From Stockholm to Copenhagen to Lubeck…..

Sunday 4th of July

A beautiful summer day awaits as when we wake up. After a quick breakfast Mats, Yvonne and myself head out on pushbikes for a tour of the surroundings.

Lot’s of walking and biking tracks through the woods and the fields makes it an easy and very pleasant ride for about an hour. Back at Mats house we have some lunch before the three of us and Mats & Åsas youngest, Frida, take the car to Stockholm city to visit the Museum of Medieval. Opened in 1986 it It describes the emergence and medieval development of the town and is built up round some of the permanent heritage monuments which came to light during the archaeological excavations on Helgeandsholmen (The Island of the Holy Spirit) between 1978 and 1980. Excellent display and audio guiding makes it a very pleasant couple of hours.

Before heading back home we have a Coffee at a cafe with great views over  Stockholm

 

8am Monday morning, 5th July,  and we say goodbye to my brother Mats and his family and say a big thank you for letting us stay with them for a couple of days. It’s been great to see them all again!!

First stop on the way south is Södertälje where we pickup Salme who has stayed with neighbours of the past for a few days. We take the E4 south towards Helsingborg. Motorway all the way and it’s a pleasant drive through the Swedish landscape with bright blue fields of lavender and bright yellow fields of rape giving the land a very pretty colour. Once we hit the second largest lake in Sweden, Vättern, it’s time for lunch. We stop at “Brahe Hus” (Brahe House), the ruins of a 16th century mansion built for the Swedish noble Per Brahe. Ravaged by fire in 1708 not much of it’s splendour remains except for the fantastic views of the the lake off Vättern.

One serve of meatballs and two serves of “Pytt i Panna” later we’re on our way again. We hit Helsingborg around 4pm and raid the local supermarket for some lunch essentials for the days to come as well as some essential last Swedish lollies. The ferry trip to Denmark and Helsingör only takes 15 minutes and with only 234 seconds on international waters our duty-free has to be carefully planned and executed!

45 minutes later and we ring the doorbell of my old schoolmate Staffan and his wife Bettina’s house. We are treated with a lovely dinner and we sit up and talk til late reminiscing of times gone past and times to come.

 

 

Tuesday, 6th July

After an excellent nights sleep we say our goodbyes to Bettina. Staffan is kind enough to drive us into Copenhagen for a couple of hours of sightseeing. We jump off in the old city and walk down to Nyhavn where a canal boat awaits us. We enjoy a whole  hour of excellent sightseeing on the Copenhagen canals and harbour. Unfortunately the little mermaid is at the World Expo in Shanghai China for a nice holiday and only a large sign in the water shows the place where she usually sits and greets the visitors and inhabitants of Copenhagen. Once back on dry land we take the short walk to the Queens castle and then back again to Nyhavn for some well earned lunch. Before we hit the road again the world famous “Ströget” gets a visit and Salme manages to spend our last Danish kroner on a new handbag, on sale of course and impossible to resist… : -)

Back on the road again, travelling south towards Germany. The 45 minute ferry trip is only interrupted by 6 car alarms going off at the car deck when someone accidently farts loudly.

270 kilometres later and we’re in Lubeck, Germany. A very old city dating back to the 10th century with many old buildings still visible in the city even though many of them was completely destroyed during WWII but has since been restored. 

We stroll the narrow streets for an hour or two before hunger succumbs our sightseeing minds and we head back to the hotel. Our hotel is a masterpiece in itself. A 4 star establishment, Hotel Kaiserhof,  usually well beyond our travel budget but through unforseen circumstances has been made available to us to a very good price.  We are allocated a suite with spa, lounge, bide and bathrobes only previously seen in  the movies! :-) After a typical German dinner in the hotels restaurant with copious amounts of food we can’t wait to get back to our suite to enjoy the pleasures usually only granted to royals and VIP’s.. :-)

Wednesday, 7 July

With the sounds of German birds singing and the sun shining in through our window we open our eyes to face another day in the land of the tourist. Breakfast is taken on the chandelier salon down stairs with silver cutlery and coffee brewed from selected now extinct Brazilian coffee bean plants. Once the billed has been settled we’re  back on the road again heading south. Once out on the Autobahn there’s unfortunately very little to see of Germany. It effectively bypasses all cities and all you see are road signs pointing to them. Bit of a shame when I’m sure there’s plenty to see in Germany and lot’s of pretty places but unfortunately for us it has just become a country you have to drive through to get somewhere else.

But after approximately 1500 km’s on autobahn over the last 5 weeks or so  we have all come to the joined conclusion that Audi makes the fastest cars in Germany where the minimum idle speed rarely goes under 160 km/h. And 85% of all Audi’s are black and has those little cool looking led’s in the headlights. I want an AUDI car!!

Today is a day of driving and driving only. We decided last night to try and get as close to France as we could so that we have the last two days before we have to drop the car off available for some sightseeing in France. 700 odd kilometres later and we arrive at our hotel in the tiny Belgian village Bouillon. Situated on the banks of the river Semois and with a population of 5000 it’s a postcard pretty place to say the least. The old castle dating back to the 10th century overlooks the village and is surrounded by mountains and thick forests. Very pretty indeed. After a quiet wine at the hotel we enjoy dinner at a restaurant along the river before it’s time to head back for a well earned rest after a long day of driving.