Monday, May 26 - Bornholm/Copenhagen (Liz)

We had a leisurely morning (mostly thanks to Claire sleeping in!) and then Erik came over and we went to their place and ordered our ferry tickets, then we went on to Ronne to do some biking. Claire didn't like her helmet much, but we at least got her to wear it while we were in the city. From Ronne we headed SE on a trail close to the coast. Most of the time we were in farmland and we saw (and smelled) a large variety of farm animals although mostly cows and horses. Claire slept through at least half of the bike ride - with her head bobbing forward the whole time. We found another rundkirke along the way but it appeared to be closed so we just walked the grounds briefly.

We didn't go too far along the coast but we made it to a very small village called Arnager (population 151). It was right on the coast with a long dock you could walk out on. This beach was sandy unlike the rocky beaches along the northern stretches of Bornholm. We walked out along the dock and stopped there to give Claire some lunch.

Probably the only time of her life she can feasibly sleep on a bike.

From Arnager we biked up to Lobaek, and then back to Ronne. We really enjoyed our bike ride, and once Claire had her helmet off she did too. (We will be working on that at home!)

Claire discovers the bicycle.

Erik picked us up and we went back to Aakirkeby to say our goodbyes. Seriously I saw the largest chicken eggs I have ever seen! We are so grateful to the Mogensens for chauffeuring us around and showing us around their island and for everything else that they did for us. We were treated like royalty! I'm really glad that it worked out for us to visit.

Oh, goodness!

Our ferry from Ronne to Ystad, Sweden was significantly shorter than our previous ferry - only 1 hour and 20 minutes. The boat was also much nicer and had instructions in English. We camped out in the kids' area to that Claire could play.

When we got off the boat we took a photo to prove that we had been to Sweden, then we immediately boarded a coach bus to take us the rest of the way to Copenhagen. The bus was pretty much a greenhouse. There were no shades or curtains for the oversized windows and the evening sun was just blaring. It seemed there was hardly any air blowing on the bus, either. The good news is I am here right now writing about the experience which means we survived. We were in Sweden for about  half an hour, then drove over some long bridges, man-made islands, and a long tunnel before arriving in Copenhagen.

Our one and only picture on Swedish ground.

They take wind energy seriously here.

Honestly my first impression of Copenhagen was that it was pretty ugly. Don't get me wrong - I'm still very excited to be here and see all the sights - I just think most of the other cities we have been to are more beautiful. We didn't do much this evening except find a place for dinner (a place selling bagel sandwiches) and then went back to our hotel room and called it a night. Our hotel is very conveniently located right outside of the main train station. We have two very full days ahead of us!

Observations:

• When biking we passed by several farms that had sacks of potatoes sitting out at small stands to be purchased. No one manned these stands; it's all based on the honors system. Erik said they sometimes have problems during tourist season in the summer with people stealing the taters. Sad.
• Apparently by law all cars must have a clock displayed in the passenger side of the dashboard. Many places have free two hour parking so you turn the clock to show the time you parked the car so that the parking enforcers know if you have been there too long. Newer cars have electronic clocks.