Day Thirtyfour - Jul 15, 2014

Copenhagen, DEN to London, ENG

High Point: Crossing the Millennium Bridge in the gold hour with St. Paul's lined up exactly where the architect left it.

Low Point: 5:00am. Earned, but still 5:00am.

Today's Antiquities: Borough Market (1908 by-laws still posted), The George Inn (London's last galleried coaching inn, Shakespeare and Dickens approved), Tower Bridge, the Tower of London across the water, Southwark Cathedral, and St. Paul's lined up off the Millennium Bridge at dusk.

Today's Weather: Sunny, in the 70's. We'd say a little muggy.

Tonight's Lodging: St. Christopher's Village Inn Hostel

Touristic Events: A 5am exit from Laura's Copenhagen courtyard, a sunrise over the rail yard, a flight to London, the Tube to London Bridge under full packs, the Bankside loop (Borough Market, Tower Bridge, Hay's Galleria, The George Inn, Southwark Cathedral), a fish-and-chips pub stop, and the Millennium Bridge at dusk.

Travel Tip: Surfacing at London Bridge with full packs puts Borough Market, the Bankside walk, and the riverside pubs all within ten minutes — drop the bags first, backtrack never.

Daily Didactic

Today was a two-country day, with a 5:00am start to pay for it. We crept out of Laura's place in Copenhagen in the dark, the courtyard quiet enough that Theresa held the door so it wouldn't announce us. The walk to the train was rewarded with a sunrise coming up pink over the rail yard, which is about the only argument anyone can make for being awake at that hour. Copenhagen sent us off in style anyway. The airport's moving walkway wished us a pleasant flight in two languages, and out on the street a delivery bike wore a battered red Carlsberg crate for a basket, which Brian will maintain to his grave was the finest basket of the trip.

London collected us mid-morning. We surfaced from the Tube at London Bridge with full backpacks on, looking exactly like two people who had no business on a commuter platform, and walked into the Bankside loop. Borough Market still has its 1908 by-laws posted at the door, the beadles authorized to warn off loiterers and suspicious characters, which we tried not to take personally, and a glass case of meringues the size of small hats for £2.50 each. Tower Bridge obliged in full blue-and-sun, the road by the Tower of London hollered LOOK RIGHT at us in two languages in case we'd forgotten which island we were on, and a pub plate of fish-and-chips, bangers-and-mash, and a pint filed Brian firmly under content. The George Inn, London's last galleried coaching inn and apparently good enough for both Shakespeare and Dickens, is still pouring. The evening went gold and slow, and we crossed the Millennium Bridge with St. Paul's lined up dead ahead before turning in at the St. Christopher's bunk hall. Sunny, in the 70's, and the kind of mug London does well.