Wednesday, September 28, 2022

Not Sweden

 I am still catching up on the events during our stay in Copenhagen. Last Saturday, we had made a plan to go to Malmo, Sweden. It is easily reachable from Copenhagen by train in less than hour. In fact, one can catch the a train that goes right to Malmo not that far from where the #3's live. It is an advantage that it is essentially almost the first stop on the line which then heads into the heart of Copenhagen, then out to the airport before crossing the straight on to Sweden and Malmo. 

Our guide - "Of course we will go to Sweden. Easy-peasy.


We got off to a late start. Arriving the train station, we had just missed the Malmo direct train. the next would not be for 45 minutes. But we could take one sooner bringing us into town where we could catch an earlier connection to Malmo. 

Our train was mostly occupied by bikes...not bikers...bikes.

Off we get and catch our next train. Ah. On to Sweden. Another new country. Another pin in the map.

After about 20 minutes of travel, we are paying attention (finally) to the stops being shown on the train information display. None say anything about Malmo. There is this sudden realization. We have caught the wrong train and heading deep into the heart of Denmark not to Sweden. 

By now, it is around 1:30 in the afternoon. All of us are hungry and crabby. We must get off at the next stop. We will grab whatever the station has to offer to eat, catch the next train back to Copenhagen, then transfer to a Malmo train.

The next station arrives and we get off to find...

Nothing

No food. No toilets

Nothing

Child One - "Isn't exciting having a travel guide Mum?"

Child Two - "No"

The next return train is not for a half hour. When it comes, it is (of course) packed with barely a seat available. It is close to 2:30 by the time we reach Copenhagen. We decide we are bailing. 3A has done a bit of research. He has found a highly rated Chinese restaurant only blocks from Copenhagen's central station. In a hunger crabs induced haze, we make for it as soon as we can only stopping at a 7-11 to grab a snack to tide us over. To our amazement, the food is EXCELLENT (more in a foodie post coming up). We are sure we have over ordered because of our famished state. We eat EVERYTHING! I think we brought some rice back home.

We walk around a bit of downtown Wife and I have not yet seen but are pretty tired and decide to take the train back home. When we arrive our home station, I am surprised to see a bit of history in the station parking lot.

A Citroen Deux Chevaux (which means Two Horses)!

The Deux Chevaux was like the original Volkswagen Bug, a cheap car for the masses. Made in the 1950's and 60's, it had a two cylinder engine and was absolutely minimal in every aspect. And cheap! It had this weird gear shifting lever coming right out of its dashboard.

And so Malmo was not achieved. But fear not. Certainly we will get another opportunity on Sunday.

2 comments:

Renee Michelle Goertzen said...

I would have known from the start to be cautious. That tour guide looks decidedly shifty.

The car, however, was really cool.

alexis said...

that tour guide got fired from de-i tours for being even less reliable than their low standards.