I told Hanne that I wanted to help her cook dinner. I really wanted to learn a Danish dish that I could take home with me and make for other people. It was so funny cooking, because it seems like Hanne likes to be in control in the kitchen. I helped her prepare by cutting up some mushrooms and trying to open the cans of tomatoes and cocktail hot dogs, but I wasn't used to their can opener and I knew I would stab myself somewhere as that has been happening a lot lately.
We hung around the kitchen and had a great time chit chatting and catching up. They were reminding me of some Danish I had learned years ago, and teaching me new phrases and pronunciations. When you see a Danish word, you don't pronounce it the way you would think. They like to stick their tongue out quite a bit. ;) Kidding.
After dinner, we went for a little drive around the area. Sebastian was the chauffeur taking me to tops of hills and scenic spots in the area as well as to the ocean. It was so beautiful and so difficult to capture in a camera lens. After that, I was feeling really ill and a little eager to get back to the house to go to sleep. I think it was the cold air and the climbing that made me worse.
Lenette was sick too... and the next day she and I were both worse. We spent the first half of the day lying on the sofa watching shows like Just Shoot Me and Scrubs. And then I noticed the time. It was already 3pm! I needed to get my things together and head off to Copenhagen... and go to Tivoli! I can't let a little cold get in my way of my goals... and Tivoli was my Denmark goal. Lenette and family were going to come with me and then we were going to go out to dinner somewhere, but since Lenette was sick, the family stayed home to take care of her. Fair enough. She was so disappointed that she was sick... she had told me she was looking forward to that day for so long. Boo. The idea of the family coming with me excited me so much! But when I got to Copenhagen, I felt a little discouraged. Didn't really have the energy to find Tivoli, but I thought I would give it a go anyway. On my way to trying to find Tourist Information center, I walk outside and what do I see?!?!? TIVOLI!!! WoW! That was easy! Put my bags in a locker and walked across the street to start my Tivoli adventure.
Tivoli is suppose to be a gardens and a theme park. It, too, is in my book of 1,000 things to do and see before you die, so I couldn't go to Denmark AGAIN and not go! I paid my 87 kroner to get in (I bought the general pass as I wasn't feeling like riding on rides alone and with a cold), and walked around for a couple of hours. It was lovely, but I had expected for it to be more garden like and much larger. Lenette warned me that it was small, but I didn't realize it was THAT small. But anyway, I was very excited to be there anyway. Snapped some picture and went to dinner at a Chinese restaurant, where I was seated next to a lovely older couple from Vancouver. They were a pleasure to talk to and I really enjoyed their company.
Oh! When I first entered the park, the guy at the gate told me that there was going to be live entertainment that night... he said it was going to be "Danish rap"! I can't imagine what that would sound like! But when I was leaving, all the kids were lining up to see the performance, so they must not be that bad... heh. Danish rap.
Next stop is Oslo, Norway...
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