I took the Traiin from the Arctic to Africa

We're taking the train, starting up north, well into the Arctic Circle, and heading south all the way to Africa. Okay, this is our train. Well, actually, we're gonna have to take a lot of trains because to get there, we'll be traveling almost 4,000 miles. Oh. You see, we have no idea how long this will take. We need to buy a ticket to the next station. We don't even know if this can be done. Missed it again. And maybe, most importantly, we have no idea how much this will cost. We're riding. Oh, oh, oh. We've got money. How much? We don't know. But I guarantee, we're gonna find out. Welcome to Downy Express, Arctic to Africa. And to prove we are in the Arctic Circle, I'm gonna zoom out on the map here to show you we are in Narvik, Norway, and that line right there is the Arctic Circle. This is the most northern passenger railway station in the world. We are going to ride through nine countries. So to make sure that we actually get off the train occasionally and get to see a little bit of Europe on the way, we have one rule. We cannot leave the country until we've eaten their national dish. Looks like our train's here. I'm Mike, welcome to Downy Express. We gotta go eat our traditional dish. Let's go. Oh, we gotta catch this train. It's gotta come back, but we gotta eat. As the train has just arrived from Stockholm, we have two hours for it to get cleaned and turned around in time for us to board. It's a cute train. Jeff, I don't see a cab. We should just go. Luckily, I'm not doing this trip alone. I'm doing this trip with my friend Jeff. Hi. Narvik here is a town of about 14,000 people with only one option for a traditional meal at this time of day. The only place that's open in town for lunch at the moment is the Fiskehallen, which I believe means fish hall. And as someone who doesn't like seafood, I am not exactly excited about this, but we are told this is the place to come for a traditional Norwegian dish. Do you have a table for two? I might have an odd request. Yeah. But what would be the most traditional Norwegian dish you have on the menu? I got the Norwegian stockfish. I just don't love seafood, but I'm committed to this experiment and I will be eating all of the traditional meals no matter what it is on this trip. All right, so this is just basically cod. Not very fishy, but it's not bad. That's really not. Here. I would never order it. No offense to anyone in Norway. It's just, I'm not a fan of fish. This is just fish and three potatoes. This is gonna take me ages to eat. Jeff, you got the lute fish. Yeah, my fish, oh, jiggle, jiggle. It's apparently slightly gelatin-y and the server said it's not for everyone. And so Mike is forcing me to eat this. Here we go. It's actually very light in flavor. I was so wet. But with time ticking until our train departs, we finish our better than expected meals and officially check off the national dish, meaning we have unlocked the ability to leave Norway. That was better than I expected. That was actually quite good. It is so dark already. It's 2 p.m. and the sun is setting. All right, let's go catch our train. Let's go. This sleeper train is the one we saw arriving earlier, but it's now been cleaned and turned around from its previous trip, ready for us to board and start our trip south. And it begins. So for our first train, we are on a sleeper train. We're gonna be on this for the next 18 hours in a second-class private compartment. I'll be getting off after just one hour. No, I don't think you can really get off between here and Stockholm. I will be getting off in two hours. And along this trip, I will be telling you how much all the train tickets cost as well. This one was $12.99. This one cost $281 US dollars for the two of us to ride. I'm gonna say this to Jeff just as I say it to you. Welcome aboard. Choo-choo. I'm not gonna lie, does this not kind of feel like a hospital? Like the doors are gray, everything's very clinical. Oh, I mean, it has like the hotel door vibes. And this grate makes it look like we're getting into a utility closet, so that's nice. Since this is Jeff's first sleeper train ride, he can give us the room tour. What do you think? How does this work? First, you unlatch this. Then, this comes down. I feel like I should... Oh! I think you're good. Oh my God, hey, this is cool. Look, there's a safety harness so that you don't roll out. And there's some spring water and some Aqua Noble natural water. Well, that's about it. That's about it. But I will show you the room key. So, it doesn't open. That's cool. Are we moving already? We're moving already. So, I guess, ladies and gentlemen, we're underway. We're on our way to Africa. Now, I should mention, this is an 18-hour overnight train from Narvik, Norway, but will only get us to Stockholm, Sweden. It's not gonna get us all the way to Africa. So yeah, this is the first train of many on this trip. I think this is my room, and your room is just down the hall. No, no, we're sharing. No, no, no, there's not enough space. There's not enough space. We're gonna be roommates. There's no way, no. We are not sharing any rooms on this trip. I think we're gonna be roommates most of this trip, Jeff. It's, I think I've made a terrible mistake. So, what do we do now? Take me to the food cart. We gotta go outside? Excuse me, Michael, why didn't we get this room? Oh, oh, oh! This room is real nice. I think you're gonna like this trip, Jeff. We need to get an upgrade. Right now. Okay, let's go see the restaurant car. We're gonna try and go to the restaurant or cafe car, and every single train we go ride on. See, Jeff, I'm trying to be nice. We could've booked this for the 18-hour train ride. He's trying to be nice. So they got us a sleeper car. This feels really wide. Is this wider than a normal train? Like, it's less, it's so boxy. It also feels like there's not anyone else on this train. No, it's not feel, it's a fact. There is literally no one else on this train. 5.30, this is the room. Oh, there's snow outside. Okay, this is the cafe car. What do we have? They've got moose salami and reindeer salami. I think we have to do reindeer salami. That sounds pretty Swedish. Don't you think we should compare? Okay, moose, one moose salami, one reindeer salami. As we are walking to the dining car, we don't even notice that we have just crossed the border into Sweden, officially our second country of this trip. I think we should play a game, and you guess if you can tell the difference between reindeer and moose. Okay. And then I'll give you the bag, and you can do the same for me. Okay. This one is the reindeer. Reindeer. And this one is the moose. The icons are different. That is a moose, okay. Alkorv or renkorv. So I will close my eyes. Close your eyes. And you will hand me one. Okay, go ahead. You can keep your, yeah. They look the same, so you can just pop that in your mouth. I mean, that tastes like a pepperoni stick. I've had moose stew in Canada. I don't know if I've ever had reindeer before. I think the moose has more flavor. I think so. The second one was like a little drier and tougher. Drier, but it's not like cardboard dry. No, they're both similar. But you can taste the difference. I'm going back to moose. Hey, Mike, what would happen if I stepped off and the door closed and the whole trip hinged on this very moment? No! We do have a half an hour here, I guess, in, where are we? Karuna. This is our second country already. Whoa, so easy. It's only been two hours. Oh my goodness. We're going to be done with this trip in like a couple of days. I know. I want to point out, it is 5 p.m. And it is so dark. It's also so cold. Was it your breath? Yes. Hey, Mike, check this out. Oh, nope. This will probably be our last time outside till tomorrow. While it's always good to get some fresh air when on a long train trip, it's also the first time we officially step onto Swedish soil for the first time. I feel like I could moonwalk. Although it is mighty cold and I'm looking forward to continuing southward towards Africa and warmer weather. I'm going to get back on now. Just for safety. Jeff and I have been friends for just over 20 years. Okay, Jeff. Yeah, what's up? What are you hoping to happen on this trip? I'm looking forward to all the countries I haven't been to, which is most of them actually. This is the only train ticket I have booked so far because I wanted, this train only runs once a day out of Narvik. So I wanted to make sure we were on this one. But from then on, we're pretty much just going to be booking tickets as we go to see how easy it is to navigate. And I'm going to have an ulcer dealing with that. And Jeff doesn't necessarily love unplanned getaways. I'm kind of looking forward to just seeing how easy it is. I hope that's not foreshadowing to a part where it's not easy. Well, it is foreshadowing. And here's a sneak peek at some of the trouble to come. It's been canceled. It is delayed. Apparently our Brussels train is canceled due to animal on track. That's our train. Oh my God. That's our train. I think we're going to be late. I thought this would be easy. The good thing is that we don't know anything about that yet. So in the meantime, we can sleep easy. Okay. We have one thing to settle first. Who gets the top? Who gets the bottom? I want the bottom please. Okay. Since you're my guest, you get, you can have the bottom. I'm your guest? On the show. Oh. I was like, in what way am I your guest? Like your guest. Am I a guest in Europe? Like the special guest. Oh. Yes. I'm a special guest. Okay. Let's not get ahead of ourselves. I'm a special guest. You're going to have to put me up in a Chateau if I'm a special guest. No. It's going to be one of those trips. Or a castle or a palace. I'll take either of those three. I personally think you should start to get used to this sleeper car situation. No, I'm a guest. So tonight is Jeff's first night on a sleeper train and we'll see what he thinks of it in the morning. Good night. But I sleep really well on a train. Good night. See ya. And with day one of this trip over, we've only made it about 500 miles so far, which means we have a long way left to go, which has me wondering just how long this trip will take. Morning. That was an interesting experience. Yes. New for you? I slept pretty well. I woke up a couple times in the night when I think we were, I don't know, stopping, bumping, something. All right. Ready for Stockholm. Jeff says he didn't sleep all that well last night, but I will show you. It's 9 a.m. in the morning. The wait. So we slept all right. What do you mean we slept all right? What does that mean? Oh, we've been on here for 17 and a half hours. We get off in an hour. This is the first of many trains, Jeff. I'd say get used to it. We're somewhere outside of Stockholm on this beautiful morning, and today we have a whole day to cover a lot of distance on this trip. But first, breakfast. Where do we get this from? This is not the same cafe car we had yesterday. What? When did they attach an entire new car? While we were sleeping. We have a whole restaurant now. Good morning. So this is a kennel cinnamon. Okay, so it's a cinnamon. It's like a cinnamon bun, but it has cardamom in it, which is kind of what makes it special. And you have it when you're having a, so this in Sweden would be called fika. Okay. Fika. It's like their coffee culture. Like, let's go for a fika. Okay, fika. I will say one of my favorite things about riding trains is the cafe car culture. Cafe car culture. It's like, feels like bigger windows, more social, more fun. More fika. Cheers. Now, on a personal note, I didn't really expect him to, but I'd say Jeff is settling into this long distance train riding pretty well. Look, I don't want to jinx it, but I almost even say he likes it, but time will tell. We have about 10 minutes left to Stockholm, which is this train's final station. Take an extra look around you so you do not forget anything on board. There we go. Our first city. Oh, this is our second country. Stockholm. Ah, the home of Ikea. Let's head into town. We'll get our national dish, come back to the train station and catch the next train to Copenhagen. This is already so much warmer than Narvik. Where's your, where's your duffel bag? Oh my God, that is, I'm such an idiot. Take an extra look around you so you do not forget anything on board. You're going to put your bag above. Don't forget it. Okay. That was actually not on purpose. Let's try this again. Ah, Stockholm. I really hope that isn't a sign of what's to come on this trip. Hopefully that's one and done. We got it out of our system. The rest of the trip's going to go smoothly. My call. It's been an early morning. Who wakes up at 9 a.m.? Now, remember the only rule. We can't leave the country until we've eaten the national dish. So we're going to drop our bags and lockers at the train station and go find some meatballs. Ooh, it's windy. Okay, I think meatballs are down to the right here. Should we not get our tickets for Copenhagen while we're here? The train tickets? Yeah. No, we'll be fine. There's going to be plenty of trains this afternoon, I think, so. Okay. Let's just go for meatballs. Sounds good. We'll get them when we come back. Which way? So the reason we're taking the Metro, because this is a train series, we're going to do everything by transit as best we can, but also because this is the world's longest art gallery. It's about 100 kilometers of art gallery. Or 60 miles for our American friends. That's right. Oh, I can see the art now. Here you go, Blue. Here we go. The Swedish call these cave stations. They're sprayed with concrete, then painted and designed to give the illusion of being in a cave. And I got to say, it looks great. Oh, jeez. Never been on a moving sidewalk before? No, I've never been on a train for 18 hours. Oh, you're still... I'm still moving. I mean, if this isn't proof that transit stations don't have to be boring. Okay. This is cool. Here's what I like about this. Other than this, which they've had to build to look like this, the rest of it is just paint. Like, this is just pure cave rock that they carved out and they painted it red and it looks awesome. If you're in Stockholm and want to see them yourself, most of them are found along the blue line. That was a quick stop at Rajusett. That's one of my favorite stations in the world. This is Kungstragården, and it is heavily inspired by what's above us, which is the King's Garden. Oh. Is the King's Garden also Italian? Because there's some green, red... Oh, here's the king now. Look at this. In fact, 94 of the 100 metro stations in Stockholm house a collection of art, sculptures, and exhibitions from 250 artists. Which way to the Ikea? Whoa, check this out. Are these, like, actual ruins? Look at this. I have a feeling these are not real Roman or Greek ruins. You can throw your coins in there. You get in there and you get to make a wish. This is so cool. And look at the ceiling. You know what's kind of cool? For the price of taking the train, you basically get to go to, like, a bunch of art galleries. This is better than I thought. This is cool. Oh, Jeff. Look at this elevator. This is a funicular. This elevator goes up on an angle. We're gonna race. Jeff's taking the elevator. I'm taking the escalator. Okay, go. Okay, I'm on. There he is. Let's see what's faster, the escalator or the elevator. Oh no, I've made a huge mistake. Oh my gosh, how cool is that elevator? I lost big time. He's gonna be smart. Number one, number one, number one. Let's go. All right, let's ride it. It is considered public art for public transport. It's believed that the art gives each station its own identity, making it easier to navigate the network, as well as making the stations feel safer and more inviting. But enough of the art, we can't leave Sweden until we eat the national dish. So we're off to go eat meatballs. I think this is the perfect spot. Oh my gosh, it already smells delicious. It smells so good. There's a meatball feast. That's what we want. Okay, but it has eight meatball types. Like not even just the regular IKEA meatball, but eight types of meatball. Let me tell you, there's a chicken, a pork, a vegan, a moose, a deer, a lamb. That's only six. Then they have veal, boar, beef, classic beef, pork, bear, and reindeer. Oh, I get it. So we choose. Oh my gosh. A lingonberry margarita. Why is my hand shaking? Oh, cheers. Cheers. Cheers to safe travels. Oh, your face. I like it. It just took me a second to figure that out. We got the meatball feast. So we got beef, chicken, pork, reindeer, boar, lamb, veal, classic, which is beef and pork combo with lingonberries and cucumbers and a ton of veal gravy. This is our second national dish of the trip. Beef, chicken. Done. And I'm not saying this for effect or the video. That is the best meatball I've ever had. Which one did you eat? I had the beef. I had the chicken and it wasn't, it was okay. And just as you'd expect, the meatballs in Sweden are something else. As much as I'm enjoying trying the different types they have, there can only be one winner. We're on the last one, classic. Bon appetit. Oh, it actually just tastes like a beef and pork. Like it tastes like a Swedish meatball. Like what we would think is a Swedish meatball. I think the classic might be at the front. There you have it, folks. The classic meatball in Sweden is the best tasting meatball. It's a classic for a reason. Well, those were some good meatballs. You know, there were different prices for the different types of meat. Did you know that? I didn't. Yeah. Did you know which one was the cheapest meatball? The pork? No, it was the deer meatballs. They were under a buck. Jeff. Now, because it's so nice out, we've decided to get back to the station by scooter. And I am loving these wide and comfortable bike lanes, as well as this Swedish architecture. Jeff, I think we're at the wrong Ikea. I think you have the wrong Ikea of where we're going today. But we want to catch the next train out of town, so there's no time to stop and enjoy. We're back. Okay, we need to do two things. We need to get our bags and get tickets. Oh! Why'd you stop? Why did you go? We're not so late for our train that you had to sacrifice cutting your body in half by the door. How are we gonna make it? Okay, our luggage is down there, and then tickets are here. We'll get luggage first. I don't think we need tickets yet. Okay, let's get tickets to Copenhagen. So I have some bad news and some good news. We've got 10 minutes till our train leaves. The bad news is the train we want is sold out. No, we'll be fine. There's gonna be plenty of trains this afternoon, I think. The good news is there are two tickets left for the next train. Let's try not to miss it. Try not to miss it, yeah. We miss it, we miss it. We spent 4,900 Swedish kronor, kronan? Kronor. Which? I think it's pronounced crowns. Crowns. I think. I'll put the conversion up so we can see how much we actually spent. But we got first class, which means it comes with a lounge pass. So let's check out the lounge. The lounge sits in the mezzanine of the station. And while it is nice, it's also quite busy. And you definitely don't wanna get too comfortable and lose track of time. Because before you know it, it's time for us to go. Oh my God. What? I got wheeled, man. That's why I don't travel with wheels, I travel with a duffel. Track 11, I'm exhausted. We just walked out of the lounge. We have international train tickets to get us from Stockholm, Sweden here to Copenhagen in Denmark. An easy five hour train ride. Except we do have to change trains in Hasselholm. But before we can do all that, we have to catch our train here. Holy. It's busy. This one? Is this not us? Car one? This must not be us. Gothenburg. No, it's leaving. No, this isn't us. Full of distress. Whenever we can, can we face in the direction of travel? In terms of filming or? No, on like sitting in the train. Oh, absolutely. That's a priority. I don't like sitting backwards. No. Okay. Wagon seven. Oh, thank you. So we're at the other end. Oh my gosh, this is chaos. Let's go to the other side. It's Swedish chaos. Which is really like not fully chaos, but it's busy. So we booked this very late. And so the only option was first class. So we are boarding carriage one, first class. So welcome Jeff to first class Swedish train. Not the most luxurious first class I've ever been in, but the table does fold. So we'll be on this for two and a half hours. Settle in. Copenhagen, we're coming for you. Well, we're full of meatballs and enjoying our first sunset from a train. I'd say things overall are going pretty smoothly, but as on any train trip, you can never fully relax. And Jeff is about to find out why. So while we were supposed to arrive three minutes ago, we have 16 minutes to make our transfer to the last train of the night. We're four minutes past the time we're supposed to be in, and we're still moving well over a hundred kilometers an hour. So fingers crossed we make this train. If not, we will not make it to Copenhagen tonight. I would very much like to make it to Copenhagen tonight. Yeah, because I've booked us in quite a nice hotel, I believe. And we have a nice early morning for an activity that Jeff really wants to do tomorrow. So fingers crossed we don't end up in Malmo tonight. Where does Hasselhoff live? If you say it's the city we're transferring in. In his Hassel home. Jeff, we want to keep the viewers entertained and not have them clicking away. This is my first YouTube video, guys, so I don't know. I'm so sorry. This is going to be a long trip. I love trains. I don't ever want to be on a train for 18 hours ever again. We have now less than- Eight minutes. Eight minutes for the transfer. We need to prepare. I think we should get our luggage down and stand by the door. This is nice to travel with Jeff because he worries about time like I do. I prefer being early, but a lot of the people that I travel with, they're like, oh, it'll be fine. It's too much stress. Do you think you could go up to the conductor? And request? To go faster. Oh. Hasselholm. Next stop. They didn't make an announcement in English, but we heard Hasselholm. We have seven minutes. Seven minutes. Let's go. Now, just to reiterate, if we do not catch this train and we miss our connection, we won't be able to get to our hotel tonight in Copenhagen and it will put our whole trip behind schedule. We're trying not to miss it. We miss it, we miss it. It leaves in two minutes. We're still moving. And we don't know what track it's on. Why is this happening on the second day? Our train leaves right now and we're still on another train and we're still moving. Oi. That is the last train to Copenhagen. Here we go. That's our train. Oh my God, that's our train. That is actually our train. Is that the train? Why do things always start this way? Wait, we gotta get, we gotta... We gotta what, Jeff? I don't know. It's gone. This is not what I signed up for. I think this trip is gonna take us longer than we expected. Okay. So Jeff. Oh, it was too. This is the 916 here as well. To Copenhagen. So yeah, it's 1145 is the train number. Also gets to Copenhagen Central Station. It gets there 30 minutes later. Yeah. So we'll just get on this train. Yeah. Because we just missed the last one. Yeah. At least it wasn't the last one. Yeah. So this is the last one? No, there's a 945. That's the last one. Oh wait, no. It's 1016, 1047, 1147. Oh, who told me this was the last one then? It's fine not to miss it. That's my bad. Okay. Oh, we got some good news now. Great. So there might've been a little miscommunication, but it's all good with another train pulling in after just a 30 minute wait. I assume this is our train now. Osterport. It doesn't say 1145. Okay. Viapor, Eslav, Lund, Malmö C, CPH Airport. This one also says CPH Airport. I was going to ask this guy. Should we show him our tickets? Sure. Excuse me. Whoa. Did you read the signs? This is my best compliment that they ask you. That's a good question. Yeah, it said 1A. Uh-huh. We're 1A. Yes. But it said the car is 1145. Don't mind the cars. That's not the matter. The matter is the destination of the cars. Oh, okay. So it's the same destination. The question is, we were on another train that dropped us here and our ticket was supposed to connect us, but we were late and we missed the last train. Where were you going? Copenhagen. Yes. Copenhagen. Yeah, this goes all the time. Yeah, okay. So we're okay to just get on? Okay. Thank you. No problem. Okay. I guess just get on. They're so chill. We have second class, not first class for this one. This is another two-hour train ride. It's getting late and we're both looking forward to actually sleeping in a hotel tonight. And it's right about here that we have officially crossed into our third country of the trip. Welcome to Denmark. I think this is us. Copenhagen. I've picked a special hotel. We have to find it. This is Copenhagen Central Station, the largest railway station in the country, built in 1911. And so I've booked us accommodation as close to the station as we can get. We are staying here. It's now called the Copenhagen Plaza Hotel, but it was originally the Terminal Hotel. It's a gorgeous hotel used to house prime ministers and dignitaries at the end of the railway line here. And tonight, us. The big neon lights on the top, I thought it was the address. Jeff thinks it's a digital clock. One, two, three. 11. Yeah. 11. It's a clock. That's cool. All right, let's go check out our hotel. This is the original elevator from 1914. Oh, it creaks. Just a few minutes, wait for a phone stop. Okay. Thank you. This elevator is over a hundred years old. Look at this glass. I touched it. Oh, he said. He said, don't block the sensors. I thought he meant that we had to wait till the door closed. Please don't block the sensors. Oh my God, I'm gonna push it too. Hit over, over last? Over last. Hit the stop for five seconds. The reason this elevator has sensors is because it's so old, it was built without an internal door. Okay, we won't. Oh, I understand now. There we go. I'm really trying not to be those people, Jeff. You have to behave on this trip. Oh my goodness. Oh, wow, we're passing. Is that not the second floor? Wait, now we're on the third? Whoa, what is happening? No, we're going way too high. This thing is just taking us. All right. This is the price you pay. You know, if you're gonna ride an elevator to the wrong floor, this is a good hotel to do it. This is a good elevator to ride. This is one of the top elevators I've ever ridden in. You can look out this way too. You can look out all ways. This is gorgeous. Let's check out your room. That's the thing on these trips. You find little things that you don't expect. We came for the trains and here we are loving the elevators. So this door is from a hundred years ago. Winston. This is from like 15 years ago. Winston Churchill could have stayed in this room. On the second floor. Ooh. Whoa. Wow. Very Art Deco. Nice bathroom. Oh my God. You're not gonna believe this. No hotel room you have ever stayed in has ever had dumbbell weights as part of the service and amenity of your room. I saw that out of the corner of my eye and I don't know why I thought it was decor. There is no way that a hotel that has a bed that looks like this is also the same hotel that has weights. All right. Let's go see my room. That's awesome. We got, we got weights. Oh my God. Very nice. Very similar. Should we call it a night here? Should we head to the library bar? I think we should definitely head to the library bar. Now every famous hotel needs a famous hotel bar and here it's the library bar. This lounge was named as one of the world's best bars by Forbes magazine and I can see why. The decor is original and legendary and while looking around, all I can think about are all the famous and important people who have sat in this room and all because Jeff and I decided to take on this ridiculous trip. We get to sit here too. And so, cheers. I'll drink to that. Good morning, Copenhagen. Well, we got trains here. I guess the question is, what do we do here? So while our hotel was built across the street from the train station, the train station was built across the street from a very unique set of gardens, specifically Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli Gardens is the world's second oldest amusement park. Opening in 1843, that's over 180 years ago. Wow. They'll let anyone drive in this country. Oh my gosh. It's like Mr. Toad's Wild Ride at Disneyland. And fun fact, did you know that Disneyland only has two rides? What do you mean? No. All the other rides are attractions at Disneyland and there's only two rides. One is... So what, Mr. Toad's Wild Ride. The other official ride is Big Thunder Mountain because it's the wildest ride in the wilderness. Wow. I did not know that. Now we learned something. And that's not just a joke. Like, that's a thing. In fact, it's well documented that Walt Disney himself came to visit Tivoli Gardens three times and was heavily inspired by this amusement park while creating and designing Disneyland. That does look like the Matterhorn, doesn't it? It's like a tiny, cute version of it. A very little Danish version. In fact, it is not the Matterhorn, but it is the Rutschebahn, and it is the third oldest roller coaster in the world. And a guy has to sit and operate it. And it's his job to ride the roller coaster and pull the brakes. That's what I do. That's so cool. How can you do this all day? I have a strong stomach. Oh my God. Anything we need to know about this ride? The oldest roller coaster in Europe. Wow. Probably also the best. Also the best. I like that. But you change the brakes more often than that. Well, you know what they say, working a job like this has its ups and downs. This is awesome. Oh boy. I kind of love the leather seating. But actually, while riding it, you can see how Walt took inspiration from this ride for his Matterhorn roller coaster. Here we go. Long life. Too long. I came right out of my... Me too. We're over a hundred years old. Very good. Thank you. That was a very cool job. But maybe the greatest crossover between Tivoli here and Disneyland is Hans Christian Andersen, a Danish fairytale writer. And you can best see that on this ride Oh, we're giant books. Oh, so these are all the stories he wrote. Hans Christian Andersen wrote some of the world's most famous fairytales. Some of them even used by Disney. You, Russell. You want to come to us? We're tiny. We're toys. And this ride takes you through all his fairytales, including the ones you'll know. Like Thumbelina, The Princess and the Pea, and even the Disney movie Frozen is loosely based on his fairytale called The Snow Queen. This is the original Frozen. Oh my God. And the ride ends with a scene of the man himself at work. Hans, Hans, Hans. A comment, please. Hello. What a unique place. I think if you like Disney, it's great, but it's also just great on its own. But we've worked up an appetite and we can't leave Denmark until we've had the national dish. So we have to find it here, hopefully. I see hot dogs, but I don't think that's it. The cheese shop? No. Okay, let me look up what the national dish is first. Okay. I read it this morning. It's a fleg something. The national food dish is steg flask. So let's find some steg flask. Steg flask. It's not steg flask, but it is fleg steg. Yeah, that must be it. I don't know Danish, but it sounds the same. Flesk, flesk, fleskestest. Okay, how about instead of trying to pronounce it, we go eat it? Need help with anything? Yes. How do you say this? Steg flask. And it means? Populous fried. And then this word has bod at the end. Does that mean like it's in a bun or? Yeah, it's a bun. It's a bun. It's like a burger bun. Okay, so that's the popular dish, but in a bun. Very popular, yes. That's why the line's so long. Thank you. Can you come with us everywhere else? Two classic flekesteg sandwich, please. Thank you. Oh, yeah. Good chunk of pork with the really crispy ends. And you can pay extra and get more crispy ends, which we maybe should have done. But we're going as traditional as we can. Ready? You have to pronounce it once. I already forgot. Flask. Flaskesteg sandwich. The meat is very salty, which I like a lot, but the creamy sauce dilutes that. That's good. It's so good. It's like crispy pork. We kind of have this at home. Yeah. We obviously got it from- More like pork belly. With the national dish officially eaten, we are now free to leave Denmark and continue on our way to Africa by train. But I think we should end the day with one of the oldest rides in the park, the Ferris wheel. Thank you. This is a bad time to tell you that I'm already feeling dizzy. We have started moving. This is over a hundred years old. Actually, the original Ferris wheel was steam powered. And the reason they have hot air balloons on them is because the Danish were fascinated with floating flight back in the 1800s when the first version of this was built. Jeff, are we too old for this? We're certainly not young. There's a lineup of parents with children to do this, and here we are, just two adults. Taking up space. Tivoli, you were great. That was an unexpected stop. So fun. And all because we arrived by train. So it's back to the hotel for a good night's sleep because today is an early start. Back on the trains to continue south. Another day, another train. Here we go. Our first train of the day is to Vejle, Vejle, Vejle, how do I pronounce this? Where are you going? Ah, um. Vejle? Yes. Okay, good. Thank you. Vejle. Tak. The train number here, the coach number there, and your seat number. Okay, track four. Yes, right now, track four. Sport track. Sport four. Okay, perfect. Okay, wish us luck. Thank you. Good luck. Very friendly. That was lovely. I mean, everyone in Denmark has been so friendly. Yeah. All those lies that the Swedish said about the Danish. Oh, we need a Danish, too. What do they call them here? Just, it's just bread. Pastry. So they don't call it a Danish here. We're in Denmark, so it's called a spandauer. I mean, I couldn't leave without trying a Danish in Denmark. Tastes like one. That's good. Honestly, I don't know what I expected. It tastes just like a Danish. Look, Downey, we don't have to run for our train because we actually found out where it leaves from. Jeff is so organized, it makes travel boring. Well, don't make me sound like that. There's always one of each side in the group, so. Oh my God, there's actually already a train here. Is it? Oh, it's ours, 756. Wagen 72, which is the second from the front. Here we go. Off to Germany. Seats look just as nice, actually. Could have really used a table. Here we go. Oh, we have a table. So our seats are taking us from Copenhagen to Velo. These seats are going from Copenhagen to our house. Our house. Oh, this is very comfortable. This is lovely. This is a standard seat. Imagine these on planes, Jeff. Like this is a business class seat on a plane. Hold on. Wait, this does something. What is this? This morning's train is only two hours and we're feeling fresh after a day off the trains yesterday. Nice, come on. Now you're a traveler. Now, this is how I travel. Tickets, please. Even the scenery out the windows is interesting. We have some fun looking Danish trains and some odd shaped buildings and interesting architecture, which Jeff missed because he's sleeping. But our journey this morning ends with us crossing a bridge and arriving in Vejle. I think we are the next stop. We're not like a terminus station. So I don't know how much time we'll have to get off. We've got luggage. Okay, Udgan. I think Udgan means exit. It's not the town we're in. Now, interestingly, as we're here, Jeff just noticed that we're actually not far from the Lego house. So we're doing a little side adventure and I know it's not a train, but we are still taking the bus. In fact, this bus will take us straight there because it's such a popular destination. It looks like it's made out of cardboard. That's the Lego head office. So this little side trip shouldn't take us too long, but I can tell Jeff is excited. We are in Billund, Denmark, which is the birthplace of Lego. And this is the Lego house. It is the home of the brick. The home of the world's most popular toy. So Lego won the toy of the century twice. There's only been two centuries, the 1900s and the 2000s. That's how good it is. The Lego store. All right, let me show you around the Lego house. Oh, cool. They have people made of Lego that are playing with toys made of Lego. They have an actual brick molding extruder machine. Oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God, oh my God. Okay, okay, okay, okay. You don't understand, okay. So these machines inject plastic into a mold and you get a brick. But the coolest thing about this is that you actually, it's happening right now and you can, I'm assuming, buy the actual brick that comes out of it. That you've watched just be made. Right. Wow. Like a fresh brick. Oh, and you can see the weight. It's even. Fun fact about this machine. Yeah. For every one million bricks it makes, only 18 are no good. Wow, faulty. Faulty, yeah. Out of every million. That's a good ratio. That's so cool. Sorry. These sets, you can only buy the Lego house. They're Lego house exclusive sets. Here. Here, yes. Limited edition, one. Yes. So you can get a brick built model of the Lego house, part of the architecture series. Which is the building we're in. Yes. This right here is a brick built version of the duck, which was actually the first thing that Ole Kirk Kirkenson made. It was a wooden duck and that was the first toy he ever made. So this is kind of like a tribute to him. Fun fact. Do you know who is the world's largest producer of tires? It's not Michelin. It's not Pirelli? It's not Pirelli. It's Lego. Oh my gosh. That's an actual fact. Lego has accomplished so much. Jeff also just told me a fun fact that there are eight billion people in the world. Yes. A billion in China, a billion in India. How many Lego people are there? Four billion. It's the largest population of people in the world. This is insane. We are designing our personalized Lego characters. Oh my God. Can our Lego figures travel with us everywhere we go now? Yes. Photos through the rest of the travels. So we're adding two more people to the Lego population. Print. Here they come. Jeff has a cat, Watson. Who's gray. And wearing the cowboy hat like you are. I've got my hat. I'm eating a hot dog as I will be eating a brat or a wurst in Germany tomorrow. Let's do it. The plan is to spend two hours exploring the Lego house here. And I don't know how, but somehow this little side quest adventure took up more time of our day than we expected. But just look at Jeff. I'd say it was worth it. But after a full day at the house, there's still one thing I need to know. Jeff, for those of us that don't know, what does Lego even stand for? It's Danish for legat, which means play well. Ah. It's one of the founding ideals of Lego. Oh, I love it. Yeah. Isn't that awesome? Okay, so Lego, everyone. Now you know. So it's time to head back to the train station. All on our call there. Track four. We're colding. God, Jeff. This is why I don't travel with wheels. And we're back just in time for our train to Germany. Here we go. All right, we made it just in time. Yeah, it was tight. All right, let's board. Let's board. Gosh, it sure is easy to hop on and off a train as you discover things on your route here in Europe. I mean, what a perfect little day we're having. The sun is shining. We're doing about 100 kilometers an hour headed towards our fourth country of the trip. In fact, I'm starting to worry that maybe today's gone a little too smoothly. Everything seems to be on track until it isn't. I wasn't filming while it happened, but we were just told that the train will not continue on past the next station, which is a sign of things to come. Here we go. One minute. Oh my gosh. Everyone's telling us something different. Where are we going? Oh no, Michael. So this is where I'm asking you to subscribe because I don't want you to miss next week's episode. It's like chewing a dry booger. This is the funniest situation. And it only happens when you travel. We have a long way left to go. And I'm wondering if we'll even make it to Africa by train. Do you want more stress in your life? Try taking trains. I can confirm that we are on a train. Or in fact, if Jeff will even last to the end. Missed it again? How is this so difficult? I've given up on this trip. So make sure you are subscribed so you can find out next week right here on Downy Express. In a twist of events, we're heading to the airport. And the good thing is you can watch episode two right now on Nebula. It's a streaming platform for creators by creators and it's the best viewing experience for you with no ads and no sponsorships. In fact, Nebula hosts hundreds of fantastic creators like the fun travel show Jetlag the Game where they use the globe as their board game or learn from fantastic educational channels like Real Engineering and Not Just Bikes. And lucky for us, they just so happen to have a deal on at the moment where if you sign up at nebula.tv slash downy live or using the QR code on your screen, you can get 40% off an annual subscription. So if you've been thinking of signing up for Nebula, now is the time and you'll always get access to my videos early. So go to nebula.tv slash downy live and go watch episode two right now and I'll see you over there.