A Sisters‘ Summer Sailing to Scandinavia - update: After Cruise Day 2: Tivoli

[GoofyFan1515]

Just stopping by to see if I missed anything...........

 

[Steppesister]

As am I....

 

[Poolrat]

me too !!!!

 

[dizneeat]

Yeah! At least one TR I am not too far behind.

 

[Flossbolna]

Hello everyone and a Happy 2017!!

After the trip report for our trip in 2015 was on such a long hiatus due to Katharina having so many other obligations, I recently convinced her to pass her trip notes on to me so that I could finally finish this trip report. We had such a wonderful time on the cruise that I did not want this trip to be left without a report. However, I could see that Katharina has too many other obligations (she is volunteering for different organizations, often has to work evenings and such and has a husband who wants some of her attention) and that it took her much longer to write things than it does me. Writing several trip reports gives you a certain routine that makes it easier to get it done.

It is actually a lot of fun for me to read her notes and comments. Especially all the comments that she makes about me in her notes!! They are not always flattering (actually, so far I have found far more that are the opposite of flattering - if you have siblings, I guess you understand...), but mostly very amusing.

So, let's move on with the trip report. The next day is coming up momentarily!

 

[nodnol]

Hello everyone and a Happy 2018!!

From me too!

After the trip report for our trip in 2015 was on such a long hiatus due to Katharina having so many other obligations, I recently convinced her to pass her trip notes on to me so that I could finally finish this trip report. We had such a wonderful time on the cruise that I did not want this trip to be left without a report. However, I could see that Katharina has too many other obligations (she is volunteering for different organizations, often has to work evenings and such and has a husband who wants some of her attention) and that it took her much longer to write things than it does me. Writing several trip reports gives you a certain routine that makes it easier to get it done.

Thank you for taking over!

It is actually a lot of fun for me to read her notes and comments. Especially all the comments that she makes about me in her notes!! They are not always flattering (actually, so far I have found far more that are the opposite of flattering - if you have siblings, I guess you understand...), but mostly very amusing.

I really have no idea anymore, what's in it, I hope nothing too bad...

 

[Flossbolna]

Cast off! minus 1 day – Travel day + complicated Danish trash cans - Part 1

June 5, 2015

Today we would start into our adventure! While it would be possible to travel from Berlin to Copenhagen on the day of the cruise, we did not think that that would be a good idea. I have had experiences with serious flight delays and we really did not want to deal with anything like that when we had a ship to catch. So, the plan was to fly to Copenhagen the day before the cruise. Of course in order to get something out of this besides peace of mind, our plan was to get the earliest flight of the day and then use the day in Copenhagen for sightseeing. Our flight was due to leave at 9am and it would be only one hour of flight time to Copenhagen from Berlin.

Unfortunately, all of us managed to have a really bad night and then had to get up early to make our way to the airport. On the metro train to the airport we saw the news putting out warnings about very bad congestion at the airport for that day as it was the day of the UEFA Champions League Final (the top soccer club from the different European Leagues take part in an international competition every year, the Champions League. The final always takes place in a major city that is pre-determined, but the clubs qualifying might be from somewhere else. So you have loads of fans travelling to the final from somewhere else in Europe, in this case Barcelona (Spain) and Turin (Italy)). So, we were quite a bit concerned about that.

If you read our trip report in 2010 you will remember how I wrote about that Berlin has this tiny airport, but will get a new one in 2011 (in case you missed it: From Europe to Africa in America – A Sisters' Expedition). Well, things did not work out as planned and the new BER airport has turned into a nightmare project. It still is not open (and might not open until 2018 now… - yes, even the efficient Germans can be wonderfully inefficient). So, we still had the joy of the tiny Tegel airport that is bursting out of its buildings with too much traffic. So, the warning of congestion there was to be taken seriously. Luckily everything went smoothly and we got there without any problems.

Once there we had to get a picture of us:

This recreated the picture of us starting out on our 2010 trip:

The airport was very busy, but it was not too bad. The brewery Heineken was sponsoring the Champions League Final and there were several young ladies gathering groups, all with Heineken signs and in cute green dresses:

It seemed that they were preparing for large crowds, but that the crowds had not materialized just yet.

Walking to our gate we had to go outside and along a parking lot (yes, the airport has a lot of these temporary buildings that they just put wherever they could get some space) and I saw that they had put up a small piece of the Berlin Wall there which they repainted with advertisement for the airline:

The slogan says: “freedom needs wings”

After some wait time with some coffee and a croissant, we got to board our plane – walking from the terminal building to the plane:

The flight was short, but we ended up with a guy in our row who fascinated Katharina. She made a point to include in our trip notes that he appeared to suffer from fear of flying and he got out his laptop during the take off to watch a movie without any of the crew saying anything about this.

It was the same for the landing I think, that`s why I thought he might suffer from fear of flying.

We got a snack and a drink during the flight:

As it was sunny we had a great view, especially when approaching Copenhagen, of the city, the bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden as well as of the southern tip of Sweden. We also saw the port where we would board the Disney Magic the next day:

When we arrived our baggage claim was in Terminal 1 and it was horribly crowded with people and long long lines! I had done some research and our plan was to grab a bite to eat at the airport at a bakery that sounded very good. But seeing the masses of people we were not sure about this. The bakery was in Terminal 2, so we decided to look over there. It turned out that Terminal 2 was nice and calm and we shared a sandwich and a pastry there:

It was really good! From all my visits to Scandinavia (until this cruise I had been to Sweden, Finland and Denmark) I have always been impressed with the quality of their baked goods. Especially their pastries. There is a reason that the English word for certain pastries is “Danish”. They know what they are doing. And this bakery was definitely living up to our expectations. It is called Lagkagehuset (which kind of means “the layered cake house”):

One interesting thing was that the people working there did not handle any money or credit cards. You can see a black machine in the middle of the display where you would just drop in your money and then get out the change. And if you were paying with card, there were several terminals where you inserted your chipped card and entered your PIN. I thought this was a smart system!

I have some more pictures of pastries, just because they looked so good:

After our mid morning snack, we took the train into the city, to the Main Train Station as our hotel was close to there. The trains from the airport run very regularly (I think every 20 minutes) and are easy to find and get tickets for. There was also plenty of space for luggage as you can see here:

Copenhagen’s Main Train Station is a very beautiful building and I tried to catch some of it when we passed through it on the way to our hotel:

Exiting the train station we came across something very typical for Copenhagen: A bike parking garage:

Our hotel was only two blocks away. It was the First Hotel Mayfair in the Helgolandsgade. http://www.firsthotels.com/Our-hotels/Hotels-in-Denmark/Copenhagen/First-Hotel-Mayfair/

We had a hard time finding a hotel in Copenhagen that was affordable. Copenhagen is an expensive city. This had decent reviews and an ok price. The main issue was that it kind of is located in the Copenhagen red light district. In many European cities the areas around the train stations are not the greatest. However, from reading reviews, it appeared that Copenhagen’s red light district was rather subdued. And that was exactly the case. There was one establishment across the street, but it was not like you would really see anything seedy happening.

Katharina and I never felt unsafe. However, when after the cruise Katharina’s husband stayed at the same hotel the night before we came back, he was offered services from some ladies.

When we got to the hotel we were happy to hear that they already had a room ready for us, so we checked out the room which was nice, but not particularly large:

We used the room for a quick bathroom break and for putting on lots of sun screen as it was a beautiful day and then we wanted to head out again. However, the room made it impossible. We were not able to open the door to leave the room! That was a bit scary! We called reception and they sent someone to come and get us out of the room. They promised that they would repair the lock.

It felt really stupid to have to tell someone that and I`m sure the guy thought we were just too stupid to open the door. But they sent someone up and it was really the lock that was faulty.

I took a quick picture of a seating area in the lobby and of the breakfast room:

We went back to the train station as our destination was an open air museum on the outskirts of Copenhagen that had old houses, mainly farm houses, from all over Denmark. Both Katharina and I had been to Copenhagen quite a few times before and we felt that we wanted to do something else than the typical tourist stuff.
On the way to the train station:

Somehow getting the tickets was quite a bit difficult. The ticket machines were confusing and they had a ticket window. However, for whatever reason they decided to have the one person in Denmark who does not speak English man the ticket window there. Luckily I speak Danish, however, my knowledge of Danish is very rusty. I was an exchange student in Denmark in my (far too distant) youth. I lived with a Danish host family for a year and went to school in Denmark. By the end, I was fluent in Danish. However, over the years I did not have enough opportunities to use that skill and I have forgotten a lot. Somehow I was able to purchase the correct train tickets however and we were off in a lovely Copenhagen suburb train:

Continued in Part 2

 

[Flossbolna]

Cast off! minus 1 day – Travel day + complicated Danish trash cans - Part 2

And we found the museum without any problems:

The first thing we did there was to have a look at the shop and they had the most wonderful merchandise there. We knew that we would return at the end!

We started walking around. It really was a fairly large park with different groups of houses distributed throughout.

Most of the houses you could enter and they would be furnished like in the olden times:

Fairly soon we got to a kiosk selling snacks. I find it always interesting to check out the popsicles in other countries.

(1 US$ is about 7 Danish Kroner in case you are wondering.)
But we decided to go for a different typical Danish snack: a hot dog! Or in Danish: Pølser. Selling hot dogs has a long tradition in Denmark and you have these little hot dog stands every where. However, in recent years there has been a decline. But still, hot dogs are a popular snack food. And that is what we got from this kiosk together with two cups of coffee:

And I managed to order our snack in Danish! It seemed that the more I forced myself to use my Danish, the more it was coming back quite rapidly.
After our snack I had to battle with the garbage can. Somehow they managed to construct the lid in such a way that I did not find out how to open it and suddenly I ended up taking out the garbage can itself instead of just opening the lid… Not my smartest move!

But a very funny one! I remember laughing very hard.

We enjoyed wandering around:

And then we came to the area with houses from the Faroe Islands. These are some tiny islands kind of halfway between the northern tip of Scotland and Greenland. They are part of the Kingdom of Denmark, therefore the traditional houses from there were included here. Just imagine living on a tiny island in the North Atlantic and living in houses that look like this:

Half of the house was built into the ground and the grass roof was quite fascinating.

June 5 is Denmark’s Constitution Day. It is a public holiday and there were certain celebrations going on. One of them was happening in the museum park. It was organized by one of the Danish parties and they also used it as kind of an election rally as there was going to be election day for the Danish parliament shortly after our trip. It was interesting to see and hear what they were talking about (yes, I did understand most of it, speaking is the issue not understanding).

We explored some more:

They had some bees:

a very happy pig:

and sheep:

A bed in the closet:

And the country shop:

We ended in the lovely museum shop where I got a magnet and we could have spent a lot of money on lovely things. Katharina also wanted to purchase something, but found out that her debit card did not work. Her bank requires her to have the debit card to be unlocked for travel and she forgot to do that.

Overall we both enjoyed the museum a lot. It was very peaceful and it felt like being in the countryside, even though we still were in the Copenhagen suburbs. After all the travel stress, it was very relaxing. We also thought that it would be a fun excursion with kids.

Continued in Part 3

 

[Flossbolna]

Cast off! minus 1 day – Travel day + complicated Danish trash cans - Part 3

On the way back we took the train only to the Nørreport station in Copenhagen. I had done some research before the trip on how to get to the port. Knowing Denmark, I was sure that there must be a way to get to the port on public transportation and indeed there was a regular bus from Nørreport to the cruise terminal. So, we thought it would be smart to check out where the bus was departing from and how to navigate the train station with luggage. This turned out to be a really good idea because when we looked around, we noticed that the bus that had a stop right by our hotel was going there as well. So, if we took the bus from our hotel to Nørreport and changed on the other bus, we would have to walk a shorter distance and avoided navigating stairs at both train stations.

At Nørreport we saw a cute café in a former newspaper kiosk.

We started to explore the inner city. It seemed that for the holiday there was some kind of music festival ongoing and the inner city was very crowded and we heard lots of very loud music without ever finding out where it actually came from. At some point we wanted to get a coffee, but the festival made it difficult to find a café with space and not too noisy, but we finally found one outside the university.

Katharina had some coffee, I had ice cream and we shared a water:

We continued to walk through the city, including an area that our guide book described as the “hip area with gay bars”. It looked like any normal street in Berlin too us… Not particularly hip.

There were quite a few interesting restaurants in this area. One was a Thai restaurant reminding us of WDW as it was the Danish version of the Flying Fish. Here it appears to be a Thai restaurant however if you look at the "subtitle":

On the town hall square there was a beautiful art deco hotel:

We decided to check out the lobby inside, but unfortunately it was devoid of any art deco and just looked like any modern Scandinavian design lobby.

We then ventured down a street that was recommended for a number of affordable restaurants. Copenhagen is expensive and food is especially expensive, so we were looking for something that would not break the bank. The street is called Kompagnistræde and there was indeed quite a lot to choose from, but all seemed somewhat similar (Salads, Pasta and Burgers – so don’t be afraid of Danish food – it’s difficult to get in Copenhagen), so it was difficult to make up our mind.

One caught our eye, it was called “Kreuzberg” which is German for “cross mountain”, but it is also the name of the quarter of Berlin where Katharina lives. We ended up in a different one though that was quite nice. It was called Zalt.

This was the menu:

It was quite comfortable inside:

While it was sunny outside, it was not really warm and now that it was getting into the evening hours, we found it too chilly to sit outside.

They had some fancy lights:

We got some organic Danish soda that was pretty good:

And were served some bread:

Katharina had a burger:

And I had a Caesar’s Salad:

We both really enjoyed our meal there. Afterwards we wandered around town a little bit more and checked out the main shopping street. Everything was closed, but it was fun to do some window shopping. It was still bright daylight outside, I think it was well past 9pm by then.

This is the town hall:

We then walked past Tivoli. This is an amusement park that is between the town hall and the main train station, so in the middle of the city. It has a very long tradition and supposedly it was an inspiration for Walt Disney when he planned Disneyland. It not only has rides, but also beautiful gardens and lights at night. We were planning on visiting there after the cruise, so today we just passed by it:

We made a quick stop in the train station where picked up some candy.

However, we were not successful in getting any stamps for Katharina. The only place to buy stamps was the post office and that would only be open from noon to 4pm the next day ++(which was a Saturday – first I thought I read the sign wrong, and we even asked around and this was definitely the only post office in the area. I guess the Danish like to sleep in on the weekends)++.

We got back to the hotel where we fell into bed quickly as we were both exhausted from travelling and running around Copenhagen.

Next: Cast Off! - Finally! Embarkation Day and Frozen Bubbles

 

[dizneeat]

Wow! What a start to your vacation.
And a great idea to go a day early. It's always better to be safe and not sorry.

The hotel looks mighty nice to me, even though you were in a red light district. How "funny" is that incident with the door. And I always thought things like this only happen to me.

I loved to see the museum. And it looks like it covers quite a bit of area too. The house built into the ground with the grass roof looks great to me. I have seen something like this before, but I can't remember where. It definitely was nowhere Danish.

Dinner looked yummy too ...... oh, and before I forget ...... I had to laugh too, when you wrote about the trash can incident. Sorry!

 

[o&smom]

Such a happy treat for the new year! Thanks for helping your sister with this trip report. Have been following along since she began. We got on the Magic the day you got off, so I have been looking forward to hearing your stories about your cruise! This was our first time in Copenhagen and our whole family fell in love. (Me, DH, DS 11 & DD 5). We loved it so much that we spent three more days there this summer after our England, Scotland, Iceland and Norway cruise! Another whole day at Tivoli Gardens from opening to closing was a highlight yet again, finished with a midnight snack of Danish pancakes and hot chocolate before leaving the park.

Can't wait to read more about your adventures!

 

[dolphingirl47]

After the trip report for our trip in 2015 was on such a long hiatus due to Katharina having so many other obligations, I recently convinced her to pass her trip notes on to me so that I could finally finish this trip report.

I am glad that you have taken this on.

So, let's move on with the trip report.

I am looking forward to reading all about this.

While it would be possible to travel from Berlin to Copenhagen on the day of the cruise, we did not think that that would be a good idea.

I am with you there. Even if leaving from the UK, I prefer to get there a day early just to make sure.

It still is not open (and might not open until 2018 now… - yes, even the efficient Germans can be wonderfully inefficient).

I had not realised that this has been delayed again.

Copenhagen’s Main Train Station is a very beautiful building and I tried to catch some of it when we passed through it on the way to our hotel:

This is very pretty.

However, the room made it impossible. We were not able to open the door to leave the room! That was a bit scary! We called reception and they sent someone to come and get us out of the room.

This would have been scary indeed. I am glad that they sent somebody straightaway.

I really liked the look of that museum and these houses are fascinating.

Looks like you got a lot of ground covered in a single day. I am not surprised that you were tired.

Corinna

 

[kid-at-heart]

I am so excited to see this report being continued! I fully understand Katharina being too busy to work on it but am so happy the two of you are willing to come back and finish it. Life does have a way of getting "in the way" of our plans. Heck, I have been too busy for the past five years....

Off now to cook dinner and then I will be back to read.

Happy New Year! (We celebrated by watching the movie "Dory" and then going to sleep early, around 10 pm. How about you guys?)
Kate

 

[TestingH2O]

Hello everyone and a Happy 2018!!

Wait what?!? I missed my 2017 trips?

June 5, 2015
Once there we had to get a picture of us:

This recreated the picture of us starting out on our 2010 trip:

You two look great! I can't tell which is the 2010 photo and which is the 2015.

We both really enjoyed our meal there. Afterwards we wandered around town a little bit more and checked out the main shopping street. Everything was closed, but it was fun to do some window shopping. It was still bright daylight outside, I think it was well past 9pm by then.

I love how you got the Disney store in this shot.

Thanks for writing. Reading these is so much fun.

 

[Flossbolna]

From me too!

I am amazed that you just followed me and wished everyone a happy 2018!!

Such a happy treat for the new year! Thanks for helping your sister with this trip report. Have been following along since she began. We got on the Magic the day you got off, so I have been looking forward to hearing your stories about your cruise! This was our first time in Copenhagen and our whole family fell in love. (Me, DH, DS 11 & DD 5). We loved it so much that we spent three more days there this summer after our England, Scotland, Iceland and Norway cruise! Another whole day at Tivoli Gardens from opening to closing was a highlight yet again, finished with a midnight snack of Danish pancakes and hot chocolate before leaving the park.

Can't wait to read more about your adventures!

I totally agree, Copenhagen is a wonderful city!! We did some more exploring after the cruise, so there is more to come about Copenhagen.

The Baltic itinerary is really high on my cruise wish list as well! However, both Katharina and I have been to nearly all of the cities on that cruise (she hasn't been to St Petersburg, but I have), so Norway did win out. Otherwise we might have been on the same cruise as you.

The Danish pancakes you mention, are those the little round balls? I make them every year for Christmas for my friends. That's a Danish tradition, they call it "Little Christmas Eve" and on the evening of December 23 you invite friends for those pancakes and mulled wine and everyone helps decorating the Christmas tree. I don't make my friends work on the tree, but I serve the pancakes and some mulled wines. I have the special pan you need for them and they are always wonderful!

 

[Flossbolna]

I am glad that you have taken this on.

Katharina would have written a great trip report if she had the time, she is actually the better writer of the two of us (she has a degree in journalism, I have one in law, that should tell you everything).

I am with you there. Even if leaving from the UK, I prefer to get there a day early just to make sure.

Yes, and that way you can even find a new kitchen!

I had not realised that this has been delayed again.

Not officially, but there are rumors...

This is very pretty.

Copenhagen has a lot of impressive 19th century architecture.

This would have been scary indeed. I am glad that they sent somebody straightaway.

Yes, I kept thinking what if this happens when there is a fire??

I really liked the look of that museum and these houses are fascinating.

The houses reminded me of the trolls from Frozen. And we will see more grass roofs soon!

 

[Flossbolna]

The hotel looks mighty nice to me, even though you were in a red light district.

It was an interesting and very mixed area. Lots of hotels, the shady bars and some very hip bars.

How "funny" is that incident with the door. And I always thought things like this only happen to me.

Oh, whenever I travel with Katharina things like that happen. She used to have the worst of travel luck when she was a teenager. Things have improved now. For example, she once travelled by train to Luxemburg and was stranded in Koblenz because of the Rhine river having a flood. That was before mobile phones... Oh, and when she was supposed to travel from Hamburg to Southern France the French railways decided to go on strike and the already long journey turned into quite an odyssee.

I loved to see the museum. And it looks like it covers quite a bit of area too. The house built into the ground with the grass roof looks great to me. I have seen something like this before, but I can't remember where. It definitely was nowhere Danish.

Haha! There will be more grass roofs coming. But those ones there did remind me very much of the trolls from Frozen.

Dinner looked yummy too ...... oh, and before I forget ...... I had to laugh too, when you wrote about the trash can incident. Sorry!

my only defense is that it was a complicated trash can!!

 

[o&smom]

I am amazed that you just followed me and wished everyone a happy 2018!!



I totally agree, Copenhagen is a wonderful city!! We did some more exploring after the cruise, so there is more to come about Copenhagen.

The Baltic itinerary is really high on my cruise wish list as well! However, both Katharina and I have been to nearly all of the cities on that cruise (she hasn't been to St Petersburg, but I have), so Norway did win out. Otherwise we might have been on the same cruise as you.

The Danish pancakes you mention, are those the little round balls? I make them every year for Christmas for my friends. That's a Danish tradition, they call it "Little Christmas Eve" and on the evening of December 23 you invite friends for those pancakes and mulled wine and everyone helps decorating the Christmas tree. I don't make my friends work on the tree, but I serve the pancakes and some mulled wines. I have the special pan you need for them and they are always wonderful!

Can't wait to read about more adventures in Copenhagen. Yes, Danish pancakes are the round ones. I agree they are very yummy! Such a fun teadition you have. We usually end up with a smorgasbord of Danish and Swedish pancakes as well as crepes with strawberry jam and whipped cream to share for our midnight snack. So fun to think of it as a tradition since we got to do this two years in a row. Sad part is that we don't know when we will get to do it again.

 

[Steppesister]

Once there we had to get a picture of us:

This recreated the picture of us starting out on our 2010 trip:

Awwww, I love this side by side! You are both very beautiful and youthful still after 6 years.

After some wait time with some coffee and a croissant

The best way to pass an airport wait.

he got out his laptop during the take off to watch a movie without any of the crew saying anything about this.

Uhhhhh, how could they not say something? Weird!

Mmmm! That looks fabulous! I can see how Danishes got their name.

I have some more pictures of pastries, just because they looked so good:

And we thank you for that! WOW! I think I'd have chosen that chocolate one.

Copenhagen’s Main Train Station is a very beautiful building

It sure looks like it. I love the chandeliers and all of that woodwork.

CUTE!! The wallpaper is striking!

We were not able to open the door to leave the room! That was a bit scary!

Brings on a whole new meaning to "Tourist Trap"!! YIKES, I think I'd have panicked a bit.

Luckily I speak Danish, however, my knowledge of Danish is very rusty. I was an exchange student in Denmark in my (far too distant) youth. I lived with a Danish host family for a year and went to school in Denmark. By the end, I was fluent in Danish. However, over the years I did not have enough opportunities to use that skill and I have forgotten a lot. Somehow I was able to purchase the correct train tickets however and we were off in a lovely Copenhagen suburb train:

I knew this!! Good job at having your skills come back.

(1 US$ is about 7 Danish Kroner in case you are wondering.)

Thank you! I was wondering already way back when you you showed the pastries. One was 19 Kroner and I was like, well how much is that, I wonder? Now I know.

It seemed that the more I forced myself to use my Danish, the more it was coming back quite rapidly.

Languages do that. When our kazakh friends came over for Bek's wedding, we were forced to use ours, and after a day or so, it was mostly there again. Still dream in it every once in a while.

This looks neither hip, or gay. LOL!

We then walked past Tivoli. This is an amusement park that is between the town hall and the main train station, so in the middle of the city. It has a very long tradition and supposedly it was an inspiration for Walt Disney when he planned Disneyland.

Who knew!?! I'd heard of it before, but know nothing about it. Looking forward to that part of your TR.

 

[nodnol]

The hotel looks mighty nice to me, even though you were in a red light district. How "funny" is that incident with the door. And I always thought things like this only happen to me.

I don't remember any red light district in an Austrian city (do you even have these? I mean red light districts, not cities!), but compared to Frankfurt, Munich or Hamburg it was kind of non-existent.

I had not realised that this has been delayed again.

It's 1675 days past the expected opening date today....

Looks like you got a lot of ground covered in a single day. I am not surprised that you were tired.

I was ready for a relaxing cruise, we'll se how that worked out!

I am so excited to see this report being continued! I fully understand Katharina being too busy to work on it but am so happy the two of you are willing to come back and finish it. Life does have a way of getting "in the way" of our plans. Heck, I have been too busy for the past five years....

Thank you for your understanding! And it's not just the discards and my friends here who suffered. I not all the books down, when I finish reading them. in 2016 I read about half the amount of books as in 2015 or 2014. Frustrating.

Happy New Year! (We celebrated by watching the movie "Dory" and then going to sleep early, around 10 pm. How about you guys?)

Eating leftovers of food, I prepared before I got a bad head cold, and watching the new Ghostbusters movie and Desk Set from 1957. Desk Set was definitely the better choice.

You two look great! I can't tell which is the 2010 photo and which is the 2015.

Thank you!

I am amazed that you just followed me and wished everyone a happy 2018!!

Well, I have the excuse of having a cold.

Katharina would have written a great trip report if she had the time, she is actually the better writer of the two of us (she has a degree in journalism, I have one in law, that should tell you everything).

And if more of you would understand German. My jokes tend to get lost in translation.

Oh, whenever I travel with Katharina things like that happen. She used to have the worst of travel luck when she was a teenager. Things have improved now. For example, she once travelled by train to Luxemburg and was stranded in Koblenz because of the Rhine river having a flood. That was before mobile phones... Oh, and when she was supposed to travel from Hamburg to Southern France the French railways decided to go on strike and the already long journey turned into quite an odyssee.

We should maybe mention that on the Luxembourg trip I was about 12 and on the France trip 16 years old. And I still think trains are the most reliable way to travel around Europe. But maybe not with me.

Awwww, I love this side by side! You are both very beautiful and youthful still after 6 years.

Thanks, I get shocked by my age regularly. I feel much younger.