Travels With Joanie: Rock Steves Tour of Scandinavia

June 7 - Kalmar to Copenhagen

Morning at Kalmar Castle

After an early breakfast, we left our bags with our bus driver and walked the short distance to Kalmar Slott (Castle) on the shores of the Baltic Sea. It was a beautiful day and the gardens outside of the castle were bright with flowers...and an unusual sculpture.

The Union Monument commemorates the 1397 union of Denmark, Sweden, and Norway, which took place in Kalmar. The purpose of the Kalmar Union was to provide opposition to the German Hanseatic League, which was threatening the Nordic countries' trading power.

An odd sculpture we noticed on our walk to the castle.

Kalmar Slott

The moat around the castle

Gorgeous azaleas in the castle gardens

And another funny little garden decoration.

While on our walk, Laurel got the news that our bus driver had been taken terribly ill while loading our bags and had been taken to the hospital, so she had to scramble to find a new driver for our trip to Copenhagen. Fortunately, there was another driver, John, who was on the last day of his vacation, and he agreed to take over for today.

We crossed the bridge over the moat with our costumed guide, Erik, who led us through the rooms of the castle.

Entrance to Kalmar Castle

Our medieval guide, Erik

Castle courtyard

Erik shared the history of the original castle with a model of its original form.

For those of you who are interested in the history, here are a couple of signs explaining the significance of this castle and the city of Kalmar.

The rooms of the castle were large and contained portraits and some furnishings. The highlights included a dining table containing a Renaissance Easter Banquet, complete with birds baked in a pie. (Remember "Four and Twenty Blackbirds Baked in a Pie"? The cooks really did this! But the birds were inserted into an already baked pie crust, then flew out when it was opened.)

Medieval armor. Is the small one for a child or for a dwarf?

Gustav Vasa

One of the rooms of the castle

Tapestries were used to decorate and bring warmth into the large stone rooms.

Bedchamber

A Renaissance Office

Game Room

Beautiful inlaid wood covered some of the walls

An Easter Banquet in the Dining Hall

Birds baked in a pie.

There were lots of seafood dishes and various preparations of fowl and meat...
but not many vegetables.

I am always fascinated by the decorated ceilings in castles

A 3-D hunting scene

Gorgeous ceilings

Ceiling

Detail of the Christian imagery on a ceiling panel.

A simple Throne Room

There was also a room containing rather horrifying photographs of women demonstrating various methods of torture used. (I did not include the most graphic.)

Other instruments of torture or imprisonment

For me, the highlight of our visit to Kalmar was a special exhibit of Monet's art. A huge room was filled with moving and changing images of Monet's paintings and his comments, accompanied by music. Monet is my favorite artist, so this was overwhelmingly beautiful. (As I write this, I have just returned from a trip to France where I got to visit Monet's home and gardens at Giverny.)

My own photo of Monet's lily pond below his house in Giverny.

Copenhagen

John arrived with our bus and we set out for the several-hour drive to Copenhagen. This turned out to be a bit of an adventure for me, as I was in the front seat today, and John had never driven to our hotel in Copenhagen before, so as we approached, I was giving him the driving directions from Google Maps on my tablet. (What did we ever do before GPS?!)

Along the way, we stopped for a nice picnic lunch in a park by a lovely lake. Laurel had brought all sorts of sandwiches, Swedish cookies, and drinks.

Our group enjoys a picnic lunch

The lake below our picnic grounds

Laurel shared a story about Astrid Lindgren, the author of Pippi Longstocking,
which was one of my favorite books in my childhood.
Astrid's face in on the 20 kronor note in Sweden.

We crossed into Denmark over the Øresund Bridge, the longest bridge in Europe. It runs five miles from the Swedish coast to an artificial island in the middle of the strait, which was a little disconcerting, as it appears that the bridge just end at the island, with miles of ocean between you and Copenhagen in the distance. But at the island, we entered the Drogden Tunnel which took us the rest of the way to the city.

Øresund Bridge seems to end in the middle of sea...

...but we continued through the Drogden Tunnel

After settling into the Hotel Bethel, right in the heart of the bustling, colorful Nyhavn (New Harbor), a lively street filled to the brim with bikes, tourists, and cafes. Laurel took us on a walking tour of "Wonderful, Wonderful, Copenhagen" up Strøget, a busy pedestrian street lined with shops, and on to a big plaza in front of the historic Copenhagen Court House. We were surprised by a visit from Hans Christian Andersen, who told us about his life and the story of The Little Mermaid. His story is a much sadder version than the Disney version! We finished the evening with a group dinner. I am really enjoying my tour companions. They are all delightful people!