Train Ride from Hamburg to Copenhagen

We are finally starting on our journey. This morning we took the 9:25 am train from Hamburg to Copenhagen. If you haven't taken a lot of train outside the US, this should be quite an experience. First, the train stations in Europe are big....very big. Second, the trains are punctual. Third, they are very clean and efficient.

We took an ICE (Inter-City Express) train from Hamburg to Copenhagen. With the Eurail pass, we paid nothing. Also, we get to ride in first-class. There were about 6 or 7 cars so this is a relatively small train. Only one of the cars is first-class. We are lucky because the second-class cars were all booked. Some people even have to sit on their luggage. We sat in nice comfortable seats. They also gave us a coupon for a croissant and coffee.

Riding on a train in Europe is nothing like flying. We had a lot of room and we are free to walk around. There's also a table available for you to write or put your stuff. And you get to see the changing scenery as the train ride through the country.

The train ride took slightly less than 5 hours. It went through the north German countryside. About 2 1/2 hours into the journey, the train got onto a ferry which took us across to another part of Germany. We had to get off the train and walked around the ferry. But, it was a very nice ferry. They have restaurants and a duty-free shop on the ferry. However, the prices are high. I bought a bottle of water for 2 euros, which is about $3.

We arrived at the Copenhagen Central Station at about 2:10 pm and walked to the hostel. I will talk more about the hostel and our first day in Copenhagen in the next blog.

Unfortunately, I am not able to upload pictures for this blog because the wi-fi at the hostel is very slow.