Sweden & Oresund Bridge - Day 7 - November 25th

Day 7

Early rise this morning, it was still dark outside when we rose. We were back at the Heidenauer Hof hotel in Heidenau and it felt just like home.  Our room was once again in the park building but this time on the ground floor with patio doors opening into the wooded area.

Our bedroom at Heidenauer Hof at day break

And again

We went over to breakfast and although we were here three days ago it had undergone a transformation.  Christmas had arrived, and its still November!!

Decorations

A tree

And another tree

After breakfast we drove down the village and filled up with diesel and had a last drive around before leaving.  It was very foggy morning and a we drove past a fiels we saw in the mist about a dozen very large, long legged birds grazing. We had no idea what they were but they were about three feet tall.

Its so misty but you can make out a pair of these birds

We then headed off towards Amsterdam where we were to board our ferry at  the port at 3.00pm. Once again we hit traffic problems when we were stopped due to an accident ahead.  This time we were able to get off the motorway and head across country towards the dutch border.  Suddenly it was a different ride, the countryside was great and what struck me was how clean a country Germany is. Then when we crossed the border into Holland it was more of the same which made us think that our earlier comments on our arrival in Holland were a little unfair.

We even saw a proper windmill

Eventually we arrived at the port and the ferry was waiting for us.  We checked in and waited in line patiently to board.

Our Ferry Home

We booked into our Commodor cabin for our homeward journey.  It was a great improvement on the cabin we had coming over.

Corridort to our cabin

Door to our cabin

Some shots of inside our cabin

So that's almost it.  This week has flown by but it has been really enjoyable.  It's the last leg tomorrow, the journey back to Newport from Newcastle.

Sweden & Oresund Bridge - Day 6 - November 24th

Day 6

After breakfast we packed the car and said goodbye to the Good Morning+ hotel in Malmo.We will certainly stay here again if we visit Malmo. It was a glorious day outside with not a cloud in the sky.

Kevin outside the hotel.  Shirtsleeves in Scandinavia in November. Who would have thought?

We set off and left Malmo and Sweden behind us and headed over the Oresundbron for the last time for now.  It was a clear morning yet there still appeared to be a mist over Copenhagen in Denmark  on the far side of the bridge. As we approached the border between the countries the man made island on the Danish side soon came into view.

Entering Denmark almost halfway across he bridge

The man made island in the middle of the  Oresund strait between Sweden and Denmark

At the Danish side of the island the motorway that crossed the bridge descends below the water into a tunnel that re-appears in Copenhagen some 4 kilometers away.

Approaching the tunnel after leaving Sweden

Entering the tunnel

Ready to emerge in Copenhagen in Denmark

We then headed into the centre of Copenhagen but were amazed at the industrial nature of the city.

All this on the way into the city centre

Perhaps this is why it looks so misty from Malmo across the Sund!

There were some good points within the city, notably the architecture and the quaint restaurants along the waterfront

Typical buildings viewed from the car

City centre elegance

Interesting sculptures

In fairness though it was difficult to get a really meaningful impression because of the amount of building work being undertaken in the city centre.

The waterfront though was not affected as much as the city centre and it was a pleasant walk in the winter sunshine.

Quaint coloured waterfront buildings

Most were harbourside restaurants

Boats sitting quietly at quayside

Proof that I was there

Waiting outside a cafe for a morning coffee in the winter sunshine

Kevin enjoying his coffee with his new German friends at the next table

After our stroll around the harbourside we felt we had seen enough and both agreed that we thought that Malmo across the bridge was a place we would both rather be.  Unfortunately we could not go back as we had to be in Germany for our next overnight stay, so we set the SatNav with the address of our hotel and asked for fastest route.

We thought that we would be going back the reverse of the journey here but no, we went back a totally different way. Denmark is a country of islands so it was no surprise that along the route we would come to another splendid bridge. This was to be the Faro bridge over the Storstrommen.  We stayed here for a while taking in the views of this bridge and the nearby Storstrombroen.

The Faro Bridge

And from the other side

Storstrmbroen, or as we know it,  The Storstrommen Bridge, is a road and railway arch bridge that crosses the Storstrommen between the islands of Falster and Masnedo in Denmark.

Storstrombroen, The Storstrommen Bridge

We left Faro not knowing where we were heading to next but new SatNav was taking us towards a stretch of water. As we approached a place called Redbyhavn we were funnelled into a toll booth area and when we pulled up at a window the attendant looked at us without saying anything.  We looked at him and Kevin said 'what do you want from us?'  and he said 'Some money'

We said 'what for?' and he said 'to cross to Germany'  Kevin asked if it was a tunnel or a ferry and the man said that it was a ferry.  So we had to pay 600 Danish Kroner, about £70, and then we joined the queue.  After about half an hour we were on our way on a ferry ride across the Fehmarn Belt to Fehmarn Island in Germany.  It was a really nice ferry ride of about 45 minutes.  The boat was really well laid out and we explored it both inside and out.

Leaving Port at Redbyhavn

One of the dining areas

Out on deck

We were greeted into Germany with a beautiful sunset clearly visible from the ferry.

Sunset over Germany from on board

Ready to disembark

When we disembarked onto Fehmarn we drove to the other side of the island and crossed another bridge, this one aptly named the Fehmarn bridge across the Fehmarn Sund into mainland Germany at Grobenbrode.

This bridge resembled the Millennium bridge on the distributer road in Newport.

Fehmarn Bridge

Once oacross the bridge we headed towards our hotel for the night the Heidenaur Hotel Hof some 140 miles further on. We were making great progress until about 20 miles from our destination when we ground to a halt due to an accident further ahead.  it took us over an hour to cover these remaing miles and we were so glad to eventually reach our hotel

We had another fine meal at this hotel and then took it easy for the rest of the evening.  Amsterdam tomorrow.

Sweden & Oresund Bridge - Day 5- November 23rd

Day 5

After a nice breakfast in the hotel we got ready and decided to walk off in the direction of the Bridge and the Hyllievang shopping complex and Malmo Arena. Soon after leaving the hotel we were at the magnificent new Malmo FC football ground.  Staggering that the old stadium has been maintained in place while the new one has been built.  The old stadium, just as imposing, is now used for lower league football.

The Old Malmo FC Stadium

The new Swedbank Stadium, home of Malmo FC

After a while walking and following a very small map we decided to ask a lady walking our way. Sure enough we were going in the wrong direction but after her pointing out various places on our map we were fine.and after walking about five miles we finally arrived at Hyllievang.

Some unusual sculptures in Hyllievang

We had a look around and spent some time in the shopping complex where I bought quite a few Christmas presents before we called a taxi to take us back to the hotel, but not before heading to a perfect spot to photograph the bridge.  Unfortunately our taxi driver was the only guy in Malmo who did not understand a word of English and as usual we were ashamed at our lack of knowledge of the local language.  The only words he understood were the name of our hotel so he took us straight back there to it.

We then got our car out of the car park and drove back to Hyllievang and worked out a route to the bridge.  We followed our intuition and our little map and seemed to be doing OK until we appeared to be going down a lane getting narrower as we drove down it,  we eventually got out onto a main road and an elderly roadworker stopped us and asked where were we going.  when we said 'to the bridge. how do we get there?' he said in perfect English, 'not through the park'

Once again, we were amazed at how people everywhere speak our language, not to mention how silly we felt having driven through a children's play area but we were soon on our way. His directions were great and we were soon as close to the bridge as we could get. At the risk of boring you there are a series of shots of the bridge following, all taken from Sweden: -

Me on the Swedish side of the bridge

We were fortunate to be able to pass under the bridge and watch the trains crossing above us. Unfortunately the tunnel is not visible from this side of the bridge but we will be crossing to Copenhagen tomorrow so should be able to get some shots of that, but here's an image I got online to show you what lies ahead for us.

The road disappearing down the Oresund tunnel

Back to the hotel for the evening and same as yesterday.  Kevin in the Sauna and me in the room doing my blog.  Then later on going down to the restaurant for our evening meal which was, once again, first class.  After a few drinks it was off to our room to watch some European soccer on TV before packing ready to leave tomorrow.  we will be spending most of the day in Copenhagen before returning to Heidenau in Germany for our next night's stay.