July 3 - Copenhagen to Fredenborg to Kronborg

A 110 km trip today for a round trip north of Copenhagen.  I used F.R.E.D. (FRED for short) to plan the tracks we would follow. Now, the cynics in the crowd would probably scoff at this, but I think he did a pretty fair job, since he can't speak Danish.

Here's where we went:  Started at Copenhagen (bottom), up to Fredenborg (the Summer Palace), over to Kronborg Castle (Helsingor), and back down the coast road to Copenhagen.










On the way up we went through little towns, but no industrial areas, so it was very pleasant.

Here's one idyllic house beside a pond.
The villages changed to farmland further north.  The farming doesn't seem quite as intensive as the Netherlands and Germany.





I got caught on a speed sign on the way up.  Honest, 'Din Fart' means 'your speed.'
I missed a photo of one earlier that showed a Smiley Face if you were under the speed limit.

We arrived in Fredenborg and immediately found a nice spot for coffee.
Here's the entrance to the palace



The statue at the entrance.

















I'm guessing this is the royal pennant or ensign.  We were too early for a tour, so we headed around the perimeter on our bikes.







This long lane of trees heads down to the lake on the west side.

A boathouse on the lake.  It looks like they stack 2 or 3 boats inside and store more outside on a short (50 foot) canal to the lake.











This lane goes directly from the palace to the lake.  I guess the Royals use this path when they want to go down to the lake to bag a fish for dinner, or take a sunset cruise.

 After Fredenborg we head east to Kronberg Castle. Michel had a flat, which we fixed.  FRED then found a nice unpaved lane to follow.  Unfortunately, this turned out to be too much for Michel's fragile tubes & she had two more flats.

FRED then found us the way back onto the pavement.

Lunch in Helsingor & a shot of one of the restaurants.  Definitely high season for vacations.












A metal sculpture plan of the castle and the surrounding battlements and moats.

This castle was immortalized as Elsinore in Shakespeare's Hamlet.  (I don't know any of this stuff, I have to look it up - thank you Wikipedia).  It is an important Renaissance Castle an UNESCO World Heritage site.







The north side of the castle







 





The strait between here and Sweden is only 4 km wide, so this was an important strategic location.











The gun battery facing Sweden.














Now, I'm not sure why, but this beautiful part of the castle looks out on the strait towards Sweden.  If I was invading, those windows would be a easy target.  The Swedes did invade in 1658 and took many valuables as war booty.

The south side of the castle.  We were now running short of time, so we didn't tour inside.  Besides, most of us are castled out.












A closeup of a couple of the cannons - first time I've seen wooden carriages for the guns

A family vacationing in the moat.














We stop for an ice cream cone (licorice, yum) and then head out.  As we head out of town we find a bike shop and stock up on tubes, no doubt guaranteeing no more problems.

Nice commuter bike.  The price (6500 Kr) is about $1300 in Canadian Pesos.











A boat harbour on the way down.  We stopped here for a cold drink (to paraphrase Napoleon, armies & cyclists travel on their stomachs)







 I noticed this beautiful set of similar designed sloops.  Probably local racers.

The water from the road.  Lots of beaches and people on them.  The water seemed warm and there were lots of swimmers.


As usual, when we scoot into a town, I'm too busy staring at FRED and other cyclists to take photos.  No problems getting back to the hotel.

We had a couple of beer in the hotel, a snack for dinner and crashed.

It's a beautiful morning again, so I'm off to WALK around.
TTFN

July 2 - Around Copenhagen

Breakfast buffet in the hotel, talk to various other riders who are in various states of relaxation or panic, depending on their plans.

I set off for a walk around the canal in front of the hotel.  This is the view from the front door.


 

An interesting sign - I'll bet it was put there as a result of some unfortunate incident.

In the distance is this church tower with the serpentine spire.  It is called Church of our Saviour - I'll try to get up it for the view sometime later this week..

I think this is just a residential building, but the brickwork is so ornate.

My first 'official' stop today is the Tivoli Gardens Amusement Park.  It has the 'standard' rids, but they look very old and colourful.  Also, they are packed in very tightly, giving the park a different feel than, say, the PNE Midway..

Tivoli was opened in 1843, making it the second oldest amusement park in the world.  The oldest is also Dansih.

This ride is guaranteed to make your tummy twist.  The planes spin around on the long arm very fast while rolling.

A much more placid & pleasant ride.

There are a number of classic Merry Go Rounds in the park.

The arcade midway.

I haven't been featuring ugly fountains lately but this 'thing' deserves a mention. Whadoyathink?


Another nominee.


















The Railway Station is across from Tivoli, so I took the opportunity for a look.  The huge wooden roof trusses were interesting.

 The main concourse has been turned into a food fair (don't ask me how much I paid for a Starbucks).

Leaving the Railway Station and heading through the shopping district.  This is called the 'Holy Ghost' Church, founded in 1238 and finished in 1594.  It burned in the great Copenhagen fire of 1728.













I happened to look into a canal at the right time and saw these broze statues in the water - the light was just right.  They are called 'Agnete & the Mermen.'  The statues were installed in 1992.  Reminds me - I have to put The Little Mermaid on my todo list.







We don't know why this tower has a pink ring.  I asked at the hotel desk and they hadn't even seen it.

The church might be the St. Nikolaj Church.   Mr. Gogle can't help me out.  I'll keep digging, intrepid reporter that I am  😃



Time to end. Just for fun 5 or 6 of us are going non a 110 km ride tomorrow, to visit Kronborg castle and Fredenborg Palace (if FRED has his coordinates straight).

July 1 - Sakskobing to Copenhagen

Last day of the tour - 125 km into Copenhagen.

First photo - this is from the top of our highest hill - the bridge at Orhoved











A very nice bonus today.  Klaus, who was on our South America ride (more correctly, we were with him), met us in Sakskobing yesterday and invited the South American crowd for coffee & Danish at his house in
Vordingborg.  A very nice visit !  Here we are getting ready to go - that's Klaus' wife Helle.

 Thatched roofs - I've seen this a couple of times - they thatch the peak and then hold it down with wood pieces. 












The outskirts of Copenhagen.  It is supposed to be the most bicycle friendly city in Europe.  They even provide handrails to hold onto while you waiting for a stop light.  Here, a local is demonstrating.







 We're there - our hotel in Copenhagen.












I'm there!!!














We're right on the river - one of the canals nearby.  There are some really swish boats here!

This is actually a time of high activity for some in the group, as they need to pack up their cycles and head out in the morning.

Since I have time I hose myself down (ie. shower) and head out for a walk before dinner.   Here is the Amalienborg Palace.








The statue in the square in front of the palace.














Our "Last Supper' together








Evening light on a building.

It's Monday now - I told you this would be late.

Today's missions:  
-Clean up my junk!!!
-Walk about town
-Suss out some shopping
-Plan a cycle trip for tomorrow.  EH?  A group of us are considering a 108 km circuit to Kronborg Castle (inspired Hamlet), Fredenborg Palace (the summer palace) and back....    Maybe some of us got too much sun yesterday!

Will try to put more photos in tonight.

June 30 - Lutjenburg to Sakskobing

Last morning in Germany and the 2nd last day of the Pub Ride.  Another beautiful day.  We ride 62 km to the ferry, on it for 45 minutes and then another 27 km to Sakskobing, Denmark.

Very similar countryside to the last few days.

Another hay bale person, announcing the sale of Strawberries (Erdbeeren).   I think this was a U-Pick.











A house under construction, interesting (at least to me) because they are using Styrofoam blocks filled with concrete for the basic structure and then adding brick facing.








First glimpse of the Baltic Sea (Howachter Bucht  or Bay).

If you look carefully at the far field, you see pairs of tractor wheel tracks.  They use these for access instead of putting roads in the fields, maximizing the crops.  And it looks nice when done well.









Crossing the bridge to Fehrmarn Island, with the ferry terminal at Puttgarden

There are ferries every 1/2 hour all day for a 45 minute ride, so there are lots of ferries.  Here's one of the others, similar to the one we're on.











One of the open water wind farms, on the Danish side.

Hardly a breeze can get through there without getting picked up by a turbine.













Docking in Denmark

One of our first bike paths.  This is a 2 way version for bikes only.  Note the dotted line.

In Germany and the Netherlands cities, bike paths were often designated with red bricks in the sidewalk.  Here, they use a solid white line to separate humans and bikes.

Our Hotel in Sakskobing.  The hotel name (Hotel Saxkjobing) is spelled differently than the town name.













It's not a big town.  This is the main square. 

An after dinner walk up a street in search of some ice cream.  Didn't find any - it's Saturday night, they've rolled up the town and apparently I walked in the wrong direction.

Note the church - the arrangement of the windows (eyes & mouth), clock (nose) and lines in the brickwork (cheeks) kind of gives it an astonished or worried expression. 

Also, check out the first white house on the right.  The 3 windows to the right of the door are not aligned, almost in an arc.  I don't now if this is wall settling, or intentional.

I notice some of the oddest things, eh?





A little further up the street is this park or cemetery.  It's walled off with a 3 foot wall and a locked gate, so I didn't get nosey.

Another street - this one seems to have more upscale houses.  I walked up another that was tree lined and all the houses were set back far enough for front yards and grass.

The architecture isn't strikingly different than what I've seen in the previous countries, but there is an different feeling here.  Perhaps it's me being apprehensive because I can't speak a word of Danish.  No problem though, because many of them know enough English to sort us out.

A bit of bad news.  We were warned prices are expensive over here.  Two 1/2 litre draft beers set me back over $19 Canadian.  This is due to the Danish tax system.  Apparently, if you want to buy a lot of beer for a party it is cheaper to buy Danish beer in Germany and bring it back over on the ferry instead of buying it here.  We saw at least one car on the ferry fully loaded with beer.

Off to Copenhagen tomorrow.  We are having a big wind up dinner, so I might not be writing anything until the next day.