Molle to Gothenburg - Day 10

We spent a little extra to have one of the rooms in the main hotel with a view of the water in Molle. I am so glad we did! We have stayed somewhat cheap everywhere else. This hotel also did not have air, so we slept with the window open. It was relaxing to hear the ocean and the rain all night. We slept in a little, since we weren’t in a hurry to get anywhere. We had a buffet breakfast downstairs and then drove around Molle. It was a little chilly/windy to walk too far. We drove by the harbour and then back through the town to the main road.

View from our room this morning

Entrance to the hotel

View of hotel from the harbour

Harbour

Since it was a less stressful driving day, I finally drove! The new car has a lot more power than the civic. We drove into Gothenburg, back to the same hotel we stayed in before we picked up the car last Sunday night. What was supposed to be a stress-free drive turned into a very stressful drive because we got so lost! We could see the hotel, but couldn’t figure out how to get over here because of the crazy way the roads run and the street trams. I think it took us about an hour to finally get to the hotel once we made it into Gothenburg. We missed the turn the first time and were sent across a bridge. We took a tunnel back and then missed our turn a few times. We finally thought we had it, but somehow ended up in a spiral parking deck for the mall. Ah! Once we realized it, we had no choice but to go through the parking deck. It was one of those decks with the tight spiral ramp where you can exit at each floor. To get out, I decided to take the first exit ramp. Wrong decision! It was gated and we had no way to open the gate. Our only choice was to try to turn around and then turn right back up the ramp, but it was a super tight turn with people flying up the ramp and me driving our much larger than a civic new car. Ben jumped out and somehow stopped the cars coming up the ramp while I inched around the turn. I had to back up and then go forward about 4 times. We finally made it out of the deck and then to the hotel right after that. Stressful! I told Ben it was a good thing I was driving because he really would have had a breakdown.

Driving to Gothenburg from Molle. Lots of windmills!

We finally made it to the hotel, checked in, and then went out for lunch and sightsee for a couple of hours. We walked over to the mall area and ate lunch at McDonald’s. We went in a few shops and then walked back to the hotel. Our room here this time is much nicer than the one we had last Sunday night. I think this side has been remodeled. We have been relaxing and preparing to fly back home tomorrow. Ben repacked all of our suitcases and I have been blogging most of the evening. We ate dinner downstairs in the lobby. All of the Volvo OSD people stay here, so we kept trying to guess who was American/picking up a Volvo. We have seen relatively few Americans since we have been in Scandinavia, but they are always easy to spot! Ha! Tomorrow morning we drop the car back off at the Volvo delivery center. Next, a taxi will take us to the airport in Gothenburg. From here, we fly to Copenhagen, then to Chicago, and then finally to Atlanta!

Inside the mall

Gothenburg

Copenhagen to Molle - Day 9

After taking 2 Benadryl, I slept really well! My legs were still swollen and broken out, but we went out anyway, after a third trip to the Apoteket. Thankfully, we had a different worker each time, otherwise they would have thought we were really crazy. I did some internet research about my hives and discovered I needed to take some Zantac. Once I got some Zantac, the swelling went down and the hives got much better!

We went back to the tourist information shop to get directions for taking transit out to the area where most of the new architecture projects are located. We knew we needed to minimize walking, but their transit system/maps are impossible! We took two different trains and then got out and walked around so Ben could take some pictures. Most of the really cool things we saw are housing projects. They design and build much better housing here! Some of the projects we saw…

This is a gym with interesting color/letter panels.

After touring this area, we rode the train back to the Stroget to do some shopping. We stopped in some department stores and boutiques to look around, but didn’t buy much other than a surprise for Mattie! I also found a stuffed dachshund in a children’s shop that the shopkeeper said a local lady handmade. We stopped in a bakery called Cakes la Glace to get a treat. It was very good but also very busy! Some people sitting next to us asked us if we were from Canada. Ha! I forgot to mention that it rained most of the day and our table neighbors said it has rained a lot this year in Copenhagen.

Illum department store

My handmade dachshund

Cakes la Glace...a little out of focus! I accidentally uploaded the wrong photo and am too lazy to fix it!

After our snack break, we walked back by a beer store so Ben could get some beer to bring home. We walked back to our car, which wasn’t too far away and took off for Molle, which is a coastal Swedish town about a 2-hour drive from Copenhagen. It was a much easier drive than our previous excursions!

Bridge from Denmark to Sweden

We spent the night at the Grand Hotel in Molle, which is situated at the top of the hillside on the harbour. Our room and view were beautiful! We had dinner in the hotel a la carte restaurant Seaside. Our server was really nice, but spoke to us in Swedish. I told her English, please, and she laughed and said “but you look so Swedish!” Ha! Anyway, our dinner was very good. Molle seemed to be a summer resort town for wealthy people from Sweden and Denmark. There were lots of really nice cars and wealthy looking people. After our 2.5 hour dinner, it was time for bed again!

Our hotel is the white building

Hotel room

View of harbour from our room

Copenhagen - Day 8

We got off the ferry about 9:30 in Copenhagen and drove straight to our hotel without any trouble, which is surprising considering the crazy traffic from cars and bikes. We dropped off our luggage and went to park the car. This parking deck was a much better size than the parking deck in Oslo.

Our hotel room.

We parked the car and first went to the Apoteket to get me some band-aids because I still have the blisters. Actually, only one of the blisters is giving me issues. It is on top of my pinkie toe and is the size of a bean. On top of my toe, meaning I can’t wear any shoes other than flip-flops.

So we got the band-aids and went to tourist information place across the street. We got our maps and Copenhagen cards and went straight to the royal palace for the changing of the guard.

After the changing of the guard we walked over to Nyhavn, an old street with buildings facing the canal. This is where we got on the boat tour.

Once the boat tour started, we realized the tour guide wasn’t speaking English. Hmm. We thought maybe we hopped on the wrong boat, but no, she eventually did speak some English, just not very well! So we had some trouble determining each landmark, but we just took pictures anyway and decided we could figure it out later. We were able to see the opera house, which was not as impressive as the opera house in Oslo! We also saw the little mermaid statue, as Hans Christian Andersen is from Copenhagen.

Nyhavn

Opera House

The Little Mermaid

Following the boat tour we walked to the Stroget, which is the main shopping/pedestrian street for lunch. We ate at a place called Tight, which was ranked #1 of TripAdvisor. Once we got there, it seemed that they had a little campaign to be ranked high on TripAdvisor, as it said it on the sign outside the restaurant. It was a very small restaurant on a little side street, but it was pretty good. I had a hamburger. Again. I think I have had several hamburgers along the way.

After lunch, we walked over to the Dansk Architecture Museum, which was across the water on a different island. Our main interest in Copenhagen was architecture, as they are building lots of new, progressive buildings that Ben wanted to see. We were going to take some form of transit over to the museum, but weren’t able to figure it out, so decided to walk instead. We finally made it there, going against the getting off of work traffic that included hundreds of bikes. Lots and lots of bikes here that will run you over. There is a bike lane, but that doesn’t mean there won’t be bikes on the sidewalk. The museum was small but interesting. They also didn’t have air conditioning. There were models of many of the buildings Ben wanted to see. He was also able to buy a book that catalogued all of the new architecture in Copenhagen that included a map of the buildings.

Lots of bike riders!

Inside Architecture Museum bookstore

By this time, we were hot and tired. Also, I had another lovely problem. HIVES….really bad. They never went away completely from a few days before but now they were really bad. Despite my blister, I had decided to walk around in my Merrell’s because it was slightly chilly, but I also thought they would be more comfortable than flip flops for all of the walking. Bad decision. My legs got hot, because I was wearing jeans and then socks, plus doing so much walking, that hives covered my legs. Not only did I have hives, but the hives were making my legs swell really bad, too. I felt the hives coming back in the morning as we were walking around, and pushed my socks down around my ankles at lunch, but we kept going, which was a mistake. By the time we had walked all the way over to the museum, I was miserable and was having trouble standing on my legs. We knew there was a bus station nearby, but couldn’t figure out which bus to get on to get back to the hotel. Nobody at the bus stop could help us either. We had a transit map, but it did not make sense at all. We finally just got on a bus and hoped it went the right way. It went toward the hotel, so we got off about 5-6 blocks away. We made a second visit to the Apotek for some Benadryl and went back to the hotel. Once we made it there, I felt really sick. Ben wrapped my legs in cold towels and I ended up taking a nap for a couple of hours.

After my nap, my legs felt a little better, so we decided to go over to Tivoli gardens, which was only 2 blocks away. Tivoli is a small amusement park, similar to Six Flags in the middle of the city. It also has a concert hall and an outdoor stage for concerts. We decided to ride one ride, because you have to pay extra for the rides. We rode something similar to It’s a Small World in Disney that went through H.C. Andersen fairytales. We ended up getting to ride it for free because when we walked up to ride it we didn’t realize we had to pay. The guy working the entrance said we could pay with a credit card right before we got on the ride. Once we got down there, we realized they only took European credit cards with a chip, so the girl there told us we could just pay next time. We wandered around here for a little while, watching all of the people. It was a Friday night and there were mostly local people here with kids or watching the concert. We got an ice cream cone for dinner inside the park and then left.

Not for from our hotel was the Mikkeller bar, so we went there next so Ben could get a beer that he can’t get at home. We went back to the hotel after we left Mikkeller. This hotel didn’t have air conditioner either, but we were able to open the windows. We were facing the main street, but we actually slept better with the street noise since that is what we are used to from living on Peachtree for years!

Flam to Oslo - Day 7

Today we drove from Flam back to Oslo by a faster route. We drove through the longest tunnel in the world at 25 kilometers. The tunnel has these interesting breaks with blue and green lights to simulate sunlight. We have gone through more tunnels on this trip! Through mountains and under water. On the way back in, we passed by the island where the teenagers were killed while at camp a few weeks ago. Once we got back into Oslo, we parked, which included successfully using the on street parking meter machine in a different language, and walked back to the main area around city hall. We had a little time before we needed to get on the ferry, so we went here to get a quick (or not so quick, as it turns out) lunch at McDonalds, go to the bathroom, take a few last pictures, and get Mattie a postcard. They don't quite get the concept of fast-food here. I guess they just figure it's faster than a sit down restaurant? We made it back to the car and made our way to the ferry. We are on the ferry right now headed to Copenhagen for the next 2 days.

Going into longest tunnel in the world.

Tunnel sign

Blue light inside tunnel.

Another tunnel! Goes straight through the mountain.

Another blind curve.

Another town.

Reflection is so pretty!

Sheep in the road. We passed 2 small herds of sheep along the way that included black sheep, and they really were off in the corner alone. I guess the saying is true! I wasn't fast enough to take a picture of them.

Pretty View

Overnight ferry to Copenhagen

Oslo to Flam - Day 6

On Day 6, we drove from Oslo to Flam, which is in the Hardanger fjord. We took the scenic route so we could see as much as possible of the fjords. The landscape is incredible! The photos don't quite capture the scale of these mountains. I think we may have seen at least 75-100 waterfalls along the way. We stopped in Flam for the night, spending the night in the Flamsbrygga hotel, which is the only hotel in Flam. We also ate dinner in their brewery/pub restaurant, where they brew their own beer. It was a long day of driving! Ben has done all of the driving so far and I have been navigating. Driving through the mountains has required us to use the GearTronic feature, allowing us to change to manual to better drive in the mountains, and I don't know how to drive in manual. We basically drove from 8-8, but it was a lovely drive.

Bathroom/Coke stop. We were shown to the "toalette" upstairs where it appeared they do some sort of gambling related to horses. A bit sketchy, but I think I have been to worse.

Second bathroom stop. There are several picnic/wc rest stops along the historic route we were driving.

Little town

High, curvy, one-lane road

Pretty waterfall. We are standing on top of this waterfall in the photo of us below.

First waterfall of many we saw along the way

Huge waterfall that goes under the bridge

One of the larger towns we passed through on the way to Flam.

We passed many small towns tucked away in the mountains.

Little town along the way

Cherry/plum fields. This region supplies 40% of all fruit produced in Norway.

Cafe in Kinsarvik

Our ferry in the distance

On the ferry to other side of fjord

Church in Kinsarvik

On top of a waterfall

Driving around a curve. Roads are basically one and a half lanes, with blind turns like this one. These people drive FAST and don't even slow down around the curves. It can get a bit hairy when the vehicle zooming around the other side is an 18-wheeler!

Crazy waterfalls

View from our hotel room in Flam