Day 3 - Copenhagen, Denmark to Hamburg, Germany

 

 

 

If you are ever in Copenhagen, Denmark do take some time off to see the old city centre. It is one of the most picturesque cities we have been to and since it is quite small you can embrace it easily in a day or even less. We only had a couple of hours so we decided to walk to the shopping district and spend time walking around and looking at the well known Danish brands like Lego, Pandora, Illum and Royal Copenhagen.

Paula is a keen Pandora lover. If your wife, girl friend, significant other has not been introduced to this, my recommendation is impress her, look for the Pandora shop closest to you and go and share an unforgettable moment with her. Promise that you will not regret it. Pandora is a Danish company specializing in personalized charm jewelry and their mission is "to offer women across the world a universe of high quality, hand-finished, modern and genuine jewellery products at affordable prices, thereby inspiring women to express their individuality. All women have their individual stories to tell – a personal collection of special moments that makes them who they are. That is why we celebrate these moments. That is why we say these moments are unforgettable."

 

As we both grew up with Lego it was great to go and see how much this whole concept has developed over the years. The Copenhagen store is impressive and well worth a visit.

 

We also took sometime to have a coffee and water and people watch for a while. We were also reminded that the European cup was going on and later in the evening two important games Germany-Denmark and Portugal-Holland would decide which two teams would go through to next round. Although we did not have the chance to make it we would recommend a tour of Copenhagen on a boat.

We really enjoyed Copenhagen and as Stockholm and Helsinki we added this Nordic capital to one of our best places we had visited and are not surprised when these cities often come tops in the best places to live.

 

But all good things come to an end and the road called for another 500Kms to get to Wedel, Germany on the outskirts of Hamburg, Germany.

However before leaving Copenhagen we did another city tour now on top of our GSA and stopped in various places to take pictures and also enjoy the beautiful atmosphere and weather.

We were looking forward to crossing one of the longest bridges in the world. Callec the Great Belt bridge, this has a East and West section joining at the island of Sprogo. The East bridge has a length of 6.79 Km (just over 4 miles) and a span of 1.6 Km (over 1 mile). The West bridge has a length of 6.6 Km and much lower span of 110 meters. As winds were quite strong this was a memorable crossing and we were impressed.

A love of bridges is understandable in a country with 400 islands. It seems bridge-lovers are rejoicing after the government announced plans for the biggest bridge yet: a 19-kilometre (12-mile) colossus across the Fehmarn strait between Denmark and Germany.

 

On the way to Germany we stopped at Kolding, Denmark and had lunch in a very nice outdoor restaurant. They had one of my favorite dishes which is Wiener Schnitzel which was great. Paula had the grilled salmon.

 

Wedel is on the river Elbe in Germany and the way into Hamburg is very nice as one travels next to the river through one of the most high-priced areas in Hamburg. It has been under Danish rule until the 19th century when it went back to German rule. The B&B we were sleeping in is property of Ingrid and Frank which have been in this business for 3 years. The B&B is in an old town house with 2 spacious and comfortable accommodations, renovated and individually decorated both with completely new ensuite bathrooms. We stayed in Suite ‘New York’ with a cosy sitting area. As we have become accustomed the breakfast was plentiful and very rich in choice. We had the chance of eating with the tenants of the other accommodation which was a mom and her son that were spending 2 weeks in the area. Although originally from the area, the family now live in Japan and we had the opportunity of speaking about Japan and the intricacies of living there. Also had the opportunity of showing Jonathan (the son) the GSA which impressed him greatly.

Because we spent longer than expected in Copenhagen we arrived in Wedel quite late and decided to stay in and relax. Oh yes, we did watch television and were quite pleased as Portugal beat Holland and moved to the next round of European cup. The next day we would be in Holland so we made a mental note to just speak English while there ;-).

 

Yes, we did test the top speed of the GSA and with two up, quite a lot of luggage and with headwind we just pipped the 200Km/h (120 mph) and we did it legally. The amazing thing is that as we were on our top speed, cars were passing us like we were going slow. Easily 250 Km/h or may be even higher speeds. Amazing experience but not too 'nice' as bike does wobble quite a bit at those speeds due to wind turbulence.


We were also quite excited about the next day, as we would be visiting the dykes (where every day man wins the battle against the sea) and also visit Mokum (Yiddish word for "place" or "safe haven") or Amsterdam, the Venice of the North with its 17th-century canals which were added to the UNESCO World Heritage List in July 2010.

 

Click HERE for all the pictures for Day 3

 

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