Wake Up in Sweden, Sleep in Germany

We tried to leave quietly, but our host was watching and came outside to say goodbye (it was 10 AM, we were not sneaking out in the dark).

View from backyard of B&B. Note town in background and vineyard in front.

In the course of our long farewell, we learned that he is an officer in the Danish Army and will be leaving for six months in Afghanistan, in a couple of weeks. The main weight on the family right now is their au pair -- she doesn't speak enough English to meet their needs and they need a new one immediately. Becca said she wouldn't be available for another seven months. She is probably not the right one for the job anyway. In the car later, we lamented that it was our country that got everyone into Afghanistan 18 years ago and now this man in Sweden has to leave his family for 6 months because of us, sort of.

Muscovy ducks at the end of their street. A domesticated breed not native to Sweden.

The navigation system was necessary, but sometimes inscrutable.

We stopped for brunch in Malmo at a cafe that Jon found online.  It was not immediately clear to us what the system was, but there was no table service at all. You just go back into the kitchen, pay about $20 for the buffet and a drink and then you just go down this wonderful counter of homemade food and pick out what you want. Becca figured out what was going on when she saw other diners emerging from the back with full plates.  There were homemade jams and biscuits and a lot of cheeses, yogurt, meats, cereals, juices, baked savory tarts, a delicious mixed berry crumble.  They can just cook whatever they want and keep changing the menu as they like. R. said it was like we were eating their leftovers (not in a bad way, she loves leftovers) -- whatever they wanted to cook in the kitchen. It was kind of like a market style CSA for brunch.  You just find what there is, pick out what you want, it is all good. This was our third restaurant meal in Sweden. We only ate out once in Norway.  At every single restaurant everywhere, there are no disposable dishes or cutlery.  When you buy street food, the cutlery is made of wood.

Not only are there two people
in this carrier, but one of
them is an adult male.

Back across the bridge to Denmark, they dropped me off at a bus stop with the luggage and went to return the car. I was a bag lady at the bus stop, knitting. I consulted my phone for instructions on the looser method for binding off and I paid no attention to all the people biking and walking past.

A family that rides together...boy in front on first bike, girl in back on second.

The bus loaded on time and we were off to Hamburg. I finished knitting Rebecca's scarf, finally, and got it off the needles.

Just right for the winter.

The miles just flew by, and no one got car sick.

Just out of curiosity, I asked Jon what the route was and he looked on his phone and discovered that we might be taking a ferry.  One more exciting mode of public transportation.  The ferry was huge -- it held many buses and full sized tractor trailers.  They made everyone get out of the vehicles and go up to the deck for eating and shopping and walking around. It was 45 minutes across the Baltic Sea (? or some other body of water) to Germany. We shared a plate of currywurst and fries, but we skipped the giant scoop of mayonnaise.  R. said we have now eaten the quintessential dish of Germany and we can check that off.

It was too dark to take pictures outside so here we are eating the currywurst.

Arrived in Hamburg at 7:45, scrambled to navigate to our next apartment because the host was anxious to go out and had been trying to text us, unsuccessfully.  Got on the subway, went the right direction, got off at the right station, walked in the right direction and arrived at the apartment (four flights up) on time.  Phew.  Another young man who is renting out his spacious and fully furnished home and going to stay at his girlfriend's for a few days. It is such a funny sequence, moving into people's houses and having them go stay somewhere else. But they seem very happy with the arrangement and they give us appreciative reviews, inviting us back.

Rebecca just read that Hamburg is the second largest city in Germany, it's the one that Germans most like to visit, and it has more bridges than London, Venice and Amsterdam combined! That is incredible. This must be a huge city with a vast network of canals.