Wonderful Wonderful Copenhagen

Whoever wrote the lyrics to that song obviously didn't stay at the Centrum Hotel! Let me explain..........

It was too easy. The car ride to Heathrow from Wales. Dropping Jodie off at Terminal 3, then dropping the hire car back and getting the shuttle to terminal 5. Arriving with 2 mintues to wait until our flight was open to check in. There were no lines at the check in. A great flight. A taxi right outside the airport. A lovely cab driver. It was all going too smoothly - then we arrived at the hotel. The taxi driver asked if we were happy. "As Larry" I replied. He said, "Ok, if you're happy, then I'm happy". It wasn't until we entered the hotel that I realised what he was probably talking about.

We had arrived at 7.30pm, we booked in and went up to our room on the 3rd floor. I say "room", but it was more like a wardrobe with a long single bed down one side and a bedhead slotted in the middle to break it up into two beds.

I looked out the window and across the road was a non stop sex show and topless bar. Jen looked and added...... and I think those girls are prostitutes!

After much deliberating and looking at each other, both wanting to go somewhere else, but both knowing that it would be too hard, we decided to just go out, get some food and get back before it got dark, which luckily wasn't until quite late. I knew where the Hard Rock Cafe was and it seemed like a safe enought place to go as far as knowing where it was and having an idea of what we would get to eat there. Jen suggested we get hammered!

The bar was noisy, we couldn't hear each other and the place seemed full of grosse English blokes pawing over the waitress. Eat up Jen - let's get the hell out of here! 10.10pm - still light.

We got home, pursing our lips at the groseness. Jen checked things out on the street and said,"oh, I can see someone watching TV over there..." then after watching for a few more seconds added...."um, I think it's porn". Luckily it had double glazed windows. Pity the room had no air. You can't have both I guess. We tucked up and popped the telly on - scrunched on one bed - the only place you could see the TV and then we realised that we were watching he same show as the people across the road! Not porn as it turns out, although taht seemed very plausible at the time!

The bathroom: You opened the door and stepped into the shower. The toilet was an after thought as was the massive, circular shower curtain that went around the entire room.... except for the toilet. The shower hose was twinned with the sink taps where you turned it on. After the shower you pulled back the curtain and stepped back into the living/bedroom area.

During the night, we both felt hot and had to open the window, but it turns out, we found out in the morning, that the radiator had been on the whole time. Funnily enough it was the best night's sleep I'd had since leaving home!

Now what do to in Copenhagen when you've only got a few hours, don't know where you are going and aren't fussed on walking too far? Hop on - Hop off Bus! Now the city isn't very pretty, but we did see where Mary lives in the winter and there was one street where Hans Christian Anderson used to live which has lovely, old, pastel coloured buildings along a canal where we hopped off for a pint and a stare at people.........

....... until a scatting jazz band set up right next to us and a woman lit up her cigar at the next table - honestly!!!!!

Next job - back to the hotel to pick up the bags (one things I must say is that the hotel staff [all 3 I spoke to] were perhaps the friendliest, most helpful people I've ever dealt with!) adn then to the ship.

There are 2,600 people on board the Star Princess and so Jen and I have decided that we get a point when we see the same person twice - so far the score is Jen: 3 Shell: 2. We're wondering if we can go the whole 10 days without making small talk to a single person. Will let you know how we go.

Goodbye Doesn't Mean This Has To Be The End......

Today we say goodbye to the loveliest sister anybody has ever known. She's better than Jan, Marcia and Cindy Brady put altogether. Way more supportive than Kylie is to Dannii. She will let me know when I look ridiculous - unlike those Olsen twins who seem to encourage each other to look stupid and she's also musical like the nolan sisters - but there's only of her. The Nolans needed 4 people to get their 'sound'.

So here is a little montage of pics from our tour of my lovely sister - Jodie

Sipping the necessary double espresso

Pant wetting laughter with our gorgeous Jen

It's a girls' night out, and honey there ain't no doubt, we're gonna dance every dance until the band goes home. We'll it's our night to rock, no watching that o'clock. Oh, ain't not doubt, Lordy it's a girls' night out! - "Girls' Night Out" by The Judds

My pretty sister


My comical sister, about to eat her breakfast with the baby cutlery she'd been given

See you in 3 more weeks Girlie Robbins.

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"Have you ever wondered why the crime rate in Sandford is so low, yet the accident rate is so high?" Sargeant Angel, Hot Fuzz

We arrived at Hay on Wye late in the afternoon. People were going about their everyday business as usual. Nothing seemed out of sorts. Our B&B was cozy and very central, positioned just across the road from the town square where the clock tower chimed on the hour and then again every 15 minutes..... all through the day and night! Our hosts were very accommodating, which led us into a somewhat false sense of normality in the town.

The following day we ventured into the village to peruse the 30 bookshops. Each shop we entered made us more aware that the locals here in the village were a little....... different.

Do we detect a little bit of snobbery in some of the high fallutin bookshops?


Is there a secret society here amongst the literary villagers that the mere visitor is not privy to?


At least at the end of each long day of wandering and wondering we were able to return to our lovely B&B which included one of the most fabulous gardens we've ever seen. This is where 5sies were spent sipping a glass of wine before dinner at the local pub.

This is the last stop in Wales.......... tomorrow is goodbye to Jodie and Hello to Copenhagen and the Baltic Sea.

'cause it's funny!

A lovely Place in the Sun

As we drive through beautiful, picturesque Wales, we notice that there are many places that you just wouldn't want to stay (Hello Barry!). We have been very lucky with all the places that we've stayed at thus far - and Aberaeron is no exception. What a gorgeous little village. We had planned to stay in Aberystwyth, but it was suggested that Aberaeron might be more to our taste - and right they were!

This place just got better and better. We booked 2 double rooms and were given a whole cottage looking onto the harbour.

The view from our window

We sat on the little wall across the tiny road, a stone's throw from our front door, sipped our aperitifs while watching the tides come in and out and the boaties maneuvering their vessels in and out of tiny spaces.

Our cottage is the pink one on the right

The village was cute. Lots of pastel coloured buildings and flowers a plenty hanging outside.

We ended our stay with a fantastic meal at the Harbour Master Hotel with Jen stating that she had just eaten the best lamb chops of her life.

A little less conversation a little more action please - take 2

Man in van in the middle of the gentile, literary capital of the UK: (shouting - could be heard from down the street) "DON'T YOU START THAT SHIT WITH ME - I'LL RIP YOUR FUCKIN' HEAD OFF"

Woman on phone to police (suspected car accident report): "Did I go after him? By the time I got to the bottom of my hill, he'd be half way to Hereford."

Woman on phone (very babyish voice): "Yes, I got my dog neutered!"

To be continued.........

The Lawsuit Cafe

If you ever find yourself in St David's, you might want to stay well away from the Pebble Espresso Cafe. Let me set the scene for you. There is a lovely little court yard with about 5 small tables in it just outside a gallery that sells cards and bits and pieces, then up a narrow winding staircase there is the cafe where you order your coffee. We walked into the gallery to find a woman with a face like thunder mopping up a spillage at the bottom of the stairs. It turns out that just before we walked in a customer, who was carrying a full tray of hot coffees and and a hot chocolate in an unnecessarily tall, thin glass (think about balancing) down the stairs and fell down the last step throwing the tray and all the contents over a stand of cards and a glass display of arty somethings. As there were no signs, we asked if it was table service - to which a very busy and important man said "no, go upstairs please". As we ascended the stairs, it was easy to realise why the man had fallen. We took a seat upstairs and left Jodie to do the ordering. There were 5 staff behind the very small counter. One was making the coffees and taking the orders, one was cutting tomatoes, one was telling another one about how long it took him to feed the cat, one was complaining about having to clean up the mess the previous customer had made and the last one was being busy and important. So even though Jodie was at the front of the line, it took a good 15 minutes to wait, order, wait, explain and then eventually get our order all the while having to listen to all the bullshit going on behind the very small counter. During her line wait - Jodie commented that she couldn't believe that people have to carry trays down those stairs to which the woman behind the coffee machine replied without looking up, "Well, they do".

As we sat and endured our coffee and cake, we watched a number of people almost tumble down the stairs with their hot beverages in rediculously shaped glasses...... like an accident just waiting to happen..... where is the OHS when you want them?

The drinks were terrible. The cakes were old. The experience is one we'd rather forget.