DAY 139 SATURDAY AUGUST 11 GOTHENBURG

After another lovely breakfast we walked through the cobbled streets finding the usual disgusting mess on the ground after Friday night parties.  The train took us across the long, long bridge to Sweden and Telstra duly sent us another 4 messages at 50 cents a time.

WHAT WE SAW OUT OF THE WINDOW IN SLOW MOTION

Then up the west coast past some beaches to Gothenburg. We arrived just after midday and looked for our First G Hotel finally realising that it was directly above us in the station.  We had some Euros left from France still, so converted 100 Euros into 745 SEK.  Sounds like a good deal until you look at prices.  We thought prices were higher than in Denmark but later realised Swedish Krone is worth .9 Danish.  Big sub from the Cafe Espresso set us up for the rest of the day, so we walked along the canal and the river.  As it was yet another glorious, sunny day the locals were making the most of it sunning themselves in the parks along the river.  We read that this town was built on marshes and had burned down because they built in timber.  Dutch settlers took over the rebuilding and made a magnificent job of it. They even have a lock on the canal right in the middle of town.

 This is probably the best planned city we have been to.  The streets are wide and nowhere seems crowded.  We were fascinated by this statue of Prometheus.  Why does he have a concrete pyramid on his head?  Is that his liver in his hand? Try http://www-rohan.sdsu.edu/faculty/giftfire/prometheus.html

HE WAS THE ONE WHO STASHED ALL THE EVILS OF MANKIND INTO THE BOX THAT PANDORA OPENED

At the end of the river in the harbour we found the city's namesake ship Goetheborg, completely rigged and ready to sail.

If you cannot find a steam train in the town, a wooden sailing ship is an even better find.  Look at the work on the bow.  This city was famous for ship building.

All that time we spent putting galleon jigsaws together on the container ship helped us appreciate the hundreds of kilometres of rope used. Further along the harbour we came to the other local old ship, the Viking, which is now used as a hotel.

Ther was a continuous stream of tourist boats like the green one above which meant more space for us to walk on on land.  No statue at the station today but this one near the ships caught our attention.

Perfect weather and location for a wedding.

Nordic beauty almost as beautiful as our granddaughter-in-law. We celebrated with a choctop ice cream and wandered back to our luxury hotel to contemplate a marvellous day.  We love Gothenburg.

DAY 138 FRIDAY AUGUST 10 COPENHAGEN CASTLE

We set off early this morning to explore King's Park and Rosemount Castle. There were many statues in the large park but of course the one we really wanted to see was Hans Christian Anderson.  We thought he even looked like Danny Kaye.

Some of his stories were featured nearby

Then we found a strange but lovely fountain.

The Castle does not open till 10am so we walked outside the park and found the royal guards quarters and we were reminded of London.  The sentry gave us permission for a photo.

We walked up to the Tivoli Gardens next to the station but they do not open till 11 and the entrance fee was absurdly expensive.  Through the gate it looked like Luna Park so we crossed it off our mental list.

Back to the Castle just in time to be faced with a busload of American tourists (possibly from a cruise ship) so the place was crowded. The Danish Royals appear to have lived less extravagantly than the Germans as evidenced by the Residenz in Munich.  They still made the Brittania Yacht look relatively modest.

As usual the best picture of the castle was the scale model inside but it was painted.
For the first time in our trips through castles we were able to get a good look at the King's inner throne room.

Just like the Bibbulmun Track toilets.  Margot was correct in advising us that the most impressive thing in the castle was the solid silver set of lions (life size), guarding the throne.

Looking out of the window we watched the royal army band in their busby hats take off and march down the street, presumably to take up duty as guards for the current royals. Another reminder of London.  The changing of the guard outside the Treasury where the crowns are kept was taking place as we left.

They seemed to be suppressing a giggle.  As we wandered around we saw these interesting flowers and  a postman on bicycle.

Everyone was zooming around on bikes and most streets had safe lanes for them. Not a perfect set up but better than most other cities we have been to.  Back to the hotel we shared a hot dog fro a street stall. Much better than australian ones.

DAY 137 THURSDAY AUGUST 8 COPENHAGEN

At Copenhagen Station we change 80 euros into 540 Danish Kroner, bought a salad lunch and drinks for 54DK then checked our future trains at the Travel Bureau.  Walked for 40 minutes along the crowded car free streets towards the canal area and found our Hotel Neptune with the help of a free map for the Info Booth at the station.  What a great hotel!  At least as good as Fuschl.  Great room, good wifi, friendly staff and free breakfast, afternoon tea and dinner buffet.  We unpacked and showered after sleeping in our clothes last night, then set off in lovely weather to see the sights. Following the trail recommended on the free map we started at the canals and the wooden boats.

There were dozens of restaurants and they were all full.

We saw their cool opera house across the water.

Then we came across the sand sculpture exhibition on the wharf opposite the Opera House.

These were so good that we have to put a few on the blog:

Some of the creations had deep abstract commentaries by their sculptors.  We liked this one by a local which was labelled Big Bunny with no further comment.  We passed a copy of Michelangelo's David

Then we had to manoeuvre around the crowds to get a photo of the most photographed girl in the world:

Wonderful Copenhagen.

DAY 136 WEDNESDAY AUGUST 8 TO COLOGNE

Today we leave Ken and Pam behind as they spend today and tomorrow readying the house for winter shut down.  We dragged our luggage up to the bus stop at 6am

 and the driver took off at 6.24 and brought us into La Puy en Verlay where we had only a few minutes to catch the train back down the upper  Loire to St Etienne.

 There we waited an hour and a bit for our TGV to leave for Paris. We needed to get from Paris Lyon to Paris Nord and had 3 hours to spare so dragged our luggage for 2 hours along the boulevards.

PLACE DE LA BASTILLE

  Still had plenty of time to wait at the station (nowhere to sit) before they would announce which platform our Thalys to Cologne would leave from.  This proved to be a very good train in first class with regular free food and drinks.

 Of course it was also one of the dearest supplements we had to pay on top of our pass.  Then at Cologne another 3 hour wait till 10pm  when our City Night Line to Copenhagen arrived from Amsterdam.  When booking our berths for this train we asked for a 4 berth couchette.  When we got on the train it was packed (as the night trains usually are) and we found our compartment had 6 couchettes.  One of the middle bunks was broken so they had to move one person elsewhere. We had the two bottom bunks and Nancy and Randy from Virginia had the top ones.  A Dutch lady arrived to take the other middle bunk.  It was crowded and the toilets were not up to scratch but once we were all in bed we all slept well, and a lot better than sitting up all night.  The moral is: book at least 2 months ahead to get a 2 berth sleeper and pay the extra.  The train is quite old and arrived at Copenhagen one and a half hours late, missing connections for some.  We were fine since we did not need to check in till 2pm at the Neptune Clarion Hotel.

DAY 135 TUESDAY AUGUST 7 MALIERES

Spent time today preparing to leave La Chaise Dieu tomorrow.  Started the day with a walk after breakfast to a village called Malieres.

VIEW OF THE FERTILE COUNTRYSIDE AS WE WALKED ALONG

There were a few children and dogs in the street when we got there but generally very quiet and sleepy.
This little boy rode to the edge of town before returning. His little brother was just as as adventurous.

 There was a cemetery just past here and we admired the big family stones that filled the area, all neat and up to date.  Further on there was a special cross at an intersection that was built in the 17th C to celebrate the town being saved from the plague.

It was claimed that Julius Caesar passed through here when quashing the revolt of the Gauls.  I should have read about that in 1954 studying Caesar's Gallic Wars. We had a special lunch at the posh pub where Marie France gave assistance to Marg when she needed English speaking local.

DAY 134 MONDAY AUGUST 6 LE PUY EN VERLAY

The rental car had to be returned today so Pam found us a different way to drive to St Etienne. There was a light mist filling the valleys as we left.

 On the way a stone chipped the windscreen and we were glad we took out zero excess insurance.  Even so they charged us 35Euro admin. fee for making a claim.  We wandered around the town but found little of interest near the station.  We avoided a street where a fatality had just occurred and police were all around. The train back to Le Puy en Verlay went through another section of the Loire valley which is not accessible to cars so the scenery was good.

The town of Le Puy is much larger than La Chaise Dieu and has an interesting history.  It is claimed that thousands of Jewish children were hidden here during WWII.  It was crowded with tourists and it had plenty to justify this.

  The dome on this building caught our eye and it drew attention to the famous alcoholic (55%) drink made here with secret ingredients - Verveine.  A number of towns we have been to use the signs TOUTES DIRECTIONS to provide a common exit to the centre of the town leading to specific directional signs further away. Seems a good idea.  We climbed the hill to Notre Dame Cathedral which dominated the centre of the town below.

We walked to the bottom of the steps to climb up to the statue of Mary nursing Jesus made from 200+ canons melted down but decided not to pay for tickets. The whole thing was covered in scaffolding, but you could still climb up inside it.  It was billed as France's Statue of Liberty.  We heard later that the designer committed suicide after being lambasted for putting Jesus on the wrong arm of Mary.  Mother and son would be horrified by that no doubt.  The third monument in the town was the other Mont Saint Michel.  A church dedicated to the archangel Michael sitting on top of a tall volcanic plug to deter Hagar the Horrible and the like.

 This time we paid the small fee and climbed the many steps for a great view of the city.  The church was quite small inside but highly regarded.

As we came back down into the town looking for a cafe we stumbled on a shop where a large machine was making lace ribbon.  This lady was demonstrating the traditional skill which made the region famous.

She could hold a conversation, looking you in the eye, while following a complex pattern. The only bus left at 6.20 and being a railway bus took us home in 70 minutes on the flash of our Eurail Pass.