August 5, 2017
We probably got the worst start to our vacation. We had arrived at Kastrup airport approx. 3 hours before check in, so we were in good time. When the check in was opened it took us about 45 min to get all 3 of us checked in. From the time we booked the flights to when we checked in, someone had apparantly made a double booking. So instead of 3 tickets (Karina, Ulrik and I), there were 5 tickets. Karina and Ulrik were checked in very easily. When I had to check in, there was a problem. Even when the woman behind the counter tried to do it manually, I couldn't get cheked in. When I finally was checked in after a long time, Karina's wheelchair was the last thingwhich had to be checked in. Because of all the problems the wheelchair was checked into my name instead of Karina's name, which we first discovered later.
We got through the security check quite quickly, but as we had already spent 45 minutes at check in, the only thing we could before we should be at the gate was going to the toilet.
We departed from Copenhagen airport on time, and also arrived in London (where we had a stop over) on time. Since all other passengers on the plane had to go out before we could get off the plane, it took some time. At the same time, they had to find Karina's wheelchair in the cargo area on the plane and reach the gate. They also had to find the plane's wheelchair, which could come down between the rows of the plane. When we left the plane after a quite long time, we only had 35 minutes before the plane left for New York. Which meant that we had to go from the gate, through another security check, with a terminal train from gate A to gate B (both gate a and b are in the same terminal but are so far apart, so you have to go with a train) and to the gate for New York.
When we got through the security check, Ulrik's backpack had to go through an additional security check. Something we just didn't have time for since we didn't have a very long time inthe airport. Karina and I went to the terminal train and waited for it. We probably never went as fast through an airport terminal as we did this day. As we waited for the train, Ulrik came. The train came and we departed and a few minutes later we were at B Gate. We were heading to the gate. Karina asked if she could go to the toilet. She got 5 minutes.
Ulrik and I got checked in at the gate. And I was told that they from our arrival gate they had contacted our departure gate that we were on our way. So the depature gate knew that it wasn't our fault that we were late.
When Karina's passport was scanned at the gate, she had to go through an additional security check. The third check she had to go through on this trip. The first in security check in Copenhagen, then the security check in London, and then at the gate.
After a long and tiring day with all the problems we had been through we at last got on the plane. Karina and Ulrik ended up sitting in front of me on the trip. A bit irritating when we traveled together but at this point, I was just glad we were on the plane.
When we arrived at JFK airport in New York, we went to the bathroom before we went through the passport control. It was very easy get through, so within 10 minutes we were out. When we crossed the terminal train to get to the nearest subway / train station, we decided to try to find one of the other terminals only when a couple of whom we met on the trip had arrived. Unfortunately, we arrived late at the terminal since they already had left.
So we jumped on the train again to get to the subway station. As we got there, we found out that the train we were supposed to take didn't drive that weekend. So we had to go one very long detour to get to our hotel. We arrived at the hotel around 5 pm local time. Taking into account that we arrived at JFK around at 1 pm local time it was a long trip out to the hotel. ;-) We got checked in and then went up to our rooms to relax for a while.
A little later we decided to find something for dinner. We explored the area around the hotel before we found a place to eat. When we had eaten, we were all tired and decided to go back to the hotel and relax for the rest of the evening.
August 6, 2017
Sunday morning we met with White Collar fans, Meike, Isabelle, Vicky, Melanie and the bear Mozart for brunch / lunch at the restaurant Pretty Southern in Brooklyn. Pretty Southern is owned by actor Willie Garson, who played Mozzie in the TV series White Collar.
I got waffles with fried chicken, syrup, whipped cream and bourbon butter. It tasted really good. After we had sat and eaten for a while, we all went out of the restaurant. We all agreed, to go our seperate ways when people wanted to do something different. Karina, Ulrik and I took a bus to Long Island City, where we then took the subway to Manhattan. There we walked around for a while. We also went into the M&M shop, located at Times Square. I really like Times Square. I just always forget how many people there are.
We enjoyed ourselves in Manhattan. We walked past a theater where the musicial Hamilton plays. Karina and I could see that there were a lot of people outside the back / actor entrance, so we knew that some of the actors from the musical probably would come out in the near future. They did, and we took some pictures of it. Then we walked around before it was time for something to eat. We had made plans with Meike that we could meet in Bryant Park and eat. Karina, Ulrik and I passed a Whole Foods where we bought something to eat that we could bring to the park.
We found a place to sit and we waited for Meike. When she arrived we ate the food we had brought. Meike had brought along food too. And then we sat and talked and enjoyed ourselves before it was time to say goodnight and we went to the hotel.
August 7, 2017
On Monday, Karina, Ulrik and I started the day at a bagel shop not far from our hotel where we got something to eat. The weather was bad that dat since it rained, so we were a little wet when we came into the shop. When we had finished eating, we went to the nearest subway station to get into Manhattan. We were meeting with the other Collars at Macy's department store. As there was no weather for anything else than indoor activities, we could as well be in Macy's and enjoy ourselves. We found a place to sit. I bought some coffee at Starbucks. And then we sat and enjoyed ourselves for several hours.
When some of the other Collars wanted to see some sites before we went out for dinner, we said goodbye to each other at Macy's and Karina, Ulrik and I went on an adventure in Manhattan. We would try to see if we could find some cream puffs at Great Northern Food Hall at Grand Central Terminal. The man behind Great Northern Food Hall is Claus Meyer a Danish chef, so you can find a lot of Danish food & drinks there. And since we were going to birthday the day after, we wanted to give cream puff, as it is a Danish tradition, for the one who is celebrating a birthday, to give cream puffs.
Unfortunately, they didn't have anyone when we arrived so we had to leave empty handed. It was also time for us to be going to Martinique restaurant where we were going to eat dinner with the other Collars. We were the last ones who arrived at the restaurant. When we got to our seats we got the menus and looked through them. I found out quite quickly what I wanted to have to eat. A pepperoni pizza. We were 3 who would like to have red wine so I got the honor of finding a bottle. It is probably the most expensive bottle of red wine I have ever chosen. It was between 400-500 Danish kroner. And it was even the cheapest on the wine menu. The red wine was good and the food was too.
Some of us was waiting for it to be midnight so we could sing happy birthday for Astrid. When it was done, we left the restaurant and we said goodnight. Then we walked towards the nearest subway station so we could come back to the hotel.
August 8, 2017
This was the day of Astrid's birthday. I woke up a little early and since we couldn't find some cream puffs the day before, I decided to get up and get ready so I could go to Grand Central Terminal to see if I could find some.
When I got in there, they didn't have any and they probably would get some later in the week. I explained the woman behind the counter why I needed that day. While I was there, I bought 3 Frøsnappere (Danish pastry). One to Karina, Ulrik and I.
Then I got back to the hotel and relaxed in my room before going up to Karina and Ulriks room. When were all ready, we got to the subway station so we could get to Central Park where we were invited to the birthday party.
On the way up to Central Park we walked past the building where John Lennon lived and was shot and killed. There were 2 guards who noticde us since we had Danish, German, French, Canadian, American and Italian flags hanging from the wheelchair and bags and I held some of the flags as well.
Astrid, Meike and Isabelle were sitting waiting at a corner when we got there. We congratulated Astrid and sat down and waited for the others to come. It didn't take long before we arrived until the food and drinks arrived. When both Silke, her husband Carsten, Vicky and Melanie had arrived, we began to go up to the place we have chosen for the picnic.
We got the things out of the baskets, laid the blankets on the grass. Then Astrid got her presents and she opened them. When she finished, we started eating. And then we sat and enjoyed ourselves in the lovely weather. During the afternoon we all thought it was time to go. So we packed everytning together which meant all the blankets, food and baskets. When Astrid bought the food it included the blankets and the baskets, so some of the things were divided between us. I got a basket that now stands in my living room.
As we walked from Central Park, we walked past the same building as we did when we walked up to Central Park. One of the 2 guards was still there and there was a new guard there too. We could hear that one of them whispered to the other that it was us with the flags he had seen earlier in the day. We laughed a bit about that.
Later in the evening we agreed that we would all meet at a rooftop bar in Manhattan. We arrived and waited for the others to come. We ordered something to drink. We had a really sweet waitress and we really enjoyed ourselves there. And we went the rooftop bar sometime after midnight.
Karina, Ulrik and I were back at the hotel around 1 am.
August 9, 2017
This day was used as a day of relaxation until we had to go the White Collar Mini Convention, which we held at the hotel where Karina, Ulrik and I stayed.
The morning hours were spent walking around the area around the hotel. And we got something to eat at the local Dunkin' Donuts. The early afternoon hours were in our rooms at the hotel and relaxed.
Later in the afternoon I got ready for the Mini Convention. I had chosen to dress myself as one of the characters from the series. I went up to Karina and Ulriks room. We went down to the room we had booked and started to put things up which had something to do with White Collar.
Little by little people started arriving, and when everyone was there, we were around 20-25 people. So that was an ok number of people for a mini convention. Around. 7 pm, we had a Skype conversation with Tim Dekay, who played Peter Burke in White Collar. It was a bit surreal, even though he wasn't physically present, we sat talking to him. A good and fun conversation with him, which lasted about 20-25 minutes. In addition, there were small clips from some of the other actors and some of the people behind the camera. There was also food and drinks for the event. It was a really good event since it was planned in a short period of time. The event itself, in my opinon, was a success.
When the event was over and we had cleaned up, I went back to my room.
August 10, 2017
We started the day meeting with the other Collars in a diner for breakfast / brunch. We would also meet with Whitney, a New Yorker who had helped us with the planning the mini convention. When Karina, Ulrik and I arrived at the diner, Whitney was already there. We said hello and sat down at the table. Little by little, the others came.When we all were there, we ordered our breakfast / brunch. I ordered a French Toast Deluxe. There were French Toast, bacon, sausages, eggs and ham. There was so much that I could not eat it all.
Meike was the first to go when she had a few things she wanted to do before she went back home to Germany, so we said goodbye to her. A little later there was a break up when the rest of us wanted to experience different parts of New York.
Later Karina, Ulrik and I went out to Manhattan. We went down to Battery Park which is down by the water. We were also in Chinatown and when we had walked around for a while, Karina and Ulrik found a temple that they would like to see. Since I at that time didn't wanted to see the temple, they went and saw it and I continued walking around Chinatown until I came down to a square where I sat and enjoyed the sun until Karina and Ulrik arrived.
When we left from Chinatown, I looked up a street and discovered it was Little Italy, so we went up that sstreet to get up to Midtown Manhattan again.
Later in the evening, Karina and I searched for some big billboards for the Amazon series The Last Tycoon. The billboards placed around Broadway and Times Square. We found them and took some pictures of them.
11. august 2017
We met the remaining Collars at a restaurant called Jane's. When we had sat and enjoyed our food, we all decided that it was time for us to move on. Astrid and Vicky were going to Baseball match later that evening so they would like to do something before then.
Karina, Ulrik and I later decided to go up to Queens to find Fordham University, which had been used as a location in White Collar. This was also my first trip to the Queens area. Fordham University is big and it was the first time I actually was on a campus. Since Fordham University is so big we were there for quite some time.
When we finished we eventually ended up at Columbus Circle at one of the entrances to Central Park. From there we ended down around Times Square. And we found 6½ avenue. It's actually quite funny, there is a half avenue in New York. Basically it is really only an alley, which has been given the name of a ½ avenue.
12. august 2017
We had agreed to meet with the remaining Collars at the bakery Dominique Ansel, which is where the first cronut (the word is a mixture of the words croissant and donut). It ended with only Ulrik and I going when Karina hadn't slept wel and was feeling a little under the weather so she wanted to sleep a little longer. When we arrived at the bakery, Vicky and Isabelle were already sitting at a table. Ulrik and I went to the queue, which was quite long. It was a popular bakery in New York. While we were in the queue Astrid came. When it was our turn we ordered.
We sat at the table together with Vicky and Isabelle and ate our cronuts. When we finished we sat and enjoyed before we all leeft the bakery and said goodbye. Ulrik and I went back to the hotel.
Later we met with Astrid and went up to Fort Totten which was a fortress from the American Civil War, which was in the north part of Queens. The reason we went to see the Fort Totten was because the area had been used as a location in White Collar. A very exciting area.
When we were done at Fort Totten, we took the bus back to Koreatown where we had something to eat before heading out to Manhattan. We went down the Hudson River for a while.
We said goodbye to Astrid when we were at the subway station when she was heading for Canada the following day. When we had said goodbye, Karina, Ulrik and I found the right platform so we could get the right train back to Long Island City and our hotel.
August 13, 2017
This was the first day when Karina, Ulrik and I were the only Collars left in New York. And it was a little strange, not having to meet with the others like the other days.
We decided to go up to the Bronz. We wanted to go either Botanical Garden or Bronx Zoo. The area around Botanical Gardens and Bronx Zoo is obviously not quite for pedestrians because we couldn't find the entrance to the botanical garden at all, so we ended up going to Bronx Zoo instead.
The Bronx Zoo is like any other zoo. What is special about American zoos is that, when you go inside like the birds, there is bird sounds on tape while you can hear the birds "live" as well. It's a little weird.
We stayed at the Bronx Zoo for a while. We went out when they closed. We decided we wantedto have dinner at the new Wahlburgers restaurant that had opened in the Upper East Side.
We got a table at Wahlburgers and ordered our food. We got some of the best onion rings I have ever tasted. They were real crisp. We also got a dessert we shared as it was colossal.
When we were done we paid and went. We walked down towards the subway, so we could go back to the hotel.
August 14, 2017
We had decided to see The 9/11 Memorial Museum, as there were none of us who had seen before. It is a very large museum, which may take several hours to experience.
It's an incredibly exciting museum, even when it's also mentally hard being there. Especially with the stories of people who experienced the attack on September 11th. And there was a timeline for the whole day on September 11th, from before the attack until midnight. And what happened at different places, when the President was informed, etc. At the same time, the museum is built around one of the old towers. So when you are in there you can see some of the old tower. It's a musem I would absolutely recommend to people to experience when they are in New York. Because they will get very much out of it.
We walked past the Grand Central Terminal, because there were parts of the station that we hadn't seen yet. We ended up having something to eat in the big eating section in the terminal. And there we found Magnolia Bakery, who makes cupcakes. So we bought 5 cupcakes. One to Ulrik and 2 to Karina and I.
Later we went to Broadway. On the trip Isabelle had been in and see the musical Cats and she had bought a pillow shaped like a cats head. She had unfortunately lost the pillow on her trip back home to France so we would try to see if we could buy one for her. So when the musical was finished around 10:10 pm I went into the foyer and bought a pillow for Isabelle (which I sent to her after I got back home).
Then we took the subway back to Long Island City and the hotel.
August 15, 2017
It was the day of departure. We got ready and checked out at 11. am. When we had a few hours before departing from New York we went out and saw Long Island City. There was a museum called Museum Of The Moving Image in the area. So we decided we would see what kind of museum it was.
It was a rather exciting museum, which was based on movies and television. A lot of it was about what you normally don't see as a viewer. Mixed sound, visual effects, etc. When you entered the museum itself, you walked through a Jim Henson exhibition. Jim Henson is the man behind Fraggle Rock and Muppet Show.
When we were done at the musuem, we went out. And it was raining, which would turn out to last for a while. We found a Starbucks where we got something to eat and could sit while is was raining. After a while we ended up going out to get to a bus. We got wet since it was raining a lot.
So when we got back to the hotel, we borrowed their bathroom so we could change into some other clothes before heading out to the airport.
It was a bit easier to get to the subway this time than when we arrived in New York.
When we arrived at the airport there was a long queue to check in. When it was our turn, we were thinking it was going to go wrong again, as woman behind the desk asked us if we were 5 people. We said no and said we were only 3. But our check-in went smoothly and painlessly and we were also quick through the security check.
We only went to the bathroom before we were on the plane heading to London. We get on the plane and it's was on time.
August 16, 2017
We arrived in London and came easy off the plane. We also oet through the security check and we had some time to buy something to drink and some snacks before heading to the gate for Copenhagen.
We got on the plane and it also departed on time. We also arrived in Copenhagen on time. When we got off the plane, we went to the luggage belt and waited for our luggage. When they were on the belt, we took them and went to the restrooms before going directly to a book reception.
When we went into the arrival hall, I kept going and could suddenly hear Karina call me. I turned around and discovered Ulriks parents who had come to meet us.
Ulriks parents took our suitcases out to Ulrik place, and then we could go to the book reception without our suitcases. We arrived a little before the book reception would take place. It took some time before Joe discovered us. He came over and said hi and talked with us for a while before moving on.
We were at the book reception for a while before we had to leave so Karina and I could go to Ulriks and pick up our suitcases before we went up to the ferry going to Jutland. So we said good bye and go to the train.
When we got to Ulriks, I got up and picked up the suitcases. We said goodbye to Ulrik and went to Odden.
Karina and I came on the ferry and about an hour later we were in Aarhus. We got off the ferry and drove towards Randers.
When I came home to myself, I unpacked before going to bed after a very good vacation with good friends and nice moments with a lot of great people.
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