Jen and Dave: Adventuring

2022-Jul-07

Toady was Jen’s last day of meetings, which meant that Dave was on his own again. Jen was able to get to the university by funicular, which went by our hotel and up the hill.

Dave’s day started with a wander around the old town. Having seen a few old towns now, this one looked quite similar: quaint narrow streets, beautiful town squares, and intriguing cafes.

After seeing what there was to see in town, Dave rented an electric scooter and headed up North along the river. The river seems like the place to be on a hot day, with people swimming and floating down sections of it.

After exploring as far as seemed reasonable, Dave headed back to town, meandering through various side streets.

Soon after, Jen was done work for the day and we went to dinner with her colleagues. Dim sum served as tapas, yum.

2022-Jul-06

With Jen in meetings for the day, Dave was off on his own again to explore a new city.

With only a day to experience Copenhagen, Dave decided it would be best to just wander and explore.

Starting at the airport bag drop, and with a lot of ground to cover, Dave got a day pass for electric scooter and bike rentals.

He checked out the local waterfront path, exploring the local beaches.

Coming up on a large curious looking building marked on the map as being something sports related, he found that there was a constant stream of garbage trucks going in and out. On the other side it could be seen that there is a ski run built onto the buildings sloped roof, and climbing wall running up the side. Turns out that this is a waste to energy facility that also serves as a ski hill, climbing wall, and hiking hill. Fantastic multi-purpose infrastructure.

Scooting along some harbor inlets to the old town where there was a scenic row of houses with a row of wooden docked along side.

Next was a walk though the old town to an earthen fort dating to the 17th century. Known as Kastellet, they say it is one of North Europe’s finest and best preserved fortifications, and I believe it. The fort is actually still in use as an active military facility. However the inner roads and rampart paths are open the public to explore.

With time running short, it was now time to think about getting back to the airport, not without first sampling a Danish Big Mac.

With that it was time to say goodbye to our brief visit to Copenhagen and we were off to the next adventure in Zurich.

2022-Jul-05

Today was an early start: 5:45 to catch the bus from the hotel for what would be a long day.

We took the Tube to St Pancras Station, a beautiful train station built in 1868. From there, we took the regional train up to Nottingham. There Jen had several hours of meetings at Nottingham University’s Advanced Manufacturing Department. Dave was lucky enough to get a personal tour of one of the labs and of campus.

After lunch and a brief wrap, we were off again. Back on to the train for Manchester. Along the way, there were some beautiful views of the countryside.

From Manchester it was a quick connection to our flight to Copenhagen, then straight to the hotel and bed. A long day.

Our last day of vacation went out with a bang. The Rolling Stones. Hyde Park. 65,000 fans. Incredible.

It was an afternoon and evening festival, BST Hyde Park, filled with street food, libations, picnic blankets, and many great opening acts. It was a chill vibe, and the weather was perfect – not too hot, not too cold.

The Stones played a two hour set of all their greatest hits. They were awesome. Mick is the only octogenarian we know of who still wears mesh shirts, and he definitely still “moves like Jagger.”

Today was a short day – we slept in late enough we had lunch for breakfast, at a hole in the wall, counter-service, mom and pop kinda place known as a local favourite for fish and chips. The portions were massive – we couldn’t finish it all.

After lunch we took the tube to Covent Garden, then wandered over the bridge to Waterloo. The markets and street food created a vibrancy in the streets, combined with a celebratory feeling for Pride. The number of people in some places, like the Borough Market, was absolutely overwhelming.

We grabbed dinner at a burger place built into an old Tannery Hall, then walked across Tower Bridge to catch a train back to the hotel. Dave exclaimed that “our timing is perfect!” As the bridge stopped traffic right in front of us, so it could be opened for a pair of tall ships. A good day.

Today we headed for Leicester Square station, to check out the theatre district, Covent Garden, and Chinatown. While wandering we found a Chinese bakery that was too tempting to resist, and that became lunch. Dessert was bubble tea from Jen Cafe.

After lunch we headed to the British Museum. It’s a place of mixed feelings, as acquisitions are complicated and not always the way we might hope, but it’s absolutely a place that cares for artifacts and ensures the public has access, at minimum.

After a full afternoon of museum we dipped into a small Italian area for some pasta, before wandering our way to the Duchess Theatre to see “The Play That Goes Wrong.” Wow, unbelievably funny – we couldn’t stop laughing. Really enjoyable. What a great end to a great day.

We ended up sleeping in after the long day yesterday, then taking a slow start. Finally, we made it to Vauxhall and then on board an Uber Boat, which runs up and down the Thames. We took a great, surprisingly quick, trip to Greenwich.

After some rustic pizza, we set off exploring. We walked around and gawked at architecture, then visited Queen’s House very briefly (it was free and had washrooms).

The Royal Observatory was pricy to get into, we had little time, and we just weren’t feeling it, so we used GPS to find the Prime Meridian, and did the photo thing there.

Then we walked the tunnel under the Thames to the Canary Wharf side

Canary Wharf was a world apart. Money. So much money. We did find a very high end mall, and a food court where we had dinner. Korean chicken and rice bowls, with a side of cauliflower. It was absolutely delicious.

We then wandered the newly built section of new money opulence, and continued until the narrow boat basin. After checking out the boats from the walkway, we headed back to the subway and called it a night.

Today was a long day. We woke at 3:00 am in Germany, and checked into our hotel at 10:00 pm in London, with lots of adventures in between.

We started off from our hotel in Munich at 3:30 am on foot, for a twenty minute walk through old town to the S8 train station. We timed it perfectly, and got to the airport with plenty of time to breeze through security and border control, and grab breakfast and a cat nap.

On landing in London we made our way to the local buses, tapping our Oyster cards to get going and find our way to the hotel to drop our bags. That accomplished, we grabbed a bite at McDonald’s – we have to hit every country – before taking the bus and the tube to Hyde Park.

Then adventure picks up. Buckingham Palace was next.

A short walk through a park brought us to Horse Guard Palace.

Then it was a walk beside the Thames.

Next was the Tower of London and Tower Bridge. The gardens were in good form for a bloom festival.

Finally, it was time for Sky Garden, a lovely green space on the 35-37th floors of a glass building. The view was absolutely amazing.

We had snagged a reservation at Darwin’s Brassiere for dinner during golden hour, and mentioned our anniversary. This lead to the best table in the house, and a sweet treat to share. It was an exceptional meal in an unreal location. Cannot recommend it highly enough.

Post dinner was a short walk to the tube, a bus, and checking in. Now for some sleep at the end of an excellent day.

Today was our last day in Munich, and an exciting one – we were going to a Michelin-listed restaurant. Beforehand, we also went to the Königsplatz and looked at the antiquities and sculpture museums.

Königsplatz was only a short walk away. One side has a huge arch, with flanking sides featuring the Staatliche Antikensammlung and the Glyptothek.

We visited the Stastliche Antikensammlung first. It was originally built by King Ludwig I and it features Ancient Greek and Ancient Roman antiquities – pottery, jewelry, armour, figurines.

The Glyptothek, on the other hand, featured marble (for the most part) human sculptures and busts.

Then came packing and getting dressed up before heading to Pfistermühle. We had the six course tasting menu, with Dave selecting the vegetarian version. It was delicious, and a lovely dining experience.