September 28, 2009: Oslo to Copenhagen

We got up bright and early and had breakfast because it was tourist day! We started by taking the bus to the outside of town to see the Viking Museum. The Viking Museum had three mostly intact ships on display. The ships were constructed in the 900s and used as burial ships for some important people. The ships were recovered in the 1960s almost perfectly preserved. It was pretty impressive to see this long, narrow wooden ship and think that people used to sail across the North Atlantic in those things. The Vikings were some bad ass people. There were a few artifacts and genetic history of the Vikings on display, but nothing too terribly exciting.

One of the ships

The other museums near the Viking Museum were pretty boring, so we headed back to town. We did a walking tour, going in buildings as we could. We saw the Palace (it was mediocre compared to others), the National Theater, the Parliament, a lot of statues, the City Hall (where they hand out the Nobel Prize), and other such historical places. I can’t remember them all right now.

The National Theater

We also saw Akershus Fortress.

The Fortress

The fortress was ok, but the views of the fjord were amazing. Just a great panoramic view of the harbor, the city, the sea, the island, the mountains outside of town. We took a lot of pictures, until a sea gull pooped on my hand and the camera. Stupid sea gull!

Happy couple and the fjord

Our time was winding down, so we headed back to the hotel to make our way to the train station, to the airport, to Copenhagen. We bought tickets for the commuter train to the train station, but accidentally got on the express train. They didn't kick us off or anything and we got to the airport without a problem. We just had to buy the right train tickets at the exit. They claimed we would get reimbursed for the wrong tickets we bought. We’ll see if that happens.

We made it to Copenhagen no problem, found our way to the train, and got into the city. It was a dark, crappy night, the handle on the suitcase was broken, and our hotel felt like it was about 45 km from our train stop (kilometers, you like that?). It probably wasn't that far. It always seems worse when you don’t know where you’re going. Lesson learned; arrive in new cities during daylight.

This was pretty much the highlight of our first night in Copenhagen. It got better.

We finally got to the hotel, the room was super nice, and we were hungry. Of course our hotel was away from the city and there were no restaurants in site. We also had no cash to order delivery. The front desk found a place that delivered, and eventually we found a credit card that worked in Copenhagen, and we got some dinner. It was late, so we didn’t go out after that, decided to get up and get an early start the next day.