Back to the Beginning

The train ride from Gothenberg back to Copenhagen last Friday afternoon proved to be something of a cathartic experience. It meant that our Scandinavian adventure had officially come full circle and we were arriving back where we had started. For a portion of the trip, we weren't exactly sure about how we felt about spending a week in Copenhagen before returning home. We spent three days or so in town at the beginning of the trip, and while we really enjoyed spending time with my friend Thomas and his girlfriend Johanne, we didn't immediately take to Copenhagen the way that we did to Stockholm. For most of the time that we were in Norway we discussed various options for possibly catching a cheap flight down to Berlin or elsewhere on the continent. However, by the time we finished in Gothenberg, it was pretty clear to both of us that we were ready to be off the road. We went so far as to consider heading back to the States early to get a head start on the packing and moving process that awaits me back in Boston.

I'm happy to report that as we rode on the train down from Gothenberg we realized that this last week in Copenhagen would be an absolute blessing. The weather was gorgeous for the ride down and as the train wound into the city limits we began to see the green oxidized spires that make up the Copenhagen skyline. I have to say that I experienced something of a sense of relief at seeing them. It meant that we were off the road and we had a week in a beautiful city that we hadn't really explored and still had time left to share with Thomas and my friends Faith and Sandy who were flying in from London to spend the weekend with us. Moreover, we knew that it would be a week spent in one place, a beautiful place, in Thomas' wonderful apartment in the Christianshavn neighborhood, which is idyllic even on days with less than perfect weather. This was going to be the relaxing, vacation-esque part of the trip that we hadn't experienced since we had arrived and so desperately needed.

By the time we made it to Thomas' place and dropped all our luggage in the room we are staying in, there was both a literal and a figurative weight that was lifted from our shoulders and we exchanged knowing smiles celebrating that fact. This is not to say that the last three weeks of travel haven't been amazing and that we haven't enjoyed it. I think anyone that's traveled and been on the road for two weeks or more will agree that there's a certain exhaustion that sets in from schlepping stuff on trains, buses, boats, from one city to the next. We saw and experienced some amazing things, some of which I've been able to catalog here and others that are yet to come in both words and pictures. This is going to be an amazing week and we're so glad to be here.

Stay tuned to hear about what comes up during our chilled-out week in Copenhagen!