2010 Northern Europe

Moving on -- we had originally planned to drive to Krakow, Poland, but discovered that our car rental agreement was limited to specific countries, so Poland was out. In a snap decision, we headed north, to Denmark.

A Danish seal above a government building.

Here's the ferry we took from Rostock, Germany to Gedser, Denmark -- it was loaded with cars, trucks, and buses.

Packed in like sardines!

It was a 1 1/2 hour ferry ride from Germany to Denmark. We noticed this group of Danish folks with extreme tans and bleached hair --- apparently the Danes love the sun and spend as much time possible outdoors. The other thing we noticed, was that there were many Danes who take advantage of the duty free alcohol purchases on the ferry. Those two guys sitting are guarding cases of beer and other alcohol they purchased.

Just a few of the many bike riders in Copenhagen. It's expensive to park in the city, and bike riding is the way to get around. Similar to Amsterdam, there are bike riders, special bike lanes, and parked bikes everywhere.

The old section of Copenhagen, like many historic cities, is a maze of narrow streets. We got lost one evening, and wandering through these streets that all look the same in the dark. Finally, I asked a bouncer sitting outside a club, for directions. He was quite pleasant and was very helpful to us, who also looked just like Sting! That's similar to the tour van driver of a past Paris trip with my sister and family. He looked just like Brad Pitt! If only.... (sigh)

This was, according to a local Dane, the hottest day of the year. While exploring, we came across this peaceful scene.

Statue honoring the fallen Danish soldier.

We trudged along the waterfront following signs to find the Little Mermaid, and this is what we found! What! No mermaid!!! What have they done to her??? The famous statue is now in Shanghai, on exhibit for a world expo, and this digital sign is her replacement. Shown in real time, you can see people walking around the statue. (I think they should have sent a cheap Chinese knock-off to Shanghai, and told them it was the real thing...) We felt cheated!

It was at this point of the trip that I became ill and had to lay low for awhile. Copenhagen was a beautiful city, but it was also going through a heat wave (plus I was feverish). Lack of energy, and drained from the heat, unfortunately, I had not been up to taking many pictures. Looks like I'll just have to come back to enjoy this city.

Before heading back south, we wanted to check out this building, just across the border, across a long bridge, in Malmo, Sweden.

This is known as the "Turning Torso" building, designed by Spanish architect, Santiago Calatrava. It is 54 stories high, and the tallest building in Scandinavia.

Closer view of the Turning Torso building. I wonder how the interior walls are set up? And would the windows be in a curved line?

Now, aware that our time was short, we had to drive from Sweden through Denmark, into Germany and the Netherlands to get back to Paris in time in the next days. The hot weather got replaced by cool storms, a relief for us.

Unfortunately, one of our windshield wipers flew off the car, apparently not clipped in well. We had to tape the end of the wiper arm to prevent scratches on the window. However, we had another mishap, and the windshield ended up cracked as well.

What the heck does this say? I think it's Dutch....? Throughout this trip, we tried to learn some of the languages. Knowing we were going to France, Germany and Italy, I downloaded translator applications for the iPhone. However, we did not have Danish or Dutch, since it was a last minute decision to drive through here. We found that the Danes and the Dutch all speak English, so we never had to second guess, that is, until we came across signs like this.

Windmills are everywhere along the Dutch countryside and also the northern part of Germany. Big, new, and modern windmills - not the old fashioned types from the past.

I wonder what they're delivering?

Amsterdam was quite prosperous in the 1600s. Houses were taxed by the area of land it covered, so much of Amsterdam now is comprised of very tall, skinny houses!

In downtown Amsterdam, a sports memorabilia store. Orange is the national color of Holland, and people were celebrating their football (soccer) team -- the Netherlands vs. Spain, for the World Cup.

We're Number 2!

The day we arrived was the day after the final World Cup championship. Though Spain had won, the Dutch came out for a big parade down the canal to celebrate their team.

After the rally, it was time to go home. Noise from drunken fans echoed through the night afterwards.

Bicycles everywhere!

Back to Paris, where we needed to catch our train back to London. We arrived in the middle of a violent thunderstorm - with pouring rain and 1 wiper blade working and a cracked windshield. It was a relief to get that car back. Taking a cab from the airport, we got stuck in a major traffic jam, caused by a huge flood that stopped traffic in both directions. The storm finally moved on, and gave us a pretty nice evening to enjoy Paris.

We arrived in Paris on July 14th, Bastille Day - the French holiday that commemorates the original storming of the Bastille (prison), and the end of the old monarchy and the rise of the modern French nation. It was shortly after this event, that Louis XIV and Marie Antoinette were taken prisoners from Versailles, and eventually lost their heads.

Fireworks along the Seine - this is like our 4th of July. There were thousands of people lining the riverbanks, hoping to get a good spot to watch the fireworks. The river was filled with boats positioned right in front of us - with passengers awaiting the show. We found a pretty good spot, although next to a crying baby and 5 obnoxious boys who couldn't sit still. We had to stand for 1 1/2 hours, and hoped it was worth the wait!

It was an awesome show, and glad we stuck it out! The next problem was getting back to our hotel, across town. Traffic was a gridlock, and the Metro trains were packed. We hung around at a little bistro and had a few drinks and waited for the crowd to disperse, which took some time. I think we finally crawled back at 1:30am.