Adventures With Harvey

Finally in Scandinavia!

Regular readers of this column will know that your faithful author has a very well developed inner 3 year old, which of course means that certain words are funny. Today’s edition begins in said author’s new favourite place - yes in Denmark there is a town called Middlefart and, to make things even funnier, this is where we woke up on the lovely Anita’s birthday! 😊 😊

Although we got to spend less than a week in Scandinavia, it has been the most wonderful experience. This missive is being penned from somewhere in the middle of the Baltic Sea – we departed for our 19-hour ferry trip around 8pm last night from Trelleborg in Sweden and are due to arrive in Klaipeda, Lithuania around 4.30pm this afternoon. And it will be our 3^rd different time zone of this trip, now EET and clocks a further hour forward (meaning we’re back to a 10 hour time difference with NZ for the time being).

Some might say that Middlefart was chosen as an overnight stop simply because of its name. While there might perhaps be a small degree of truth to this supposition, it was actually a convenient half-way point between Hamburg and Copenhagen. In order to reach Denmark’s capital one must go across a rather large bridge – not the largest to be reported in this blog mind you, but certainly an engineering marvel just the same. Our overnight park at Middlefart was on a beautiful marina overlooking the New Little Belt Bridge (although completed in 1970 so not all that new) that we had crossed a short time earlier and although the weather was rainy when we arrived, we Woodies still headed out for a stroll around the town and our first taste of Scandinavia. We were warned that this part of the world is extremely expensive and that is most certainly true… but more on that later.

Prior to this trip probably the only Danish city I could have named was Copenhagen however we were delighted to discover that not far away at the entrance to a fjord is the town of Roskilde, the former capital of Denmark. For such a small place, there were two of the most fantastic attractions to visit so let me tell you about them! First the cathedral – your faithful correspondent will start by saying that we’ve visited a fair few churches on this trip and after a while they somewhat blur into one another, however this one will live long in our memories. Firstly, despite parts of the structure being more than 800 years old, it was built of brick, being one of the first such buildings in Europe to be constructed this way and apparently starting the trend of brick construction in this part of the world. And secondly, because it was previously the capital there are more than 40 former Danish monarchs and their wives interred here. All the lads seem to be named either Christian or Frederick however their memorials are all very different and the displays tell you a little of the life story of each king. Most cathedrals don’t let you go upstairs except perhaps to climb the bell tower however we were able to head up to the first floor then look down from above on several of the tombs and also the rest of the church.

Those with a good memory will remember our earlier visit to the Mary Rose in Portsmouth and that she was raised to the surface after almost 500 years submerged in the mud of the Solent. Well, I can tell you that in Roskilde there are the remains of 5 Viking ships that are almost double this age. Sometime in the 11^th century these 5 vessels were scuttled in the harbour channel to create a barrier again potential invasion. In the 1960’s some very clever marine archaeologists built an underwater corrugated iron fence around the site, drained the seawater, then meticulously unearthed and documented these 5 ships. Analysis of the timber (including portions where the ships were repaired or modified) can tell the exact age and location of manufacture (one of them being made in Ireland) down to each individual tree. They know whether the ships were for military or trading purposes, how many crew they would have carried and many more such details. These clever folk also created a full-sized replica of each ship using only the materials and tools which would have been available to their Viking creators around 1000 years ago. Seeing all this was truly jaw-dropping and it gives your author goose bumps just writing about it!

Tourist season is pretty much over so from this point forward we’ll need to be mindful of things being shut or, as was the case in Copenhagen, the number of motorhome parking options reducing. As it turned out the closest suitable place to park Harvey was around half an hour by bus from the centre of town however, as with all these cities, public transport meant the distance was no impediment for the Traveling Woodies. So off we went into town for an explore and to find somewhere suitable for a celebratory dinner for the birthday girl – we had hoped to make her birthday a non-travelling day (as they can be a little stressful a times) however the fact that we ended up in Copenhagen made up for things and we had a very enjoyable evening out together.

To make the most of our visit we bought ourselves a Copenhagen City Pass which meant entry into attractions was covered for our 2 days of exploring along with public transport anywhere in town. As well as the obligatory visits to a castle or two, the pass enabled us to visit a few places we probably wouldn’t have bothered with otherwise. Denmark has a royal family (Queen Margrethe II is the current monarch and is in her 80’s) and at midday each day there is a changing of the guard at the royal palace. Nothing can match the Brits for this type of thing however there were a pretty decent crowd of onlookers to watch the men in silly hats march to and fro, being barked at by a more important man in another silly hat. Maybe we’re getting old but the soldiers all looked like they were about 12 years old and surprisingly were all short of stature. We decided that the job description for a Queen’s soldier here includes a maximum age and a maximum height 😊.

The attraction in Copenhagen that everyone talks about is The Little Mermaid, however those who have visited often remark on how little (and even overrated) she seems and that the more that 1km walk each way to see her is hardly worth the effort. Fortunately, one of the options on our City Pass was a canal boat tour which went right past the little lady – you only see her from the back of course however it was nice to tick that box without having to wear out our shoe soles in the process. We also stumbled across the Guinness World Records Museum which was a bit of light and fluffy fun, as was the Ripley’s Believe It Or Not attraction which was similarly enjoyable and a nice change from the types of stops normally on an AWH city explore. Among other things we also visited the Hans Christian Anderson exhibit and climbed the Rundtaarn (Round Tower) for a great view over the city. As mentioned earlier, we had been warned about how expensive this part of the world was so Harvey had a fridge and freezer stocked full of supplies before we left Germany. A wander around the markets (which are normally a cost-effective forage) showed us the wisdom of the earlier provisioning – check out the photo below which shows fillet steak costing the equivalent of $NZ130/kg! While on the topic, the other annoying thing at the moment is the devaluing New Zealand dollar. At the start of the trip we were getting around €0.63 per NZ$ however as we speak it’s around €0.57 which is rather annoying. It wouldn’t be such a problem if we were traveling in the UK just now as, due to the shenanigans of Truss, Kwarteng and co, the British pound has also taken a massive nosedive in the last couple of weeks. From a selfish point of view, we hope it remains so for the next wee while until we’re back in the UK.

The second behemoth of a bridge we crossed was the Oresund which connects Copenhagen with Malmo in Sweden. It starts off as a tunnel then becomes a bridge, the total length being around 8km making it the largest such structure in Europe. I don’t mean to go on about money, however between these 2 bridges we’ve paid around NZ$320 in tolls!

Apparently it doesn’t get much more Swedish than Ikea and we were looking for somewhere to park Harvey for our day exploring Malmo so… you guessed it, our first stop in Sweden was at the famous flat-packed furniture shop. Your author will be honest and say he’s not sure what all the fuss is about, however Anita was like a kid in a candy shop as we meandered our way around. By all accounts Ikea is just as well known for its meatballs so a stop at the café to sample said delicacy was a fine conclusion to our visit. Again, public transport is reliable, accessible and cost-effective so Harvey remained at Ikea while his two occupants went off to explore Malmo. It’s a lovely city, just a little smaller that Christchurch by population with a delightful waterfront (and amazing views of the aforementioned bridge) along with a very cool old town centre which is criss-crossed by canals and with many a half-timbered house.

Finally it was a short drive down the road to Trelleborg where we checked in for the ferry, overnight bags were packed, and we embarked for our sailing to the Baltics. As I sit here in the forward lounge typing this missive, and even though the weather is fine and seems reasonably settled, the lovely Mrs Woodfield has just joined me looking a little green around gills and apparently not feeling all that great. The ups and downs are also making your author a little queasy, although hopefully not enough to require any kneeling before the great white throne!

So on that cheery note we’ll bid you farewell for another day – we expect to be in Lithuania for the next few days, followed by a couple of weeks wending our way through Poland. Now those are a couple of countries not on the main tourist routes!

With much love as always…

The Travelling Woodies

birthday evening out in Copenhagen

greetings from Middlefart :-)

marina carpark overlooking the first of 2 massive bridges we crossed

Roskilde Cathedral, 800 years old and made of brick

Danish monarch tombs #1

Danish monarch tombs #2

tomb of Queen Margrethe I who died in 1412

Danish monarch tombs #3

these Viking ships are almost 1000 years old

hard to believe you're standing next to something constructed in the 11th century

and here is a full-sized replica

welcome back to our bronze mimic

there is a huge collection of ivory carvings in the treasury at Rosenborg Castle

and plenty of fancy jewelry as well

yessir, fillet steak for NZ$130/kg (we were warned that Scandinavia was expensive)!

view of the Malmo Bridge from top of the Rundetaarn (round tower)

statue of the world's tallest man outside Guinness World Records museum

beautiful Copenhagen

changing of the guard at Amalienborg Royal Palace

please try not to crack up while mimicking a serious statue :-)

this Danish frigate is famous for the 'oops missile' that accidentally discharged in 1982 destroying 4 holiday cottages and damaging 130 other buildings. Oops indeed!