From Hamburgers to Danish Pastries...

 Mindful of the Danes famous love of bacon, the Tamworth Two cautiously boarded the ICE train from Hamburg to Copenhagen on Thursday morning.  If only they had realised that even greater challenges were to await them on the journey.  The following extract is repeated from Sue's notebook on the journey:

''What does a loving mother do for her toddlers on a five hour train journey? Replenish them with regular drinks and snacks, of course. Super-sized, lurid-coloured fizzy 'pop' and monster bags of sweets. Then battle with her screaming, writhing, hyperactive progeny, as the artificial additives crash through their blood-brain-barriers and scramble their little minds. A delight for fellow passengers - especially us, with our front row seats. Thank Crunchie for iPOD and our new dual headphone adaptor (thank you CFC!). Saved our bacon!"

This apart, the journey went smoothly with the added interest of the train boarding a ferry to cross into Denmark, leaving us to disembark and take some sea air for an hour - a first for both of us.

Copenhagen also surprised us both with it's spacious boulevards, grand architecture and relaxed atmosphere.  We were even taken with the subtle melancholia of the 'little' mermaid, though we had been told it was bound to disappoint.  The one spoiler was our 'bijou' hotel room, which was so small they could barely squeeze our bunk beds in!

Oh - and yes we did manage to partake of some 'Danish Pastries', but just to confuse matters, they call them Wienerbrod here, which we understand translates as 'Viennese Bread' - heaven knows what they're called in Austria! 

Andy, perfectly camouflaged with his train seat, observes the Danish countryside en route from Hamburg to Copenhagen.

After upgrading from the world's smallest hotel room, we got.... the world's second smallest hotel room!

Nyhaven - cool (though expensive) place to watch the world go by in Copenhagen

Copenhagen's famously whistful mermaid (don't be fooled by the camera trickery though - she was anything but alone!)

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The start of something big...

So, here at last is our first proper post - to show we have indeed left the country as promised! As we near the end of our first week, everything has pretty much gone to plan.

 

The packs felt impossibly heavy as we trudged to St Pancras Station at 7am on Monday morning. It was a clear crisp morning with a 'back to school' feel in the air as we crossed the Euston Road and our excitement / trepidation was heightened by the knowledge that we, by contrast, weren't going back anywhere. We joined the queues of fellow passengers heading off on their city breaks and business trips, smug in the knowledge that this was only the very start of our trip. Watching the familiar scenes of the Kent countryside roll by felt surreal in the knowledge that each day our setting would become more and more alien to us, as we move out of Europe into Siberia, Mongolia, China and beyond. Are we hobbits leaving the comfort of the Shire for Mordor?

 

It was re-assuring then to have a couple of hours in Brussells to get used to the idea that we were on our way. The mood changed further as we boarded our next train to Cologne, with English voices replaced by German and Belgian. Koln welcomed us with a visual Gothic smack around the head as we emerged from the hauptbanhof. The famous cathedral (so generously spared by the allied bombers in WWII) towered above us as we emerged wide eyed.

 

Koln was a gentle opening stop for us and we passed a pleasant day and a bit there around the old town and the cathedral and found a couple of great beer gardens to spend our 2 evenings, the first replete with the zaniest of waiters who would down a beer in one with you if you bought him a drink, but ignored you if you didn't (we, consequently, got very little attention!).

 

The train to Hamburg passed very quickly - maybe because I slept through a large chunk of it. It was great to meet up with my father and to spend a day and evening with him. Whilst we we're on the train from Koln, he was on the bus from his home in Berlin. Our thoughts remain with my father's wife Renate who wasn't able to make the trip as she recovers from illness.

 

As my father boarded the coach for Berlin this morning, we were left with the realisation that his was the last familiar face we would see for 3 months. We're really on our own now, but at the same time hugely excited by the unwritten pages ahead.

 

And this brings us up to today. After waving our father off, we have spent the day walking around a beautiful lake set right in the heart of the City, yet surrounded by woodland. At 7.4 km around this was a good test for Sue's stamina and one that she passed with flying colours albeit with numerous stops for sustenance along the way - next time we'll have to do it with packs on!

 

So tomorrow we move on to Copenhagen, where we will spend 3 nights. Watch out for further stories here, but in the meantime, here are a few photos of our trip so far.

 

With best wishes to you all.

 

The Tamworth Two

 

AT 5th September

 

A laden down Sue ready to board the ICE train from Brussels to Koln, Sep 2nd

'You hold the key to my heart' - bridge over the Rhine, Koln, 3rd Sep

Koln Cathedral at night, 3rd Sep

Koln Railway station, 3rd Sep

 

 

''Corm Blimey - fancy a dip!'' Hamburg Lake 5th Sep

''The Rat House'' in Hamburg - seems like an appropriate place to put one's politicians!

Sailing on Hamburg Lake - 5th Sep

 

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Backpacks on and ready to go!

Thanks to Mario for putting us up for a night and for taking this pic - slightly blurred, but that's been much like the last 2 weeks!  Thanks also to everyone else who has looked after us as we've whizzed around the country for the last 2 weeks (you know who you are, so we won't embarrass you by listing your names here).

Anyway it seems like everything is finally in order (house let, car sold, P45 in hand) and we will be on that EuroStar train for Cologne (Koln) on Monday morning.

PS - yes that backpack really is bigger than Sue!

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The Tamworth Two depart on 2nd September - 1st stop Cologne

We welcome you to this our travel page,
Come here to follow us from stage-to-stage,
From Kentish Downs to Southern Alps and back,
O'er sea and lake and road and railway track,
We will not leave the ground 'til Singapore,
Then one short hop by air to Aussie shore,
And on this page we'll strive with you to share,
The heady winds of freedom in our hair,
We pray forgiveness for deserting you,
But joy and love and passion must renew,
We will return with energies restored,
And meantime hope our tales strike a chord,
So please, dear friends, we ask that you draw near,
Though miles apart we'll share our stories here.