Our next adventure was to take a number of trains and transverse the long way around to Denmark. Copenhagen is pretty much directly north of Berlin and there is a ferry, however train is sill the more efficient option. A pre booked taxi was waiting for us and got us to the station with enough time for a coffee.
Part 1 was to head west to Hamburg. 1 stop on the outer suburbs of Berlin and then express all the way to the second largest city in Germany. The same type of train as the Paris-Berlin stretch. We didn't have seat reservations, be it need't matter, as there weren't too many people. The train did have to slow for a few kms along the way and there was a slight moment of worry, as our change over at the next station was only 20 minutes. All good though, we were soon on our way again and the driver advised we only had a 12 minute delay.
It was all really too easy. Our ticket clearly listed each leg, the arrival and departure times as well as platform numbers. We arrived in Hamburg, walked across the platform and our next train to Frederica was waiting for us. This train was a little different, a Danish train. Each carriage had 8 berths of 4 seats, 4 berths on each side, all with a table. We had reserved seats, both on the aisle, one facing in either direction. Steph was facing forwards and our berth was at the end of the carriage, and she could see out the windows on both sides, great views of the passing countryside. Bevan took the opportunity for a little nap early in this leg. Steph tapped away on the iPad, listened to an audiobook and also had a little nap. We had our packed lunch (left over pizza from the the night before) and it was interesting to look at what everyone else unwrapped for their packed lunch.
We had our fingers and toes crossed for no delays on this train, as out next change over only allowed 8 minutes. Not a problem - off the train with our backpacks already on, change of platform and again the train to Copenhagen was there waiting for us. It was the same design as the previous train and we didn't have reserved seats. Nothing was free so we took the fold out seats in the area between the carriages. They were comfortable enough, there was still a window and it was only a 90 minute trip. On this stretch the train flew across the Great Belt Bridge, which links the islands Zealand and Funen, and the small island of Spogo in the middle. The suspension bridge between Zealand and Sprogo (East Bridge) has the third largest span in the world at 1.6km and is the largest outside of Asia.
Our little seats were near the toilets, which meant people saw us and stopped to chat when coming to use the facilities. One guy must have gone back to his seats and told his friends about us, because a few minutes later we were greeted with 'You're the Australian's!' First impressions, the Danes are super friendly happy people and all speak English! I think we're going to like it here :-)
