Scandanavia and the Baltics

 Day 1: Traveling Again

After a long dry spell and recovery from our last bike trip, we are back on the road.  This time to Scandinavia and the Baltic region for another tandem bike trip.

Our flights to Copenhagen were pretty uneventful except for the usual stress of negotiating Heathrow Airport (AVOID at all costs!). The security line took us well over an hour and we just made our connection.  We held our collective breath at the baggage claim, hoping that our bike made it as well, and we were pleasantly surprised to see all 4 bags show up early.

Sadly, Dave and Molly, who were supposed to meet us in London, had their flight from Miami canceled and are coming (we hope) a day later.

The airport was only 30 minutes from our hotel and fortunately, we were able to find a large cab that could take all of our luggage. On the ride in, we saw plenty of evidence of the city getting ready for the Tour de France  next Friday, giant bike sculptures, road closures, and welcome signs.

The Marriott sits right on the major waterway that divides Copenhagen, an extension of the harbor.  Our room is great with a huge window that affords us a great view of all the boats, large and small.

We decided to get some sun to help combat jet-lag and took a stroll along the water. 

                                         

The banks were lined with late afternoon sunbathers and the there were plenty of all sorts of watercraft.

The city is amazingly bike friendly with separate bike lanes that are unidirectional, have curbs on either side to separate bikes from walkers,

                                       

and have their own stoplights and even bridges.

                                       

To allow cyclists to negotiate stairs, there are rails on most staircases to ease getting bikes up (and down)

We continued our walk back to the hotel and stopped at the Jewish museum (which is closed until July (next week!)

This area is close to the Royal Palace and has beautiful gardens. 

We even found a statue of Soren Kierkegard.

Couldn't resist this hook for an athletic club we noticed  around the corner from the hotel.

After all the traveling and walking, we returned to the hotel exhausted. Fortunately, we had good blackout curtains because this was the longest day of the year, and even late into the evening, the sun shone brightly

                                                                                       

Bavaria Day 5 and on

Day 5 was the first day of our bike trip in Bavaria.  Sorry I haven't written, but we had a bit of a problem.  On Sunday, we began riding in fairly heavy rain, and while we were transitioning from the road to a bike trail  we hit a small curb at an angle and went down hard.  Jeri, unfortunately took the brunt of it and sustained a pelvic fracture and a pretty impressive periorbital hematoma (which now has spread to her entire face).  She has been in the hospital since the injury, but has been a trooper through all of this.  Fortunately, she is having minimal pain and has progressed from a walker the first morning, to crutches that afternoon, and stairs today.  They plan to discharge her tomorrow morning, and we should be home on Sunday. It will be a long recovery for such an active woman, but we'll get through it.  She is already talking about getting back on the horse.

Bavaria Day 4- Neuschwanstein and Hohenschangau Castles

 Day 4- Neuschwanstein and Hohenschangau Castles

Today is the first day on our own.  We had to rush through breakfast (took rolls and pastries with us for the train) to catch a train for our trip to Neuschwanstein Castle.  I had promised Iwona that I would try weisswurst this morning.  Jeri and I both gave it a whirl and other than the color, it wasn't bad with a lot of special sweet mustard. 

I have to admit, we stopped at one "promised" bite.  

After a few anxious moments, we found the direct train to Füssen, gateway to Neuschwanstein and Hohenschangau Castles. 

From the train station, we had to take a bus to the tiny town of Schwangau, 

and finally a 10 minute climb up to Hohenschwangau Castle.

The castle grounds were dotted to fountains and gardens.

From the grounds, Mad King Ludwig II was able to watch the construction of his crown jewel, Neuschwanstein Castle.

Sadly, the weather deteriorated  (from bad to horrible) as the day progressed with rain off and on and 48 degrees!  We were wet and miserable and had about 2 hours to kill before our tour of Neuschwanstein, so  we found a nice restaurant and had a German lunch (big).  We then had to climb up to the castle on full stomachs, about a 25 minute steady climb in steady rain.  Yuchh!

No photos were aloud in either castle, so you'll just have to use your imagination.  The trip back to Munich was uneventful and by the time we got back, most of our clothes had somewhat dried.

Packed tonight for our bike trip starting tomorrow.  The cold rainy weather isn't supposed to break until Thursday, when sun and a high of 60 is forecasted. Can't believe this is August.

Bavaria Day3- Viktualmarkt

 Day 3:  Visiting the Viktualmarkt