Allyson Johnson

From Russia with Mom – Day 13 – Copenhagen to San Francisco

Last day:  We stuff our sturdy luggage with everything we won’t need for 24 hours and set out for a last walkabout in Copenhagen.  Our first stop is the City Hall, and it turns out to be our last, also – there is much to see.

The most fascinating room contains Jens Olsen’s World Clock – a meticulously engineered marvel which tells the date and time world wide plus forecasting solar and lunar eclipes and  the relative positions of the planets for milleniums to come, with tolerances much closer than my Timex.  And it is beautiful, both front and back:

After spending a lot of time reading the fine print on how the intricate mechanism works, and strolling around the City Hall admiring the beautiful tilework, memorials, and banners, we decided to head for the Copenhagen Airport.

It’s an easy 20 minute ride, but once we arrived it was not so clear where we were to go or what we were to do.  Our taxi driver dropped us at the domestic terminal rather than the international, so we started off iwth a walk, Mom gallantly dragging her case behind her and trying to keep up as I pushed our way through the crowd and scanned the lighted signs for information about our flight and  gate. . 

By evil chance, the display which should have given that information was the one temporarily not working. I was casting about desperately for an information booth when my eyes lit on a familiar sign – “Star Alliance Gold” over a nearly empty  ticketing station.  I pulled my Gold card from my passport wallet, silently blessing my former employers and all those travel miles I booked in their service.  After one glance at my card, the kiosk attendant whirred into efficient Scandinavian action, and we were home free.

We were waved to a nearby seat, waited a few minutes, and then our wheels arrived – a wheelchair guided by the etimable Fraulein Martin.  She took charge of Mom and both our carryons and whirled away, by-passing checkpoints, dodging through “Staff Only” doors and up inconspicuous elevators, and deposited us in minutes at the head of the boarding line for our flight.

At Frankfurt, we had leisure to enjoy the luxurious Lufthansa Lounge which we had missed on the way in, complete with hors-d’oevres, a hot buffet, a dessert tower, and an open serve-yourself bar. A far cry from the packaged crackers, cheese, and cookies at the United Lounge at SFO where we passed three hours of flight delay at the beginning of our trip!

And then we were on the plane.  And then we were home. The ever-shifting kaleidoscope of countries, cultures, cuisines, and cruise events and excursions was finally laid to rest. It has taken me almost four months to sort out the impression, notes, and photographs from this trip.  I hope you enjoyed taking the journey with Mom and me.

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Next: A couple of brief visits to interesting spots, then my next Adventure  with a different means of transport and a different travel partner. Hope you stay tuned!