City to coast to coast to city

Between Denmark and Germany

A day full of travel leaves lots of quick impressions. Sometimes it is hard to digest the movements. You want to ask yourself, "Where am I?" But in the end you force yourself to ask, "Where do I have to go next?"

To hitchhike out of Copenhagen, we take a local train to Køge, as one local advised .

A view of the Danish countryside along the 4km hike to the highway.

A view of the Danish highway at a service station.

Days like this... hours of blue skies, winding roads, cars whizzing past...
you waiting, standing, holding a sign, immobilized until wheels stops at your feet.

We get rides with a Korean-born Danish-raised BMW-driver and a retired French ex-patriate. Foreigners and travelers helping traveling foreigners... it's a peculiar intersection, a kind of voyager's destiny. As one driver said, "Ceux qui voyagent, ils se voient différemment, donc ils ont des autre visions du monde." [Those who travel, they see themselves differently, therefore they have other visions of the world.]

We arrive in Rodby, Denmark and board a fancy ferry to northern Germany and mainland Europe.

An old train track turning itself over into a wild weed field in Rodby, Denmark

Boarding the boat, the assymetrical lines of steel, iron, concrete run in parallel with the sea

The island's coast lined with windmills to generate electricity

Enjoying the view of seabirds flying at the speed of the ferry

When we arrive on the mainland, we have no idea where to go. The bike rider from Dublin suggested we go to Lubeck, what we later learned is a very quaint German town. Instead we catch a train ride to Hamburg, a major European port city; we arrive after nightfall.

A view of a train moving across a landscape

One of my first experiences arriving at a train station in Europe. Constructed in glass, steel, and iron, filled with fast food restaurants and coffee bakery shops, everyone intersecting without touching or even looking in the eye. 

Can you see through the reflection?