Travel Stories

Recently, I posted some travel stories on (http://www.exchangetravelstories.com/) about the Scandanavian tour I took with Globus in August/September 2007. I don't care for the standard sales pitch Globus puts on their tours. I want to know what people thought was good about a tour and what they thought stunk. I feel this is more honest and enables me to make a more informed decision on whether to do a particular tour with Globus or not. This is what I tried to do with my stories. They aren't sugar coated sales pitches for the tours. I try through descriptive words to give some idea of what some of the experiences were like. An example would be the 2 hour cruise we did on the Sognefjord. The quiet peaceful waters and pictureque small tours with vast mountains in the background. The numerous beautiful waterfalls spilling water into the majestic fjord. The stories we were told of people living to old age in those towns and claiming it was the water. The farm we got to see that was over 80 feet up! The group of 45 strangers that in 2 weeks time became 45 friends and shared incredible experiences. These are some of things that my stories told about.

Apparently, Globus liked my stories. Out of the 7 that I submitted, 6 were rated as High Quality. I think that's pretty neat. Now, I wish they would create a webpage for Denmark so I can finish telling of my Scandanavian adventure. There are stories to tell of Denmark such as the mad cyclists in Copenhagen and how Copenhagen got its canals. There the story of how we ended up polishing the floors in Christiansborg (Christian's Palace). Also, there is the story of how we happily contributed to the Danish arts and sciences. Yes, I gladly helped by savoring a good many pints of Carlsberg beer.

As I said in the end of my Oslo story, I'm looking forward to writing further stories for Globus's website. France should be nice and Egypt should be awesome. For those of you who don't care to check out Globus's website, stay tuned to this blog site and read of my further adventures and mis-adventures. Cheers all!

Beer Review - Elephant Beer

I tried some of Carlsberg's Elephant Beer today. I decided to buy a six-pack of it in memory of my trip to Denmark, Sweden and Norway. I bought it at the Corridor Wine Store on Maryland Route 198 in Laurel, Maryland. The beer is a pilsner/lager. I found it had the standard lager taste to it. One thing that is different about the beer is its alcohol content. The beer packs a 7.2% alcohol content which makes it a potent beer. While the taste of the beer isn't very alcoholish, after a couple of these brews, you will feel the higher alcohol content. I know I did.

Price wise, a six-pack will cost you XXXX at Corridor which I think is pretty reasonable considering they have to import it from Denmark where it is brewed. The beer comes in 11 ounce bottles. Further information on the beer can be found at the Carlsberg website: http://www.carlsberggroup.com/ under brands. Cheers!

Update - December 24, 2012

Two changes to this post:

1st, Corridor Wine Store has changed its name to Total Wine & More. It's still located at Corridor Marketplace on Maryland Route 198 just past the Maryland 295 exit heading toward Laurel.

2nd, a 6-pack of 11 ounce bottles of Elephant beer will cost you $8.99 which isn't bad. It's only gone up a dollar in 5 years.

Little Mermaid Statue

This is one of the pictures I took of the famous little mermaid statue in Copenhagen. Because the sun was behind the statue, the front of the picture came in very dark. I had to use my photo tool so I could change the background and increase the light in the picture so you could see the front of the mermaid.

Concerning the statue, I learned a couple things. First, I was surprised how close to shore the statue is. You can actually step from the shore to the statue's base if you wanted to. I thought it was further out in the harbor. Second, sickos have three times mutilated the statue. Twice the statue's head was cut off. In order to prevent the head from being cut off again, authorities poured concrete inside the statue's head making it impossible for them to ever do it again. I thought it really sad that they had to do that in the first place. Lastly, as you can see, it is a very beautiful statue. It is one of the sights I'd recommend seeing in Copenhagen if you can ever visit there.

Tour Update

I've arrived in Gothenburg, Sweden today. We took a ferry from Fredericshavn, Denmark. The ferry crossing was uneventful. Harvey and I explored the ferry and there wasn't anything exciting. After we arrived and got back on the bus, Arvid our guide, took us up a hill where we could see all of Gothenburg Harbor and the city. It was an impressive view. I took a few pictures. Then, we drove around the city a little before arriving at our hotel. The Scandic Europa is all right. After I dropped off my bag in my room, I headed for the Gothenburg Hard Rock Cafe where I bought t-shirts for my sister and I. There are only 2 more cafes on my list: Stockholm and Oslo.

Now, I'd like to catch you up on everything else that has happened. Yesterday, it was time to depart Copenhagen. We pulled out around 8 a.m. and drove to Odense. Odense is the birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson. We visited his home/museum. It was very nice. I was particularly struck by all the hardships Anderson suffered in his life. He showed incredible perseverance.

After Anderson's home, we headed to Arhus where we visited Den Gamle By. Den Gamle By houses a number of old Danish buildings from the 16th to early 20th century. I found the old buildings fascinating. We had an hour and a half to explore and I wish we'd stayed longer. It is definitely worth visiting.

It was time to head to our hotel. We stayed at the SAS Radisson. According to Arvid, it is the best of the hotels we'll stay in. My impression was it is a superb hotel. I wish we had stayed in something like it in Copenhagen. At 7 p.m., we had a group dinner though dinner doesn't do it justice. It was more of a feast. If you didn't leave stuffed, it was because you didn't want to. The dinner was outstanding. The next morning, I cut back on breakfast because of the dinner the night before.

That's all to report. Tomorrow morning, we depart for Stockholm. It'll be a bit of a long drive, over 300 miles. Still, we'll get to see lots of Swedish countryside. Stay tuned for further updates. Cheers!

Arhus Update

I have to make this quick as the internet connection at the Arhus SAS Hotel costs 40 cents a minute. Serious ouch!

We had our first group meeting Monday evening. I found out we have 43 in our group. We had 44 but the next day, Sherry Jensen fell at Christianborg and broke both her elbows. I felt terribly sorry for this lady. To come all this way and to have an accident just when the tour begins that forces her to return home. What a serious bummer!

Tuesday, we did a city tour of Copenhagen with a local guide. She did a great job. We had a break in which Harvey and I caught a boat tour of the canals. It ended up being really nice. It was fascinating to go through them. I thought they looked a lot nicer though not as old as Amsterdam's.

In the afternoon, I took the optional tour that took us to Fredericsborg, once a royal palace. It was very impressive. After that, we visited Fredensborg which is the Danish royal families summer residence. We got to see the outside and it was nice. Last, we visited Elsinore Castle, the setting for Shakespeare's Hamlet. The ramparts were VERY big and VERY impressive. I wish we could've seen the inside of it but, we didn't have the time.

Last, everyone received a ticket to the Tivoli Gardens which is a very famous amusment park. I found it all right and pricey. It turned out all the ticket did was allow us in so we could spend more money at the restaurants and on the rides. I rode some of the rides which was fun. I haven't done that in years. Around 9 p.m., I called it a day as we had to get up early this morning for our trip to Hans Christian Anderson's home. I'll talk about that in my next post. Cheers all!

Arrived

I arrived safely in Copenhagen this morning. My flight on Continental was uneventful. I did think the seats were smaller than usual in economy. Also, the breakfast they served us was totally pathetic. We received one hot croissant and a small bowl of pealed orange slices. I also thought their beer was expensive. It cost $5 for a can of either Foster's, Heineken, Miller's or Miller's Lite. I'm not looking forward to flying back with them when the tour is over.

Danish immigration and customs was very easy to my relief. To my annoyance, our tour guide didn't show up till 10 a.m. It would've been nice if he had been there to meet us.

The hotel (First Vesterbro on Vesterbrogade) I'm staying appears to be good. It's just down the street from the Tivoli Gardens. After I checked in, Harvey and I went exploring. We managed to find the Hard Rock Cafe to my delight. I bought my sister her promised Hard Rock Cafe t-shirt. After that, we went to a pizza place that had an all you can eat pizza and salad bar. For the money, it was a good deal. It cost $11 approximately (55 Danish Kronor), and had decent pizza. The salad bar was all right too. After our pizza lunch, we explored down the other end of Vesterbrogade. I was very surprised by how many 7-11 stores they have here. I had no idea they were that popular here. We also visited a Danish supermarket. It was interesting. I couldn't tell you what a number of the items were. I was astonished to find a post office inside the supermarket. I plan to go back there when I want to mail some postcards.

Tonight, the entire group will meet for the first time. Members of the group will be arriving throughout the day. I'm curious to find out how many are in our group. I heard from Joel Mills that the tour was totally booked up but, I have no idea what that means in terms of numbers. Tomorrow, the tour will begin in earnest at 8:30 a.m. when we do a tour of the city. It should be interesting. That's all for now. Stay tuned for further updates. Cheers all!