Denmark: 27 Aug - 31 Aug
So after Germany we arrived in Denmark. Easy to enter, just driving along the highway, we came to a sign welcoming us to Denmark and a Danish flag. No longer was I able to understand all the road signs. First impressions were that it was just as flat and windy as northern Germany. When we got to Denmark it was also late afternoon and overcast. It is a lot less populated than Germany however, we noticed the wider roads and many empty fields straight away. As its the end of summer, many fields were bare, cut off wheat stubs remaining. Otherwise there were corn fields. The houses are a lot smaller in Denmark and not as 'pretty' looking as they were in Germany.
We stopped at a pertol station and used their free toilets and picked up a free map and information brochures. Good impression so far.
Aabenraa: spent our first night here, and then the next day was nice and sunny, but not too warm. Time for long pants and a jumper. In this town we looked at an old castle. We walked around the gardens first and found a wallnut tree, the nuts we picked are still in a bag drying out. :-) The castle is now an art museum, we had a quick look inside.
Ribe: town on the west coast of Jutland (the left island). Denmark is made up of three main islands. This is one of Scandinavia's oldest towns. We parked right in the centre and walked around the narrow old cobbled streets. Very windy, time for a jacket. The Danes, seemed not to feel this cold as they were all enjoying an icecream. Pretty little town.
Kolding: eastern coast of Jutland, further north, near the bridge that crosses to the next island. I attempted driving our van on the way to Kolding because we drove along country roads that weren't too busy. Changing gears was no problem and I got the backwards blicker, but driving (what seemed to me) in the middle of the road was too much. No power steering, with a huge wheel that seemed like a truck, scared the hell out of me. So that was the end of my driving experience. We only arrived late afternoon and found a nice spot on the huge river on the city outskirts. I went for a nice walk through the bush and found heaps of blackberry bushes. So me and Elman went and collected about 1/2 kilo of berries. It was nice and sunny here too, so we still had a great impression of Denmark. The night was freezing though.
Odense: bigger town in the centre of the middle island, Funen. Drove over a nice bridge from one island to the other. In Odense we went to a public library and used their free internet to write some emails. As we wanted to get to the third island continued on over the next bridge.
The 16km bridge: that's right 16km over the ocean, what an amazing view. Were really happy until we reached the other side and got charged DKR205, that's $45. Yep, $45 just to cross the bridge, we were really annoyed. Can't say that we used those words to express our feelings at the time. I just thought Sweden better be bloody worth it. There is still one more long toll bridge to cross to get to Sweden and we still have to get back!! So at that point in time we decided to spend as little money in Denmark as possible.
Roskilde: again on a harbour, home of a Viking Ship Museum. Right island of Zealand. Was an interesting museum, free of charge for us, as we only walked on the outside. Half the museum is the boats on the harbour, so we still got to see lots. Absolutely cold and really really windy. This is summer?? Why would you want to live here??
Copenhagen: capital of Denmark. Unfortunately it was raining a little when we got here. Parked at a metered car park, $10 for 2 hours. So after having a look at the National Museum we moved our car, to a private work car park. (hee hee) The National Museum was really interesting and had a lot of Danish as well as Scandinavian historical exhibitions. Also had some international exhibitions. We then walked throught the centre of town. It had stopped raining now, but I was wearing a thick jacket and beany. Walked through Christiansborg Palace and the Royal Library. Walked along the river to Amalienborg Palace, home to the royal family, complete with the royal guards outside. Nice city, very clean (like the rest of Denmark)
Helsingor: home to Hamlet's castle Kronborg Slot. Quaint little town with a port where ferries leave for Sweden every 20 minutes. Can see Sweden across the channel. Wearing my winter boots now, as well as jacket and beany. After walking around town and visiting Kronborg Slot, we spent the afternoon in an indoor swimming pool. Was awesome to defrost, and much better weather too when we left. Caught the ferry across to Sweden, was a nice experience to park our car in the huge ferry and go upstairs for the 20 minute ride. Of course it cost lots again.
So I suppose that if catching ferries and crossing bridges wasn't that expensive, our impression would have been so much better. It's a nice country its just that it was bloody freezing. It's really flat everywhere and the wind blows right through you. Also people beep their horn constantly when driving, as soon as you take more than 2 seconds to move. So once it was probably because we didn't have our lights on, which you need to have 24/7. People were friendly to us, and they could all speak English at tourist attractions. Grocery shopping with only Euro's to pay, when the lady couldn't understand us was an intersting experience :-)
