Sunday 2 September 2012

Retreat from the Danish Summer

Apparently, this summer in Copenhagen was unusually wet.  But, most people we've spoken to seemed to also say that last summer was the same, and the summer before that the same.  So, not sure if that is meant to be reassuring, or we just need to resign ourselves to a few years of cool, wet and very unpredictable weather.

So, despite having initially had very good intentions of exploring Denmark and some more further afield parts of Scandinavia, we plumped for the more guaranteed sunshine of the mediterranean in July.  That was the easy part.  The not so easy part was how to actually get there, especially seeing as it was a relatively last minute decision after our CoI got all the necessary permissions and exemptions.  

Flying would have seemed obvious, with some relatively good connections, but given the time between us deciding to go and the time we were about to travel, then flight availability seemed less than ideal with post midnight hire car pick ups followed by 2 / 3 hour autoroute driving not at all appealing.

Driving was the next obvious choice, but it would have been a good 1,800 KMs each way.  Probably achievable over 2 days, but quite a chunk out of our valuable time in the sun not to mention very likely to try the patience of a certain Master T.

What occurred to me eventually was a memory from my dim and distant younger days, reading about overnight party, I mean sleeper trains.  This option was duly investigated and we realised we could travel in relative comfort from Copenhagen Main Station all the way to Toulon, via Koeln and Bruxelles for changes.  We also thought it might be quite an adventure for the little people.

Master T and I managed to book tickets from a very helpful lady at Copenhagen Main Station, the process only disrupted by a very impatient Danish man shouting at our helpful lady as to "how long it was all going to take...been waiting ages...etc".  What I've realised now having been in Denmark a few months now, is that if someone is being a bit obnoxious and rude, the best approach seems to be blunt in return.  Of course, I could never be rude.  So I firmly told the very rude individual how busy I was too, wrangling a small child, and that there was another queue available.  That seemed to do the trick. So, tickets booked, we looked forward to our epic journey.  With perhaps a little trepidation.

Arriving at the Main Station for our Friday evening journey, I suddenly felt that we were going back to basics.  Master T was in a carry frame on my back, CoI was carrying a rucksack with clothes for the whole family and a trolley case of amusements for the children.  And, to ensure my balance, I had a rucksack of food strapped to front.  Most of the other travellers, seemed on average a good 20 years younger, not to mention a bit more smelly and they looked at us with a mixture of amusement and bewilderment.

When the "City Night Line" rolled in, I was at first a bit concerned at the slightly dishevelled looking nature of the train, but once we'd found our compartment and settled down for our journey everything was good.  Having read a few other posts about this journey, we'd packed a picnic for all, and once the children had been put to bed, CoI enjoyed a glass or two of a decent red, albeit standing in the corridor outside.  But it was a fun way to travel.  Sleep was easily achievable, lulled to sleep by the motion of the train.  And despite, the early start in Koeln for our connection to Bruxelles and the very long TGV ride down to Toulon, I would recommend it as a good way to get the family across Europe.  Just pack lots of DVDs for the children.  Which, we also found a good way to make friends, as the traveller sitting at our table on his way back home after some Death Metal music festival was busted by me as he was watching Peppa Pig over Miss R's shoulder!


After this experience of overnight train travel across Europe, I'm quite taken with the idea of visiting more places by train.  Looking at the City Night Line route, there are a lot of opportunities to get to Holland, the Czech Republic, Switzerland just to mention a few, plus of course the ability to connect to almost anywhere.  Standing in front of the departures board at Paris Gare du Nord, on the way back, I suddenly felt very nostalgic for good old fashioned espionage films where the plot flits across the major cities of Europe.


Next time, it's time to reflect on the remainder of "summer" as it is now officially over, not to mention normal life seems to be in the offing for all concerned.  Oh, and some gastronomy updates are overdue as well....

1 comment:

  1. This post brings back memories of our sleeper train trip from Shanghai to Beijing with a 5 year old and an 8 month old... Oh and the tragic loss of said 5 year old's favourite Pooh Bear who got left behind on the train. We're still telling him that Pooh Bear went to live with a little Chinese boy or girl!

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