Day 5: 7/26/24

 Day 5: 7/2624 - Copenhagen, Denmark to Heisingborg, Sweden

Day 1 of our VBT tour

Today we travel from Copenhagen to Heisingborg and start the VBT part of the trip.

After breakfast, we met our guide, Laura, who would travel with us to Sweden and take us on a tour of a castle along the way.

All during the 90-minute bus ride, she gave us a blow-by-blow of the sights that we were passing, and history of the relations between Denmark and Sweden. Apparently the Danes and the Swedes don't like each other. According to Laura (a Dane), the Swedes are the bad guys. We'll see what the Swedes have to say.

Our destination was the Kronborg Castle, a resurrected monument that had fallen into disrepair. It was last used by the Danish military and they trashed it. The government restored it to be historically accurate and it is now a UNESCO site.

Here is Laura standing over a repurposed drydock. (Good guess, Mike!) That's Walter's Temu hat.

Here she is standing over a 3-D map. She was very animated.

When we entered the courtyard, we were greeted by a half dozen 20-somethings, probably theatre majors, dressed in period clothing and acting out roles. We were welcomed by these two.

It was a little like being at the Renaissance Fair.

These two were particularly good, in part, because there were kids in the room.

There was a food court with a dozen or more varieties of food and we ate lunch there. It was a little like a warehouse and while I didn't get a picture of the space, I did get a picture of the bathroom.

 I took a picture of the sinks (tubs over 55-gallon drums) but it came out blurry. There was no one in the room at the time, but I didn't want someone walking in while I was taking pictures!

The ferry took us across the border to Sweden. It carried cars, trucks, and busses. It was massive, but this picture doesn't really capture how massive. What looks like a jaw closes down to the level of the vehicles in case anyone forgets to put on their parking brake.

Here's where we'll be for the next two nights.

Here's the atrium inside the front door.

Since it's July, a lot of Scandinavians are on holiday, otherwise this bike parking garage would be full at both levels.

Next was our safety meeting with our two guides, Joakim and Pernilla. They set up our bikes and made adjustments as needed. We attached all of our gear and headed off for a warm-up ride.

Unfortunately, it drizzled all afternoon.

Stats for the day: https://www.strava.com/activities/11986333133

We had a short city walk (short because it was still raining), and the rest of the day followed the usual VBT routine: welcome meeting and dinner together.

Here we are on the walk:

This is the fortification Pernilla was pointing out on the map.

Here are the guides while we're going around the circle introducing ourselves.

Here's hoping for better weather tomorrow and beyond! We're definitely not in a Mediterranean country!