The longest day.

While I might have missed the Summer Solstice by 3 days.... June 24th was my longest day of the year.

Waking up from my nap on a bench at Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup I was off on a cross-the-world adventure back to the United States. Copenhagen, Denmark to Boston, Massachusetts but split between Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup, to Gatwick Airport, to Keflavík International Airport, to General Edward Lawrence Logan International Airport all in the same "10" hours because of timezone changes. Woo.. Four airports, four countries, 3 flights... and a lovely walk from the MBTA to my parents house.

Yup.... CPH to LGW to KEF to BOS.... and no missed connections!

(although I came close in London)

 Sweet, Norwegian Air Shuttle Flight 2511 with service to London Gatwick 

(and with free in-flight WiFi!)

 Once in London, it was off to my connection to Iceland via Icelandair...

That happens to be in the other terminal. International connections on different airlines booked at different times... Isn't so smart I guess (but doable, since well, I did it?)

Also.. Ew, Aer Lingus (NEVER Again)

 Ugh... So annoying... when you only have an hour layover. 

 The few of us making the connection from South to North got to ride a bus... One family was frantically trying to make their flight to Orlando (they missed it)

 And even worse... once on the other side.... I had to deal with this crap.

After calling.. and waiting.. and calling a second time.. 25 minutes later someone came along to give me my London-Iceland boarding pass.

 Woo, but I made it! Just as they were starting to load pre-boarding

Ok, bye London! Off to Iceland

 Damn... Ok.. Made it back to Keflavík. 

 The IKEA Airport <3

I had just enough of a layover to grab a bag of chips and a drink before jumping on my next and final flight of the day.

 Lovely cold and rainy Iceland <3

Everyone was pretty much running up to the plane as they called zones to avoid standing outside in the rain. Soon enough we'd be on our way to Boston <3

 And... home. Well, kinda. At Logan again at least.

Now to just clear customs and get my bus to the subway.

 Ah... The Blue Line... if I can just make it to State... transfer to the Orange and get home.. I can sleeeeepppppp.

Yaayyy! Back at Oak Grove! Now to just walk the mile or so to my parents house... Unpack my backpack... repack my suitcase I had left there at the start of this trip... pet my kitty... Sleep for a couple of hours.. get up super early.. and walk back to Oak Grove and head off back to the airport for my next flight. 

(up to 7 now, if you're counting)

I <3 Adventures

Bonus Twitter Stuffs -

World Travelin' - Tweet

First Tweet I've ever made in-flight! - Tweet

Gatwick's WiFi sucks - Tweet

Home - Tweet

The realization - Tweet 

Cool.

Halvvejs rundt om i verden, og jeg er bare en dag bagud. (BAKKEN!)

Well, uh, its not often you get to wake up in the morning in one country and say "Hey, I'm about to fly to another country and then take a train to the oldest amusement park in the world" but sometimes, that's just what happens?

So since Joey somehow got me to come all the way out to England... I thought I might as well try and go somewhere else while I'm already here. Copenhagen and its famous Tivoli Gardens had been pretty freakin' high on my "To-Do" list and seeing the city itself was something I had wanted to do... I also looked at flying to Helsinki, Finland or Stockholm, Sweden but Denmark was less money. I ran the idea past Joey but he wasn't sure if Kyle would be up for it and he wasn't so set on it at the time either or something... So I went ahead and booked it for myself. Well, with a few months to come around and change their minds... in the end, they were in. Well uh, I had already booked myself on a Norwegian Air Shuttle and they were gonna be on an easyJet flight. Luckily our flights were only an hours difference and from the same airport with their flight getting to Copenhagen before mine. Woo.
Originally the plan was to visit both Bakken and Tivoli Gardens with some sightseeing in Copenhagen along the way. A side trip off to Bon-Bon Land was discussed but dropped in favor of a less chaotic trip.

Once up, waayyyy too early in the morning.. Joey's MUM drove the four of us to the train so we could get to Gatwick. We all checked in and hung around until their easyJet flight. Once on my own, I enjoyed the airports lovely... 45 minutes of free WiFi service before heading to my own flight.

 Uh, Gatwick Airport.

Passport in hand, will travel.
Helllll yeah! New Country credit and airport code!
(and airline)

Snack shopping at the airport.. I'd have gotten these BEAR THEMED SNACKS if not for the nasty pineapple added to it. :(

I also enjoyed this over-sized British Rubber Duck.

 OH MAN! And this giant stuffed bear at Harrods!!!

Dreams come true?

My Norwegian Air Shuttle plane with its free inflight WiFi <3
The flight is pretty quick, something around 90 minutes. 

Woo woo! BYE ENGLAND... Time for me to take a nap and pass out listening to Bowling for Soup
(clever clever)
((song lyrics are the title of the post!!))

I awoke just as we were flying in past the Øresund Bridge.
A bridge that connects Copenhagen, Denmark
to Malmö, Sweden!

Someday......... someday.
Taxing up to the Jetway my plane passed this Singapore flight
 :'(
someday.

But I got myself another passport stamp!
Copenhagen! make that København.

Copenhagen Airport, Kastrup!
Now to just find Joey... and Kyle... and Dillon!

Once we were all together again and now in Denmark (woo woo!) it was off to the Øresundbanen train into Copenhagen Central Station with a transfer to a train to get us out to Klampenborg and Bakken. Pulling up to Central Station you pass by Tivoli Gardens (its right across the street) and it was kinda hard for me not to just get off and go.. But Bakken deserved some attention too.

Oooh man, 7/11 is everywhere in Copenhagen! <3

Bikes are everywhere too! Even on the trains.

ARE YOU KIDDING ME!
I hate that snowman!
....in a baby seat on a bike on the train.
 Kneppe you, Olaf!!

Woo woo, our S-train (covered in spray-paint)
 at Klampenborg Station!
Now to just walk to Bakken. <3
So yeah, from Joey's house to the train to the airport to the second train to a third train and now just a short walk to Dyrehavsbakken. The oldest amusement park in the world. While Tivoli seems to get the all the fame and fans, Bakken is an amazing park in its own-right. I myself wasn't even sure what to expect outside of knowing its coaster line up and some flats and the fact it was the oldest park on earth... I think we were all genuinely surprised at how awesome the park was and for me, that made the trip worth it. In all my park travels it seems harder and harder to find something to impress me but I guess that's how the park has survived some 431 years.

Dyrehavsbakken!
Or simply, Bakken

The lovely lit paths of The Hill. Shame, the sun wouldn't be setting till, well, midnight so we wouldn't get to enjoy the park in twilight (same for Tivoli and that in itself should be illegal)
With park passes paid for it was off to run around like idiots riding coasters and flats and stuff.

First up? Mariehønen!

MAH FIRST DANISH COASTER!
And look, I'm smiling too!

Mhm. Mhm. Yes
even with the language gap I still understand
the pictogram of a duck.

Quack quack.....quack!
Next up was.....

Tornado.
GD, Intamin's bastard launched-kinda spinning coaster with some awful OTSR's

I was pretty unsure what to think getting on the ride after hearing some pretty bad horror stories about it.....

G.D.
This coaster is like a car crash. You get tossed and turned and spun all around and the whole time the four of us are just screaming and pretty sure, unsure, what was happening to us and why.
We ended up riding it a second and maybe third time? Just to try and figure out what was happening..
Its an odd ride, not bad, just different? (and often noted as Intamin's first spinning coaster, a false claim.)

Joey was quick to point out the "Cows ass" as theming.

Mmm, Gerstlauer SkyRoller, new for this year.... but more on that later.

Uh... I think I saw this at IAAPA 10 years ago....
Sit on a toilet, and spray the feet of a man in a bathtub?

Mmhm, Mmmhmm... Polar bear themed treats.
After getting myself a snack we headed over to Rutschebanen, the parks oldest coaster.

Rutschebanen! The 24th oldest coaster in the world
(I've been on 18 of the 25 (26 as 2 opened the same year) oldest coasters, including #1)

The original trains were replaced 4 years ago with these adorable trains by KumBak.
Each train has a different kind of animal riding in the lead car. Skunks, Hedgehogs, Foxes.

Um... another for the "Never in America" list...

While these versions of KumBak trains are better than the awful ones on Stampida... I'm sure it was better with the original brakeman trains.

I must have ridden it 5 times, Kyle and Dillon called it quits after the second or third but Joey stuck it out with me.

<3 Classic Wood Coaster <3

 EXTREME!
Highly likely to become my new favorite flatride.
My first encounter with the Moser Speed-Flip, there is/was one touring in the US but I never managed to find it...
(Video via YouTube)

Epic ship themed fun house.

Never in America and such.. but oh so fun!

Uh, awkward... sit in Santa's lap coin-op?

Vilde Mus is the parks newest coaster, opened in 2012.
Fun for what it is... but the park removed its Enterprise for it....

But.... credit?
Next up... and next door...

Racing, a Zierer Flitzer.. and possibly the first one built.

An identical copy used to operate at York's and was one of the first coasters I ever rode.

Across the midway was Double Shot... and run well enough that I had to reride.

Spin wheel, win massive candy bar?!
Why don't we have these in America yet?!

Hidden away in the very back of the park was this odd looking swinging ship that was parked off center and closed off
(being removed maybe?)

Umm.. I don't wanna know.

Oh hey, this guy.
But no time for that, there's still one last coaster to ride.

Mine Train Ulven, Intamin's first take on a Mine Train.

Oh hey, and its fun!
With all the credits in and a few flats along the way the rest of the group got some real food and stuff... and I stupidly took the risk at riding the parks flume.

Vandrutschebanen, thankfully it wasn't overly wet.
(you know, since it was kind of on the cool side with off and on sprinkles)

And dare I tempt fate again? Dillen.
The parks "Wild Water Rondell" (now just marketed as Jet Skis?)
I don't know... they might be dumb but I like them, and make Jeff ride them at Legoland with me every time!

And this terrible laser darkride, "Safari"
(IE: lets shoot guns at animals!)

Safari = Hippos!

Uh, and um, Pandas? Brown Bears?

Rodeobanen, my first try at electric go-karts?
I'd skipped them in both Austria and Germany and don't recall seeing them elsewhere.

:(

So... back to the Gerstlauer SkyRoller.
When Gerstlauer first built one I thought it looked pretty stupid...awful? Guess this is one of those "don't judge a book" moments.. My first ride I was unable to flip my car a single time (lame!).... my second time I managed to do 3 in a row at the very end of the cycle..... but once I figured it out... it was game on. Glorious ride number three! I managed over 100 flips before I lost count... It got to the point I couldn't keep my eyes open or even scream, it felt like I was flipping faster and faster. (at one point I felt I may even break the damn ride!)  I wish I had taken my GoPro on with me. Insanity.

What the hell is this?!

KKKlown?

Kreepy....

UMM!

NEVER! IN! AMERICA!

(Or anywhere else really?!)

Bakken has a game.... where you take a blow dart... and try and shoot the dart... into a piece of meat.... hanging on strings for a prize! WHAT THE HELL IS THIS! <3

On our second lap around the park we walked down to this little pond in the back where there were some geese and yes, even a.....

Uh, first Danish Duck?!
Make that, Ænder
(quack)

We also found some of Rutschebanen's original trains just kinda laying around.

Look at me! I'm the brakeman!
Uh, well, after all of our final rerides were taken
(and my 500 photos)
we headed back down to the Klampenborg Station to get back to Copenhagen

Little dirt path alongside Bakken.

Horse-drawn carriage?

Once getting back to the station we decided to explore around the area before heading back into the city.
(hey look, more tags)

We kept seeing this ad around the trains... I don't know what its for.. but the man seems to have set dinner on fire.

A short walk down hill from the train station is Bellevue Beach and the Øresund.
We called it the Baltic Sea and technically we were right but its actually a strait. (at this point)

Øresundsbroen, again.
Sweden on the left and Denmark on the right.

A Mediterranean Shipping Company cruise ship, the MSC Poesia.
Oh hey, and then this happened.

This man decided it was a good idea to get butt-ass-naked and jump in the ocean!
Like, it wasn't even nice out at this point.. the four of us had our hoodies on! (I could barely handle just putting my hand in, let alone my whole body!)

Heading back to the train, for real this time.. we passed some fancy, fenced-off oak tree.

And... were back at Klampenborg Station. The end of the line for this S-Train route.

Once coming out of Copenhagen Central Station we saw the Hard Rock Cafe: Copenhagen (disgusting!) But behind that.... Tivoli Gardens! (but that will have to wait)

Walking to our classy hotel, we passed this terrible looking theater

And this duck with her baby! :D

Copenhagen/Frederiksberg... and stuff.

CABINN!
A Danish-owned hotel chain
This is CABINN Scandinavia, the second of eight in the chain.

 Where they have a Mac running Windows XP
(lul)

 And our super-awesome four-stacked bed room! I'm on the highest level... conveniently located on top of the bathroom. Once settled into the room and enjoying some WiFi, we headed back out to get some food.

Stopping at Mix Pizza (the mix is, they also sold Indian food!)
I ended up coming back the next night again.. for my $30 pizza.

 And while the pizza was delicious it was a bit disturbing to see the chef on the box was pantless.
Also...
also..

THIS, is front page news in Denmark.

Bonus stuff via Twitter!
Being clever with BFS lyrics - Tweet
Giant stuffed bear again <3 - Photo
Video of Extreme at Bakken (not running at speed yet) - Video
Photo of the Baltic Sea and notation of the naked man. - Photo

Yup, so Bakken ended up being pretty amazing and that actually scared me because I had been looking forward to Tivoli so much and was now worried it might not live up to the awesome time we had at Bakken and at this point it seemed like I had been up too long and was ready to try and get some sleep before our next fun filled day... and stuff.

And.... some super bonus photos I stole from Joey!

I love my awkward foot / wrist combo going on here
(getting in line for Double Shot)

Riding Tornado with Kyle.

And umm, I don't know.