Life on the Road - Good bye to Scandinavia

After our great trip to Sweden and Norway (made just a little bit disappointing because our camera lost battery in Oslo and we missed getting all the great photos we wanted from there and Bergen), we were happy to return to our cozy home in Glumsoe, Denmark for our last week in Scandinavia. We took one more day trip to Copenhagen and spent the other days continuing to explore the wonderful island of Zealand, as well as the neighboring islands of Mon, Falster and Lolland. There was nowhere more than an hour drive so we hit delightful harbor towns on the Baltic, the Norwegian and the North Seas. We had many highlights and really no lowlights - even the weather was exceptionally (according to the locals) beautiful - averaging about 72 every day. We had a couple of days of spotty rain, but generally just wonderful. The other amazing thing for us was that we didn't play a single day of golf!!! - just too many other things to do and see.

One of our favorite trips was up to the most northwest tip of Denmark - the Sjellands Odde (or peninsula). There is a little town there, Havnebyen, which has the best fresh fish market imaginable, plus the local farmers have a small market with the best berries we have ever seen or tasted - raspberries larger than my thumb. We hiked out to the end of the peninsula and put our feet in the Norwegian Sea. Another great highlight was arriving in Nykobing on the isle of Falster while they were having their annual festival. We were drinking beer in the town square listening to a terrific blues group from Brooklyn (!) when a friendly Dane overheard us talking in English and engaged us in conversation. This was pretty unusual as the Danes are really a shy people and, while friendly, don't really engage strangers voluntarily. He suggested that if we had the time that we should try his favorite restaurant - provided we had a good GPS, because we would never find it on our own. Happily we had one and we set out that evening to find it. We were a little nervous after we turned off on a one lane road, then even more concerned when we left the paved road and drove through a dense forest for about a mile before we saw a small sign. We turned in and parked and walked about 100 yards when the forest ended and we found ourselves on the edge of a cliff overlooking the Baltic Sea. This restaurant was perched on the cliff, had about a dozen outdoor tables, and were fully reserved for the evening!! About 20 miles from any town and on a Thursday evening - but they finally took pity on we poor Americans and found us a table inside. And it was wonderfully worth it - what a great find - both the festival and the restaurant. We also found ourselves only about 15 minutes from one of Denmark's most popular beaches - Karrebaekesminde, and went there several times both for the seafood and for the people watching. Sadly, my topless beauty count was pretty low - guess the Danes have cleaned up their act a bit.

Our home exchange was wonderful, and Nicolai and his family said they had a terrific time staying in our home and in Auburn. We certainly plan on doing many more exchanges in the future. And we also give all three Scandinavian countries the highest possible visitor rating. The countries are all beautiful with lots of varied geography, but with lots of emphasis on their relationship with the seas. The people are not terribly outgoing, but are exceptionally friendly and helpful - especially to Americans. Their social and political system is to be envied, not so much for the welfare aspect, but because their government, their businesses,and the people themselves all seem to put the interests of their people first. They are all rated amongst the happiest people on the planet and it rubs off on the visitors.

Looking forward to our next adventure and Life On the Road,

BJ and Al

Life on the Road - Stockholm, Oslo and Bergen

When we were last in Kobenhavn, we worked with the Danish Travel Bureau to set us up with a trip. They were extremely helpful and took care of all the details in all three countries - kind of tough to do on your own as there are three different languages and three different currencies. So we took off for a week long adventure via train, boat, bus, funicular, plane and foot.

We drove the little SmartCar about a mile to our local train station where we left it parked for free in the lot for a week - no problem. We hopped on the train to Kobenhavn where we transferred to another train to Stockholm. Their trains are clean, comfortable and fast - our trip to Stockholm took about five hours right through the heart of central Sweden - a beautiful, pastoral journey with dozens of lakes. Our first hotel was initially a challenge as we had to take a subway followed by a bus, but after we understood Stockholm a little better, we understood why. The city itself is made up of 14 islands, all linked by bridges and all actually walkable, although we didn't make it to all of them. Then these city islands are simply a part of the huge Skargarden, an archipelago of about 25,000 islands, mostly uninhabited, and spread out in nearly tideless, clear ocean water until you reach the open Baltic Sea. Stockholm has been a wealthy and important Baltic trading site for centuries and the entire city is built around its dependence on the water. Each of the islands has its own personality, from the old, medieval beauty of Gamla Stan to the Berkeley like bohemia of Sodermalm (where we stayed). Some are mostly residential and others are business hubs, while right in the center is Djurgarden which was once a royal game preserve and is now full of lovely parks and great museums. A terrific highlight was the Vasa Museum - the warship Vasa sank in Stockholm harbor in 1628, lay buried for 331 years, then was raised in 1961. The ship was about 95% preserved (no sea worms in this part of the Baltic), and has now been fully restored. This is one of the best maritime/cultural museums we have ever visited, rivaled only by TePapa in Wellington, NZ. Another highlight was the boat tour we took passing under 16 bridges and going through two locks, out of and back into the Baltic. Other great sites included the City Hall, the Opera House, the Grand Hotel, and, of course, Tiger Woods' apartment when he used to visit Sweden. The city is vibrant and full of young people, all of whom were jam-packed into the hundreds of outdoor bars and cafes which dot all of Stockholm. It is a great visit.

From there, we took another beautiful, six hour train ride across the center of Sweden into Oslo, Norway. The train station is right in the heart of the city (as are most of Europe's great train stations) and we had just a short walk to our hotel. Oslo is also water oriented, sitting at the top of the Oslofjorden, but is hemmed in by lots of hills, forests, lakes, hiking and skiing trails, all within the city limits and all accessible by subway. Norway's economy (mostly oil and gas based) is thriving and it shows in Oslo. Although there is not as much "old" as the city has burned to the ground numerous times, the new is simply stunning - an archcitects delight. You can spend hours in Aker Brygge, an abandoned shipyard recently redeveloped into a striking residential and commercial area dominated by postmodern steel and glass buildings. Glass is everywhere, important in a country which gets only six hours of daylight in the winter. Again a boat trip around the fjord is worth it - the new Opera House opened in 2008 is magnificent, and the Radhuset (City Hall) where the Nobel prizes are awarded is just unbelievable, since it is also a working city hall. We caught our first rain of our trip so took a bus tour and were overwhelmed by getting to the very top of Holmenkollen Ski Jump, just being completely rebuilt for the world games next year. From the top, you have the most magnificent view of the entire city and the fjord - it would be hard to concentrate on your jump. We also stopped at the Vigelandsparken where Gustav Vigeland created over 200 bronze, granite and wrought-iron sculptures, all of people and all depicting the full cycle of life - just stunning. The Norsk Folkemuseum, all outdoors, is a perfect way to see all of Norway in a single visit, showcasing life from all of Norway's regions and going back as far as the 14th century. We dined in luxury outdoors at the harbor in Aker Brygge and had terrific pizza the next night in an unpretentious dive near the university called Villa Paradiso, a great find. We loved Olso!!

From there, we took the wonderful train ride over to Bergen. This was the highlight of the entire trip for me as this is rightfully touted as one of the most beautiful train rides in the world. We climbed up and over the top of mountains into the highest accessible plateau in Norway, and although only about 4000 feet in elevation is loaded with glaciers, waterfalls, plunging mountain streams and dramatic lakes, all being used by hundreds of Norse hikers and bikers. And then it is easy to fall in love with Bergen itself - it is on the water, of course, since it is the gateway to the fjords - and is surrounded by seven lush mountains, pastel-colored wooden houses, winding cobblestone streets, and the fantastic fish market on the wharf. It is also a rainy city so rain jackets and umbrellas are a necessity - there is even an umbrella repair shop which has been operated by the same family for over 400 years. We really got lucky the first morning there as we took a long ship ride up into several fjords just outside of Bergen as the rain stopped and the clouds lifted just enough for us to gaze awestruck at the towering cliffs cut above the narrow passageways, even spotting an elusive sea eagle. We got another brief no-rain break the next day and were able to take the funicular to the top of Mt. Floyen for a spectacular view of Bergen with its two harbors and beautiful, colorful city. The fish market is so fresh that everything is still alive and moving, cleaning and fileting taking place right before your eyes, with the fishermen still in their Norse sweaters and chest high waders hauling in their catch. And the produce, especially the various berries, are also out of this world. And, in spite of the rain, we absolutely loved Bergen.

We flew back to Kobenhavn from Bergen, took the train back to Glumsoe, where our little SmartCar was waiting for us just where we had left it a week ago - safe, free parking at its very best. So what can we say - Stockholm is wonderful, Oslo is spectacular, and Bergen is simply beautiful. Sweden and especially Norway is very, very expensive - $15 bucks for a beer or a coffee, and don't even think about buying a mixed drink. Generally speaking, I would plan on everything costing twice as much as at home, but is it worth it? Well our answer is absolutely yes as long as you plan for it - a week touring Sweden and Norway is worth every penny as they are two of the most beautiful countries in the world. This was an amazingly wonderful week - don't miss it if you have the chance!

Life on the Road - Kobenhavn

We got up early yesterday and took the train into Kobenhavn - what a beautiful city!! Our first adventure was to go on a walking tour with Hans Christian Anderson, an American who fell in love with a Dane 25 years ago and stayed. He dresses and acts as if he were Hans himself - a very interesting and likeable fellow and extremely informative. He says he always has special topics for each of his tours and today's topics were commerce and welfare. So the Danes, while still very steeped in fishing and agriculture, have now established themselves as one of the pre-eminent manufacturers of highest quality specialty products in the world - Bang and Olafsen, Ecco, farm equipment, drugs, they make over 1/2 the large windfarm mills in the world, etc. The welfare side is more extensive than I had imagined - income tax hits most at 52% while the 25% VAT is on top of that! For that they all get totally free medical, education (university students also get $1000 a month for food, books, etc.), and end of life care, plus they all get six weeks of vacation a year, and a pension for life. The wages are pretty controlled from laborers at $20k to doctors at $120k. The tax on a new car is 180% - no wonder they all ride bikes! The tour was excellent, so if in Kobenhavn, take a walk with Hans.

This is a walking/biking city - there are free bikes around for anyone's use, but we could never find two available, so we walked and walked. The mile-long Stroget through the old city is just jam packed with people at just about any time of day and is all retail, cafes and bars - all very busy. It is holiday time here, so most of the tourists were Danes. There are miles of canals throughout the city so we took a canal tour to rest our feet. This is also a great way to get an overview of everything you want to go back to and visit. Most of the old city was destroyed by fire in the 1800's so the old buildings are not ancient. Some of the new architecture is jaw dropping - the opera house, the Black Diamond library, and the Royal Danish Playhouse are all spectacular.

We ended up the long day by visiting Tivoli Gardens - no doubt this was Disney's inspiration for Disneyland. Beautiful grounds with lovely gardens, ponds and flowers everywhere. But they also had rides for the younger set - some appeared so dangerous that they would never be seen in the US. About 40 restaurants, all private, are also on the property, so to celebrate BJ's birthday, she picked - tah dah - the Hard Rock Cafe!! After two weeks of dining "locally," we were both delighted to dive into some good Memphis pulled pork, along with a margarita. We strolled the grounds holding hands just like all the Danes, but ran out of juice about 10:30 and caught the train home. On Monday, we take off for a week long train trip into Sweden and Norway which will be our next adventure - on the road.

Stay in touch,

Al & BJ

Life on the Road - Denmark

Ah, Denmark - the happiest place on earth! We landed in Kobenhavn, found the parking office, paid and picked up the keys to the two awaiting cars Nicolai had left for us (something we could never do at a US airport). Both cars (a SmartCar and an MBZ) were both equipped with GPS so the girls wanted to drive the SmartCar while Bill and I got the Mercedes. Naturally the girls' GPS worked perfectly, and ours probably did as well, but of course the two macho guys decided to use the map because that felt like the right thing to do (we didn't admit until later that we couldn't figure out our GPS).

We found our delightful little village of Glumsoe, about 45 minutes outside of Kobenhavn, and drove right up to our home for the next month. A neat place - better than the pictures on HomeExchange - we are going to be very comfortable here. It's an older farm house type home, but has been completely modernized and sits on about an acre of well maintained land with fruit trees, lawn, and a very nice brick patio with table and umbrella. We can walk everywhere in town and have done so on a daily basis. We found an excellent and surprisingly large market, a scrumptious bakery, an ATM, several small restaurants, a pretty little lake, and walking paths everywhere. We shopped and began to settle in. Nicolai is Director of IT for Metropolitan University in Kobenhavn and his home reflects it. I went for the computer system while Bill took on the Sonos music system - suffice it to say that both are still works in progress.

Bill and Micki had been to Kobenhavn several times, but had never spent any time outside of the city, so we decided to focus their week on the surrounding environs. Wow, what a terrific choice that has turned out to be! Over the next week we explored by setting the GPS to the next town of our choice. We had breakfast in every morning, then took off. There are helpful tourist offices everywhere and we can always find someone who speaks English - good thing, as Danish is an extremely difficult language to learn and especially to pronounce. The sea is within a 1/2 hour in just about any direction so we explored ports, harbors, islands, cliffs, gardens, castles and manor homes, museums and managed to find an outdoor cafe whenever we were hungry for lunch where we explored the quite different food options which were always washed down with a cold Tuborg. And for dessert, Bill and I ogled and confirmed that there are many, many beautiful, blond Danish women. We generally drug ourselves home in the evening, cooked out over an unusual BBQ and ate and drank good wine on the patio until quite late as it doesn't get dark here until close to 11pm. The countryside is just beautiful - very agricultural inland with fishing and harbors along the coast. It is also the cleanest, neatest, most organized place any of us have ever seen. For one whole week now, and we have driven many kilometers, we have not seen one slum, no abandoned cars nor farm equipment, no untended lawns or houses, no homeless, nothing to discredit the "most happy" claim. Granted that Denmark is very expensive with a VAT of about 25% and total taxes pushing 45%, but they seem to accept that price for full medical and educational plus a nice retirement. They seem to feel that they all contributed, so they don't seem to have the haves and the have nots. We may be heading that way in the US, tax wise, but we sure won't be able to get over the fact that way too many of our "citizens" have never contributed anything.

Bill and Micki left yesterday for home and BJ and I took today as a much needed down day after two weeks of non-stop touristing. Tomorrow we are taking the train into Kobenhavn to celebrate BJ's birthday - dancing under the stars at the Tivoli.

Life on the Road - London

Hello to all:

We arrived in London mid-morning on July 9. Heathrow airport is immense with five terminals, all with different transportation and access systems. We had purchased a London Pass with the travel option in advance (which, by the way, we highly recommend), so we set out to find the Heathrow Connect Rail line which was included in our pass. Dragging our cases, we spent the next two hours finding, riding and changing trains, arriving at Paddington Station to find we needed to travel yet further on a bus (not meant for four large suitcases), then got off at the wrong Marriott and had to drag the suitcases through the City for another 1/2 hour to find our Marriott which turned out to be in the heart of the middle-Eastern community in London - more about that later. And, adding to the fun, we found out that we had arrived on the hottest day of the year - it was pushing 90!

We met up with our friends, Bill and Micki, who will spend the next two weeks with us, and all felt much better after a cold beer or so. B&M are experienced Londoneers, so we were happy to follow their lead. We had terrific weather all week - warm and sunny, so we were happy and very much at home in shorts every day. The transportation system throughout London is wonderful (providing you are not hauling suitcases) and we went everywhere using buses, the underground (mighty hot and sweaty on hot London days), and the rail system - all fully covered by our London Pass. We think we paid for the Pass just on transportation alone, plus entry to all the castles, museums, etc. was also included.

Over the next five days we did all the expected things: Covent Garden (the pubs were packed and all were spilled out onto the sidewalk because of the hot weather - drinking in the street is not allowed, but sidewalk imbibing is jolly good fun), the Tower Bridge with a walk along the Thames (I'll break here for a side story)

We lunched in an outdoor cafe on the river and asked the server for ice teas. He wasn't sure if they had that, but after checking, brought us four ice teas. We later asked him for refills. When we got our bill, we discovered that eight ice teas cost us 64£ (about $100). We were shocked and outraged, but they covered themselves by showing us on the bar menu that we had ordered non-alcoholic cocktails at 8£ apiece. Since then, everythíng we buy is compared to the cost of ice tea.

Back to the travelogue: we did the Tower of London, Buckingham Palace,the Queens Gallery, the Mews (where Bill, a newly minted Wyoming mountain man, just about got arrested for having a hunting knife in his backpack) , Hyde Park, Green Park, Regents Park, St. James Park, Hampton Court, and on and on. Some of the highlights were Windsor Castle - a great tour, the Churchill War Rooms - absolutely fascinating, and we saw a wonderful musical - We Will Rock You - in SoHo. We also watched the final World Cup match in a bar surrounded by lots of guys who probably couldn't get past our TSA folks. Luckily they were all cheering for Spain, so we all left happy.

London is incredibly worldly and cosmopolitan - also very, very expensive. The food was generally mediocre until we finally asked the concierge for his favorite restaurant. He apologized that it was in SoHo and we would have to take the tube, and that it was Indian. We are all fans of Indian food and were we pleased! One of the best meals any of us had ever had - an absolute 10! Is is The Red Fort and don't miss it if you love Indian cuisine - it's also a great value. We also met a delightful pub owner - The Duke of York - also a fun experience. But every evening, we had to go back to the hotel and the last five blocks we walked from the tube was entirely middle-east - burkhas, hookahs, lots of cigarette smoking, and not a Brit in sight.

We were wrapping up our London adventure - it was great to have M&B to show us around so be sure to invite them on your next trip there. We were next off to Denmark. We got to Heathrow a lot quicker and a lot smarter than our arrival, but found the crowd in Terminal 3 almost impassable. Naturally BJ and I had our baggage searched and we had too many items in too large plastic bags, so spent about 1/2 hour with the friendly security folks. Then we got in this huge line to check in, worrying if we had enough time to get to the plane. Then, thank God for racial profiling, a tall young man worked his way through the crowd and asked if we were really going to Beirut! We were clearly the only anglos in that line. He steered us to the SAS line where we breathed a huge sigh of relief and headed off for Copenhagen.