Another Beautiful Day in Denmark

 Actually I guess I should say another beautiful day in Denmark and Sweden. We decided to take the train to Malmo, Sweden today to explore. 

The train crosses the Öresund, commonly known in English as the Sound. It is a strait which forms the Danish–Swedish border, separating Zealand (Denmark) from Scania (Sweden). The Øresund Bridge is a combined railway and motorway bridge across the Øresund strait

and is the longest in Europe with both roadway and railway combined in a single structure, running nearly 8 kilometres (5.0 miles) from the Swedish coast to the artificial island Peberholm in the middle of the strait. The crossing is completed by the 4-kilometre (2.5 mi) Drogden Tunnel from Peberholm to the Danish island of Amager.

I obviously didn't take this picture but wanted you to see how the road comes up out of the water to become the bridge. Pretty amazing.

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, to provide a clear channel for ships in good weather or bad, and to prevent ice floes from blocking the strait.

Before heading out on the train, we stopped for some breakfast at Coffee First.

I had my tea and a chia seed parfait.

Kim had a Greek yogurt parfait, rye toast, a croissant and soft boiled egg, with coffee of course.

bicycles at the train station

There is more than 250 miles of bicycle trail in Copenhagen.

They even have their own traffic signal attached to the other traffic light.

more train station pics

Our first stop on the little walking tour in Malmo was the lighthouse.

me by the lighthouse

I thought this was a clever way to camouflage the plastic covering the building during construction.

Next stop was Saint Peter's Church, a brick gothic church. Built in the 14th century as the main church of the city, it has been described as "the main Gothic monument within church architecture in "Skane". The church was a spiritual centre during the Reformation, and was one of only a few churches in what was at the time medieval Denmark that suffered damage as a consequence of the Reformation. I took lots of pics but I won't post them all.

They did a pretty fair job of installing the pipes for the organ in one of the arches.

a few more pipes upstairs

last pic of Saint Peter's

This is Caroli Church, a former church built in 1880. It is named after King Charles XI of Sweden. The church was also known as the German Church and the services were held in German for the German merchants and craftsmen of Malmo. It was deconsecrated in 2010 and is now a theater.

Next stop is Stortorget Market Square

The Stortorget was created in 1540 and with 2,500 square meters is the largest and also the oldest square in Malmö. Originally it was the largest market square in Northern Europe

At Stortorget's center stands the great equestrian statue of King Karl X Gustav, who had conquered the former Danish provinces of Skåne, Blekinge and Halland and finally had united them with the Swedish Empire by the Peace of Roskilde in 1658.

After leaving the square, we walked through a cemetery on our way to Malmohus Castle. The following are pics taken along the walk.

In 1434, Erik of Pomerania, King of Denmark, Norway and Sweden, built a citadel in the town of Malmö, traces of which can still be seen in the walls. During The Count’s Feud the citizens of Malmö occupied it and tore down the walls separating it and the city. When the rebellion was crushed, Christian III (1536-1559) had a new citadel built. In 1607 Denmark’s “builder king” Christian IV among other things also added an elegant storehouse with Dutch Renaissance gables to the castle.

After 1658, the Swedes modernized the castle with a Dutch-inspired defense system, and in 1675 it withstood a Danish siege. However the fortress fell into disrepair and Malmöhus was used mainly as a granary and an arsenal for the Swedish army. From 1828 to 1909 it served as a prison.

From the 1930´s the castle was restored in the Renaissance Style, and today it is a museum.

The castle was the last stop on our impromptu tour of Malmo, Sweden. By now we've worked up an appetite. I looked up hidden gems of Malmo for places to eat and we headed to Saltimporten Canteen. This is what a local said about it:: If you’re looking for a very local lunch experience in Malmö, this place is so quintessentially Malmö and is one of the best lunches in the city. Open only on weekdays, they make one daily lunch option each day (plus a vegetarian option for the week) using seasonal, local ingredients. You never know exactly what you’re going to get but it is fantastic every time!

We agreed with his assessment. The only drawback, it was 1.6 miles from the castle to the little canteen and we had already been walking for a couple of hours. Oh well...

Lunch was pork belly with pickled cabbage, roasted beets, black currants and tarragon sauce. I thought it was delicious!

The table decor

We are now back in Copenhagen and I took a couple more pics of the yellow houses we saw yesterday. Love the colors and the story behind them,

Copenhagen City Hall and square

The manhole covers are very nice with Hans Christian Anderson on them.

A statue of Hans. One of the largest streets in the city is named after him. Although a prolific writer of plays, travelogues, novels, and poems, he is best remembered for his literary fairy tales. Andersen's fairy tales, consisting of 156 stories across nine volumes, have been translated into more than 125 languages. He penned more than 3,000 manuscripts. The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, Thumbelina and The Princess and the Pea are just a few of many.

These four dragons used to be part of a huge fountain in the square. They are apparently out of commission.

Another interesting item located on the square of the City Hall (Rådhuspladsen), is a sculpted granite stone that indicates the "entry point to the city" (actually the city a long time ago). It also served as a "kilometer zero" indicator, defining the distance from Copenhagen to major cities. You can also see the insignia of the city (with three towers, the sun and the moon).

My birthday dessert was a non-dairy elderflower frozen treat. It was yummy!

I didn't mention our stats yesterday. We walked 6 miles and about 13,000 steps, nothing compared to today.

Miles: 13.7

Steps: 24,089

"Your rest is not to be found in figuring your life out, but in trusting the One who has it all figured out for your good and his glory."

PDT