Denmark

Hey Carl, here is a Tesla! The worlds first and fastest production sports car made in California.

When is Denmark you have to try the danishes, and we did! Yummy!

A view of Egeskov Slot, built in 1554. The owners started opening the gates to their castle when it became too costly to keep their 60 farm employees, they charge an entry fee which pays the taxes and keeps the place running.

The grounds of the castle...as close as we got.

Anders and Karen, during a supper of tradition Danish food, Pork liver pate served on a dark bread, topped with a pickled beet. It's good!

A view of Copenhagen from the boat on the canal.

One of many bikes. There are more peddle bikes here than we have ever seen, they don't even have rush hour traffic here because most people ride their bikes to work, shopping and for fun. Cars are very expensive here, they cost about 3 times the price in Canada, and there is 180% tax all purchases!!! and bikes are not cheap here either...nothing is cheap!

Our first campsite.




Our visit in Germany has ended for the time being but not without a small amount of drama to send us on our way. Having loaded the bike we took to the road with directions from Heinz as to the best way to leave his area and start our trip. Thank goodness we are such good navigators because 20 minutes way from his house we encountered a crazy man in an orange car swerving and driving like a mad man, just about running us down! It was Heinz. It seems he was checking out our great little log cabin where we stayed while at his house and found my pocketbook of i.d. which included drivers licence, visa and depit cards. H-o-l-y C-r-a-p!!! I would have been in big trouble! Once again we said our fairwells, with even more gratatude, and we were off to Denmark.

Riding in Germany is always beautiful, small paved roads meandering through the farmland and that day was a great day for riding with the clouds parting and the shining. We were headed for Copenhagen to visit riding friends but along the way they suggested we stop at the Egeskov Slot(their word for castle).The grounds of the castle were beautifully kept as was the free campground, but that was about all we saw of the castle because we couldn't bring ourselves to pay the 200dk(danish krone)or $35 each for a 2 hour walk in the park. We stayed the night and left the next morning again taking the small less traveled roads to Copenhagen. The farmland is much the same in Denmark as Germany but the farmhouses are quite different, long low building with straw roofs are a favourite in the farm area, many dating back to the 1700's.

Our gps took us staight to Anders and Karen's place in downtown Copenhagen(you have to love the new technology). The home they live in was built about 1885, the rooms are small and cosy, the ceiling in the basement, where their bathroom and shower are located, was not quite high enough for Ken to stand, and it even has the original wood floors. The place is very cool, you just don't see this stuff in Kelowna. Anders and Karen showed us around the area by foot the first night we arrived, the Carlsburg beer brewing factory is just down the road and it was a half hour walk to the city center where the tall apartments lined the streets as well as many cafes and restuarants. The next morning Anders once again showed us the way down to the city center and left us to enjoy a day of sightseeing by ourselves. We took in a canal tour of the city which included the harbour and what was the mote and wall around the Copenhagen at one time, it is a great way to see the city. We also stopped in at the Rosenborg Slot for a look at the Queens digs and the crown jewels, it is really hard to imagine the wealth! All in all the Danes are pretty proud of their country and their heritage, the Vikings will always sail the sea here. To end a very busy day we went to see Anders give a slide presentation of his and Karen's trip through Eastern Europe, Russia, Korea and North and South America(it was during this trip that we met them at Valley Moto Sport in Westbank)it was interesting for us because we recognized a lot of the places they had been...even if we didn't understand a word of the Danish.


It has been a great stay here in Denmark even if it has been short, once again we are racing the weather. Next we are off to the approximately 23km long bridge across a section of the Baltic Sea and in to Sweden, hopefully staying ahead of the rain.