Jenny & Glenn went to see Rianna in Copenhagen before she returned home. We then travelled through Sweden and Norway before returning for a final few days in Denmark.
Rianna had to leave us before the end of the Norway leg for other travel plans she had made…
Sunday 1 June – UAE
We flew Emirates to Dubai where we enjoyed an 18 hour stopover – staying very close to the Burj Khalifa.
Monday 2nd to Sunday 8th – Denmark
A direct flight to Copenhagen had us reuniting with Rianna in the early afternoon. We caught trains to our accommodation – a 2 bedroom flat 150 m from the Lyngby railway station. For the next five days Rianna gave us the best ever tour of Copenhagen. We helped her move out of her uni accommodation and we picked up our rental car on the Saturday.
Sunday 8th to Thursday 12th – Sweden
A ferry took us from Denmark’s revelling secondary school graduates to Sweden, where on the first day we drove part way to Stockholm – staying in a beaut cabin above a lake in a town called Jönköping – the home of the safety match. Next day had us arrive in Stockholm and our only hotel of the trip and so close to the main train station. A hight was the Vasa – a restored 17th century warship, and for Jenny the Abba Museum. Rianna loved her discovery of the Stockholm Run Club.
Thursday 12th to Thursday 26th – Norway
Rianna and Glenn drove from Stockholm to Bergen, while Jenny flew. We lunched with her friend in Oslo and arrived just before midnight. Bergen has bays and mountains, funiculars and cable cars, great hilltop walks and the world’s best bicycle/walking/running tunnel. Plus the place for day trips to the fjords, waterfalls galore and other day trips.
On Tuesday 17th we flew north to Tromso and the Lofoten Islands for four nights. We drove the length of the Lofoten Islands and back on Wednesday. Every turn in the road brought a sensational new view. Glenn and Rianna climbed the 1976 steps over Reine for sensation views while Jenny dined on her reindeer steak. Finally there was a midnight swim in the arctic by Rianna before arriving home at 2:30 am in full daylight.
Back in Tromso Rianna got to climb the mountain behind our house to finally get her midnight sun. She flew out to the UK on Friday and Glenn and Jenny returned to Bergen on the Saturday.
Four nights in Oslo (again so close to the Opera House and train station) showed us parks, palaces, museums, sculptures and Isy at the hop-on bus stop (Isy had rented a room in our house in 1990).
Denmark Thursday 26th to Sunday 29th
Another great location picked by Rianna (with the key under the doormat). Explored the town more after Rianna’s excellent training, and drove to Jenny’s childhood dream of Lego Land (thanks to the 18km bridge) bewtween the islands.
Monday 30th
Home quite uneventfully.
We walked the outside of Burj Khalifa, but it is impossible to get in unless you are a resident or guest or have a ticket to an observation deck. The surrounding ponds (lakes?) and fountains were empty for maintenance so we caught a cab to the beach and found some local cuisine. Then a 5:00am depart to the airport the next morning.
In Copenhagen we would catch the train from our accommodation into central Copenhagen. There we walked a lot – palaces, the botanic gardens, the star shaped moat around another garrison, the roayals’ palace and the changing of the guard. Glenn looked through the Danish Design Museum. We took a boat trip around the canals, and inspected the parliament palace – from the underground ruins to the view from the tower and the stables that are still in use.
We had a boat ride on the lake near Rianna’s accommodation, one dinner at Reffen – a great collection of street-food vans, and another with some of her friends at the ‘soup kitchen’ (my name – it is really a hall where you book a table and enjoy a casserole or stew – no menu choice). It is REALLY good.
Rianna showed us the deer park near where she lived for the first semester, and before we caught the ferry to Sweden we evaded the mass of racous students who had just finished their secondary schooling and poured through another castle.
And did I say that we checked out the Copenhagen library – old and new sections.
