Skansen Hotel Bastad

Hallo!<br>Didn't do a great deal today. I slept in then took the train to Helsingor which is about 45 minutes away and saw Kronborg castle (the castle used in Hamlet), alot of construction work going on the restore it. Right across the water you can see Sweden. It is still a little strange to me how close everything is. The two train tickets cost me 50 dollars! Then I went and gorged myself on a 30 dollar Asian Buffet. I still feel like I am going to split ...

After deciding in Ljubljana to finish my trip and come home I thought that I would make the most of my next few weeks and go to Austria for a few days and then up to Denmark to see all my family and family friends. This idea was scrapped when I found out that I had to physically be in Brisbane on the 20th of March to hand in some papers so that I could resume university for the year. Because of this, I had to fly out of Denmark on the 15th of March because they were the only ...

Visited Kronborg castle in Helsingor. Blown away by the conditions the soldiers had to put up with. Also saw a statue of "Ogier the Dane" down in the depths of the castle. The legend goes that he is sleeping down there and will come up to protect Denmark in times of national crisis. Same theme as King Arthur with England. Awesome statue though.

After a well deserved sleep and a yummy traditional Danish breakfast of smor (bread thickly buttered with a slice of cheese or thin slices of dark chocolate on top), Aunty Phen and I walked to Aalsgarde Train Station and caught the train to Helsingoer the next town to Aalsgarde. From Helsingoer we caught a ferry directly to a town called Helsinborg in Sweden - the ferry ride itself is only 20 ...

This Friday was Swedish National Day or Swedish Flag Day. It is sort of like meant to be the 4th of July in Sweden, but the holiday is so new that few traditions have been ingrained yet to make it really exciting. So instead of just hanging around at home on this free day from work Staffan and I decided to visit Sofiero Slott. Sofiero Slott is a castle that the King and Queen of Sweden once called their home and lies on the coast facing Denmark. They have beautiful Rhododendron flowers ...

29-May Denmark (Helsingør &amp; Hillerød) Today we switched hotels. The new one is nice and not far away from the train station. It is not the Radisson however it will work for a couple of nights. We decided today to go see "Hamlet's castle" in Helsingør which is a hour's train ride north of Copenhagen. The real name of the castle is Kronborg and it was a fortress for ...

... ride directly across the sound from Helisingborg and is the setting for Skakespeare's Hamlet. It's part of Denmark, but you can clearly see it from the Swedish side. I think it was the shortest border I've ever crossed between two countries that are not land connected.

... me the paper notes, and assured me that it was the regular currency used everywhere in Sweden, and there would be no difficulty with it. Seeing from his face that he was an honest straightforward fellow, I rolled them up and pocketed them - but not before noticing in small type the startling announcement that "Whosoever alters or forges this note shall be hanged!" I am no advocate for capital punishment; but the northern simplicity and honesty of this notice provokes a smile ...

... and went down to the harbour where Hans Christian Anderson had a house. Bought takeaways, and got ********d. As you do in Copenhagen. I think around 10 or 12 beers later, plus a few roadies in my bag, we left. Went to a Middle Eastern smorgasbord, nobody would sit near us, I think it was the way we were eating, plus we were maggoted !!! Somehow, we took the slow train/ferry crossing back, and there were no buses. So we asked a few taxis, and they were ...