Copenhagen, Denmark

Our first port is Copenhagen, Denmark. This is the home of Hans Christian Anderson. We have decided to take an excursion that takes us over the bridge to nearby Sweden.

I have caught a cold and it has taken me longer than normal to get this port into the blog. I am feeling somewhat better, but still not well.

As we drive through Copenhagen on our way to the bridge, we realize quickly that bicycles are used extensively. Each road has its own bike lanes. Where the sidewalks are wide enough, they are divided into a bike lane and a pedestrian lane.

Here are a couple of pictures of old town Copenhagen as we drove through on the bus.

 As we near the bridge, it is overcast and we can barely see it in the distance. The Øresund Bridge links Denmark and Sweden together. It is a 12km bridge and tunnel which was completed in 2000. From a distance, it looks pretty impressive.

Actually, it was not nearly as tall as I expected because they route the large ship traffic over the tunnel part.

Our first stop was the city of Malmö, Sweden. It is the third largest city of Sweden with 300,000 inhabitants. We actually stopped in the medieval city centre and was able to stroll through the small squares and cobblestone streets. Here are some pictures from this area.

This is an outdoor restaurant.

Even the manhole covers had the royal seal. It was a little cool, but at least it had stopped raining.

We were told by our guide that each person owns three bikes; one to ride to work, one to ride on the weekends, and one to get stolen.

I guess even this bike would not have much chance of getting stolen.

Going up one of the streets was a metal art work of a small band. I have never seen anything like this before.

We stopped in a small bakery for some snacks before lunch.

To our surprise, we found that they had a little seating area behind the shop. It looked more like a 5 star restaurant with chandeliers, art work n the walls, and nice tables and chairs. What a surprise.

We next went into the square to look around.

We saw a bride and her bridal party. It seems that it is a custom for the women to take the bride to the square for some fun. She had a sign around her neck and was required to read a little poem. They were having a great time. This was their version of the bridal shower while the men had their party out shooting guns.

On our way to our next stop I saw this lighthouse.

Our last stop was the city of Lund, which is the home of a cathedral which used to house the bishop of Scania. It is quite a place inside.

They has several organs, but this little organ was used only for baptism in one of the sections of the cathedral. It only had four stops and no foot pedals.

They had a crypt which was quite impressive.

 The last thing we saw in the church was an advanced astronomic clock on the wall of the church.

On the hour, the wise men, etc. came out and marched in front of the Madonna. Normally bells would sound, but this clock had a three note organ that played.

This clock also kept track of the calendar with the date and month. It was June 23^rd when we visited this cathedral.

Lund is also home to a large university.

This is the central train station and serves as a reminder they definitely use their bikes.

Next port is Warnemunde, Germany.

I must be off!