I managed to pass my cold on to Géraldine, and I think Lucas is not far behind. Pobrecitos :( I feel so bad about ruining everybody's health while in vacation, but viruses don't take any holidays.
Today we woke up earlyish to return the rental car at the airport by 10 am. My flight is at 12:30 pm, so I will just stay at the airport and wait. Géraldine and Lucas don't take off until 4 pm (and ultimately with delays they took off at 5:40 pm), so they put their luggage in storage and went by train to Helsinki to wedge in a bit more tourism.
I landed at about 1:30 pm (gained an hour because Finland and Denmark are in different time zones), exchanged the 250 Swedish kröner I had for 170 Danish krönen, and figured out that the best way to get to our rental apartment was by metro. The metro costs 21 krönen (about 3 euros) and very smoothly takes you to central Copenhagen in a matter of 20 minutes. It doesn't have a driver and runs completely automatic, like the shuttles you see in airports!
From the metro station I walked 12 minutes to our apartment, which is in the core of the Latin Quarter of Copenhagen. It is an old building, with floors formed by heavy wooden beams slightly deformed by the passage of 300 years. Unfortunately it is on the third floor, at the end of several flights of narrow, ancient stairs, which will ot be appreciated by my traveling companions and their heavy luggage.
The Latin Quarter is full of life. It has tons of restaurants and pubs, and as I was approaching our residence I met a manifestation protesting racial discrimination with the slogan "No human being is illegal". I also walked through an art flea market, and along one of the big shopping streets loaded with people. A friend told Géraldine that the way to move in Copenhagen is with a bike, and indeed I saw hundreds of people riding bikes, some of them at dangerous speeds. We plan to rent bicycles, so I walked to a place I found in the internet to make a reservation for the next four days, but the owners are there only from 10 am to 2 pm, so we will have to come back tomorrow (and hope they open on Sundays).
I also did a bit of shopping for breakfast stuff (bread, milk, butter, granola, fruit, yoghurt, and marmalade). Always fun to explore a new supermarket :)
Géraldine let me know their flight was delayed, so I am now
in a holding pattern here at the apartment because I have the keys. It wouldn't
do for them to arrive tired from traveling and have to wait for me at the door.
Once she told me they had landed I gave it half an hour and went down to seat
in front of the house, in a comfortable bench that some good soul had built to
give tired passerbys a break. Great spot for people watching. Finally, at about
7 pm, they arrived hot and tired. After lugging the luggage upstairs Géraldine
told me they had lost their way in Helsinki and by the time someone pointed
them in the right direction it was getting late. They ran to the train and
barely made it (but without having had the time to buy tickets, and riding "black"
is a big no no in Europe). Then they had to rush to pick up the stored luggage
and the elderly person helping them was super slow. Run again to deliver the
luggage and rush to the security line, which was as long as it can be
(Géraldine tried to get permission to move to the front so they would be able
to make the flight, but this stern woman, likely of Soviet blood, flatly
refused. They finally made it through security and had to run to the distant
gate 11 to barely make it at the scheduled board-in time of 3:30 pm, just to
find out the flight had been delayed. All that running for nothing :(
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