Ah jeez ive done it again. Lost several hours of typing this morning. The minute i take my finger off the pulse i forget to save and then having the ipad in my backpack i think means it thinks im shaking it and deletes. Such a shame
So ive finally made it out for an evening meal but what a disappointing selection. I went to the tourist office for advice, asked where i might find a simple meal but not a takeaway at around twenty two pounds with a glass of wine. They sent me to a pizza place and a hotel where fish soup followed by ham and potatoes were the only things on tonights menu, at thirty eight pounds, without wine. Yes they could just make me an omelette but no, just a plain one, no filling, how much? Eighteen pounds. So i didnt take the tourist office advice but instead am sitting in a very pleasant environment on decking at the harbour, at Spisehuset. Ive seen this all week and thought to look at it, i have run out of food in the fridge so its this or a takeaway tonight. Oh, this is like takeaway. Burgers and chips, two beers for thirty quid. Hey ho. Its a nice place to sit.
I spent a while this morning searching for a luggage locker so i might whizz down on the bike with my backpack in the morning and then return just carrying my daysack. Its a good half hours walk. No such luck, not at the ferry terminal or at the bus station. No, say the tourist office, i wont find anywhere because of terrorists.
This has the potential to mess up my day totally tomorrow, and i wonder whether in fact ive seen luggage storage since i left the Faroes. will i find one at Odense? I catch the 9.15 bus and have planned a half day in the city before heading over to Copenhagen and on to Malmo, arriving at 7pm for the night. Cant see myself doing the Odense walking tour 'In Hans Christain Andersons footsteps' carrying my backpack.
My next host has confirmed that i should expect a forty minute delay each time i cross between Sweden and Denmark due to passport control. Says a lot about Sweden doesnt it! Apparently i have to get off the train or bus i am on, go through control and then get back on another one. Hey ho. Just to cross a bridge. Thatll be fun, i must remember to look for a luggage trolley but doubt there will be any.
Given that i have no wifi in Malmo, ive booked myself a biking tour of Copenhagen on Monday and am also planning a hop on hop off bus and boat tour. Itll cost me sixty quid for the two but reckon ill see what there is to see, kiss the little mermaid and can say ive done Copenhagen. Although I actually think both sound rather intriguing.
The bike tour is an ex hippy, private tour guy who minces no words and is extremely curt, no you may not ask questions, no you may not need the loo, no he will not wait for you, you must be able to keep up and on and on and on, all displayed on his website and then repeated when you book. of all the bike tours he sounds the best, a maverick rather than the professionally organised tours and you pay him, cash only, at the end and he is a resident of Kristiana so sounds an experience not to miss.
Kristiana is a hippy enclave in the middle of Copenhagen where residents pay no taxes, get no vote, have no cars. I dont have a firm grasp on it as yet but i know that you dont take photos else risk getting shot by the drug dealers, not from within the community but from outsiders who come in to sell. Trigger happy tina will keep her iPad carefully tucked away in her bag when we ride through there but most tours likely as not would not go there although its marked on all the tourist trails.
The bus and boat are hop on hop off and valid for two days. My only difficulty is that you have to book on line and print out a voucher. Ive emailed saying im travelling and dont have access to a printer but as yet have had no response. I suspect it will be down to me asking the tourist office when i get there so im not holding out too much hope! My host actually sounds very keen to please so may of course have a printer.
Malmo tourist office has an on line chat button which is exceptionally helpful! Hoping then to find one for Copenhagen i was disappointed. Just a site with lots of links, some of which can be selected in english, others not. Perhaps thats why ive gone for the bike bus and boat, i can read what is beng said.
Disappointingly, hiring a bike in Malmo is not going to be as straightforward as i had hoped and i may have to get to learn to use the busses instead, confront my mistrust of them. Bikes are like boris bikes. you may not use them for more than an hour at a time and you must have reparked securely within the hour. I have also found an independent firm to hire from but they want over fiteen pounds a day for a bike. Cant see me doing that.
How ill get on with busses remains to be seen. You cannot buy tickets on the bus or at bus stops, only on line or at the tourist office. Ill spend the weekend in Malmo and head for Copenhagen on Monday, hoping to find it less busy with most of the museums and galleries closed. If thers enough i want to come back for, my hop on off ticket will be valid for Tuesday as well, just leaving me passport control to deal with.
Thats the theory anyway! Ill see how the reality compares.
