Today we woke up even earlier than the day before, so we are slowly adjusting to the time zone. Our plan was to take a trip to Kronborg, a renaissance castle and fortress. Although we left earlier, we had to take the train again, which was a bit of a longer ride, so we ended up arriving shortly before 3. A lot of the time, we have to walk from the train station to the place we're visiting, which can take about ~20-30 mins. We only had 2 hours to tour the castle, but we decided that we would go through each section quickly.
This castle is famous because it is the setting for William Shakespeare's Hamlet. First we visited the main part of the castle which had displays of what the castle looked like when royalty used to live there. There were lots of paintings and tapestry, which I found smelly. The difficulty with old artifacts is that you cannot wash them as it might deterriorate and what ends up happening is that over the years, they beging to smell musky and damp. We learned that a lot of oriental ornaments such as porcelain, china, and oriental style dressers/wardrobes were considered as valuables by the wealthy.
The next part of the castle we visted was the Danish Maritime Museum, which had lots of info on the history of Danish shipping. This country is really into shipping, we always see tons of sail boats and ships out in the sea. Half way through the Maritime museum, we were supposed to go up the telegraph tower, where you can look out from the top of the castle. The view was spectacular as there was amost a 360 degree view of the sea. The first time we went through the museum, we totally missed the stairwell into the tower, so we had to go back to the begining and find the stairwell again. It was a long climb to the top and because I am so out of shape, I ran out of breath really quickly!
After the maritime museum, we only had about 8 minutes to see the casemates, which is undeneath the castle and an undergroundd network of corridors and rooms that served as solider quarters during times of war. Although there was virtually no windows and quite a gloomy place, Jenning and I wished we had more time to explore it. It was really hard to see anything and as we were making our way through the corridors, the guide was literally putting out the lights behind us!
We were the last tourists in the castle, so once we left, they locked the doors. Jenning and I decided to explore the outer perimiter of the castle a bit and there was a nice little rocky beach where locals were fishing. We decided to sit on a rock and eat the sandwhiches we made earlier. It took us about ~30 mins to walk back to the train station. We decided to treat G out for dinner tonight. We ended up going to have Shawerma, which was pretty good. Everything here is super expensive. One Shawerma without a drink costs about 35 DK, which is around ~$7 CAD, and this is considered cheap here. A bottle of water is about $4! Now I know why people here look pretty healthy. They walk and bike a lot and since food is expensive, they don't gorge on food like North Americans.
G started doing a 30 minute work out with Jenning and I on Monday. Jenning and I are hoping that all the walking and biking will help us get a little healthier.
Thursday, September 11, 2008
Viking Museum
On Wednesday, we woke up just a tad bit earlier than the day before. Our plan for the day was to visit the Viking Museum in Roskilde, which is an ancient Danish capital, used by vikings as a route to the sea.
We had to take a train to the city, which was half an hour away. We bought 2 day passes and it took us a little while to figure out which train to go on. Because we are familiar with the transit system back home, I think it made it easy for us to figure out the train system in Copenhagen. We were also not afraid to ask people questions, which helps a lot.
The museum was quite interesting as they had displays of 5 viking ships that were excavated over the last 50 years. It was very interesting to see how they brougth the ships to surface and preserved what they could find. They have also re-built replicas of some of the ships and we watched a video about a group of Danes who basically sailed these viking ships around Europe last year. It is definately not for people who easily get sea sick. Last year, when Jenning came, he wasn't able to go on the viking boat tour cuz there were a whole bunch of boy scouts in town and the tours were booked. This year, we found out that we couldn't take the ship tour cuz they only have it in the summer months (they need about 8 strong people to row the ship, and there were only about 2 hands full of people at the museum).
When we finally got on the train back to G&K's place, I was looking for my train ticket cuz G had told us that it is similar to the GO train where attendants may randomly check for your tickets. After searching every pocket of my purse, I quickly realized that my ticket was missing, I have no idea what happended to it cuz I was carrying all of our things and was constantly taking items in and out of my purse. Jenning was a little annoyed cuz I was telling him about pick-pocketers and I was the one who ended up losing my ticket! He told me that I would have to talk my way out of the situation, so I said ok, I'm not gonna worry about it until an attendant shows up. Next thing you know, we're being checked for our ticket! When the lady came by, I had a worried expression on my face and said, "I think I'm gonna be in trouble, I can't find my ticket". She replied and said something like, "Oh, don't worry, I'm not gonna hang you for not having a ticket, it's ok, just keep checking your purse to see if you can find it and I will come back". I kept searching for it for the third time and couldn't find it. After a few minutes, the lady walked past us and a passenger across from us gave us a don't worry look, flicked his wrist and whispered, "I don't think she's coming back"! I was really luckly that we totally looked like tourists cuz apprently the fine is 600Dk for not having a ticket, which is about $120 CAD. Thank God the lady was so nice! Jenning and I have agreed that I should let him keep both of our tickets from now on.
We had to take a train to the city, which was half an hour away. We bought 2 day passes and it took us a little while to figure out which train to go on. Because we are familiar with the transit system back home, I think it made it easy for us to figure out the train system in Copenhagen. We were also not afraid to ask people questions, which helps a lot.
The museum was quite interesting as they had displays of 5 viking ships that were excavated over the last 50 years. It was very interesting to see how they brougth the ships to surface and preserved what they could find. They have also re-built replicas of some of the ships and we watched a video about a group of Danes who basically sailed these viking ships around Europe last year. It is definately not for people who easily get sea sick. Last year, when Jenning came, he wasn't able to go on the viking boat tour cuz there were a whole bunch of boy scouts in town and the tours were booked. This year, we found out that we couldn't take the ship tour cuz they only have it in the summer months (they need about 8 strong people to row the ship, and there were only about 2 hands full of people at the museum).
When we finally got on the train back to G&K's place, I was looking for my train ticket cuz G had told us that it is similar to the GO train where attendants may randomly check for your tickets. After searching every pocket of my purse, I quickly realized that my ticket was missing, I have no idea what happended to it cuz I was carrying all of our things and was constantly taking items in and out of my purse. Jenning was a little annoyed cuz I was telling him about pick-pocketers and I was the one who ended up losing my ticket! He told me that I would have to talk my way out of the situation, so I said ok, I'm not gonna worry about it until an attendant shows up. Next thing you know, we're being checked for our ticket! When the lady came by, I had a worried expression on my face and said, "I think I'm gonna be in trouble, I can't find my ticket". She replied and said something like, "Oh, don't worry, I'm not gonna hang you for not having a ticket, it's ok, just keep checking your purse to see if you can find it and I will come back". I kept searching for it for the third time and couldn't find it. After a few minutes, the lady walked past us and a passenger across from us gave us a don't worry look, flicked his wrist and whispered, "I don't think she's coming back"! I was really luckly that we totally looked like tourists cuz apprently the fine is 600Dk for not having a ticket, which is about $120 CAD. Thank God the lady was so nice! Jenning and I have agreed that I should let him keep both of our tickets from now on.
Deer Haven
On Tuesday, we had excellent weather, so the plan was to bike to Deer Haven. Although we woke up a little bit earlier than the day before, we didn't really have to worry about time so much cuz the park wasn't going to close at 5.
Deer Haven is a park that use to belong to the Royal family and they use to hunt deers on their little holidays. It took almost 2 hours to cycle there and although I had the best bike, my ischial tuberosities (bony promineces of the butt) were really getting sore! It took us almost 2 hours to get there cuz we had to take breaks. The path was really beautiful since we were riding right next to the sea. Jenning was advising me to put my weight through my legs, instead of through the butt, but it was too late, cuz I did not have enough strength to put all my weight through my legs after a while.
When we went through the park entrance, we immediately saw a herd of deers, so Jenning went up to them and took some pictures. There was also a male deer that was making some kind of a call and I didn't feel too comfortable with getting close to it so we cycled on. We went on a path that led us to a huge house that was apprently where the gardener of the park used to live (I am not so sure about this cuz the house was pretty nice for a gardener!). This house was on a hill and you could see a lot of the park and the sea from it.
I had requested that we take a train back to G&K's place and when we got to the station, they only took coins and their credit cards requried pin numbers, which most North American cards do not have currently. I sucked it up and told Jenning that I would just cycle back, which I am glad I did cuz we got to see other parts of the city as we took a different route. Jenning even suggested for us to take an ice-cream break, which I think was his way of rewarding/encouraging me. I felt so tired after our bike trip that I wasn't able to do much else that evening.
Deer Haven is a park that use to belong to the Royal family and they use to hunt deers on their little holidays. It took almost 2 hours to cycle there and although I had the best bike, my ischial tuberosities (bony promineces of the butt) were really getting sore! It took us almost 2 hours to get there cuz we had to take breaks. The path was really beautiful since we were riding right next to the sea. Jenning was advising me to put my weight through my legs, instead of through the butt, but it was too late, cuz I did not have enough strength to put all my weight through my legs after a while.
When we went through the park entrance, we immediately saw a herd of deers, so Jenning went up to them and took some pictures. There was also a male deer that was making some kind of a call and I didn't feel too comfortable with getting close to it so we cycled on. We went on a path that led us to a huge house that was apprently where the gardener of the park used to live (I am not so sure about this cuz the house was pretty nice for a gardener!). This house was on a hill and you could see a lot of the park and the sea from it.
I had requested that we take a train back to G&K's place and when we got to the station, they only took coins and their credit cards requried pin numbers, which most North American cards do not have currently. I sucked it up and told Jenning that I would just cycle back, which I am glad I did cuz we got to see other parts of the city as we took a different route. Jenning even suggested for us to take an ice-cream break, which I think was his way of rewarding/encouraging me. I felt so tired after our bike trip that I wasn't able to do much else that evening.
Rundetarn (Round Tower)
On Monday, we woke up at 2 pm, so there was very little time to see anything since most places close at 5 pm! Our plan was to go on the canal tour and visit the Round tower, but since we only had 3 hours to explore, we had to prioritize.
We are trying to not over-spend during this trip, so we needed to go to the grocery store to figure out what to cook for some of our meals. Jenning also wanted to send some postcards, so we thought we should go to the store and post office first, since they were going to close at 5. We spent about an hour running errands and then decided to go to the canal tour. When we got to the canal, we found out that we just missed the last tour of the day, so that plan didn't work out.
We decided to check out the Round tower, a building that is attached to a church, and which was used as an observatory by the university many years ago. We had to go up spiral ramps until we got to the very top, where we got to see a lot of the city. The tower also had a couple of little museums displaying art work from Nordic artists and one with artifacts such as compasses, telescopes etc. For most of the time, it seemed like we were the only people in the tower, but after we reached the top, a few group of kids showed up, it seemed to be a popular hang out spot for them! We decided to leave once more kids started showing up.
We are trying to not over-spend during this trip, so we needed to go to the grocery store to figure out what to cook for some of our meals. Jenning also wanted to send some postcards, so we thought we should go to the store and post office first, since they were going to close at 5. We spent about an hour running errands and then decided to go to the canal tour. When we got to the canal, we found out that we just missed the last tour of the day, so that plan didn't work out.
We decided to check out the Round tower, a building that is attached to a church, and which was used as an observatory by the university many years ago. We had to go up spiral ramps until we got to the very top, where we got to see a lot of the city. The tower also had a couple of little museums displaying art work from Nordic artists and one with artifacts such as compasses, telescopes etc. For most of the time, it seemed like we were the only people in the tower, but after we reached the top, a few group of kids showed up, it seemed to be a popular hang out spot for them! We decided to leave once more kids started showing up.
The Little Mermaid
I did not end up getting any sleep on the first night since I was jet-lagged. So, I basically laid in bed until everyone else woke up. On our first full day in Copenhagen, G&K (Jenning's sister and bro-in-law) took us out for brunch at Cafe Norden. There was quite a bit of food from what we ordered. Our order came with Danish Rye bread and regular bread, which I could not finish. There was also some ham and bacon, which I found a little salty. Our meal came with some tasty cheese & fruits (I can't seem to remember what else I ate cuz I was half asleep). We got to meet a few of their friends from work, who were mostly from the US/Canada.
After the brunch, G&K took us for a walk around their neighbourhood. They live in a pretty convenient area right in the "downtown" part of Copenhagen. The area is 'pedestrianized', so you hardly see cars in the walking streets. Afterwards, we headed back to their place cuz K had to catch a flight to Hong Kong for work. After K left, G took us bicycle riding. We saw the Little Mermaid statue, which is really little, and passed by the queen's palace, the harbour and some museums. The city is very clean and pretty, all the bulidings look like they have a lot of character. The bike ride was just what I needed to help me stay awake so that I could adjust to the time zone better.
That night, Jenning and I made an itinerary for the rest of the week. G&K also have lots of DVDs, so Jenning and I have been staying up to watch movies almost every night.
After the brunch, G&K took us for a walk around their neighbourhood. They live in a pretty convenient area right in the "downtown" part of Copenhagen. The area is 'pedestrianized', so you hardly see cars in the walking streets. Afterwards, we headed back to their place cuz K had to catch a flight to Hong Kong for work. After K left, G took us bicycle riding. We saw the Little Mermaid statue, which is really little, and passed by the queen's palace, the harbour and some museums. The city is very clean and pretty, all the bulidings look like they have a lot of character. The bike ride was just what I needed to help me stay awake so that I could adjust to the time zone better.
That night, Jenning and I made an itinerary for the rest of the week. G&K also have lots of DVDs, so Jenning and I have been staying up to watch movies almost every night.
Saturday, September 6, 2008
Journey to Copenhagen, Denmark
A couple of months ago, I was wrapping up in school and Jenning and I felt like going on a vacation. I finished my last placement on August 22/08 and the plan was to take a holiday sometime in September, so that I could study for my National exams all of October. At first, we were thinking of going on a crusie in the Caribbean [*for some reason, my brain thinks it's spelled Car-rib-ean?-- just googled and I was wrong!]) , but as we searched for deals on the days we were available, there weren't many. Most of the cheaper packages were during hurricane season, so we decided to ditch that idea.
Jenning was telling me that his sister G & brother-in-law K, who are currently living and working in Copenhagen, Denmark, were only going to be here for one more year, so we should take advantage of this. Since I just finished my studies, and could only go on holiday with a budget, I thought this was a good idea. I have been to Sweden [which is just north of Denmark] a couple of times and really enjoyed the slower pace of life. The both of us were interested in going on a relaxing vacation, so we decided that two weeks in Denmark would be relaxing.
G&K were asking us if we were planning on going anywhere else in Europe, we said that we'd be interested, only if there were deals. K found a roundtrip airfare deal to Paris for only $80 [taxes included], which we were excited about, so G emailed and told us to look for hotel deals. We spent about a week searching for deals and quickly realized that hotels in Paris are uber expensive (decent hotels avgeraging over $200/night!). Then after all the searching, G emailed back and told us that all the seats had jumped to over $300/person, so we scrapped that idea.
Jenning and I have not created an itinerary for this trip and decided that we would just wing it. So, we have no idea what we will be doing in the next 2 weeks, but we do know that we want to go out everyday and explore as much as possible. We also have a goal of doing a lot of walking and cycling. Copenhagen is one of the world's most friendly cycling cities, I think almost all the roads have bike only lanes, which will make our goal easier to achieve. Also, G&K do not have a car, which is good, because that means we have to walk to get around.
Our journey began on Friday, September 5th. Jenning had to work a half day, so I ended up spending that time packing our bags. G&K had asked us to bring crappy lugggages so that we could chuck it out when we arrived and they would send us back to Canada with nicer luggages which we would give to family on behalf of G&K. We searched for crappy luggages, but no one had any, so we decided on using duffle bags. Luckily, I found one in my parents' basement and Jenning already had one of his own. I managed to cram two weeks worth of clothing for the both of us into one bag and the other was used to store gifts of G&K. Jenning's parents came early and we took them out for dinner. We ended up eating Indian, which they enjoyed, and they dropped us off at the airport.
Jenning had printed our boarding passes at work and realized that our seats were not together (mine was infront of his). We went into the check in counter and the lady told us that we had to go to the gates to ask to switch seats. When we got to the gates, another lady told us to return to the gates 1 hour before departure to switch. K had given us some Air Canada lounge passes, so we went around looking for this lounge. I took us almost ~1o mins but we finally found it. The lounge was really nice and relaxing. The perks included a lot of complimentry food & drinks [including alcohol, but since the both of us don't really drink this wasn't much a perk for us, however, we really enjoyed their finest, Minute Maid Cranberry cocktail!]. The lounge also had shower facilities, business centers where you could use computer/internet/printers, quite areas for sleeping, and tons of magazines. I browsed the shelves for a bit and ended up taking 6 complimentry magazines for the both of us, since we would probably have lots of time to read during the trip.
The flight was not very eventful [thank God] compared to the trip to India. I brought a neck pillow, which was such a very good idea [I find the airplane seats to be not very accomodating for those like myself, who are vertically challenged], for the first time, I was able to sleep for a few hours at a time on the plane [there was also no crying babies this time!]. We all had our own t.v. and were able to select whatever movies we wanted to watch. We watched Just for Laughs, which was hilarious. We started watching Kung-Fu Panda, but only saw less than 30 mins of it cuz the plane was going to land [It was pretty funny, so I need to remember to rent this when we return home]. We had a stop-over in Frankfurt, Germany for 2 hours. The security there was much more strict than Pearson. The little metal button on my pants set of their alarms, but never set off anything in Pearson. Also, I forgot to take out a second bottle of water which was left over from my first flight so that got thrown out. They also opened Jenning's bag cuz they saw funny squares. Jenning told the lady that they were moon-cakes and she read the box and said "Muun-cakes Ah!" and let us go. I think she had no idea what it was but she seemed interested. Our flight to Copenhagen was less than an hour and the plane was not full. All I remember is that we ate a lot on both flights. When we arrived in Copenhagen airport, we went to pick up our bags. It took a long time for the first bag to come out. We waited for ~10 mins and started to think that the 2nd bag [with our clothes] was not coming [I learned to pack a few days of extra clothes in our carry-on, so I was not worried too much if our bag was in fact missing], but since we saw a bunch of other still standing by the luggage belt, we were sure that one more load was coming and it eventually did arrive. The airport was quite busy when we arrived and there weren't any more luggage carts available, so we had to carry the duffle bags on our shoulders. We met G at the arrivals gate and she helped me carry one bag. We took the metro from the airport to their part of the city and the walk to their apartment was not too far.
K met us just as we walked through the front entrance. Surprisingly, I was not too tired and a little bit hungry! G said that she stocked the fridge and that we were going to make Pad-Thai for dinner. The first thing we did was open the gift luggage and gave them all the gifts, we got G 2 pairs of New-balance running shoes which she fit! She told us that her old running shoes were over 2 years old and worn down, so she immediately threw them in the garbage. I went to take a shower after this and once I was done, I helped G&K cut a bunch of ingredients for the Pad-Thai, we finished cooking really fast and had dinner. Jenning had brought hot choclate from Soma, and G selectd the nutty flavoured one, which was very delicious, I thought it was like a mousse [google says I spelled this correctly!]. G had also bought an almond cake, which was pretty delicious and light. I am really looking forward to tasting the famous Danish pastries in the next few weeks. I also have a mission to buy over 10 boxes of Mozart choclates for my family/friends. After dinner, I was supposed to go and unpack our luggages, but when I saw a bed, I said I just need to lie down for a bit and ended up sleeping for ~4 hours. I ended up waking up at around midnight and had trouble falling back asleep. I decided to start blogging to help empty all the thoughts on my mind so that I could fall back asleep. That's why this blog is super long now.
Anyways, the day before we arrived, K emailed and told us that he has to go on an emergency work trip to Hong Kong for 2 days. When we arrived, he told us that he will actually be gone for ~4 days but will return before the weekend. K also told us that he just found out that his company gets discounts on flights, but wherever we go, he has to come with us for the discount to apply. G mentioned Paris again, so we'll have to do some planning in the next couple of days. I found a hotel deal on TravelZoo and will have to see if there are rooms still available next weekend. I hope my mind is relaxed enough now for me to fall back asleep!
Jenning was telling me that his sister G & brother-in-law K, who are currently living and working in Copenhagen, Denmark, were only going to be here for one more year, so we should take advantage of this. Since I just finished my studies, and could only go on holiday with a budget, I thought this was a good idea. I have been to Sweden [which is just north of Denmark] a couple of times and really enjoyed the slower pace of life. The both of us were interested in going on a relaxing vacation, so we decided that two weeks in Denmark would be relaxing.
G&K were asking us if we were planning on going anywhere else in Europe, we said that we'd be interested, only if there were deals. K found a roundtrip airfare deal to Paris for only $80 [taxes included], which we were excited about, so G emailed and told us to look for hotel deals. We spent about a week searching for deals and quickly realized that hotels in Paris are uber expensive (decent hotels avgeraging over $200/night!). Then after all the searching, G emailed back and told us that all the seats had jumped to over $300/person, so we scrapped that idea.
Jenning and I have not created an itinerary for this trip and decided that we would just wing it. So, we have no idea what we will be doing in the next 2 weeks, but we do know that we want to go out everyday and explore as much as possible. We also have a goal of doing a lot of walking and cycling. Copenhagen is one of the world's most friendly cycling cities, I think almost all the roads have bike only lanes, which will make our goal easier to achieve. Also, G&K do not have a car, which is good, because that means we have to walk to get around.
Our journey began on Friday, September 5th. Jenning had to work a half day, so I ended up spending that time packing our bags. G&K had asked us to bring crappy lugggages so that we could chuck it out when we arrived and they would send us back to Canada with nicer luggages which we would give to family on behalf of G&K. We searched for crappy luggages, but no one had any, so we decided on using duffle bags. Luckily, I found one in my parents' basement and Jenning already had one of his own. I managed to cram two weeks worth of clothing for the both of us into one bag and the other was used to store gifts of G&K. Jenning's parents came early and we took them out for dinner. We ended up eating Indian, which they enjoyed, and they dropped us off at the airport.
Jenning had printed our boarding passes at work and realized that our seats were not together (mine was infront of his). We went into the check in counter and the lady told us that we had to go to the gates to ask to switch seats. When we got to the gates, another lady told us to return to the gates 1 hour before departure to switch. K had given us some Air Canada lounge passes, so we went around looking for this lounge. I took us almost ~1o mins but we finally found it. The lounge was really nice and relaxing. The perks included a lot of complimentry food & drinks [including alcohol, but since the both of us don't really drink this wasn't much a perk for us, however, we really enjoyed their finest, Minute Maid Cranberry cocktail!]. The lounge also had shower facilities, business centers where you could use computer/internet/printers, quite areas for sleeping, and tons of magazines. I browsed the shelves for a bit and ended up taking 6 complimentry magazines for the both of us, since we would probably have lots of time to read during the trip.
The flight was not very eventful [thank God] compared to the trip to India. I brought a neck pillow, which was such a very good idea [I find the airplane seats to be not very accomodating for those like myself, who are vertically challenged], for the first time, I was able to sleep for a few hours at a time on the plane [there was also no crying babies this time!]. We all had our own t.v. and were able to select whatever movies we wanted to watch. We watched Just for Laughs, which was hilarious. We started watching Kung-Fu Panda, but only saw less than 30 mins of it cuz the plane was going to land [It was pretty funny, so I need to remember to rent this when we return home]. We had a stop-over in Frankfurt, Germany for 2 hours. The security there was much more strict than Pearson. The little metal button on my pants set of their alarms, but never set off anything in Pearson. Also, I forgot to take out a second bottle of water which was left over from my first flight so that got thrown out. They also opened Jenning's bag cuz they saw funny squares. Jenning told the lady that they were moon-cakes and she read the box and said "Muun-cakes Ah!" and let us go. I think she had no idea what it was but she seemed interested. Our flight to Copenhagen was less than an hour and the plane was not full. All I remember is that we ate a lot on both flights. When we arrived in Copenhagen airport, we went to pick up our bags. It took a long time for the first bag to come out. We waited for ~10 mins and started to think that the 2nd bag [with our clothes] was not coming [I learned to pack a few days of extra clothes in our carry-on, so I was not worried too much if our bag was in fact missing], but since we saw a bunch of other still standing by the luggage belt, we were sure that one more load was coming and it eventually did arrive. The airport was quite busy when we arrived and there weren't any more luggage carts available, so we had to carry the duffle bags on our shoulders. We met G at the arrivals gate and she helped me carry one bag. We took the metro from the airport to their part of the city and the walk to their apartment was not too far.
K met us just as we walked through the front entrance. Surprisingly, I was not too tired and a little bit hungry! G said that she stocked the fridge and that we were going to make Pad-Thai for dinner. The first thing we did was open the gift luggage and gave them all the gifts, we got G 2 pairs of New-balance running shoes which she fit! She told us that her old running shoes were over 2 years old and worn down, so she immediately threw them in the garbage. I went to take a shower after this and once I was done, I helped G&K cut a bunch of ingredients for the Pad-Thai, we finished cooking really fast and had dinner. Jenning had brought hot choclate from Soma, and G selectd the nutty flavoured one, which was very delicious, I thought it was like a mousse [google says I spelled this correctly!]. G had also bought an almond cake, which was pretty delicious and light. I am really looking forward to tasting the famous Danish pastries in the next few weeks. I also have a mission to buy over 10 boxes of Mozart choclates for my family/friends. After dinner, I was supposed to go and unpack our luggages, but when I saw a bed, I said I just need to lie down for a bit and ended up sleeping for ~4 hours. I ended up waking up at around midnight and had trouble falling back asleep. I decided to start blogging to help empty all the thoughts on my mind so that I could fall back asleep. That's why this blog is super long now.
Anyways, the day before we arrived, K emailed and told us that he has to go on an emergency work trip to Hong Kong for 2 days. When we arrived, he told us that he will actually be gone for ~4 days but will return before the weekend. K also told us that he just found out that his company gets discounts on flights, but wherever we go, he has to come with us for the discount to apply. G mentioned Paris again, so we'll have to do some planning in the next couple of days. I found a hotel deal on TravelZoo and will have to see if there are rooms still available next weekend. I hope my mind is relaxed enough now for me to fall back asleep!
Tuesday, November 6, 2007
Journey to Vellore, India
I've been wanting to blog since the first day I got to India, but since I have had virtually no access to the internet until a couple of days ago, I have a lot of memory recall to do! I'm gonna start from Friday, October 26th, our departure date.
October 26th, 2007: Depareture Date
Unfortunately, the trip started on a negative note. The first part of my blog will sound negtive, cuz it was, but it gets more positive (I promise). We had learned a few days before our departure date that Air France (our carrier) might be going on strike on October 25th. My sister Pauline (my sister and our travel agent) tried to protect us by booking tickets on another carrier when she heard the news, but Air France would not allow her to do so because the strike was not confirmed! So, of course we found out our flight was cancelled on the morning of the flight. Pauline called Air France and they re-routed us on a flight to Montreal through Air Canada, then from Montreal to Paris via Air France, and from Paris to Chennai via Air France.When we got to Pearson early to avoid the 'crowd', no one from Air France was at the counter until later, and they made the four of us (Elizabeth, Megan, Karima, and I) wait even longer by serving single customers first (what the heck huh?). After a while, we got quite annoyed and a couple of us stood in front of her just to give her the message that we were there! Finally, the Air France person said that she was looking for another carrier cuz she didn't want to take a chance by sending us to Paris and that flight getting cancelled and having us stuck there. We ended up on Lufthansa. We had to fly to Frankfurt, Germany (~6 hours), then wait ~4 hours there, then fly to Hydrabad, India (waited ~7 looong hours), and then fly to Chennai (1 hr). For some odd reason, Liz and Karima's boarding passes got issued easily, Megan and my boarding passes could not be printed. When we arrived at each destination, we had to go to the ticket counter and print out the boarding passes separately. Lufthansa accidently forgot Megan's 2 luggages so it took them a few days to get that to her. When we go to Hydrabad, they gave her a 'female kit' and a wad of money, which stretched pretty far, including the 2,000 rupees to pay for a driver to drive the luggage from chennai to Vellore. Other than the lost baggage, their service was pretty good- the whole time all I remember during the flights were "Vould you lak some vater", "What vould you lak?", "Chicken or veg?", "Vat would you lak to drink?", "Vat may I offer you sir/mam?", "Chai masala?, Chai masala?". I was real tired so I was able to tune out and sleep for most of the flights, but some of the girls said they just wanted the stewardess to leave them alone.
When we got to Hydrabad, we automatically got a sense of what it would be like in India, that is NOTHING comes easy, everything is a process/somewhat confusing, and there is not really a procedure that is followed for anything (mostly disorganized). When we got there, we went through 'customs', which I didn't realize at the time. It was basically filling out a piece of paper while on the place and handing it to a staff when we arrived at the airport. The metal detector machine was also very interesting, it looked like it was from the 1970s or 1980s, the outer casing was made of wood! The process of screening passengers was even more interesting. In other airports I have been to, there is a security person watching you walk through the metal detector, and the machine signals whether another person can walk through next. In Hydrabad, there were no security person watching the metal detector, mulitple people would walk through at one time even when the machine indicated an 'X', meaning do not pass.
After the 'security check' they sent us outside of the airport to issue our boarding passes at an Indian Airlines counter. The security guard who couldn't speak English, wouldn't let us back inside the airport because he didn't realize that the recipt we got from Air France was a ticket and we had to go inside to issue a boarding pass. When we got to the Indian Airlines booth, they said come back in half an hour, so we waited. After half and hour, they said, we don't issue boarding passes until 1 hour before the flight. When they said this, I got really annoyed, cuz the lady told us to wait half an hour and there were 3 guys sitting in the booth doing NOTHING except sitting ther and chatting! I said, "Why can't you issue us a ticket? and the replied, "The gates don't open until 1 hour before the flight". I said, "There is NO WAY that we (7 of us) are sitting out here for 5-6 hours!, you need to let us return back inside." The clerk said, but the airline gates don't open until 1 hour before the flight, and I replied, "I don't care about the airline gates, I understand that the gates don't open until 1 hour before the flight, we don't want to sit outside in the heat with the mosquitos for 5-6 hours, we just want to be inside the airport and the security guy doesnt' understand the fact that this sheet (pointing to our recipt) is our ticket!". My friend Kalaa and her husband (who both speak Tamil) were also complaining to the ticket person, along with another passanger who travelled with us all the way from Pearson. The clerk didn't want 7 people barking at him so he finally came out and told the security guy that it was ok to let us in, so we finally went inside! Man sometimes you have to raise your voice just a little to get people to understand you and do stuff. We were stuck in Hydrabad for 7 hours because our flight was delayed over an hour (we were warned about this). Finally, when we got on Indian Airlines, our flight only took 1 hour to get to Chennai (aka Madras)! We were soooo happy to arrive in Chennai.
When we got to Chennai, a taxi driver that Kalaa arranged, drove us on a very interesting and scary 2.5 hour ride to Vellore. This was our first taste of the traffic here. Basically, no one signals, all they do is honk. We can't figure out what the honking means, but the driver just keeps honking until they get to where they want to go. There were many people riding on motorcycles (in the rain!) and you hardly ever see people wearing helmets. Many of the motorcycles had passengers (also not wearing helmets), often carrying items in both hands ( i.e. shopping bags or an umbrella). When we got to Vellore we were so happy that we did not have to travel any longer, ~35 hours was enough!
I am sad to say that our first impression of Hotel Avana Inn was not so great. Karima had called the hotel 2 months, 1 month and 1 week before we departed. We recieved an information package from the Christain Medical College listing a number of hotels and it's prices for rooms. When Karima called in September and quoted the price that was listed in our package, the man said, "our price went up yesterday", which sounded very sketchy to us, but we still wanted to stay there cuz previous students said it was clean and close to the hospital. Karima told them about the prices listed on the CMC info package and the guy said, "ok, ok". When we got to the hotel, the conceirge denied ever having recieved the calls from Karima. We bargained for 2 hours and he would not budge. Luckily my prayers were answered cuz a administrator from CMC (who was at the hotel for a conference), called the manager and explained how the college gave us old info and that he should help us out, cuz we travelled from so far. The manager was much nicer and decreased the price; 2 double rooms (which is really 1 bed that fits 2 people) for 1800 rupees/night with a complimentry bed (which is really a mattress on the floor). The problem was they only had 1 suite room available that evening. The suite contained only 1 double bed, so 3 of us slept on mattresses.
I was so tired that I went to sleep at 5 pm. I originally thought that I would be able to sleep until 6 am, but woke up at 2 am and couldn't fall back to sleep. Karima was also awake so we both just stayed in bed until 6 am. When we woke up we all had a really good laugh. Megan was given a red mattress that was wet and a white bed sheet. When she woke up, she realized that the bottom of her mattress was wet, since she couldn't see well in the dark, she thought that Liz bled all over the sheet because Liz's pillow case also had some red patchy flowers, which she thought was blood. When we finally turned on the lights, she realized that the red colour was coming off of the mattress, not Liz. After that we got ready for our first day at CMC (this is where my experience in India has been positive)!
October 26th, 2007: Depareture Date
Unfortunately, the trip started on a negative note. The first part of my blog will sound negtive, cuz it was, but it gets more positive (I promise). We had learned a few days before our departure date that Air France (our carrier) might be going on strike on October 25th. My sister Pauline (my sister and our travel agent) tried to protect us by booking tickets on another carrier when she heard the news, but Air France would not allow her to do so because the strike was not confirmed! So, of course we found out our flight was cancelled on the morning of the flight. Pauline called Air France and they re-routed us on a flight to Montreal through Air Canada, then from Montreal to Paris via Air France, and from Paris to Chennai via Air France.When we got to Pearson early to avoid the 'crowd', no one from Air France was at the counter until later, and they made the four of us (Elizabeth, Megan, Karima, and I) wait even longer by serving single customers first (what the heck huh?). After a while, we got quite annoyed and a couple of us stood in front of her just to give her the message that we were there! Finally, the Air France person said that she was looking for another carrier cuz she didn't want to take a chance by sending us to Paris and that flight getting cancelled and having us stuck there. We ended up on Lufthansa. We had to fly to Frankfurt, Germany (~6 hours), then wait ~4 hours there, then fly to Hydrabad, India (waited ~7 looong hours), and then fly to Chennai (1 hr). For some odd reason, Liz and Karima's boarding passes got issued easily, Megan and my boarding passes could not be printed. When we arrived at each destination, we had to go to the ticket counter and print out the boarding passes separately. Lufthansa accidently forgot Megan's 2 luggages so it took them a few days to get that to her. When we go to Hydrabad, they gave her a 'female kit' and a wad of money, which stretched pretty far, including the 2,000 rupees to pay for a driver to drive the luggage from chennai to Vellore. Other than the lost baggage, their service was pretty good- the whole time all I remember during the flights were "Vould you lak some vater", "What vould you lak?", "Chicken or veg?", "Vat would you lak to drink?", "Vat may I offer you sir/mam?", "Chai masala?, Chai masala?". I was real tired so I was able to tune out and sleep for most of the flights, but some of the girls said they just wanted the stewardess to leave them alone.
When we got to Hydrabad, we automatically got a sense of what it would be like in India, that is NOTHING comes easy, everything is a process/somewhat confusing, and there is not really a procedure that is followed for anything (mostly disorganized). When we got there, we went through 'customs', which I didn't realize at the time. It was basically filling out a piece of paper while on the place and handing it to a staff when we arrived at the airport. The metal detector machine was also very interesting, it looked like it was from the 1970s or 1980s, the outer casing was made of wood! The process of screening passengers was even more interesting. In other airports I have been to, there is a security person watching you walk through the metal detector, and the machine signals whether another person can walk through next. In Hydrabad, there were no security person watching the metal detector, mulitple people would walk through at one time even when the machine indicated an 'X', meaning do not pass.
After the 'security check' they sent us outside of the airport to issue our boarding passes at an Indian Airlines counter. The security guard who couldn't speak English, wouldn't let us back inside the airport because he didn't realize that the recipt we got from Air France was a ticket and we had to go inside to issue a boarding pass. When we got to the Indian Airlines booth, they said come back in half an hour, so we waited. After half and hour, they said, we don't issue boarding passes until 1 hour before the flight. When they said this, I got really annoyed, cuz the lady told us to wait half an hour and there were 3 guys sitting in the booth doing NOTHING except sitting ther and chatting! I said, "Why can't you issue us a ticket? and the replied, "The gates don't open until 1 hour before the flight". I said, "There is NO WAY that we (7 of us) are sitting out here for 5-6 hours!, you need to let us return back inside." The clerk said, but the airline gates don't open until 1 hour before the flight, and I replied, "I don't care about the airline gates, I understand that the gates don't open until 1 hour before the flight, we don't want to sit outside in the heat with the mosquitos for 5-6 hours, we just want to be inside the airport and the security guy doesnt' understand the fact that this sheet (pointing to our recipt) is our ticket!". My friend Kalaa and her husband (who both speak Tamil) were also complaining to the ticket person, along with another passanger who travelled with us all the way from Pearson. The clerk didn't want 7 people barking at him so he finally came out and told the security guy that it was ok to let us in, so we finally went inside! Man sometimes you have to raise your voice just a little to get people to understand you and do stuff. We were stuck in Hydrabad for 7 hours because our flight was delayed over an hour (we were warned about this). Finally, when we got on Indian Airlines, our flight only took 1 hour to get to Chennai (aka Madras)! We were soooo happy to arrive in Chennai.
When we got to Chennai, a taxi driver that Kalaa arranged, drove us on a very interesting and scary 2.5 hour ride to Vellore. This was our first taste of the traffic here. Basically, no one signals, all they do is honk. We can't figure out what the honking means, but the driver just keeps honking until they get to where they want to go. There were many people riding on motorcycles (in the rain!) and you hardly ever see people wearing helmets. Many of the motorcycles had passengers (also not wearing helmets), often carrying items in both hands ( i.e. shopping bags or an umbrella). When we got to Vellore we were so happy that we did not have to travel any longer, ~35 hours was enough!
I am sad to say that our first impression of Hotel Avana Inn was not so great. Karima had called the hotel 2 months, 1 month and 1 week before we departed. We recieved an information package from the Christain Medical College listing a number of hotels and it's prices for rooms. When Karima called in September and quoted the price that was listed in our package, the man said, "our price went up yesterday", which sounded very sketchy to us, but we still wanted to stay there cuz previous students said it was clean and close to the hospital. Karima told them about the prices listed on the CMC info package and the guy said, "ok, ok". When we got to the hotel, the conceirge denied ever having recieved the calls from Karima. We bargained for 2 hours and he would not budge. Luckily my prayers were answered cuz a administrator from CMC (who was at the hotel for a conference), called the manager and explained how the college gave us old info and that he should help us out, cuz we travelled from so far. The manager was much nicer and decreased the price; 2 double rooms (which is really 1 bed that fits 2 people) for 1800 rupees/night with a complimentry bed (which is really a mattress on the floor). The problem was they only had 1 suite room available that evening. The suite contained only 1 double bed, so 3 of us slept on mattresses.
I was so tired that I went to sleep at 5 pm. I originally thought that I would be able to sleep until 6 am, but woke up at 2 am and couldn't fall back to sleep. Karima was also awake so we both just stayed in bed until 6 am. When we woke up we all had a really good laugh. Megan was given a red mattress that was wet and a white bed sheet. When she woke up, she realized that the bottom of her mattress was wet, since she couldn't see well in the dark, she thought that Liz bled all over the sheet because Liz's pillow case also had some red patchy flowers, which she thought was blood. When we finally turned on the lights, she realized that the red colour was coming off of the mattress, not Liz. After that we got ready for our first day at CMC (this is where my experience in India has been positive)!
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