We left Copenhagen early this morning via rental car (Ford Fiesta)
and headed for the mainland. It seems that automatics are still
considered a luxury in this country as the price to rent one was very
high. So we didn't. Once we got out of the city we stopped for
breakfast at a McDonalds along the way although this particular
McDonalds was more like a Panera Bread with danishes and throw pillows.
Dad went for a couple cinnamon rolls and I had a sausage mcmuffin (on
whole wheat)!
one being the Great Belt Bridge which has the third longest main
span of any bridge and is the longest span of any bridge outside of
Asia. It's a biiiiiiiig bridge.
Djurs Sommerland was a very nice park sort of out in
the country and it was a bit on the crowded side. Nothing too bad but
since we were on a tight schedule it did cramp our style a bit. Well,
it cramped my style. The park felt like a big park with rides and it was
laid out that the themed areas (Pirates, Central American jungle,
American West, African Jungle, etc.) formed a ring around an enormous
open area with play structures, hundreds of trampolines both for
individuals or large groups, swings of varying size, pedal powered cars,
slides, and lots of other things that would have been tremendously fun
if I was ten years old. I did jump on a trampoline or two though. As
for the rides I only had time for a couple laps on each of the four
coasters before we had to move on. Thor's Hammer was a fun freeform wil
mouse type ride that had some rough spots. Treasure Island was a water
coaster that had some steeps twisting dives before splashing down into a
big lagoon. Dad rode this one with me and enjoyed it. Jewel was a
launched coaster themed to riding in an ATV and Dad rode this one with
me too. It was a very surprising ride as I didn't expect it to go as
fast as it did but it really gained a lot of power coming out of the
second launch and you really haul tail through the second half of the
ride. Dad loved it but was done for the day after that. Fortunately he
rode Pirate first, the park's standout coaster and my main reason for
hitting this park. It's only 100 feet high but it packs a crazy punch
into those hills and turns. It was easily a top ten ride for me and may
even end up in my top three and being that at the time I rode it I was
at 310 roller coasters ridden, it was a very good ride indeed!
After we left Djurs Sommerland we were going to
attempt to get to Farup Sommerland which was supposed to be a little
under two hours away but a combination of google maps drive time
estimates being too optimistic, and an apparent language barrier in
Frederikshavn where we would be dropping the rental off, taking a cab
into town, and catching the ferry made me decide that we just wouldn't
have enough time at the park if we wanted to actually be on the ferry
and we should just get to Frederikshavn and play it safe. And as
predicted Frederikshavn was not very English friendly despite being a
major port town. We had a very tough time finding the rental place even
though I had mapped it out we still had to circle a few times before we
found it - it was in a Volvo dealership - and the man had left for the
day. So we left our keys with a salesman who we also had to have
arrange a taxi come pick us up and take us to the ferry. And then began a
series of "coulda had a V8" blunders where we were forgetting things or
losing things so we figured we must be very hungry and tired so we
walked from the ferry terminal into the downtown which was pretty
deserted and our options seemed to be Italian or Mexican - there were
three Italian-Mexican places doing business. So we found one and had a
pizza each and felt a lot better. Every trip has its nadir and hopefully
Frederikshavn was ours.
The ferry to Sweden was enormous! I have never been
on a ship that big. As we were walking back we were astounded by how
many trucks and cars were lined up to drive on, I still have no idea how
they all fit. The top three decks were for passengers with the topmost
one being open air. There were restaurants, bars, a game room with
ping pong and foosball, a small movie theater, cabins, a large duty free
shop where people were purchasing huge amounts of alcohol so much so
that when we were disembarking we saw one family carrying their two
sleeping children while they used the stroller to carry out at least
twenty cases of beer. We figured perhaps they were selling itor were
stocking up for a couple years but with how much people were buying,
perhaps alcohol in Sweden is taxed at a very high rate. It does appear
from our receipts that sales tax on general merchandise and food is 25%.
Yes, twenty-five. But that it also is included in the price so there
isn't an awful shock when you get rung up.
We found a couple chairs by the window and promptly
fell asleep. I woke up before Dad and decided to go explore a bit and
get a snack. The top deck was very slippery and my feet went out from
under me and I landed on my back. Fortunately I had my backpack on so
that cushioned the blow a bit but it hurt. I sat up with a lot of eyes
on me so I gave them a friendly wave and got back up on my feet.
We pulled into Gotherburg at about 11:20
and caught a street car into the downtown area where our hotel was.
The Hotel Robinson which was part of a 1920s Parisian themed complex.
The Hotel Robinson rooms were the ones that hadn't been renovated or
were more bare bones than the Palace Hotel and Hotel Pigalle but they
all shared the same common areas that were all very nice. Our room was a
good size as well so we laid in our beds and to sleep we went.
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