Farewell Germany welcome to Scandinavia

After some consideration we decided to catch a ferry from northern Germany (Puttgarden) to southern Denmark (Rodby) and then proceed onto Norway from Copenhagen. We picked the city of Lubeck as our overnight stop en-route with no expectations other than a place to sleep. We were more than pleasantly surprised when we arrived following a boring day on the German motorways. Lubeck is a magnificent medieval city well sited on the river Trave and a major German port on the Baltic Sea. The extensive Brick Gothic Architecture throughout the city has earned Lubeck a UNESCO World Heritage Site listing. We spent several hours wandering the streets and barely touched the surface. A must see place if visiting this part of the world.

We had pre-booked our ferry and left Lubeck with time to spare - that was until the German Dept of stuffing up Highways intervened. Whole sections of the highway were closed down and turned the place into a carpark. Lane filtering is illegal in Germany but we 'bent' the rules along with a couple of Finnish bikers and a German local. Still missed our allotted ferry so had a short wait. The 45 minute crossing was smooth and then we were in Scandinavia. First impressions were of flat well kept rural lands, plenty of road bridges, different Architectural style of the farm buildings and all cars have their headlights on during the day (this is a law in Denmark and Norway). We proceeded onto Copenhagen and to our prebooked suburban B&B. The suburban shopping area was a sea of bicycles with double storied bicycle racks at the rail station. The rural tidiness we had first observed unfortunately did not carry over to the urban area with graffiti an ever present eyesore. There was also a general air of untidiness which really surprised us - we had expected Denmark to be as neat as a pin.

Copenhagen itself has taken on the air of a construction site - apparently the Danes have decided they need a subway system and have been building one for the past decade with no end date in the foreseeable future. The locals have become conditioned to the disruptions and changes to bus routes etc. Whole sections of the city are 'under construction' and even in the most populous tourist areas dumpsters and demolition work compete with the retail sector. There are some lovely parts of the city - we watched the Changing of the Guard at the Amalienborg Castle and that was performed with the expected degree of pomp and ceremony. The Marble Church, the old wharf area (Nyhavn), new Opera House, Rosenberg Castle and Gardens and 'the Little Mermaid' are all noteworthy sites to visit. Also notable after so long in Europe is the increase in prices in Denmark and only to get worse in Norway. The home of Carlsberg and Tuborg has the most expensive beer we have encountered so far. Food, fuel, accommodation and public transport are all much more expensive than what we have left in Germany. We had a chance meeting with a local riding a Danish built Nimbus motorcycle from 1949. This in-line 4 cylinder military model with shaft drive and exposed overhead valves was as simple as a hammer and still giving reliable daily service to its owner.

We left Copenhagen late afternoon on the overnight ferry to Oslo. We had spent the day along the coastline north of the city where the Danes were enjoying the last days of their summer holidays in the sun and along the beach. It is a very relaxed area away from the bustle of the city.