The reason for all the ‘delay’ was, firstly 1 of the hugest thunderstorms I have ever experienced, in Copenhagen, so altho’ it may have been OK, I was not going to risk being online. Apparently, they had 2 MONTHS worth of rain in 2 hours, it was certainly extreme, & the thunder & lightening were right overhead & simultaneous for hours! Lots of infrastructure damage, & the hotel had no hot water when I had to get up @ 3am *sigh*!!!!
So, what turned out to be a 23 hour day did not start very well. I decided to blow the budget & get a taxi to the airport as I thought it might just be too difficult dragging my case etc. to the station, & in case the platform lifts weren’t working etc. etc. A good decision I feel. Anyway, U’re not interested in all this! But suffice it to say, Heathrow when I got there was as awful as always - but NOT as bad as Reykjavik I hasten to add, & @ least I could ubderstand some of what was said to me!
Which reminds me, I never did finish telling U about Iceland [the 3rd day was somewhat disappointing given that the tour I thought I was doing turned out to be rather different from what I had thought it was meant to be when I booked it] but I did love the sparse, volcanic landscape all the same.
Had an unpleasant experience with a Danish woman en route - which I will tell you all about some other time!
Copenhagen was not quite as difficult to negotiate as Amsterdam, but still very tiring, I really don’t do as well in cities.
then the Cathederal the oldest church in denmark & where the kings & queens are buried, & finally the museum.
Managed to just find the energy when I got back in to Copenhagen to go to the Christiansborg Ruins,
the Palace, & Chapel,
Flew to Halifax, Canada,
to embark on 1 of the ‘great’ train journeys in the world, but even Halifax had some disturbing time, as this was the beginning of all my tech troubles! I had fallen asleep with the laptop on trying to catch up on emails etc., then found I couldn’t charge it at all!
At the same time I was unable to ‘activate’ my Canadian SIM card, so had no mobile phone either - except the very expensive to use - global one.
So, I was rushing out of the B&B/hotel @ 8am (given that Via Rail had told me to get to the station by 10am) to go way up town to find a place that could help @ least get my laptop up & running again, then when that guy couldn’t activate my SIM either (note to self, try again rather than wasting yet more money!) I then thought well I’ll just have to buy another, it was not so easy given that Scotia Mall shops did not open until 9.30, then they couldn’t help, so then had to go down to Spring Garden Mall, by which time it was getting very late, but found a Rogers store outside the Mall, which was a blessing, then I nearly got run over crossing the road when someone ran a red light! It was far too close for comfort.
By this time, I still had to walk back, finish packing, pay hotel & walk to train station, but thankfully the time I had been given to be there was unnecessarily early as I had kept telling myself during all of the above. But, I was grateful to just sit & wait by that time!
The train was quite an experience, & I found myself as excited as a kid as we pulled out of the station! Very long train, but shorter than it often is.
Met some nice people & spent more time with some that I had met in the “lounge” whilst waiting. Cabin was very small & given that this was a double & I could barely find a place for my backpack & me, I’m a bit concerned about the single that I have booked from Jasper to Vancouver!
Here's the sunrise before getting into Charny
I will not have a cabin for the Quebec/Montreal/Toronto leg tomorrow.
A very pleasant young German man was in the same shuttle bus - really a taxi - from Charny in to Quebec City, so we shared a taxi up to the hostel, & he very sweetly also decided to spend the time with me until we could get breakfast (we eventually found a yummy bakery, but had to wait until 7.30 for it to open (oh I didn’t tell you I was up in the observation car by 4am to try to catch photos of the sunrise) given that we had left the train @ 5am we were both hungry!
Old Quebec City is fascinating, but very steep to walk. After Mateus & I had been to the Tourist Info place, we went our separate ways, but have “bumped” into each other several times since (well @ least he comes up to me each time) which proved rather nice to be greeted by name in the middle of a very busy Canadian street! Oh BTW, French spoken here is rather different from in France as I had suspected, but at least I can do the basic nicities, but don't always understand the replies!!!!
I crossed the St Lawrence on the ferry there & back, then grabbed the ecolbus (can’t do the accents on this machine) to do the round trip & to try to work out where/what I most wanted to see - given my sapped energy it was very hot & humid, hadn’t been able to check in to my room so unable to shower & change - so inevitably “did” 2 or 3 of the many churches (they are cooler, quieter & I can sit down). I even sat in on part of the Mass @ Notre-Dame de Quebec Basilica-Cathedral.
After checking in (had had to stop ½ way up the hill for a coffee!!) doing the necessary ablutions & washing clothes etc., I then found that the wi-fi is not available in the room, so that’s a bummer, so don‘t know whether I‘ll be able to insert photos.
Am writing this in bed @ 5am, (oh that was the other thing I forgot to say that I went from the bunk bed in Copenhagen to a 4 poster in Halifax to a double with a bunk over the top here on which I keep banging my head!!) & will at least try to post this text before I leave to go on a boat trip up the St Lawrence I hope to the waterfall etc. & then try to post photos later! Promises, promises I know!!!!!
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