SCANNING SCANDINAVIA

Part 1 - Denmark and into Sweden

This structure was built by twomen only and is a staggering sight both inside and out. We visited the Arken museum, which was designed to resemble Noah's Ark washed up on a beach south of Copenhagen, housing modern art and sculpture. We drove north in Zealand passing many beautiful and ultramodern homes set in superb gardens. Believe it or not, in one particular area, when front-line homes become vacant, they are bought up by the government and demolished to provide more and more open space and views over the sea for the common people to enjoy. We drove to tiny fishing villages where Danes have their holiday homes bordering the sea with small jetties and sundecks adjacent to the houses.

Our host drove us past an old peoples' home on the outskirts of town and mentioned to us that two thirds of the residents there have Aids. Very sad.(see end of article) We came down with a bump when we joined our group in our hotel, which was supposed to be near the town centre of Copenhagen. It was actually in a sort of industrial wasteland called City 2 and our hotel was in the midst of office blocks and high-density apartment blocks.

City 2 was built up to be the second "Copenhagen" but has become a white elephant. We had imagined that Hoje Taastrup, the name of the area, was a town, but no luck. However, we did have one little bright spot, when we walked over to a large hypermarket and I ordered two hot chocolates with cream. The gorgeous little waitress took the order but told us when she proffered the drinks, that, as they had no cream, would we like some free pastries! Furthermore, she refused to let us pay for anything!! One up for Scotland. So the moral is, be sure to order something they don't have. Downtown Copenhagen is, of course, superb. The Nyhaven area is teeming with cafes, bistros, restaurants, and is on the harbourside full of yachts and craft of very type. Lovely! Our official guide with the package was tall, blond, very vivacious and knowledgeable. more or less in that order! All the men in the group learnt a lot by concentrating avidly on her every word. 

We drove through an area of the town called Christiania which is a no go area to police as I understood it. It is full of folks who have opted out and who like to breathe in substances from South America. There are many artists and sculptors living there too. Interesting experiment. We were encouraged to have a walk through and chat to some of the denizens. We opted out. We were taken to a fascinating museum housing five Viking ships which had been found in an area which was then drained off to allow the remains of the ships to be removed and reconstructed. Very impressive as some of them were well over 100 feet long. The Vikings certainly got around, raping and pillaging all over the place. It also appears that they landed in what is now America long before Columbus. Amazing what you pick up from your tour guide !! Apparently the word 'viking' is pronounced 'Veeeking' and simply means going on a journey. Some journey. 

Cars in Denmark tend to be fairly ordinary. This is partly due to the horrendous tax of 200% levied on all car imports. I noted that petrol was cheap at around 50p per litre. Danes are laid back, friendly, talkative, and of course they all speak beautiful English. All in all, an intriguing place where there is elbowroom due to the 5m population in a country about the size of England.

 We travelled by our very own coach over to Sweden by ferry and re-assembled on Swedish soil in order to drive across the country to our next destination - Stockholm. En route we were taken to various places of interest including a complete village made up of houses, shops, police station, bank, all from the 19th century. Very atmospheric. Car-wise, well, lots of Volvos, Saabs and so on, as you can imagine, and Mercedes by the bucketful and plenty of Japanese imports. 

Ando and I had a superb lunch in a restaurant called The Orient Express. Yes, you've guessed it - it looks like a train. We ate in a sort of Pullman carriage, very well appointed and plush. Great food, but the only downside was that the loos were out of bounds as the train was stationary! We bade farewell to our coach and driver when we boarded the overnight ferry to Tallinn in Estonia.

Ken Baker