Automne en Europe 2024

Brandenburg Gate It was a nice fine day for our cycle tour around Berlin.   We were able to walk to the bike shop which was only 20 minutes from where we were staying.   Part of the walk took us through the Fredericspark which looked like a rather large park   We were fitted with bikes and given helmets and all of us chose to wear them.   It felt much safer.   Bike fitting The ride began by going through the aforementioned park.   Michael told us the highest part of the park was a hill that was created by the rubble from the wreckage of the bombing of Berlin.   It was all done by hand! One of many statues in Frederichpark We   were then taken to a part of the famous Berlin Wall- a remaining part of it.   There we saw the famous painting of Brezhnef kissing Honecker.   The walk was actually the inner wall as the river provided a primary barrier to escape.   Very hard to get a photo without someone in front of the wall...

  Berlin Hauptbahnhof - even more impressive from the other side Our accommodation was on the same line as the airport, so all we had to do was walk a couple of hundred metres to get to the train.   No need for a timetable - just turn up and go.   Copenhagen airport is much larger than I expected and they were in the midst of rebuilding it.   Going through security was a breeze.   I love the Schengen agreement with no need to present a passport.     It was all so quick we had time for a coffee.   After wandering down to the gate we got a portent of what was to happen.   The plane we were going on arrived late meaning we were delayed.   Then once we were on board we got the announcement all air travellers dread; “This is the Captain speaking to you from the cockpit.   We have a little technical issue which requires an engineer”.   Then there was the sound of flaps malfunctioning.   A little later ther...

  Looking toward the harbour Last night   Bev suddenly found a large filling had disengaged from one of the molars,   leaving a large gap.   After a phone call to the insurer Bev looked for a potential dentist to find one who could see her at short notice to the fix the now yawning cavity.      A phone call early in the morning secured an appointment and it looked like it was not too far from a station on the metro line that we used.   We gave ourselves plenty of time and got to the right street but we had failed to put the correct street number into Apple Maps.   Once done with what looked like a couple of minutes walk turned out to be another 15 minutes.   That meant some very fast walking.      We turned around and raced back to where we had come from to find that we had already walked past it.   Not surprising as there was no signage showing that a dentist was in the building.   ...

  A canal built to allow the Danish Navy into the city so they would be safe Bev had booked us on a cycle tour around Copenhagen. It seemed a most appropriate way to get around as that was what the rest of the population were doing.   I had never seen so many bikes in one place.   It seemed that most people were using either public transport or bikes to get around.   No wonder they were doing it.   The infrastructure for both was superb.     Waiting to go cycling - Kongens Nytorv We met our guide at a place called Kongens Nytorv outside a rather nice department store called Magasin du Nord.   We were there a bit early along with a crowd of people watching a half marathon being run around the streets of Copenhagen.   The spectators were very supportive of the runners.     We found our guide Rune and we were joined by another four couples all of whom came from the US.   We think they were mostly of a lib...

  The Bridge.  Link between Copenhagen and Malmo, Sweden We had a relatively early start as our train left Hamburg Hauptbahnhof at 9am.   We set off early walking to the metro station that was a few hundred metres away.  Our plan was that when we got to the Hauptbahnhof we would look for a litte café  l to sit and have a coffee and bite to eat.   We could not find anything like that but just as we were about to give up, we came across a place selling a bircher muesli which was just what we felt like. Museum opposite the Hauptbahnhof  Hamburge We located our platform and positioned ourselves close to the carriage that we thought we would be travelling in.  We wanted to get in early to place our baggage in one of the few places for larger bags.   It then turned out that the train that arrived was not the one we would be travelling and fortunately we heard enough to know that we had to change platforms which meant climbin...