Copenhagen

 Copenhagen is a city we have both been to many times so we decided to stop and visit with friends instead of sight see.  

Our first stop saw us with AnneMarie. She lives part time in Panicale and has invited us numerous times to her home.  We had a few hours before meeting with our host for the next two nights so we stopped by. She has a lovely apartment with an amazing view.  When we arrived, there was an author there whom we had met in Panicale very briefly last year so it was nice to catch up again.  

AnneMarie put on a nice spread and after a bit to eat, George took a nap while we sat and chatted.  Sadly, the three hours went by too quickly.  But we will catch up again at home. 

Around 7:00 we met with Philip at his home for a couple of nights puzzling.  

The first evening we just sat and chatted and had a drink or two.  I recognized some green pottery from Korea so he brought me out a justice cup to look at.  

Another puzzle I don't have.  Very nicely made.  It's funny, in all my trips to Seoul, I never saw any of those.  He had good timing!

A good nights sleep was needed, so after around 10 we all went to bed.  (Am I getting so old that sleep is important now?)

On Saturday morning after breakfast we went for a walk into town.  

My other passion thanks to my daughter Krissy, is to build Lego.  So my goal for the day was to get my passport stamped and to purchase 2 more minifigures of us from the Tivoli garden Lego store.  Mission accomplished! But first we had to stop at the main Copenhagen Lego store. And another shop that sold vintage wooden Lego.

 

Lunch was in an interesting place, and we had very traditional Danish food. It was delicious.  And the bread!  

Next stop Tivoli Lego!

While here George got to make his very first Minifigure! He enjoyed the machine more I think.  And look mom, it's only €20,000...NO GEORGE! You cannot have one. 

There were some beautiful sites to see along the way.

All in all, it was a wonderful visit.  It's great being able to stop and chat with friends for a while.  You really don't get to know people in the short time we spend with them at IPP.  

Ferry from Turku to Stockholm

I messed up. I thought we were to get the ferry from Vassa to Stockholm but it actually leaves from Turku.  We got up the next morning and left around 8:30~9:00.  It was a wet miserable day, and I'm glad we decided to go straight to Turku without stops other than for charging.  When we arrived, I headed right to the pier to find my way.  We wanted to visit other puzzlers, but with the construction going on, it was quite confusing.  We arrived around 4, but it took us a good 2 hours to find where to drive the car onto the ship.  

When we got there, we decided to wait it out rather than leave again.  One joy of the Tesla is the movie screen. Usually when we charge we have lunch and watch a movie.  This was no exception.  We had an hour wait before loading so we turned on Netflix and got in another episode of the Diplomat.

At 6:45 we started to board.  Now this was odd, I was first in line, but almost one of the last to board.  Didn't matter, it was a very fast process and before we knew it we were in the bowels of the ship.

We rented a cabin on board to sleep overnight and it was really rather nice. There was a shower and bathroom, comfortable double bed and a rather large window.  Not that we could see much as it was dark.

We decided to have dinner onboard and lobster it was.  Delicious!  After dinner, we headed straight up to the room where we both passed out almost immediately.  At 5 am our alarm went off and we headed down for breakfast.  This is only mentioned because they had an ice cream section for breakfast! 

At 5:55 we headed down to the car to get ready to head out for our next days travel.  We only drove until 3:00 as I was exhausted.  We stayed at a Best Western somewhere in Sweden, had a bit of dinner, charged the car and carried on to Copenhagen the next morning.