So we are parked at a marina again, this time in a small town called HÖGANÄS located on the west coast south of Gothenburg. Yesterday morning I woke up in a parking lot by a gas station. A horrrible rainstorm, thunder and lightning startd around 3 am. I was terrified, so Mom and I stayed in bed until 1 pm when the sun came out again.

   

Now we continued to a city named LUND, mom wanted to check out a church that had scared her so as a puppy. (Her parents took her to a lot of churches as a puppy ) and something very traumatic happened here, not in the church tough..................Mom lost Lucy !!!.........I was lucky to be in my wagon, but I heard Moms hartbeat and huffing as she anxiously walked the streeets looking for Lucy, thinking about the parking ticket she'll surley have since now we're way over the time limit. More than an hour later, there she was .............and no ticket...........puuhh

 

So the Lund cathedral is a huge "clump" overtowering everything in a town with no other tall buildings...........

 

As most of the Swedish churches, this one is also built a long time ago.....1085 is one date, but it's not exact...........

In 1234 the church suffered an extensive fire. When the church was rebuilt a lecture wall, new vaults and a new facade to the west were added. Many valuable artistic additions were done to the church in mediaeval times. In the 1370s, magnificent gothic choir stalls where installed in the church, and in 1398 a gothic, cupboard-shaped wooden altarpiece was placed in the main chapel. An astronomical clock was installed in the navee around 1424 and renovated many times.

The clock is quite interesting, it was was constructed c. 1380. After having been in storage since 1837, it was restored and put back in place in 1923.

On top of the clock there are two knights that mark the hours. The upper board of the clock is the astronomical clock. It shows, among other things, the different phases of the Moon and where the Sun sets.

The lower board of the clock is a calendar. With the help of it one can, among other things, calculate when different mobile religious holidays will fall, and on which weekday a certain date will fall. In the middle of the calendar stands Saint Lawrence, the Patron saint of the Cathedral, and by his side the Symbols of the four evangelists. The present board of the clock goes from 1923 to 2123, after which a new one will be needed so that the clock can still be used.

 

 

The cathedral's towers stand 55 meters high and are, with their pyramidical roofs, a landmark on the skyline of Lund and clearly visible from the surrounding wide plain. The towers are not open to the general public. The oldest church bell was made in 1513.

 

This is how I'm incongnito when I need to get into places I'm not allowed, I keep quiet and can still see what's going on to the sides  

 

under th church was the crypt, The crypt has remained largely untouched , and this was a scary place Mom thought as a pup.

The crypt's main altar is the oldest altar in the church and was consecrated on 30 June 1123 by archbishop Asser, it contain many sarcophagi, chests and grave slabs..............which could be spooky when you're little............

 

According to the Swedish tradition, when the man (a monk) returned and said the name, Jätten Finn became angry and wrapped his arms around a pillar in order to pull it out and destroy the cathedral. But at that moment he was turned into stone, and that is why there is a stone man hugging a pillar in this day. Another theory is that the carving represents the biblical figure Samson, who sacrificed himself by toppling the pillars of a Philistine temple.

 

not sure what gruesome story it is behind this statue 

  

The choir area is occupied by some finely carved and decorated wooden seats known as choir stalls, where the clergy sit, stand or kneel during services. The armrests to these chairs are carved wooden figures bending over crawling.................. and the purpose ???

 

Enough of these dark gloomy church buildings, out on the streets it's warm and sunny..........well, maybe not for all.............this has become a very common sight in Sweden. It's mostly poor Romanians begging for money. Most of them don't play an instrument, they just sit. Many Swedes claims it's organized criminals forcing them to, but so far there's no proof of that..........

 

At the The town square there was chantarellen,(yummi  says Mom ) vegetables and flowers to buy

   

When Mom finally found Lucy, we left town driving North, and ended up sitting in traffic for hours, (accident ) some drivers shouted out for Mom to put on coffee, since we weren't going anywhere.........

we could have...............but she didn't......

 

 

the country side is all farmland, and it's pretty .........

   

This marina is so close to the city we can walk,and there's a pub, andrestaurants here, so we might stay  for another night.............

Mom has a book she wants to finish, and I .................well, there's always time for a nap......

 

 

 

At 5 am thismorning Mom got me out of bed for a bath. The reason is she wanted it done before anyone else was up, since she had found a great bathtub for babies (no dogs allowed) besides having to get up so early it feels good to be clean.

 

Weatheer is gray and gloomy, so we'll pack up and head to Sweden..................at least that's the plan, but you you know everything could change in a minute....

OK, I do know that this trip is costing money, but bank robbery ?????  MOM I had nothing to do with it, my paws are clean....................you're on your own on this one.................

yesterday morning Mom went for her early walk watching the sunrise.................I don't care how pretty it is, I'll rather sleep.

     

this would be a great house to own, right on the water

 

seagulls shedding ..............or maybe they had a fight ?

 

 

this farmer is kicking up a lot of dust...............not good for breathing, but cool to look at

 

   

Mom almost thought of going for a swim ....................but noooooooo too cold

 

 

OK, Mom I really wish you'll put the camera down and drive..........especially in a round about when you don't know where you're going...............but, but that's a really cool car....

 

OK that spelling is not fooling me,I can read and just because it's an å, it's still reads boring.................. I'm NOT going to a place that's boring.................why would we ?  

 

time to pack up and move on.......

 

 Yupp, sure enough we did get to Legoland, but I was a little worried since most of the night it was raining. We stayed at a field by a farm house, and as ususal Mom was up by the early dawn, and there was a big black cloud up above. 

Still as soon as Mom had her coffee, and me my morning run, we went to a completely empty parking lot at Legoland, parked and waited..........and that was a smart thing to do, because by 9.30, the clouds broke up, the lot exploded with cars and it looked like it was going to be an OK day. Yes I was able to come along in my carriage, and again Mom had to put up with a lot of comments and giggles about that...............but who cares .......

 

 The first Legoland was opened more than 40 years ago in 1968 in BILLUND, Denmark and it is also the park using the highest number of Lego bricks - over 58 million pieces.......(who counted ?)

The largest Lego-themed park in the world is in Orlando Florida which opened in late 2011, but Mom has been there (no dogs in that park ) and she wasn't impressed.

This park on the other hand is amazing, sure it's mostly geared to kids, but .................yeah, who cares, Mom is a kid at hart. 

This is a scene from Copenhagen we just visited.

   

and here's Amsteram

 

 

The details and all the interactive moving parts sure made it interesting even for adults.

This is Sweden and the Channel with all it's locks, that we visited last time we where here with Adrienne..

   

and yes the boat was moving along...........

here's a very well known hotel by one of the channels

 

Swedish midsummer, and a guy fixing his Volvo

 

   

I found a little friend who didn't think it's weird me sitting in a carriage, I liked her

 

 

This of course is the capitol, and we all know that lady in NY harbor......and the guys on the mountain.........the pigeon is not part of the display,  but we know how they like statues...........

   

 

 

here's fishermen on a bridge in Holland, and a guy out on a whale watching cruise 

 

           

 

They had all different scenes, a little indian town, where you can cook your own hot dog wrapped in dough, on an open fire. Notice the only one wearing a feather playing the game is the old guy ..........

     

 

They even paid tribute to me visiting.................yeah right 

 

This dog should see a doctor, he never stopped peeing ???

 

    

 

Now we're in Norway ..........

     

Every winter all the little pieces and people are taken in to be washed...............

The small details really impressed, you had to look closley to notice all the work they put in to it. 

 

   

look at that guy carrying all the packages for the lady shopping..........

 

 

 

 

A kodak moment

 

  

In the pirate cove there was a lot of shark swimming around, but I don't think they were hungry, because the little duck baby didn't looke scared at all.

 

 

Mom got a real kick out of these signs for the bathrooms

 

 

they had legocars, kids could drive and get traffic lessons, they even had their own police woman with a radar gun.

 

and of course they had a zoo

     

HEY,HEY..........where is this guy taking me ? .........MOOOOOMM.............I didn't do it ..........I swear...

 

 

 

Here's Cape Canaveral, which is close to where I live in Florida............sure, they had this in Orlando also, but this one was narrated in English ! and they made a pretend launch, with count down,smoke, fire and boom......and.............it was awesome

 

Here's the snoring guy who's twin is snoring in Florida............must be a tired family 

 

 

we spent almost all day here exploring, and when we finaly left, both exhausted, Mom said we should drive towards Copenhagen and get back to Sweden.

 

 

When we stopped so I could smell the flowers ;-)

 

 

 she had changed her plans, (what else is new) after we went over the first bridge, to the middle island called FYN, she noticed a campsite right on the beach...........a place called VEJLBY FED and off we went.

The place is great, clean and inexpensive and a few steps to the water..........we'll stay here for at least 2 nights, and maybe, just maybe Mom will go for a swim ..................I would if she let me..........

 

This is how the country of Denmark looks like, we have been a bit in to the blue part, which is the only part of Denmark that's attached to main land. (Germany) Right now we are in the green part at the X, and Copenhagen is located on the right side of the purple part.

 

 

can you see the X where we are now ?

 

 

 

all is great..........

see you tomorrow. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

So we left ODENSE in the afternoon after walking around for hours. The entire town is like a mace. Mom couldn't find her way around even with a map, so we ( SHE ) did a lot of walking. I sat in my ride checking everything out, and it was a good thing since it was sooo crowded, I would risked getting stepped on.

 

Odense is Denmarks third largest city, and here's a very interesting statue ..........????

 

 

 

some very interesting people too, and bikes ,bikes ,bikes

 

we had to cross another bridge to get here, since this town is located on an island named FYN.The bridge is 18 km. long

 

Odense is the birthplace of H.C.Andersen, and they have special tours to walk in his footsteps.........Mom thought that was too crowded and hot so forget about it............and here the man  himself is melting on the sidewalk.

 

 

Lots of interesting buildings here, but for some reason Mom wasn't all that  inspired to do anyting. She said she had enough of big cities,and since almost every Dane smokes, she's having a hard time with her allergies again.

       

we sat down for lunch at an outdoor cafe, and had "smörrebröd" which is an open sandwich. In this case it was 3 of them. I did get a lot of the roastbeef, which Mom considered too well done........I thought it was great.......... 

Food in Denmark is AMAZING, you can't get a bad meal here, and let's not talk about their pasteries............wooohoooo yummmm

 

Here's proof that most Danes smoke.................or ??

 

   

 

In the afternon we continued to a town called HORSENS, which is a town on the "main"part of Denmark, this part is attatched to Germany. On the highway Mom was wondering about these painted white markings ?? After asking around she found out it's markings to avoid rubbernecking. You're suppposed to be able to see a certain amount of marks depending of your speed..........not a bad idea 

 

 

 

It's still very sunny and warm, in the eighties, just right if I may say so.....................have no clue as to where we'll be going today, but I thought I heard something about Legoland ..........but that's for kids ?? 

so what ? om says................well as long as I don't get to stay and watch Lucy again ............Danes are OK with dogs almost everywhere she tells me, so we'll see....................

until than.................see ya

 

 

 

 

Tonight we are in ODENSE, the birthplace of HC Andersen, and Mom is doing laundry. We didn't leave Copenhagen until afternoon, because Mom had thought of going back to Sweden since we had a horrid rainstorm last night, and any further trip would have been no fun. The thunder and lightning was so awful I was shaking hard...........I know I know, Mom keep saying it's no danger, but it's hard for me to believe that. Anyway around noon it started to clear up and it got sunny again, so off we went.

 

But first let me  continue in Copenhagen, we biked ( ok, I rode) another full day, and we went to Rosenborg castle in the middle of the city.

   

The Rosenborg  is another  renaisseance castle, and it  was originally built as a country summerhouse in 1606 and is an example of Christian's IV many architectural projects. It was built in the Dutch  style, typical of Danish buildings during this period, and has been expanded several times, finally evolving into its present condition by the year 1624

 

 

 The Rosenborg Castle Garden is the country's oldest royal garden and was embellished in the Renaissance style by Christian IV shortly before the construction of the main castle. Today, the gardens are a popular retreat for the people of Copenhagen, and attract an estimated 2.5 million visitors every year.............the scent of all the roses gave Moms allergies a lot of troubles

     

 

Lots of people laying around reading and napping.......and some of them looks like Americans ?

 

 

 

Next to the castle are barracks where the Royal life guards is garrisoned. ..........here's new guys getting trained to guard the castle and the queen..............It's hot, and they had to wear those bearskin hats...............it's silly I think.. How could they run after crooks in them ??

   

 

This guy already knows his stuff.............

 

  

so here he is protecting a stonefaced Queen...............

 

 

 

We continued biking to Moms favorite place when she was a puppy, but it doesn't even look close to what it was 40 years ago..................NOW it's super crowded with tourists, and wall to wall restaurants. 

Back than it was tattoo parlors, bars and sailors............

     

Not sure what this is supposed to mean, but maybe it has something to do with couples getting married, the locks has names on them .

Guess they  just throw the key in the canal, so there's no way of getting dethatched ?

 

 

we wanted to sit down and get a bite to eat, so Mom managed to get a spot for her bike, but first she had to move me to the back basket, since there was no way of getting me out from the front...

 

   

I found a great seat with this guy, who is biking tourists around for money............puh what a job !!!!!

 

  

 

Artists sho

    

 

This guy was MOm's favorite, a guy looking so happy just as long as someone was listening........we didn't see a hat or anything where he was begging for money ???

 

The art museum 

 

 

another guy pointing to us in the street ................now what's Mom doing wrong ??

 

 

oh well, we're finally heading back to Lucy, after a long day in the city.........and like I said, EVERYBODY is biking............and fast.........Mom is still not keeping up,and when she stops to take pictures of something we're in trouble, because we're in their way...............

just GO !!!!! we don't need pictures I say ...........ok, ok now i don't even remember what I'm taking pictures off ........

 

     

 

Forget about it, just keep pedaling .................

 

   

All over the place it's construction, I think all of Denmark is getting a facelift, even in the country side there is diggings and pavings and cranes ...........and

 

   

This must be some kind of greenhouse ?  or one of those experiental self contained housing ...........who knows, big city is making me tired..........

 

 

 

 laundry is done, and it's time for my evening walk ............see you tomorrow

 

 

 

We have been in Copenhagen for 2 days now, and boy do I have a lot show and tell, but let me finish the story from our previous stay. 

There was beautiful bike paths everywhere and Mom happy as a lark pedaled me around everywhere.

Here we saw some really cute longhaired cows. They even had their own schratching post, and a pond to swim.

     

We passed several small fishing villages and marinas, all looking pretty much the same.

 

In the evening Mom painted the rocks she got from our last stop, 

 

on the evening walk we saw these pretty flowers and thistles

   

SO now to Copenhagen, we're staying at a place called Citycamp, it's dusty and primitive, but the location makes it all worth it. As soon as we got things in order we pedaled in to the city and let me tell you guys, everybody is biking, and by that I mean EVERYBODY. Mom is too slow, and can't keep up so we get passed all the time. 

 

A new month, and finally a nice warm day ...............woohooo..............we have been riding the bike all day on the coastline of Denmark......

But first I have to continue where I left off.

As usual Mom gets up way too early, I don't see the point ? we usually aren't going anywhere before noon anyway......first she makes coffee and than she HAS to clean ............you're right Lotta she's Obsessed ...

 

I try to stay in bed, but of course here comes the hurricane and everything has to be shaken and dusted and ......and and 

 

Oh well, I can't complain it's pretty nice up here in the alcove, and I can go back and nap on the front seat after my breakfast, treat and morning pee..........

 

Behind this door is my treats....................and don't you forget it ............

Before crossing the bridge we drove around on small country roads to see if there was anything we missed.  Mom had to pull over to answer the phone and there was these cute little girls giving treats to some big curly dogs.....................sheep Mom says.............oh yeah I remember..............I learned they play dead when in danger and wait for a chance to escape........... 

   

We're in farm country so it's a nice slow drive, and it smells funky ? ever since we got here Mom has been scrubbing the toilet over and over, almost accusing me on peeing inside ??................it's the OCEAN Mom !!! 

 

   

There's an awful lot of foam in the water ??? is it the Danes Laundry day  maybe ?

 

It smells funky from a lot of farm equipment too......................and when the farmes spread the shit.......uuuhhh ohhhh...stinky says Mom.............I say interesting.

 

 

We're now at the most southern point of Sweden,SMYGEHUK and there's a "clump" here too, just like in the Keys, but I can guarantee it's more than 90 miles to Cuba from here...

Limestone has been quarried in the area,and the "clump" is a kiln for burning the limestones, which was used for mortar and render, to white-wash houses.

 

The Merchant's Store was built at the beginning of the 19th century and was one of four trading posts here. Rumour has it that the store was used as a smugglers den during the Napoleonic war. It's a reminder of the hey-days of the maritime era, but now it's a tourist office, art and handicraft exhibitions, a cafe for "fika", and a whole host of summer events.

   

Mom met a lady that quilts, they chatted for some time..........and me as patient as usal just laid down and waited........what they talked about ?  .............I heard it all already

.     

In this province they combined the Swedish and the Danish flag and made it their own. Yellow from the Swedish, and red from the Danish. The Danish,which by the way is the The oldest, continuously used national flag. The current design of a white Scandinavian cross on a red back ground was adopted in 1625 and its square shape in 1748. In Denmark it is known as the 'Dannebrog' or 'Danish cloth'. Although Denmark was never part of the Roman Empire, similar designs were used by the Empire to represent provinces, as the white cross is symbolic of Christianity. The Scandinavian cross has its horizontal stripe slightly to the left hand side of the square as you face it...........

A guy came and showed off in his Ferrrari ...........not a very common car in Sweden, so it caused a lot of stares

 

this lady is making suet baskets  for the birds in the winter. I think it's branches from a willow tree she's using ...........Mom thought of getting one, but thinking the suet would melt in Florida..

 

 

 

A mini meatball factory,and I tried to talk the little girl in to getting me some balls, but she could have cared less about me ? strange kid ? very strange ?  maybe she wanted all the meatballs for herself ? 

 

 

There's a lot of windmills in the ocean

   

OK, so now we're finally ready to make the trip over the bridge and in to the tunnel to Denmark, cost about $ 55.00 each way. We're lucky Lucy is as short as she is, or the price would have been twice as much.

 

 

The Öresund bridge, is a double-track railway and road bridge across the strait between Sweden and Denmark. The bridge runs nearly 8 kilometres (5 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island , which lies in the middle of the strait. The crossing of the strait is completed by a 4 km (2.5-mile) underwater tunnel on the Danish side. 

The Øresund Bridge is the longest combined road and rail bridge in Europe. A data cable also uses the bridge to carry all Internet data transmission for Finland

 The justification for the additional expenditure and complexity related to digging a tunnel for part of the way, rather than raising that section of the bridge, was to avoid interfering with air traffic from the nearby Copenhagen airport,and to provide a clear channel for ships in good weather or bad, and to prevent ice floes from blocking the strait. 

 

     

We went North and to a town called HILLEROD, because Mom had decided she wanted to see Frederiksborg castle again................she was here more than 40 years ago ..................it was built in the first decades of the 17th century by King Christian IV, and is the largest and best kept renaissance architecture and craftmanship..............it's so ornate and gaudy so I think it'll make even Donald Trumps hair stand up..

 

We parked in the beautiful garden so I got to run before I got back on Lucy watch.  I don't care much about all this old stuff anyway..............but the garden was awesome.

       

there was this pond with pink lillys, I don't understand why I wasn't allowed to go for a swim ? becaue I just had a shower Mom said ..........but I rather swim 

 

looks like this lady just passed some wind ??   ;-)

 

These trees looks like spooky trolls !!!

 

This is a gate house ?

 

So at the front entrance is this giant fountain, and...............

well, for the people that's interested in knowing more about this place...........here's a link 

http://www.dnm.dk/UK/Forside.htm

         

Inside all rooms, every ceiling was either painted or had all little carvings on them...............people must have spent a lot of time laying on their backs looking up back than ?

           

I think my buddy Max would love to have this painting over his bed......but he'll need a bigger bedroom first...............and permission from his boss  ;-)

 

This was a cabinet that truly impressed Mom, it looks like a pitbull.............(.it was difficult to get good pictures in hre, since no flash was allowed) to use the wood grain so perfectly ......wow

 

   

The present Queen Margrethe II, wasn't selling out her wardrobe, she was just showing them off....

 

   

The Queen is known for her "down to earth" attitude.......... In January 2012, she celebrated her Ruby Jubilee marking 40 years on the Danish throne. she just turned 75 I think
 In her spare time, she enjoys painting and over the years she has held many art shows. Her illustrations were used for the Danish edition of The Lord of the Rings, under the pseudonym Ingahild Grathmer, after she sent them to J.R.R Tolkien who was instantly impressed by the royal's drawings.

 

Giant paintings everywhere, it would be spooky to live in this place ................

 

   

 

Uh Oh, this bed brought back memories from waaay back.................can't tell .........I'm not risking a cut in treats.

 

 

A lady is peeking out into the courtyard,.............

 

 

There was a wedding going on in the curch part, Castles have their own church ?? so there was a wait to get in, and this place was if possible even more ornate. How can you possible concentrate listen to a sermon when you have all this stuff to look at ................leess boring I guess 

     

There's faces, angels and little scenes everywhere

all these rooms and no kitchen ?

the stair wells was covered in an abundance of coat of arms

 

 

Outside the castle Mom saw these two little old ladies walking as fast as they could, both with their backpacks.............maybe they were running away from the senior center.............good for them if that's the case................maybe we should give them a lift ? ...............

 

 

Another bride on her way to get married in the castle...........guess that's a real popular thing to do.....

 

 

That's it for today, tomorrow we'll be going in to Copenhagen to stay a couple of days, it's only 20 km. so it'll be a short drive......I'll end today with a picture of an allium ?? from the castle garden

 

and a "something else" from the roadside

   

 

PS. I'll tell you about todays bike ride tomorrow