Yesterday and today, Elisabeth and I biked over 70 km, exploring the northwestern region of Zealand, the island containing Copenhagen. It was an inredible trip. We left the house at 9:30 on Friday and biked up the coast, reaching Helsingor (the northern tip of Zealand) by noon, which allowed for plenty of stops along the way, including our first water break at a marina. Once in Helsingor, we visited Kronborg, also known as "Hamlet's Castle" or "Elsinore," as the setting of Hamlet. After a picnic under a shelter while some rain clouds passed by, we went into the castle, visited the courtyard (passing by the rooms open to the public for a fee) and moved onto the grounds. We found seventeen or so cannon and Elisabeth made fun of me for my excitement at seeing them (since part of my job with the Park Service consisted of giving "Cannon Talks").
Stops 1 and 2. In 2, you see the common scene of Elisabeth checking her wonderful map book (while I handled snacks-she just polished off a digestive (delicious cookie/cracker)). Quote of the day: "Biking and digestives, pretty much my life."
The scenery wasn't so bad...
We investigated the beach at Helsingor, but decided it was too cold to swim and biked back to where the ferries were to get from Helsingor to Helsingborg, Sweden. We had a little bit of trouble figuring out how to buy ferry tickets and one left while we were still working on that. We were in no rush though and waited for the next. Being completely unexperienced with Scandinavian ferries, we decided it would be best to follow the other two bikers onto the ferry as they rode to the front and parked. That meant that cyclists were also the first off the ferry, at which point we followed those ladies again to see how to get out of the docking area. Turns out the roundabout we used for reference on the map was not the one we thought it was and we got a bit turned around finding out hotel. We looked into booking hostels, but for a price difference of $4 each, we were able to book a hotel (for 650 Swedish krona), which was upgraded from a single with an extra bed to a double! We immediately showered because we were so gross (see before and after pictures) and went out to explore the town some more. It took a while to find a place that accepted credit cards, but we eventually bought ourselves a pizza, returned to the hotel to relax, then went back out to watch a free running/parkour/freestyle walking/urban gymnastics whathaveyou competition. We were wrong, the competition was the next night (sponsored by Red Bull), but we watched some people practicing in front of what looked like a castle and walked around the harbor a bit before calling it a night.
We woke up at 7:45 and took full advantage of our free breakfast at the hotel to gear up for a lot of biking. The first leg of the day (after another confusing ferry loading) seemed to be alllll uphill, but was only 10 km. The castle at Fredensborg had some beautiful gardens, where we again picnicked on trail mix, digestives, apples, and cookies. There were gaurds in front of the castle, so we couldn't get very close, but did have a man take a photo in which we effectively block your view of it. The next leg was the longest, but not as bad with the hills. The second day was also through the countryside rather than along the coast, so we got to see a lot of beautiful fields and forests. The Danes are also wonderful about bike lanes - we were on a raised bike line almost the entire trip, including along highway, and some were even seperated from the road by trees, so it was like biking through a forest. This longer but less greuling ride brought us to Fredericksborg, where we found the most impressive castle of the trip. It was on a big lake, surrounded by gardens, and was ginormous. I haven't been able to find brouchures at any of these sites, so I don't know its history, but it sure did look impressive. There were three wedding parties there for photos.
The last part of the trip was about another 15 km and included more beautiful scenery. We liked to say "We're making great time," but since we've never biked this much, we really aren't sure how great of time we made. I definitely slowed us down the last couple of kilometers because it hurt to extend my left knee (it still hurts to get out of chairs, etc, but I'm not too concerned). It wasn't too much of a problem timewise, though, because we still crossed the border, biked 40 km, visited two castles, and made it home by 4 o'clock. We've spent the rest of the evening relaxing, enjoying a delicious meal made by Birthe (Bierd-ah) and Morten (Elisabeth's aunt and uncle), and playing games with the family. Birthe mentioned taking the kids for a bike ride tomorrow, but I think I'll be okay missing out on that...
how cool was the parkour, huh?
ReplyDelete