Kronborg...Is Still Not Sweden

 On our last day in Denmark, our guides #3 and 3A said a trip to Kronborg was de rigeur. Kronborg is the castle were Shakespeare's Hamlet is supposed to have taken place. And as a special benefit, THERE'S A FERRY AT THE NEARBY TOWN OF ELSINORE THAT WILL TAKE YOU TO SWEDEN! How could we pass this up? We couldn't 

With wanting to get both the castle in and go on the ferry, we got ourselves up and going at the crack of Noon. This meant, of course, that we arrived Elsinore hungry.

 Praise the Lord

The food court at Elsinore Street Food is actually very cool with a lot of options. We are all pleased with our choices.

 Refreshed, we can now make our way to the main attraction, Kronborg Castle.

 That be the castle on the lower left side of the diagram. It was constructed in stages starting in the 16th century going all the way to additions made in the 19th century. Therefore, there are sort of rings of different fortification design coming out from the center.

We arrive!

 We are greeted by our new guide, 3.2. We've been told #3 has more important clients to deal with.

3.2 secretly feels she should be Godzilla

 

But we love her

Though she does have this dark side, reminding us of what happens to people who do not give the proper gratuity.

 

 Kronborg is renowed, RENOWNED, as one of the exemplars of European Historical Building Restoration Covering.

Loyal long time followers of de-I know how much time Wife and I have spent seeking out the wonders of European Monument Restoration Covering. This was a real treat.

3.2 points out a little known fact of Danish artillery soldiery. They kept track of their kills just like fighter pilots do!

 

 Inside the castle were some great tapestries

A good explanation how poop was handled

 

A view of the inner courtyard

 

 But it is time for us to get to the ferry if we are going to make the crossing to Sweden and get back at a reasonable hour

 There are ships coming back from Sweden

Heading off to Sweden

 

 3A says, - "Right, we all have our passports."

de-I - "Uh we were supposed to bring our passports?"

3A - "DOH!"

3.2 - You know how they handle those trying to cross without a passport don't you?

 #3 - "Fear Not. I Shall Get You To Sweden!"

 3.1 - "Uh Mom, we aren't even in the water."

#3 - Details! It's all about the pitch!

It is getting late, cold and rainy. We will have to leave the town of Elsinore and the trip to Sweden for our next visit.

Signs of the World

We don't actually brag about this back home.

Self-Explanatory

Not Sweden

 I am still catching up on the events during our stay in Copenhagen. Last Saturday, we had made a plan to go to Malmo, Sweden. It is easily reachable from Copenhagen by train in less than hour. In fact, one can catch the a train that goes right to Malmo not that far from where the #3's live. It is an advantage that it is essentially almost the first stop on the line which then heads into the heart of Copenhagen, then out to the airport before crossing the straight on to Sweden and Malmo. 

Our guide - "Of course we will go to Sweden. Easy-peasy.

We got off to a late start. Arriving the train station, we had just missed the Malmo direct train. the next would not be for 45 minutes. But we could take one sooner bringing us into town where we could catch an earlier connection to Malmo. 

Our train was mostly occupied by bikes...not bikers...bikes.

Off we get and catch our next train. Ah. On to Sweden. Another new country. Another pin in the map.

After about 20 minutes of travel, we are paying attention (finally) to the stops being shown on the train information display. None say anything about Malmo. There is this sudden realization. We have caught the wrong train and heading deep into the heart of Denmark not to Sweden. 

By now, it is around 1:30 in the afternoon. All of us are hungry and crabby. We must get off at the next stop. We will grab whatever the station has to offer to eat, catch the next train back to Copenhagen, then transfer to a Malmo train.

The next station arrives and we get off to find...

Nothing

No food. No toilets

Nothing

Child One - "Isn't exciting having a travel guide Mum?"

Child Two - "No"

The next return train is not for a half hour. When it comes, it is (of course) packed with barely a seat available. It is close to 2:30 by the time we reach Copenhagen. We decide we are bailing. 3A has done a bit of research. He has found a highly rated Chinese restaurant only blocks from Copenhagen's central station. In a hunger crabs induced haze, we make for it as soon as we can only stopping at a 7-11 to grab a snack to tide us over. To our amazement, the food is EXCELLENT (more in a foodie post coming up). We are sure we have over ordered because of our famished state. We eat EVERYTHING! I think we brought some rice back home.

We walk around a bit of downtown Wife and I have not yet seen but are pretty tired and decide to take the train back home. When we arrive our home station, I am surprised to see a bit of history in the station parking lot.

A Citroen Deux Chevaux (which means Two Horses)!

The Deux Chevaux was like the original Volkswagen Bug, a cheap car for the masses. Made in the 1950's and 60's, it had a two cylinder engine and was absolutely minimal in every aspect. And cheap! It had this weird gear shifting lever coming right out of its dashboard.

And so Malmo was not achieved. But fear not. Certainly we will get another opportunity on Sunday.

A Transition Interlude

Wife and I flew back to Sicily on Monday. I still have a bunch of pictures and two more posts from the time in Copenhagen but the return to Cefalú brought with it a time to reflect upon the reason we are on this trip - the experiment in living a completely different lifestyle.

One of the first things that struck me was how comfortable it felt coming back to this apartment and this community. In a very short period of time, it is as if we have converted a new place into our 'home'. I have been happy getting back to my pattern of walking everywhere. I did our food shopping today and felt this pleasure at the activity as opposed to doing it as a chore. The new daily life pattern seems so comfortable and energizing. 

 

I am tempted to go into more detail but feel it is too soon to be jumping to conclusions. We have a whole month to go. We will let the experiment go its full length and then analyze.

Into the City - A Copenhagen Pictorial

 On our second day with the 3's, we actually went into central Copenhagen.

We went into town on the train. Upon arrival we were reminded that this, like Amsterdam, is a very bike oriented culture.

We meet up with our guides. One was quite pleasant. The other had this sort of 'Amsterdam attitude' toward service.

We headed off to a Royal Castle (any building over the last three centuries that had a royal even stop over is pretty much a castle here)

In the royal garden

Agh, our creepy guide again.

What does is this person contemplating

Our guide tells us it is where she left her shoes

In every city there are unique aspects

For example, I don't know of another city where a country's consulate would share its location with a Thai massage place?

And I am not sure where else we tout the virtues of organic beef with gasoline fired grills

A large, very important church

Statues of important people in weird poses outside the church

I sneer therefore I am

Less big, less important but still very nice church

AGGGHHH CRUISE SHIP GROUP

On to the harbor

Tall ship

Very quaint looking harbor front with colored buildings that are representative of nothing else we've seen in Copenhagen

With traditional Danish full building burger advertisement

I really do want to know why 'welfare chicken' is so desirable. I am suspecting the translation did not exactly come out.

I am thinking it is more like we raise the chicken with their welfare in mind...Until we kill and eat them.

Miscellaneous

It is a little known fact that before every Viking invasion back in the Dark Ages there had to be a system for getting the Vikings from their towns and farms to the harbor.

A complete guide to coffee

A complete guide to eliminating coffee

Signs of the World

Good WiFi Signal Forbidden