Day 19 - Four Countries One Day

4 Sept

A couple of times through the night we could feel the ship swaying a little. The open seas must have been in a little rough. We had set two devices with alarms for 5am. Turns out one of the devices was still relying on Finnish time. It worked in our favour as we were ready and almost packed in time for breakfast. We actually were a few minutes early, so we took a walk up to the sun deck to have a look at the early morning light. No such luck as it was raining. Back down to our breakfast buffet. The buffets usually have a selection of hot and cold options. What was different this morning’s buffet included items that looked like dessert. We were even offered sparkling wine.  Ah - No thanks. 

After docking in Stockholm, we were immediately thrown into the morning traffic. Oops! The GPS is set on scenic. A quick change to Fast and we were on the freeway and on our way across Sweden.  By the way, "Scenic" meant it took us off the freeway, showed us a small roundabout then back on the freeway.

Out of the ship....

Through the tunnel... That's a big TV screen showing pretty pictures.

...and in to peak traffic and rain.  Lovely.

We stopped and refuelled at SEK13.45 which converted to AUD $2.13 per litre.

 

We saw several Saabs beside the roadway.

Six hours and a toll of €50 ($75)later we've used a combination of bridge and tunnel to arrive in Copenhagen, Denmark.

Last thing we saw leaving Sweden

 

Then the bridge to Denmark, the Öresundsbron

A couple more hours, time for a refresh break and on to another toll bridge. DKK 240 or €34 or $51 for this crossing.

Storebaelt Bridge in Denmark

And we complain about $4 on the Gateway!

There have been a lot of wind farms along both the Swedish and Danish coastlines. There was one where the wind farm was working alongside a coal fired power station.

Another impressive bridge, no toll this time.

Den Nye Lillebæltsbro or New Little Belt Bridge

The afternoon skies cleared as we approached the Denmark/Germany border.

Back in Germany I the land of the unlimited speeds. The GPS was accessing live traffic information and asked if we wanted to change route due to reported snarls on the plan. As we got closer to our destination the map showed what looked to be no access areas on the freeway. Good thing we did accept the GPS’s recommendation.

The GPS then guided us to our accommodation, right to the front door. Trouble was we were in a place that looked like it wasn't meant for cars, especially ones as large as the Volvo. The local patrons were giving us ‘looks’ over their ice cream cones and coffee cups. Eventually, we were directed to the public car park to park up for the night.

We drove up here at first, then had to go back down an equally narrow strasse to get to the car park.

We have a room in the loft of the Kaffe Haus for the night.