That might not seem like a very encouraging title, but oh I am so excited. Prior to today, that number was zero. I wasn't planning on updating twice today, but this story was too good to pass up.
Okay, for some background. Copenhagen has a very extensive system of public transportation which includes trains, metro, busses, and even some regional trains which extend way out into the outer reaches of Zealand and even to Odense and Aarhus. They're incredibly temperamental which SUCKS when they put announcements on in Danish and suddenly everyone gets off and you have no idea why. I seem to have the incredible talent of getting on trains that don't go where they're supposed to. Mainly I get on trains that should get me to Nørreport, but instead decide to stop at København H (Copenhagen Central Station and two stations before Nørreport). When you're already running late, this sucks. Luckily (I guess) I've gotten used to this and have made good friends with the Dybbølsbro Station and can figure out how to get to school from there.
Yesterday was an epic failure in public transportation. I went to see Avatar with Sascha and Allan at the theater near Dybbølsbro Station. When it came time to leave, we walked to the station and saw that only the E train was running when normally all 6-or-so lines run through there. Not good. An announcement finally comes up and Sascha and Allan take off saying we need to go to Nørreport so we can take a bus home. Never done that before, time for an adventure. They say the bus should only take about 30 min and will drop us off closer to home than the train station - okay, I'm fine with that.
So we grab the first train that comes along. As per usual, it only goes to København H. New plan: take a bus to Nørreport then take another back to Herlev. Fine, whatever. The bus to Nørreport comes quickly, shockingly enough. As does the one we need to take to Herlev. However, this bus stops two stops before the one we need. Typical. Eventually everything worked out and we got home. About an hour and a half instead of the usual 35 minutes or so.
BUT TODAY. Oh today. It's definitely true that victory is sweetest when you've known defeat (thanks Malcolm Forbes). And oh the victory. As I walked towards the stairs leading down to the tracks, I see that my little train has already arrived and had just departed. Well, me and my cunning skills know that the metro takes about 3 minutes less to go from Nørreport to Vanløse than the trains do. So in theory, if I hurry to the metro, I can beat the train to Vanløse and not have to wait the extra 10 minutes for the next train. I just miss the metro as I get there but the next one was coming in 1 minute, awesome. Unfortunately, this metro decided to not go all the way to Vanløse (I assume there weren't enough going the other way) so I had to get out and switch trains. Again they come often so I didn't have to wait long, but I was getting worried I wasn't going to beat it.
My little metro train pulled into the Flintholm station, the first one where the S-tog (read: train) and metro meet up again after Nørreport and as we pull out I see that the train to Ballerup (mine!) hasn't arrived yet. WIN. Vanløse is the next stop and I get out and rush to the other set of tracks where the S-tog comes in. I won by 3 minutes. I raced a train and won by 3 minutes. That's all that matters this week. Take that public transportation! Hah
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