(I'm having to type this on a German keyboard and the y and z are switched so it's a challenge...)
Kaleb thinks it's pretty cool we've been in three different countries today. We woke up in Sweden, drove all day through Denmark and are now going to sleep in Germany. Europe is small, and as they say, everything is bigger in America.
We left the cushy Hilton Hotel (where I had to pay for internet access - go figure) and drove into the city of Copenhagen this morning to meet my childhood friend Cindy Monsen (see photo of us in the parking garage below Tivoli!) It was so cool to see a familiar face! She flew from Seattle to London a few days ago and is now on a cruise for the next two weeks. Her first stop was Copenhagen. Our paths were actually able to cross and we fit in a cup of coffee and a quick chat before we had to hit the road. I wish I had more than the hour we did, but it was better than nothing. It takes away any sense of distance from home when visitors come this way, so that was my big thrill on this trip - seeing an old friend.
Before we left Norway I made meticulous plans for every day of this trip, including every road we'd travel, and every ferry we'd catch. When I got to today's plan and saw that the ferries going from Denmark to Germany leave every 45 minutes, I asked Kory if I should make reservations (like I did for all other ferry crossings.) He said "no" - it would add too much stress to try to make it there on time. I asked around to see what other seasoned travelers from Scandinavia down to mainland Europe had to say and half said I definately needed reservations and the other half said I'd probably be OK - worst case we'd have to wait a ferry or two. Kory's opinion won out but I got nervous last night about our lack of reservations and I checked the ferry website and sure enough, all the ferries today were sold out. I didn't even have to say "I told you so" because Kory is the one doing most of the driving, and it meant we'd have to take another road that would add several hours to our plans. He didn't complain when I told him, nor all day when he was driving the long way around, but now he's worn out. We took quite a detour from the direct route as we should have made the trip in less than four hours and it took over eight, but that was mostly because we took scenic routes which beat the heck out of the boring freeways (there really is no such thing as a "free" way in Denmark as we spent over $150 today just on tolls.) The side roads wound us through little villages that looked a lot like places we've seen in the English countryside. Many of the houses are tutor style and several had straw thatched roofs. We passed many businesses today and the employee parking lots were full of bikes, as bike paths are as comprehensive and controlled as the city streets. Windmills dominated the horizon through the southern part of Denmark. One area we drove through had very cool old houses with a huge area in the center of the house for the name of the owner -broadcast like a bulletin board complete with huge lettering either painted on or metal lettering attached to the house. It puts the little door plaques used in Norway to shame. We also passed one produce stand after another as every farm had a little table at the end of the driveway selling cherries, peas, lettuce, beets and berries.
I've told Kaleb several times since we left home that everyday on our trip we'll have some unexpected surprises and today's surprise was finding flint stone everywhere we looked. As we waited for a little used ferry this afternoon we discovered the entire beach was covered with flintstone of all sizes. It breaks apart so easily and the edges are sharp as glass. Kaleb entertained himself during the half hour wait by trying to make his own arrowhead. He then loaded up about 30 pounds of the rocks to take with us so he could keep honing his skills. It is a very cool rock - all soft and white on the outside, but with one sharp blow, a smooth black inside is revealed. It's like finding a treasure in every rock.
We arrived at our destination of Lübeck at eight o'clock tonight so it was a long day. We had it pretty good today but we are all moaning about one thing or another tonight. Kory's back is starting to go out so he's walking kind of funny and I'm hoping prayer and ibuprophen hold off an all-out disaster in that arena. Kaleb is moaning that his Nintendo's charger cable has apparently snapped internally as he's no longer able to charge his game. I told him it was God's way of breaking him from the addicition, but that was the wrong thing to say, because now my laptop isn't working right and I'll have to use internet cafes to post my blog so my postings maybe sporadic from here on out. I guess I should be on the lookout for withdrawl symptoms.
Kaleb thinks it's pretty cool we've been in three different countries today. We woke up in Sweden, drove all day through Denmark and are now going to sleep in Germany. Europe is small, and as they say, everything is bigger in America.
We left the cushy Hilton Hotel (where I had to pay for internet access - go figure) and drove into the city of Copenhagen this morning to meet my childhood friend Cindy Monsen (see photo of us in the parking garage below Tivoli!) It was so cool to see a familiar face! She flew from Seattle to London a few days ago and is now on a cruise for the next two weeks. Her first stop was Copenhagen. Our paths were actually able to cross and we fit in a cup of coffee and a quick chat before we had to hit the road. I wish I had more than the hour we did, but it was better than nothing. It takes away any sense of distance from home when visitors come this way, so that was my big thrill on this trip - seeing an old friend.
Before we left Norway I made meticulous plans for every day of this trip, including every road we'd travel, and every ferry we'd catch. When I got to today's plan and saw that the ferries going from Denmark to Germany leave every 45 minutes, I asked Kory if I should make reservations (like I did for all other ferry crossings.) He said "no" - it would add too much stress to try to make it there on time. I asked around to see what other seasoned travelers from Scandinavia down to mainland Europe had to say and half said I definately needed reservations and the other half said I'd probably be OK - worst case we'd have to wait a ferry or two. Kory's opinion won out but I got nervous last night about our lack of reservations and I checked the ferry website and sure enough, all the ferries today were sold out. I didn't even have to say "I told you so" because Kory is the one doing most of the driving, and it meant we'd have to take another road that would add several hours to our plans. He didn't complain when I told him, nor all day when he was driving the long way around, but now he's worn out. We took quite a detour from the direct route as we should have made the trip in less than four hours and it took over eight, but that was mostly because we took scenic routes which beat the heck out of the boring freeways (there really is no such thing as a "free" way in Denmark as we spent over $150 today just on tolls.) The side roads wound us through little villages that looked a lot like places we've seen in the English countryside. Many of the houses are tutor style and several had straw thatched roofs. We passed many businesses today and the employee parking lots were full of bikes, as bike paths are as comprehensive and controlled as the city streets. Windmills dominated the horizon through the southern part of Denmark. One area we drove through had very cool old houses with a huge area in the center of the house for the name of the owner -broadcast like a bulletin board complete with huge lettering either painted on or metal lettering attached to the house. It puts the little door plaques used in Norway to shame. We also passed one produce stand after another as every farm had a little table at the end of the driveway selling cherries, peas, lettuce, beets and berries.
I've told Kaleb several times since we left home that everyday on our trip we'll have some unexpected surprises and today's surprise was finding flint stone everywhere we looked. As we waited for a little used ferry this afternoon we discovered the entire beach was covered with flintstone of all sizes. It breaks apart so easily and the edges are sharp as glass. Kaleb entertained himself during the half hour wait by trying to make his own arrowhead. He then loaded up about 30 pounds of the rocks to take with us so he could keep honing his skills. It is a very cool rock - all soft and white on the outside, but with one sharp blow, a smooth black inside is revealed. It's like finding a treasure in every rock.
We arrived at our destination of Lübeck at eight o'clock tonight so it was a long day. We had it pretty good today but we are all moaning about one thing or another tonight. Kory's back is starting to go out so he's walking kind of funny and I'm hoping prayer and ibuprophen hold off an all-out disaster in that arena. Kaleb is moaning that his Nintendo's charger cable has apparently snapped internally as he's no longer able to charge his game. I told him it was God's way of breaking him from the addicition, but that was the wrong thing to say, because now my laptop isn't working right and I'll have to use internet cafes to post my blog so my postings maybe sporadic from here on out. I guess I should be on the lookout for withdrawl symptoms.
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