We've been gone two weeks, originally for a Baltic Cruise out of Copenhagen, We arrived two days early to adjust for the time change and see a bit of the city. We stayed outside the city in Orestad near the airport, but took the train into the city to poke around. The cruise line requires a negative PCR test and we found a test center. To our dismay, Catherine tested positive, I was negative. She had very mild symptoms, some sneezing and occasional fever, but we walked quite a bit that day before learning she was positive.
The day of the cruise, we took a cab to the cruise port, and had the same driver who gathered us at the airport, named "AJ", a very nice man with a full VW EV. The cruise offered a quick antigen test which my reading suggested was less sensitive than the PCR test. I showed my test result and Catherine went to be tested, and initially they said she was fine, so we celebrated and went to check in, both given bracelets qualifying us to join the cruise.
Then, they called Catherine back, I didn't understand why as I was checking in, and did so. Her test was unclear, they said, so they retested, and she was positive. After some discussions with their doctor, we were told we could not board. We were devastated, and didn't know what to do at all. I had booked our flights through the cruise line because they offered air fare of $1100 for both. no way we could beat that, but our return was two weeks away.
We called AJ back and I made two more days reservations at the same hotel (which was nearly booked) so we could figure what to do. Buying return tickets would be over $2,000, and we'd need a negative test as well. She stayed on the phone to Canada Air and the cruise line most of the afternoon being told to call some other number or they couldn't help at all changing our flight. We were bummed.
Our cab driver said he often drove people to Malmo, Sweden, so we took him up on that, the fare was not cheap, but we stayed two nights in a great historic hotel downtown Malmo, a Scandic Kramer, built in 1868, beautiful property. We had a great time there, many streets are pedestrian only, we dined at a great seafood place and chatted with folks next to us who insisted we try akvavit, which we did, the traditional drink. Johanny P was the name. We visited Malmo Hus, a museum and former fort that was fantastic, and walked all over, we walked at least five miles a day, my feet were sore.
After two nights, we called AJ back and went to a motel in downtown Copenhagen for five nights, an interesting property called CitizenM, which was the opposite kind of place, with a nice lounge on the 8th floor with great views and we spent quite a bit there. We walked all over Copenhagen each day and took a canal cruise on the day with great weather (which tended to be chilly and windy). Rain was forecast but we only had one short spell of rain the entire trip.
I was beginning to think things would be just fine, it's a very nice city to visit, many museums and interesting sites and good food, though of course not cheap. Catherine had no symptoms at all now, nor did I, other than foot soreness. We needed a negative antigen test for the flight home, or she needed a certificate of recovery, we got the name of a doctor quite a way out of town, and took the train to get there, and after being asked two questions and charged $140, Catherine had her letter. We could have waited until Saturday and done the antigen test, but Friday was a holiday and we were told doctors would be closed Saturday, so we did this Thursday. Then on Saturday we both took the antigen test and were both negative. I never got it, both of us are fully vaccinated (4x).
We guess she got it at the symphony and probably was one day before testing negative at the cruise port. So, our disaster turned into a very nice vacation, we were thankful to be "stuck" in such a nice city, a city with many many more bikes than any I've seen before in Europe, very clean, super nice residents who all speak great English and are eager to help strangers. Their local food item is called snoorebord, which is a kind of open faced sandwich of various types. We found a very nice French bistro called Frenchy where we had lunch twice. We met a very nice cab driver and a front desk person at the first hotel who was super nice to us when we returned just crushed from missing the cruise. We walked and walked and walked, learning to look for bikes zooming past us in places in both directions. We visited four museums, including the Danish War Museum, which is impressive. We heard a lot of Danish of course, took a ton of photos, many of which we probably texted your way.
So, the story is one of lemons, and that it really takes a week or more to see a European city of note. We're planning our next trip already, well, it's already done, we're off to California June 3 for a week. And I wanted to rest a bit.
Best wishes on Memorial Day, which is not forgotten,
