As we left Norway and Onward

Overnight it rain, some areas around them up to two and a half inches and some roads were flooded but not any of ours. A quick breakfast of tasty coffee, toast with cheese or meat. At nine their friendEric came over for a quick visit we discussed our route 66 run of a couple years ago. Showed him some of our blog on the trip, he would not bring any of his Mercedes for the run but would rent a car. Well off to Oslo. We arrived at the Vigeland park. We lucked out, we came to the back area of the park and parked free. The obolist was right across the street. Many people milling around, the mood was sobering, quiet even though there were lots of people. The granite carved statues are breath taking as we walked around the square.

Below was the gardens, looked somewhat flattened by the rains, but their smell as still strong.

The statue they wanted us to look at was toward the main entrance. The angry boy, I suspect most thought it was funny because it was a male, the statue of the little girl across the way had a mournful face on her but no one paid any attention to her.

We then traveled downtown toward the castle area. We stopped the van and Aud took us to the wharf area. We passed a McDonalds, a restaurants. As Ed was in the camper and parked illegally we got a call from him, police made him move. We quickly went back. He spotted a store that would have a Norwegian troll, I bought one. We said our good byes and went to the ship boarding area.

All material from trip below this!

Tuesday Aug 7^th; Well no apologies, just gave up the blog because of the iPad. Problems with to many pictures on the iPad. I also had written up two days material and because I did not know the idiosyncrasies of the programs I wiped it out in the notes section of the iPad.

  We left our good friends at the ferry depot in Oslo. We sat on the benches and next to us were an older couple from New Zealand. I asked if they had heard of Puhoi in the northern part, she had. It is a settlement of German-Bohemians from the same area as the New Ulm group. They are going to visit their son in Copenhagen. We then went to check-in and were even with the couple at the check-in. as they went thru, our gal had this question on her face. She went over to two other people and came back saying we would have to rebook, we did and came back to her. She looked and conversed with a couple other guards and said follow me to the ticket agent. We then found out that we had been booked on the ferry for a trip from Copenhagen to Oslo. Yes opposite of our intention. The travel agent rebooked because I wanted different time for eating. She said only bunks left were a set of bunk beds. Yes the vision of me crawling up to the top bunk is TMI. Well Shirleen said book it, we had no other choice. The guard took us to the head of her line and said there will be a free breakfast and a bottle of champagne for us.

  The room was small-small with two beds, one above the other. We are now off to the restaurants as we did not know what happened with the prearranged meal. So we made reservations for a seafood buffet at 6:30 now back to the deck to see the fjords of Oslo. Who do we meet but the New Zealand couple, we told them of our mix-up and they wished us well. I then thought why not asked guest services about another room, he was able to get us another room with two lower beds with upper bunks and a window which peaked between two life boats. I should have tried an upgrade as the ticket we had was much cheaper and he gave us a similar room.

  What a buffet, we grazed the tables. Too much to remember, but I got stuck on the fresh fried fish, then pulled up my chair to the mussels, wine and garlic but what then turned out to be my favorite, curried mussels. Shirleen had baked and fried fish, both were just wonderful, no fishy taste, and French fries topped with off with a bowl of ice cream , I also tried some salted duck breast, liver sausage, and more. We had a French wine and beer to supplement the meal.

  We then sat out on the deck and watched the sunset. After which we went to sleep in our individual small beds.

Wednesday Aug 8^th, we went to breakfast soft boiled egg, sausages, bacon, broiled tomato, scrambled eggs and beans,

 the free one, and tried much of what was there. As we approached the port of Copenhagen, on the horizon were many wind generators out in the water. 

We had been told that we should take the free bus to middle down town and go from there. The map we acquired showed we were 6 or so blocks from this point. We started walking to it and a block into our adventure was the couple from New Zealand. We talked for a couple minutes, their son had an emergency meeting and they would have to wait for another 2 hours.

  We checked in at The Hotel Christian IV, we would recommend this one, and stored our goods till we could get in the room. We then went about 4 blocks to the Nyhavn area (17^th century area), 

from there we went on a boat cruise in the harbor area to familiarize ourselves with the it. We decided to walk around the wharf area and view the brightly painted houses. We then saw the horse drawn beer wagon with two men resting along the way. He said the horses were draft horses that originated in Denmark called Jutland. 

They were used to advertise Jacobsens beer from Carlsberg brewery. I of course told them of the second oldest brewery in America, Schell's, not sure they understood.

This anchor symbolizes the men from Denmark who lost their lives in World War II, and placed there in 1951.

Now for lunch, we settled on the Herring Restaurant and Bistro. Shirleen had a glass of French wine and I a Jacobsen beer. The food Shirleen baked salmon with salad and roasted potatoes, I a Danish classic; Stjerneskud, deep fired and poached fillets of plaice (fish) with mayonnaise, prawns, caviar and asparagus.

Now was the time for a boat ride. This will give us an idea of the lay of the land. The skies are dark and ominous but off we go. We pass The Little Mermaid from the back

From Boat

and many country and state buildings which we hope to see tomorrow by bus.
Many years ago there was an influx of Hippies with their trailers, they have not left nor does it look like they will in the near future.

After lunch we strolled back to the Hotel to take our suitcases upstairs. Our room overlooks a center yard where hotel and apartment owners can look into. We thought it would be nice to go to the Kings park and Palace a half block away. It appears to be a four street or 16 block square. We amble towards the Palace, which at this time is closed, after 5pm. We find many garden areas but one dramatic one on the east side.

The sun is low in the sky and we head to the hotel and ask about a place to eat pizza. She mentions Fiat, I said like the car, she said same spelling. Well the place is packed and we would have to wait till 9 to eat. I turn around and Shirleen asks, can we carry out? Yes, so we order a prosciutto, tomato and cheese pizza.

Ready in 10 minutes and we walk back to the hotel and eat at the snack area which always has cookies, sweet rolls, coffee and other items. Off to bed.

Thursday Aug 9^th ; second day in Copenhagen. What a European breakfast, this one is similar to most but has beautiful table decorations,

did I mention a bottle of a digestive, bitters in alcohol, no wonder these people have a smile on their face all day?
I had to ask someone  and at the table was a tall Danish looking man, how do I think that, he reminded me of Steve C who worked at Hubbard with me, and he was of Danish decent.  

 Now it is time to view the city from a bus, roof top for us on the Jump On and Jump Off Line. We actually went almost full circle the only stop being The Little Mermaid.

The Little Mermaid from the front

With the sad look on her face, she is still waiting for the love of her life, the Prince who she will never marry. She was a character in Hans Christian Andersons book of the same title. We arrive back at Nyhavn and walk briskly to the changing of the guard at the Amalienborg Castle home of the Danish Queen during the winter months. Great pageantry if you could see it, a great crowd of people throughout the square. We did see the changing of the post which was neat to see.

  Now another block away is the Marble Church or Frederik's Church,

royalty attends this church and has a special place to sit. This day there is a tour to the top, you guessed it Shirleen wants to go. I follow. The first flight was a series of easy normal steps. The next set was a small one person twisting staircase. No hand rails as there is no room, so there is a rope hanging down the center of the concrete stairs, this was demanding, but it was not over.

 Here are flat and stairs made of metal.

From this position you can see the outside brick work of the inner dome and the green copper outer dome on the other side. 262 steps. Beautiful sky, warm weather and a great overlook.

Did I tell you I rested on that last leg and was the last person to the top. The young lady who guide us said a profound statement which I later used, take slow steps. Well down we went and now my legs feel like jelly. Remember we have to walk back to the hotel. We sit at the hotel and have a bunch of water and many Danish butter cookies until the pastries came out. Must have needed the energy boost.

  No we did not sit long, off to the Rosenberg Castle the King's summer Palace that we saw yesterday. It turns out it is also the mint and the crown jewels are stored there. The castle was two stories high with floors above that are not on display. Pictures, hunting artifacts, jewelry, glass ware, crisp white plaster castings of faces, bodies, birds and much more.

  Beneath is the mint and more fire arms. Then we walk down the passage to a lower level. Did I mention there were armed guards patrolling the grounds within the castle walls? We are in the interior of the building and down another level, here are many jewels, all colors with tiaras crowns, swords, necklaces and many ornamentations for formal wear. The formal Crown Jewels are on the next lower level and they just shine.

We walk back into the King's Garden that we were in yesterday. It is full of people, as it is again late afternoon and some people are having picnics, drinking beer and just relaxing with each other, as we did. Eight young adults are playing a game.

They are 20 feet apart, four to a side, with 1.5 by 8 inch batons. In front of the are 2 by 2's 7 inches long standing upright and in the center between the two teams are two 2 by 6's. They are first aiming at the center ones, if one was hit then they aim for the opponents sticks. Well they were having fun trying to knock down the sticks and drinking beer at the same time. We meander out the side gate. We need to cross the street now it is days end and  a lot of cars, bikes, motorcycles and trucks. I said let's follow these lady's on the bikes they must know the customary way of doing it. About half ways across I notice the bikes are rentals and those gals probably don’t know anymore than we. We are walking to dinner. Before we left North Mankato I googled, the oldest restaurant in Copenhagen and found the "Det  lille Apotek", http://www.detlilleapotek.dk/eng, the Little Pharmacy,

 it turned out to be a little walk from the hotel. The streets are bustling with people, some local and the tourist in the know. It is a restaurant frequented by Hans Christian Andersen other Dutch artists. It is set in the ground a couple feet and has four small rooms for eating.

 The bar was small.  The bathroom was different, the stool was three steps up, probably to get it to flow.

Steak Bèarnaise, 200 gram Beef tenderloin from the grill, served with sauce bèarnaise,  roasted potatoes and vegetables 189-Kroner,

I the Wienerschnitzel à la Apoteket made from pork tenderloin, served with pommes sautées, sweet peas, lemon with garnish and cream gravy 159-Kroner.

Shirleen a fine French wine I their house beer or two - Apoteket's own a popular, slightly darker draught beer 56-Koner.

  We strolled back to our hotel, what a pleasant day and evening. Sleep tight for tomorrow is another great adventure.

Friday Aug 10^th; we arrive at the train station and after a little mix up on time we are off on the ICE train to Hamburg Germany, our first switch over.
These are nice and comfortable, viewing out the windows to watch the scenery go by is pleasantly restful.

We are seated at a table with a gentleman from outside Copenhagen and sails from Lübeck to Latvia with cargo of trees and sometimes salmon. The salmon is smoked there and sent all over the world, so how is it cheaper? He describes the trip along the way. I did not know that Copenhagen is on the island of Zealand. We cross a trestle over the sea to the next littler island. At the end of that island is the interesting part, we place the train on a ferry and exit our rail car to the ferry proper, here we had lunch – fish and fries, as we did not know what to expect along the way. Glad we did. The ferry trip lasts 45 minutes, I remarked to the fellow next to me, how much of a tide do they have around here? He said about 6 to 8 inches.

Train Boarding ferry

That made me understand why they could line up the tracks so well without a mechanism to level the ferry to the ground tracks. Now we are in Germany and second to the last stop he departs, go company and well spoken English. We pick up a passenger, a uniformed policewomen.

She works in Munich and knows the platform we need to be on and will guide us.

  We have 7 minutes to catch the next train and we jump off the car with our suitcases and run to the end. Well I should not have run so fast, as I notice we are the only ones going that way. We turn around and the lady, says you guys were going faster than I could catch up. You need to go up the stairs and the platform is next to this one. She follows us all the way to the down escalator. We find the right coach, this is an IC inter city railroad, not as nice as the ICS but it will get us to Cologne. We have assigned seats, those that don't have to find a seat and some are in the isle. Ours had a table. The ladies next to us knew no English and the train signage, next stops and the conductor spoke in Germany only. This is going to be exciting. As we get close to the third last station, we have 27 minutes between trains, we hear a message and the train is stopped on a siding in a station.

Conductor at Train Station

I went to the next part of our car, there are dividers in each section. I asked if anyone knew English, one young girl said, yes, a little. The train is going to be 15 minutes late.

Speeding Along

Now down to 12 minutes. We amble off and head for Cologne with one of the ladies in our compartment missing her connection.

  We arrive in Cologne and right through the big windows is the Cathedral,

Cologne Cathedral

which my aunt wrote, Grandpa Nic Klinkhammer worked as a mason on it before he came to America. Well we can't visit it but I got this poor picture. It turned out our connecting train was 12 minutes late and we had plenty of time. We found an English speaking gentlemen, wife only knew French, who told us the things we should see in Brussels. Well it turned out the platform we were waiting on was changed and we followed this family to the departing platform and slipped into our seats. By this time we knew how to identify which car was ours.

  We head to our last stop, Brussels – central, but we need Brussels – midi. I approached a young couple, most are young now compared to me, and asked if they knew how to get to the midi station. The gal, a tall Lithuanian but European traveler, said yes, we just hop on the train going there, we have a friend meeting us there she may know how to get to your hotel. It is 10pm so we expected dark and damp streets with roughens around every corner. We are staying at the Novotel by the train station the are staying at a Novotel also close by. She said don't miss there breakfast it is wonderful, our accommodation letter said it is complimentary for both, sounds great to us as we did not know if we would again eat before then. We exit the train and it is wide open and few people, we follow like little puppy dogs this couple. As we turn a corner we run into there girl friend and she says you are a floor to low to exit the station. All of us drag our goods up one flight of marble stairs.

  As we were headed out the door, a group of, you guessed it, policemen came in – whew. I approached the group and asked about the location of the hotel, that is after I greeted them in English – to set the record straight. One said I speak English, and he did well, I will take you to the Novotel. We walked outside and the street is packed with revelers, he said there is a weekend music festival. It turned out the hotel was a half block away. Close but bumpy with the cobblestone sidewalk.

  We checked into a beautiful room, pure comfort for a bed, the shower was a large glassed in comfort room separated from the biffy. We had asked and they said there was food available so back downstairs we went. Walked past the bar into the dining room and asked whether the food was open, I think the young man misunderstood and a server came rushing towards us as we were walking away and said it was open. We sat down and ordered wine and beer; Shirleen ordered a rich light colored vegetable soup, alongside of the bowl was a small carafe of cream, for those who wanted to bump up the taste and calories, she did not.

Vegetable Soup with croutons and cream

Flemish Beef Stew

Great tasting soup with homemade croutons; I the Flemish beef stew (carbonnades flamandes), the national dish of Belgium, wow what a rich deep flavor, accompanied with pommes frites (french fries) the best we were to have in Belgium or anywhere. Off to bed as we have to catch the train to the airport to meet the MN arboretum group.