Travels with "Peedie Charlie and 2017 Adventure

Blog 17.8.14

Guten Tag from Germany

Yesterday we crossed from Denmark to Germany, just north of Süderlügum. This town had 5 supermarkets and several petrol stations. These shops were very busy being Saturday and had signs that they accepted Danish money. When we went into one of the supermarkets to stock up we were surprised, and pleased, to see just how much cheaper things are in Germany. We are staying at a campsite in the village of Heidenau - we used it on our way north as it has a good swimming pool heated to 28 degrees with an array of solar panels and excellent facilities. Just as well as air temperatures are now dropping with highs of around 20 – 21degrees. The whole of Northern Europe has an end of summer feeling with crops being harvested and trees are losing their leaves - in Scandinavia children have started back at school.

Our last blog entry was before we crossed into Sweden, just after dropping Sarah at the airport in Oslo. We drove across the Southern part of Sweden stopping to camp by beautiful lakes. While on the motorway we were stopped by a huge electrical storm with strong wind and hail. All the traffic stopped - when we got underway again there were trees that had blown onto the road. Dramatic stuff with all sorts of lightning and tremendous claps of thunder…..Thor at his best!

We found a great campsite near Stockholm, which was on another beautiful lake that was good for swimming. Just what was needed after a hot days sightseeing. The metro only took 20 minutes to get to the centre of town. We had a good walk around the old town, Gamla Stan, managed to find a café with wonderful coffee, almost Welli standard, and….. gluten free goodies. Watched an extremely elaborate changing of the guard at the Royal Palace with a full military band on horseback then caught the ferry over to the amazing Vasamusseum. The “Vasa” was a war ship that sank in 1628 after sailing only 26 minutes on her maiden voyage. She was salvaged in 1961 and provides a snapshot of how life was in that year.

An interesting story of how it sank. Two different groups of ship builders constructed it. The Dutch built the port side with the Swedish having the starboard honour. During the building each group used a different length measurement system. This resulted in it being a bit lop-sided, (also had an incorrect amount of ballast in the keel), following the initial firing of the royal salute by two decks of cannons. This caused the ship to sank as it was not able to ‘right’! Result was that the Dutch received the blame. Resolved diplomatically as the Dutch designer had died, thus no honour was lost!!! The restored, and preserved entire ship is in the museum with the food, clothes, games etc all preserved and on display. A really fascinating place. The next day we took a harbour cruise passing through locks to get from the lake to the Baltic sea.

We drove South stopping at the characterful town of Granna on the large Lake Vattern. All over Sweden there are shops with huge selections of sweets and big self service isles of sweets in the supermarkets. Granna is known for it sweet shops which included an amazing chocolate café. We drove across the elegant, (and expensive) Oresund bridge to get to Copenhagen. In all the years Marg has known Colin she did not realize he has a fascination about structures / architecture / design and he was in raptures about this bridge.

Again the campsite was close to the city, only 15 minutes on a very fast metro. We really enjoyed Copenhagen, it’s a cool place with a good vibe and lots of energy. It is easy to walk around although we got lost a couple of times as the city map was confusing with many streets not being named. We took a canal boat trip to see the statue of the little mermaid and little she is! Also saw most of the fascinating buildings and sailed through the suburb of Christian which is built around water. Visited the Tivoli Gardens which has been an amusement park since the mid 1800s. Beautifully presented with the rides set in a fascinating garden. We visited the Danish Design Museum that certainly was a real highlight, setting the world interest in this design approach/style in context. We wanted to visit a museum about the Danish resistance during WWII but firstly we had trouble finding it (it was all underground in a park!) and then when we found it was closed as they had had a fire.

After all this city sightseeing we headed up to the north of Zealand, the island that Copenhagen is on and had a great day off at Hornbaek, one of the beaches in what is called the Danish Riviera. Great to see beaches with white sand, clear water (cold) and sand hills. The next day we visited the nearby town of Helsingor and Kornborg Slot, the castle where Shakespeare set Hamlet. We had a great tour taken by ‘Horatio’ who told the story as he took us around to all the places mentioned in the play. He was a great storyteller. Apparently the king, at the time of Shakespeare, put on great 3 day parties and part of the entertainment was to use actors across from London to perform. Scholars/historians think this was how Shakespeare knew the layout of the castle so well. This castle was built and collected tolls (Sound Dues) for 400 hundred years from this waterway near Oresund with a matching castle in the Swedish side. This meant “pay the toll or be sunk by cannons on either side of the straits. We were so close that Marg kept getting messages on her mobile welcoming her to Sweden. Our last night in Denmark was spent by another beach near Middelfart, (neither of us!!) just before crossing onto the Danish mainland.

What a wonderful month we’ve had in Scandinavia.

All the way around we have been reflecting on why these countries always score highly in quality of life etc indexes. Interestingly their ‘freedom index’ is not as high as NZ. They are certainly rich and have wonderful amenities. We particularly noticed the very nurturing way young children are parented and how the governments support this with generous parental leave, up to 18 months in Sweden. There is also a concept of equity where people do not seem to be judged by the type of work they do. For example you see beautiful young women collecting the rubbish. Anyway we were certainly made most welcome.

Tomorrow we head down to the Mosel valley where we spent a wonderful week in the 70’s then make our way to Brussels to stay with Sarah for a while. Colin may just try some of the Mosel wines….……..again!

After storm1

After storm2

After storm3

Stockholm..Real coffee and pasteries!

Royal Guard ready for coffee1

Royal Guard goes for coffee2

Royal Guard goes for coffee!3

New Plimmerton Fire brigade helmets?

Music with your coffee?

The mighty"Vasa"1

"Vasa" stern

"Vasa"3

Stockholm - shore side housing

Stockholm commuters

Marg's sold the van……. again!

Coprenhagen changes the guards as well!

Canal cruise starts here

Canal cruise, national theatre

Canal cruise, Opera House

Canal, cruise boats are welcome here in Copenhagen!

Canal cruise... Little mermaid and little she is

Canal cruise, The Black Diamond building

Canal cruise, lovely houses.

Love Graffiti wall…what a great idea

Neils Bohr, WOW!!

Each ("grave") represents a child killed in Gaza, sobering.

"Horatio"…..our Hamlet tour guide.

Hamlet's Castle1

Hamlet's Castle2

Spiral staircase detail…..can you identify the purpose of this? Main clue, it is just below the great entertainment hall!!

Another "Beehive"

Beehive awaits 'the high tide' of the election?

Hhhhhmmmmm??

Hi from Norway,

We have arrived in Oslo and are camped in a fjord camp, 5 minutes walk from a beach and 15 mins bus ride along a beautiful waterfront into the centre of the city. We certainly have the best of both worlds. We explored some of what Oslo has to offer today visiting the wonderful Nobel Peace Centre (great exhibition on social media and democracy) and then after buying shrimp for lunch from a fishing boat we took the ferry to visit the Viking Ship Museum. This housed the burial ships that have been discovered in the Oslo fjord over the last 150 years. Wonderful detailed treasures and interesting to learn that women were accorded the same lavish funeral rites and the men.

What a really beautiful country Norway is. As we have said to some of you, it is like traveling through Milford Sound or the Marlborough Sounds, but times 1000, with pine trees. The awesome views just go on and on. We arrived about 2 weeks ago and were lucky enough to have a great house sit for a week in Oppdal. This town is quite far north and on the same latitude as Southern Iceland. So it was back to the 20 hours of sunshine a day we had in the Orkneys but this time the weather was really warm. Norway has turned on its best summer, according to locals, in the last 100 years and it has been day after day of temps above 25 degrees. Sarah who is traveling with us said she did not expect to be able to work on her tan!

From Oppdal we explored the area including an overnight on the coast at Kristiansund and a drive of the Atlanterhavsveien (Atlantic Road). This breathtaking road is where they often shoot car ads. Drove through amazing fjords there and back. Around Oppdal we did some hiking, visited a lake for more hiking and a very brief swim (water temps were like October at Karehana Bay).

On our way South we have stayed at the beautiful Flåm and kayaked on the Aurlandsfjord. Briefly visited Bergan and walked around the old wooden buildings and bought really yummy fish at the famous fish market.

The engineering that goes into the roads, tunnels and bridges is mightily impressive. One tunnel was 25km long and had 3 areas at intervals that were the size of cathedrals so you could stop. These areas were also lit differently to stop you getting mesmerized by the tunnel lights. Some tunnels have roundabouts in them which is a challenge as our GPS system often does not work underground(!!). We have also driven over some of the most elegant bridges.

One of the most common comments we heard before visiting Norway was how expensive it is. You would certainly need to be rich to live on red meat and drink lots of alcohol. Food prices in the budget supermarket are generally 10-15% higher than in NZ and way higher than the UK. Anything from a café or restaurant costs a lot. Campsites for the 3 of us are from $60 - $40 a night. Diesel is around $3 a litre and petrol is more expensive. There are lots of tolls and we have probably been charged over $200 by now. Most are automatic with the license plate being photographed and invoice sent to our home address….we may get some interesting bills in NZ next year!

As our Norwegian is almost non existent we are really grateful for all the English which is spoken and which is on signs. The people are really helpful. Takk (thank you) has entered the Bleasdale vocabulary. The washing machine greets us with Slutt (finished) on the digital display when it stops. I tell it I did not ask for its opinion. We drove through a town called ‘Naf’ and a more friendly ‘Bud’.

The Norwegians are relaxed and really into their outdoor activities. The children appear to be offered more physical risk taking than at home with challenging flying foxes being a common part of back yard equipment and balancing equipment in parks. The average work week is 33 hours and we heard that primary teachers are starting the school year with a strike over hours as they are currently required to do all their marking and prep at school.

We are very impressed with how Norway and the mainland European countries we drove through to get here are visibly into sustainability. Seeing electric cars hooked up to outlets in car parks is common. Cycle lanes often go between towns. Not so much in Norway as there is so much hydro-electric generation but in the other countries we often saw solar panels on houses and saw several solar farms. Wind generation was also very evident. The detail of recycling at the Oppdal house was impressive.

Norway: mountains + remarkable tunnels; fjords, rivers, lakes + bridges; waterfalls + photos, heat + tan; thunder / lightning + internet black out (even in Oslo!); wonderous high plateaus + snow with mountain views; great people + climbing, cycling, hiking; beautiful architecture, great houses + relaxed approach to life……especially when winter is so long and quite harsh; great roads that are very well policed – speed cameras everywhere; breathtaking scenery everywhere + stopping a lot to just stare in wonder!

After seeing and experiencing Norway we would more than recommend it as a dramatic place to visit. The Atlantic coastal highway was a terrific drive as it was a mixture of scenery and engineering – many of the people were Norwegian which must be a recommendation!

Sarah flys back to Brussels on Sunday and we will be sorry to see her go but will see her again before we head back to the UK probably at the end of September. Next we head for Sweden then make our way down through Denmark and Germany.

Farewell to England from Harwich ….Chinese corptn. owned British port.