Into the Frying Pan!

An early rise this morning as we had to get to the Triangeln train station by 7.45 to catch the train to Kastrup Airport - thankfully the rain which had fallen since early last night had cleared as we had a 30 minute walk dragging 4 suitcases!

Speaking of rain, we have been in Scandinavia for just over 2 weeks and other than having to dodge 2 daytime showers any other wetness has fallen during the night - are we going to be lucky like we have on every other trip and be unaffected by any wet weather?

We have walked passed this shop on numerous occasions and always wondered what we would be in for if we did ring...

... as it is a massage place after all!

So after leaving Sweden returning to Denmark then flying to Switzerland we were in 3 different countries in 6 hours.

I must mention Kastrup, Copenhagen’s airport - once you are airside it opens up into an endless shopping centre with many of the shops being of High Street class
.
The flight to Geneva was around 1H45M and as walked down the aircraft stairs the heat hit us - we left up north when it was around 19 degrees and struck somewhere between 30-35 degrees when we arrived and we certainly noticed the difference as we walked to our hotel which is around 400m from the airport as this is where we pick up the car on Friday - even though I say here in fact we pick it up in France which is on the other side of the airport .

The airport as seen from our hotel room

Also from our room a very dry soccer ground!

After unpacking we took the bus into the CBD - this too is interesting as all visitors staying in hotels in Geneva are given a free transport pass for the length of their stay. A concept which perhaps our city fathers could consider.

The CBD was a very busy place (& hot) and was dominated by Lake Geneva which appears to be widely used both on and off shore

We ate on one of the numerous terrace restaurant in this street, the first hill/slope we have encountered since we left NZ ...

...which finished off an enjoyable day

We have just seen a weather forecast for the rest of the week and they are forecasting temperatures that have rarely been seen in some parts - let’s hope it skirts where we are.

A win!

Today was our last day in Sweden as tomorrow we fly to Geneva so today we had a last look around Malmo central and finished off our shopping.

A couple of days ago I mentioned our intention (unsuccessfully on that day) to have a meal at the railway station so today we headed there for lunch and ordered the traditional Swedish Meatballs...

...as can be seen from the above photo it was a very nice meal consisting of approximately 5 meatballs in gravy, mashed potato, small serving of pickled cucumber with loganberries on the side. As well there were complimentary dishes of various salads so on my plate I choose chopped tomatoes, sliced mushrooms and a corn and chickpea mix. The presentation was restaurant quality and all for the princely sum of $NZD16.50 - we won lotto with that meal!

There was a building on Stortorget torg which we had walked passed often without taking too much notice of but today it seemed to dominate over the square and really caught our attention, the Malmo City Hall or Radhus which was built in the mid 1540s

Another “thing” that interested us was seeing a couple of cyclists wearing packs around their necks which we had assumed to be cooling packs however I saw them in a shop and they are in fact airbags which are designed to protect the head should the rider come to grief.Go to www.hovding.com to see the full story re these Swedish designed safety devices, particularly if you ride a bike, be it pedal or motor, as they are said to be more effective than the traditional bike helmet.

So our first and almost certainly last trip to Scandinavia is 12 hours from being over and we feel that we have had a reasonable taste of the culture up here. The countries are similar but different, one has hygge and the other fika, one has the krone and the other the krona, both have cyclists though the Danish version appears more orderly, one is expensive and the other less expensive but both have been great to visit!

A circuit around town

Our accommodation is at Norra Gulsparvsgatan, 7 in a modest residential area and it seems that most houses have some sort of basement. The basement at no 7 has been turned into AirBnB accommodation and while the apartment has everything we would want, the party upstairs last night until 2am wasn’t appreciated!

We left no 7 after mid morning coffee and started off to get to Ribersborgsstrand, the beach on the west side of the city. Around an hour later after various stops to check that we were heading in the right direction we arrived, having walked through some areas that made one think would we like Auckland to turn into a high rise type city?

Sure you can house many more people per square meter but overtime the look of the city would change for the worse.

Near the beach front there were numerous homes of high quality and one would assume value so we were obviously in a “wealthy” part of the cityThe beach was interesting in that swimming appeared to be off the end of around 6 piers, and as we walked out to the end of one of them it was apparent that a pier was necessary to get into water that wasn’t shallow. While the water looked cold a lady we asked said that it was warm being 19 degrees.
In the distance to the North we could see The Turning Tower so headed off in that direction admiring the activities that had been set up by “Urban Beach”, activities that included group exercises, children being able to skateboard on a rink, paint their own t-shirt or play on devices set up in open shipping containers.One thing that caught our eye were the sauce “tits” outside the hot dog stand which allowed for self-service 

We continued on towards the City walking through Slottsparken which is near Malmohus an uninspiring “Castle” which dates from 1434...
...before ending up in Espresso House in Triangeln shopping centre for a reviver.

On the way back to no 7, we stopped off at Mobilia the shopping centre 10 minutes from home to check out a few (more) shops.

Another good day in Malmo situated in and capital of Skåne county, Skåne boasting a population of 1,250,000 being 13% of the Swedish population however the county is only 3% of Sweden’s total area

There is Pride in the City

While Sherry was washing her hair this morning I went for a ride on one of the bikes available to us. The roads were quiet being 9.00am on a Saturday morning as I slowly cycled around, not really knowing where I was going but always watching where I was in relation to a tall chimney which rises from a factory around 10 mins walk from home.

I firstly went through a residential area with what we think are traditional Swedish housing if you are not living in an apartment...

...and then further on I circled the Malmo Stadium which didn’t at all remind me of MSS...Having passed the stadium the chimney was nowhere to be seen so I continued around the stadium complex hoping that if I went full circle all would be OK and sure enough it was not long before my friend the chimney came into view which enabled me to get myself back home.

Later we walked into the City with the intention of heading out to see the Turning Tower however on the way we stood with hundreds of others to watch the Gay Pride parade wend its way through the city - it was a pleasant watch for around an hour but there were few of the participants who had dressed up in the manner we see with the Auckland parade.

After stopping at an Expresso House cafe, a chain here in Scandinavia which are very spacious and have very pleasant decor we continued on our way to the Turning Tower. After a while we saw it in the distance and wondered whether we had bitten off more than we could manage but nevertheless pressed on.

The tower which is said to be the tallest in this part of the world dominates this area of the City and gives the impression that the floors would not be level.

Continuing on past the Tower we came to the coast and there was a very good view of the Oresund Bridge and on the horizon what we assumed to be Denmark.

(The Bridge is there if you look close enough)

And it was also time for a (not very flattering) selfie!

The day had been planned around arriving at the railway station to a have a meal - yes in the railway station - at a restaurant which had been recommended for it’s Swedish meatballs, however by the time we arrived the kitchen was closed so we had a meal at the only other outlet still serving and enjoyed a very nice and very large plate of a Turkish style meal.

By the time we arrived back home at around 8 o’clock we had wracked up 15kms on our feet.

Saw today a parking building that was advertising 75 charging stations for E-vehicles!

The Three Jays

I posed a question yesterday regarding a tree in Auckland which was dedicated to a rock group and it seems that if your name begins with J and you are currently outside of NZ you know the answer.

First thing this morning we received a text from Janet & John (yes, they of Irish descent) who are currently on holiday in Belfast which read:

Hi Dave We were reading your blog. This may be way off but in answer to your question about the tree U2 have a song called One Tree Hill dedicated to a Maori called Greg Carroll, a friend of Bono's. Sounds like you are having a great time. Enjoy and stay safe. J&J

and then later in the day from Jill in Australia a succinct email:

Must be U2 on One Tree Hill - surely....

As the song was released in 1988 and the Swedish gentleman referenced a trip 30 years ago then the puzzle has been quickly solved.

Malmo is the third largest city in Sweden and is the capital of the Skåne region and while there are numerous tourists in town - buses and trains come across the bridge many times a day from Copenhagen - as noted yesterday there aren’t many “tourist type” sights so today was a day for a walk back into town and amble through the shopping areas.

Nevertheless there were some interesting things to note, firstly the three rows of jeans hanging across Karleksgatan

or the replica shoes on the bridge by Davidshallbron, the shoes being of famous Swedes

and like Copenhagen the city is incredibly flat.

I’ve also made a change to the Big Mac index for Malmo in yesterday’s blog which had an error due to big fingers.

Finally congratulations to the Warriors for a gutsy close win in Wellington this morning.

Have you ever tried....

....to spend money and failed?

Well we did today as this part of Sweden appears to be almost a cashless society, we came loaded with SEK (Swedish Krona) and no matter how hard we tried we were only able to pay cash equivalent to 16.9% of our total spend today - I sense that we will be exchanging a lump of SEK for Euros when we move on.

In comparison to Copenhagen, Malmo appears to be a more modern city (at least in the areas we ventured today), if not more modern the buildings are of a different style and far nicer maintained and the city was devoid of the crowds that we encountered in Copenhagen. One thing we have noticed was in Copenhagen people in the street gave you no attention whereas here you tend to get stared at by passers by - it could be because of the kookaburra style hat I was wearing which was enough for one gentleman in a shop to ask if we came from Australia. Over here not many people wear head coverings even in the hot sun.

There are fewer of the tourist attractions than in other cities we have visited nevertheless there are numerous buildings which catch the eye and there is also a waterway that almost surrounds Centrum which is situated very close to the harbour.

Having spent almost a day in and around the centre of the city we feel comfortable that we have the lay of the land. The city is dominated by 3 squares off which run pedestrian shopping strips and what is noticeable is the lack of tourist souvenirs shops in the centre - we saw one only and that was a part of a convenience type store.

There are however numerous shops dedicated to Swedish designed items many of which we would love to be able to bring home.

The Big Mac index for Malmo is $9.50 and prices for coffee and food are less than the equivalent in Denmark.

Who has the answer to the following.?

The gentleman who thought we were Australian told us he had visited Auckland some 30 years ago and his son took him to see a tree that was dedicated to a rock group (he couldn’t tell us the name of the group or any more than that). Any ideas what he talking about?

Moving day...

...so a relatively quite day.

After rising reasonably early, not that one has many other options given the time the birds start greeting us, and breakfasting etc. we packed for our move out of Copenhagen.

On most other trips by now we would have our self-drive car (but that is not picked up until we leave Geneva) so the move was via bus to the Central Station, an hours wait in the blazing hot sun until bus 999 arrived and then we were away.

The trip to Malmo, Sweden is approximately 60 minutes crossing the strait that separates the two countries via the Øresund Bridge, a toll bridge opened on 1 July 2000 that is the longest combined rail and road bridge in Europe.

The bridge runs nearly 8 kilometres from the Swedish coast to the artificial island Pebetholmin in the middle of the strait. The crossing is completed by the 4 kilometre tunnel from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager - Copenhagen is sited on the islands of Amager and also Zealand.

The bus dropped us off at Mobilia, a shopping centre in south Malmo and we walked the short distance from there to our new digs in a nice residential area.

Later in the afternoon we walked back to the shopping centre to get a feel for our new environment and also what we could expect to pay for essentials (I’m obviously talking coffee and food) while here - at first glance it appears that costs are lower relative to Copenhagen but I’m not sure that that will be a consolation given Sherry tells me that they have “some nice shops here”.

Tomorrow we will walk into the centre of town and see the lay of the land there.

Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen....

...the 1999 song by Paul Westerberg gives some expression to our experience in this City.

A few thoughts/memories:

- the cycle culture. There are bikes for Africa in the city, tens of thousands if not hundreds of thousands of them, ridden by folk of all ages and gender (I assume that to be more than 2!). The orderliness of the cyclists stands out as do the Retro bikes (those with long handlebar stems such that the rider is very upright, if not leaning back slightly), and the cargo box bikes with children sitting in them. Helmets aren’t compulsory and no more than 5% wear them

- the people. It is said that the Danes are the happiest people in the world and while we can’t confirm that we certainly did not meet a bad one. They are easy going and very laid back, folk in the main being dressed very casually and appearing not to be conscious of current style but wearing items that are almost a mismatch on occasions. In fact there was a shop called Miss Match. Having said that label garments on display in high end shops are quite stunning (& costly)

- the absence of Mr Plod on the streets as not one was seen and we saw no more than 6 police cars over the 10 days we were here - perhaps a sign of the lack of crime.

- the absence of beggars or homeless people at least in Centrum and the suburb of our accommodation.

- the price of housing. A 2 floor 103m2 condominium in an apartment block has a price tag of $NZD1.12m with Body Corp fees of $4800 and that is for central city living

- the numerous health conscious eating places be it organic, gluten free or vegan - is there a move to vegetarianism in this part of the world or is it due to the price of meat and/or fish.

- the old lady we chatted to on a couple of occasions in our apartment foyer, a delightful soul who took an interest in where we were from and what we were going to do each day we spoke. In her younger years she toured “the world” performing with her husband as a classical pianist and we heard her playing her piano today. She never got to New Zealand, Australia being the closest “at least 30 years ago”.

- the flatness of the City, one of the most walkable we have visited, there must be hills somewhere but we didn’t see any.

- the style and the colour of the buildings along the iconic waterfront area of Nyhaven.

- the numerous references to Hans Christian Andersen and his fairy tales dotted around the city

- the cost of living. It certainly is not a cheap place to visit.

- the beautiful Danish designed and crafted products displayed in Illum Bolighus and in Royal Copenhagen though it was disappointing to learn that apart from one range all Royal Copenhagen products are made in places like Thailand and Sri Lanka.

- the crowds of tourists and locals filling Stroget from end to end most carrying a shopping bag or three. The crowds being swollen we think, by the fact it is summer holiday time here and also those in town to depart on a cruise boat going up into artic waters.

Onto Malmo Sweden tomorrow by bus to continue our Nordic adventure.

Centurions

Needed to check that the greeting I had set up on my mobile before leaving NZ was working correctly so texted Jeff and asked him to ring my mobile and we found that it wasn’t working so I rang Vodafone NZ and spoke to some heavily accented man who I think must have been in Mumbai. To say that the call was useless even overstates how bad it was - I am convinced he didn’t want to help me, maybe because we had beaten India in the semifinal, as after 20 minutes of near inactivity he suggested that I should check if it was now working and if not to call them again - yeah right!

Here is a suggestion for AT - if a bus or train is more than 20 minutes late then why don’t you refund a patron’s taxi fare like they do in Copenhagen? Is it because you would be financially ruined?

Today we went to Fisketorvet, a shopping mall here in Copenhagen. While it was well designed and with numerous shops, there was nothing of interest to Sherry and even less to her shadow so after around an hour we left to walk back to the centre of the city, having arrived by train.

Our walk took us along the waterfront to Christiansborg the building which as well as housing some Government departments also is the Danish Parliament 

A stop at our favourite Starbucks for afternoon tea preceded the walk back to our digs and by the time we had got there we had clocked 115 walking kilometres since we arrived in Copenhagen on Sunday 7 July as measured by the health app on my iPhone - well batted I’d say!

Commiserations....

....to the BlackCaps in today’s final.

A win stolen from them by a deflection! Wouldn’t the fairer result be that the team who lost the fewer wickets in their innings be the winner in the event of a tie or if you are going to separate a tied super over why shouldn’t the first eliminator be the most 6s before the most boundaries - just saying like.

Today we took the train to Helsingør a town around 45 minutes north of Copenhagen, the main attraction being The Kronborg Slot which is the Castle immortalised as Elsinore in Billy Shakespeare’s play Hamlet. It is regarded as one of the most important Renaissance castles in Northern Europe and in 2000 was added to UNESCO’s World Heritage Sites list.

The castle is situated on the extreme northeastern tip of the island of Zealand the narrowest point of the Øresund, the sound between present Denmark and the provinces of present Sweden that were also Danish at the time the castle was built - Sweden is clearly visible across the sound and ferries are active moving people and vehicles I assume back and forth.

Sweden as seen from Helsingør 

The town itself was rather quiet it being a Sunday however the lack of activity allowed us to enjoy the aesthetics of it

 The harbour area between the town and the Castle was particularly nice and I was intrigued by this old light ship
Returning to the City we then decided to try another trip to Reffen, the place I said I wouldn’t go back to some days earlier, using the water bus both ways this time. At this time late in the afternoon, the waterway was busy with all sorts of craft...... and Reffen was a buzz of activity as large numbers were there for I assume their evening meal purchased at one of the many “street food” stalls the reason we had ventured to it. We purchased plates from a Jamaican stall and had our meal sitting in the sun on site.

Mine was the plate without the chicken of course!

We returned to Nyhaven by water bus and strolled home stopping to watch some locals dancing in the square.

It truly is a relaxed place and every local we have interacted with has been a pleasure to talk to and helpful in the extreme.