Towards Stockholm…

Rocks, sand, water, and swathes of green streak past my window. The water is the Baltic Sea. It looks peaceful out in the distance. It looks like the right setting for a cold, wintry day, although of course, it’s the middle of August.

W’re on a bridge now, one that stretches on for a long time. Pretty soon the sea is lost from sight and we pass a settlement of warehouses sprayed with graffiti, construction sites with gleaming new forklifts, and train stations with foreign names. This is a new journey and I don’t know what sights to expect.  I expect today’s ride betwween Copenhgen and Stockholm to be very different from yesterday’s in Northern Germany. I’m impatient to get to my destination, but I know that I should try to relax and enjoy this moment.

This morning I was in Roskilde, a town about 40km west of Bagsvaerd, home to Roskilde Cathedral, built in 1170 and the final resting place of many of Denmark’s kings and queens, including the famous Harald Blatand (Bluetooth) and Queen Margrete I. There were numerous sarcophagi and tombs throughout the interior of the church, and some magnificent, intricate woodwork and iron carvings. I was pleased to have been able to see a slightly non-touristy, important part of Denmark’s history, far from the crowd of Copenhagen’s noisy, bustling city center. I did miss seeing the famous mermaid as she is on loan to another exhibition.

P1060111   P1060117

P1060127

My visit to Copenhagen with Skjalm was short. I will have slightly longer in Stockholm though.

Denmark…

Today I entered Denmark. The high speed train carved it’s way from Hamburg’s train station through Schleswig-Holstein, on board the ferry across the Black Sea and in a couple of hours, I will be in Copenhagen. I could have ridden to Copenhagen, but I decided against it to avoid more mindless hours on the motorway. My initial relief at getting to freeway speeds has evaporated since the ride from Berlin to Hamburg yesterday. Three hours of riding at 130kph, with nothing to break the monotony but endless passing of mammoth, lumbering semis took its toll on me. The thought of riding in the train instead, and relaxing by a window seat as I watched the country rush by seemed a lot more appealing. It cost a little more than I would have spent on gas, but it’s just money, and keeping my stress level low seemed a lot more important. My bike is parked in Alex’s garage in Hamburg and I’m bringing just a few belongings with me as I enter Scandinavia to meet two old friends.The train ride has been uneventful, even dull. The last train ride I remember was taking the Amtrak between Seattle and Portland, which makes its winding way past rivers and lakes through endless evergreens. This one went through miles of endless empty plains. I finished reading my latest Sookie Stackhouse novel, feeling more relieved than satisfied at the end.

The train arrived at the exact scheduled time at Copenhagen’s main train station. I had a few hours to kill before catching another train north to Klampenborg station to meet my friend. I got out of the train station and went to the tourist information center across the street to get a map of the city. I thought about taking a quick walk through the historic center, but my duffel bag was too heavy, so I decided against it. I did walk a few streets down to find a small cafe to eat at (Cafe Katz). I ordered a capucchino and a tuna sandwich. It was the biggest, sloppiest tuna sandwich I’ve ever eaten. So much for eating healthy. I found out that Denmark does not use euros, which was quite a revelation as I had assumed that all the EU countries used the currency (apparently the Scandinavian countries don’t). The cafe accepted payment in euros though, and gave me back change in Danish kronors.

By this time, it was almost 5PM, so I headed back to the central train station. I passed the Tivoli gardens amusement park and saw the tall merry-go-round spinning up in the sky, looking like a many tentacled insect spinning round and round.

P1000388   P1000390

I bought a ticket at the train station which allowed me to use public transportation for the evening and was shocked at the price of 10 euros. It finally dawned on me now why everyone had warned me that Scandinavia was expensive.

It took about 20 minutes to get to Bakken where I met up with Skjalm. We went to another amusement park to get dinner. It was a pleasant walk through a forested area with huge oak trees. I even spied some deer standing under some of the trees in the distance. It was a rainy, grey day, and this place looked like it would be gorgeous on a nice, sunny one.

P1000392   P1000404Â

P1000415

Â

We ate dinner and caught a couple of buses back to his place in Bagsvaerd, where I got to meet his two adorable cats. I was pretty tired and looking forward to the next day.