Day 32 - Göteborg, Sweden to Copenhagen, Denmark

Last night was our only night of the tour in Sweden. Today's drive took us down the west coast of Sweden to the town of Malmo and then across the Oresund Bridge into Denmark and our hotel in Copenhagen.

We left Göteborg after a short drive around the city in glorious sunny weather.

 

 

Using the satnav to guide us out of Göteborg, we were directed through the back streets and, at one point, we went through the campus of a technical college where we saw these strange statues of stilt walkers.

The road south, the E6, is a very good motorway and the speed limit of up to 120kph was a welcome relief after the restricted speeds of Norway! We drove for about 150 kms, then we turned off the motorway and went a short distance down to the beach at Tylosand, near the town of Halmstad. The road ran through farming country with lovely woods and avenues of trees.

 

Here is the second windmill we saw. This one was open to the public, but we did not stop.

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The Swedes were out on the beaches, sunbathing and swimming in the very blue warm water of the Kattegat.

 

 

At the beach I saw this trio of Land Rovers, all with yellow surfboards on top.

As we left the beach, we stopped at a small chapel called St. Olaf's. It was a delightful wooden chapel which dated back to the early 18th century and had been fully restored in the 1950's.

It had a very beautiful interior with painted ceilings.

 

 

 

The remainder of the drive to the Oresund Bridge was uneventful. We reached the bridge at about 2pm. It is a marvel of modern civil engineering and was opened in 1999 after taking over four years to build. The road consists of four lanes with two railway lines below. It is a bridge and tunnel combination, with the bridge being 7,845 metres and the tunnel 4,050 metres. It cost over $5.7 billion.

To the left of the bridge was this wind farm in the middle of the channel.

The sign as you enter Denmark, 5.3 kms from the Swedish end of the bridge.

Looking back at the bridge in my wing mirror before we went into the tunnel section.

 

We drove the final few kilometres into Copenhagen and arrived at our hotel at around 3pm.

Directly opposite us is a 'gentlemen's club' with a sign stating that it has been voted the best club in Copenhagen. We obviously couldn't have chosen a better place to stay!

We unloaded our bags and checked into the hotel. I parked the car in a nearby street, as there was no on-site parking, It's parked outside another of Copenhagen's many clubs, but at least there will be plenty of people going in and out of the club, which will deter any possible vandals or thieves. Well, that's my theory!

The hotel is located within easy walking distance of the famous Tivoli Gardens, a large amusement park with the usual giant rollercoasters. Wendy, DeeAnne and I spent about an hour in the gardens and then walked back to the hotel.

Wendy and DeeAnne admiring one of the flower displays.

 

 

In one of the ponds was a group of baby ducks. Here's a photo for the grandchildren.

Just before we left Tivoli, a boys' marching band went through the gardens. In the middle of the parade was a small coach pulled by horses. As we walked away, we heard them playing the theme music from Monty Python's Flying Circus!

In the evening, we went back to the gardens to see the illuminations. While we were there, Kenny took a ride on the rollercoaster. As it was dark we couldn't see if he was the oldest person on the ride, but I'm betting he was!!

We walked back to the hotel going through the main station, which had a lovely arched roof.

When we were back at the hotel, we met up with the others and had a drink while we discussed the problem of the e-coli outbreak in northern Germany. We are booked to stay in Hamburg for one night and we talked about the possibility of driving to Holland without stopping in Germany. The problem is the distance of nearly 750 kms, which is a long way to go in a day. Also, we had planned our End of Drive Dinner in Hamburg, as Ahmad and Reza will leave us then to stay with relatives in Eindhoven before driving back to the UK. We will have to make a decision tomorrow, as we need to give the hotel in Hamburg 24 hours notice, otherwise we will have to pay for the night.