Day two: Cologne to Copenhagen

A horrible rude awakening at 5am with two alarms going off due to me being paranoid about not waking up in time.

Today was the journey that would take me from Cologne to Copenhagen, changing at Hamburg. It was going to take 9 hrs 30 mins so I needed to get the earliest train possible to get to Copenhagen to meet my friends who were flying in.

With just a five minute walk to the station I had enough time to get some coffee and a pastry to eat on the train. I was surprised at how busy it was at 5:30am. I was half expecting to find very few outlets open as the hotel receptionist had been doubtful about what might be open, but there were plenty of places with lots of customers, too.

Early morning at Cologne Station

Although I had to wait about 20 minutes before the train arrived, it was reassuring just to be there on time. The train was busy and I was glad that I’d reserved a seat. It’s possible to make separate seat reservations which is useful when you have a pass that isn’t tied to a specific ticket. The journey was uneventful and although we started to run late at one point, we caught up further down the line.

The landscape the train travelled through was not dissimilar to parts of the UK - mostly flat like Norfolk with only one point where the scenery seemed to become vaguely hilly.

Part way through the journey one of the train staff came and took orders for drinks and food - I ordered a hot chocolate which was brought to my seat which felt very civilised.

The train arrived in Hamburg on schedule giving me enough time to grab a salad for lunch. The next and last part of the journey was nearly five hours long and I really needed to make sure I had some sustenance. Trying to plan for food when you’re on the move can be tricky and often ends up being repetitive eg sandwiches being the easiest and most portable option.

Onto the next and final train of the day which was very busy. Again, I was glad that I’d booked a seat. There seemed to be a holiday atmosphere on the train as if half of Germany was making its way to Denmark for the weekend. Interestingly, there was a passport check at the first Danish town over the border which I hadn’t expected. After that stop the clientele gradually changed from German to Danish stop by stop.

Finally, I arrived in Copenhagen feeling pretty tired after such an early start to the day. Although I’d mugged up on transport to where we were staying, it was a different experience on the ground trying to work out which direction I needed to be going. A map like the London Underground has would have been useful!

I met with my friend Mike at Hellerup Station as he had ended up on the train behind mine. We then walked together to our rather plush and large apartment which is five minutes from the station. Our other friend Helen was already there. The apartment is very spacious and recently renovated so modern and bright with good facilities.

Our apartment in Hellerup

Hellerup is a suburb north of the city centre. It’s a very affluent area which enormous houses and quite a few foreign embassies. The houses whilst being huge, were not necessarily attractive which lead to some interesting discussion as Mike is an architect.

Large house opposite our apartment

After a cup of tea we were off to explore Hellerup, buy some food for breakfast and get something to eat. Where we are staying is very residential but a few streets away is a beach on the Baltic Sea and Strandvejen which is the Main Street for shops and cafes. We opted for Mexican after a short stroll on the Hellerup Strand - a rather unimpressive beach. There were some wild swimmers just getting out of the sea as we walked past. I have no idea how they can get into freezing water and then get out into even more cold.

Hellerup Strand

The jetty at Hellerup Strand

Once we had bought an assortment of breakfast stuff we wended our way back to the apartment, had a beer and were then ready to call it a night. For me, being up for 17 hours after not much sleep, I really needed my bed.