To get to our schooner sailing holiday starting in Oslo, we travelled by train and ferry from London. It was train from Edmonton to London, Underground to St Pancras, then the Eurostar to Brussels from where a German ICE train should have taken us to Cologne. But when we went to board that train, we were told it had been cancelled. Much wandering around Brussels Midi station revealed the official plan which was that we should get a train to Liege, then one to Aachen, then one to Cologne, taking over four hours and getting us to Cologne after the sleeper would have departed. Fortunately there was a Thalys high-speed train which we were able to buy tickets on for 160 euros, which got us to Cologne in time.
It was a very hot day, well above thirty degrees even now at half past ten. Our sleeper train is running late, like almost every train here this evening.At last an opportunity to lie down in our sleeper compartmentNext morning, the view from Stephen’s bed as we cross Denmark. It had been a very disturbed night with a lot of rough tracks and shunting at stations as parts of our train from Amsterdam were split off to go to either Warsaw or Prague, and new carriages from those destinations joined our carriages. The Danish tracks seemed much smoother too.Leaving the island of Funen behind we begin our crossing of the Great Belt towards the island of ZealandIn Copenhagen we stored our luggage at the railway station and then went to Tivoli GardensLucy on the ferris wheelFrom the ferris wheel looking to a modest roller coaster we tried nextStephen on the ferris wheelThe lovely Tivoli Gardens
The final ride we took, pairs of chairs being flung out by rotation as well as being lifted up and down. Afterwards we had a lovely lunch and then ice-cream before returning to the railway station. We picked up our bags and took the train to Nordhavn from where it was a very hot and tiring walk with heavy rucksacks to the DFDS ferry terminal.
At last on board the ferry in our spacious cabin, where Lucy is having a rest.The view from our cabinOn deck as we set off from CopenhagenLeaving Copenhagen behindAhead we see the harbour wall with a wind farm beyond, and the Øresund bridge in the far distanceAfter dinner in the steakhouse, we watch the sun set from the pleasant lounge/bar reserved for those with Commodore-class cabinsOn deck the crowds have gone indoorsNext morning, Lucy watches Oslofjord go pastApproaching the city of OsloOur first glimpse of the schooner Trinovante – her three masts can just be seen to the left of the large black stage area A close-up of Trinovante from the ferryAfter another tiring walk we finally shed our ruck-sacks on Trinovante, which has our DFDS ferry behind, before setting off for a few hours’ exploration to the Maritime Museum and Fram Museum.
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