Legoland

Main gate

Vicki

New Harbor, Copenhagen

Ribe, old Danish west coast town

Stave church

Brygge, Bergen

Holland

After the watery rides, you can dry yourself off in one of these for 20 kroner

The US was very well represented

Me misbehaving with the dance hall girl in western Legoland

Wat Po, really Thai'd things together (running gag)

Vikings of the Caribbean

In the enormous Legoland store

Legoland trash can

Last ones in the parking lot

Part of the Lego factory

Megalithic Jutland, and More

On July 25 we drove north, not to Arhus, but to Aalborg and a couple megalithic sites there. First was the Trollkirken, out in the countryside west of Aalborg, an impressive ship-shape tumulus with a big dolmen atop. Then the Viking cemetery, Lindstrom Hoje, near town. Near Aalborg. It too was impressive in its size and scope, pretty much bronze/Viking age. Then we drove south and near to Arhus (which we never visited) and another tumulus and stone circle, topped by a dolman, the Poskar Stenus. It was unusual in that the dolmen was not centered in the circle.

Later that afternoon, we crossed more of Jutland to visit another historic building site, Legoland, which turned out to be quite amusing and interesting. We camped—our last site in Scandinavia for a while—near Jelling.

Me on the Trollkirken, Troll Church, a ship-shape stone tumulus with big
dolmen

Trollkirken in perspective; pretty large

Vicki at the bow

Map of Viking cemetery, Lindholm Hoje

Smidgeon of the cemetery

Female sites are circular or oval in shape

Male sites are triangular or ship-shaped

1,000 years of Danish history (Vicki hates these shots)

The tumulus/dolmen at Poskaer Stenus

View of Poskaer Stenus

Why there are so few sites left...

Driving Sweden,Tanum, and Denmark

July 22-24 we drove on through more of northeastern Sweden, then at last into familiar Uppsala and then west, initially toward Oslo, then Goteborg, again on a familiar road, stopping, the 23rd, to see the World Heritage rock carvings site at Tanum and environs. We camped the 23rd at a rest area north of Halmstad, on west coast now.

On trhe 24th, in Halmstad, we had the Grey Wanderer serviced: oil change, filter, fuel filters, wheels rotation, etc. $900. OK, the Sprinter requires 14 quarts of oil, synthetic oil. But we also had to pay Swedish wages, roughly twice those in the US, and, of course, it was a Mercedes dealer again. We've been pretty happy with Mercedes, except when it comes time to pay. The camper's still in warranty, however.

We then took the familiar Helsingborg/Helsingor ferry, back to Denmark and drove on across Denmark to Jutland, which we had pretty much skipped going north, stopping for a time at the world's busiest McD. Total kid bedlam, despite which we did some internet work. McD's has been our standard free wifi site throughout Scandinavia, when we could find them. We camped at a rest area near Arhus.

The Tanum sites are all Bronze Age, 1500-500BC; much
more developed art; the museum had a Bronze Age village 
exhibit that was very interesting

Famous boat scene

Fleet

The Lovers, also very famous

Lovers, in perspective...a wedding?

The Spear God, one of very few life-
size depictions; precursor to Odin?

Menacing figures

Mounted figures

A number of figures, such as this warrior, were unpainted, but
easier to find in the light rain

Horse

Unpainted boat

Others

Big hands; the phallic stuff was much in evidence;
very, very few depictions of women

Love that Swedish sense of humor!

Back to Sweden: Gammalstad

July 21 was a day of driving, from south of Hetta, Finland, to Lake Angerjons, south of Umea, Sweden, off the Bay of Bothnia, Baltic Sea. Near Hetta was a major snowmobiling site. Terrain, mixed pine and aspen, rolling hills, sandy soil, lakes, creeks, rivers, more lakes. Many reindeer on or near road, very docile. Great souvenir store, much Sami, in Sonkamuotka, “Arctic Knife.” Stimulated local economy. Drove on into Sweden, near Muonio, mostly E4 and tributaries. Stopped at Gammelstad, old village and church, UNESCO, 3 star, near Lulea. Gammalstad is important as a well preserved market town...the church at the town center, with houses radiating out along the paths to distant villages. The villagers used these houses to stay in on market weekends, then return home. Gammalstad has scores of the them, preserved for centuries. In any case, a long day of driving, stopping finally, at Lake Angerjons south of Umea at 10PM.

Gammalstad 14th century church Pulpit Font, said to be much older than church Gammalstad houses Houses and church We also saw one of the old foundry towns Vicki hates these "old/new" shots I do 

Lapp Tops

Snowmobiling in Finland

Signage very similar to ours

Crossing signs near border with Norway

Finnish trail markers

Give way?

Warming hut? (no sauna?)

We enjoyed watching the sun bounce along the horizon...but then 

it sank beneath the trees...oh well, too far south already

On to Finland

July 20, we awoke atop the North Cape amid a gale and white-out, the camper rocking and rolling in wind. (It's a full size campground up here, the parking lot, that is; no hook-ups though). We had to stick around till 11 to return Vicki's T-shirt at the gift shop.

We then drove south off the blustery and cloudy Cape to increasingly mild and sunny weather, first off the coastline, then the barren uplands, then a beautiful valley and large creek, then into Alta, where we re-fueled and re-provisioned. Then we headed inland on route 93, forsaking our old friends E6, and E10 and E69, up a long beautiful canyon and creeks, then into an upland lakes country, and the finally onto the vast northern Scandinavian plain. The hills are rolling, the trees are almost entirely scrubby aspen, and there are lakes everywhere. We had dinner overlooking one of ythese and then headed on, into Finland, about 6PM. We camped at a nice Finnish rest area, in the midst of serious snowmobile country: signs and trails everywhere. We had read that the reindeer head to the coastal areas in the summer, but we saw three big ones by the side of the road just into Finland, near Hetta, south of which we are camped. And then more.

Watched the sun, alas, set, although at midnight it was still full above the horizon. A hill-line in the distance spoiled our view.

Among the hazards of driving up north

Reindeer husbandry in Finland (what about wifery? Vicki asks)

It's our road, he seems to be saying

Rack

We eventually nudged them to one side; they're not exactly terrified of people

or vehicles

Vicki adds:

Hetta, Finland-- July 20, 2009

We just left Norway an hour ago, headed south to Paris. We loved Norway and could have spent another 3 weeks easily. We decided to go north to the Lofoten Islands which have to be one of the most gorgeous places in the world—see Mark's blog for pictures and details. Then when we found out my cousin wasn't going to be in Brussels for us to visit, we decided—what the hay—let's go to the North Cape. A place we had never heard of before 2 weeks ago, but it is the furthest northern point in Europe and a very popular destination for Europeans. (Be sure to look on an atlas and see how amazingly far north this is!) It was a mere 600 miles round trip out of the way, but then we knew we would never get this close again. It also allowed us to stop at another Unesco World Heritage Site—the rock carvings in Alta. Both were really cool, and tonight we are wild camping again and staying up till midnight to see the midnight sun. At the Cape last night, we could only see the midnight sun reflection due to the constant cloud bank over the Arctic Ocean. But given that it was the Arctic Ocean that is to be expected.

For those of you interested in the practical, we have wild camped the last 10 nights, staying for free at roadside pullouts and parks. Usually there are several other campers and even tenters, but not always. This is a huge wilderness area and very sparsely populated mostly by the Sami (Lapplander) people. Staying for free has been especially important as it costs about $150 for every fill up—or $ .30 a mile for diesel. We haven't had much in admission prices but that has been balanced out by the cost of the ferry boats. The Arctic Menu featured here of reindeer stew, cod, salmon also hasn't been that attractive—we haven't eaten out at all basically since the smorgasbord on the ship to Helsinki. Dinner for two would be at least $100 for a very basic meal. At the ESSO station they are having a special—two hot dogs and a small coke for only 49 kroners--$7.50.

I did have lunch at Burger King a few days ago—double cheeseburger, med. fry and small coke for $10. I asked the counter girl what she made-- $20 an hour. To start a person would make no less than $15. So that puts the prices into perspective. Basically a minimum wage worker in the US would have to work about 50 minutes to pay for that meal in the US and have no health benefits and probably no paid vacation or sick leave. In Scandinavia they would only have to work 40 minutes and get free health care and a month's paid vacation plus sick leave. That is why they have such an overall high standard of living and very little crime or poverty. Of course, they probably don't have the percentage of really high incomes that the US does because taxes are so high to pay for all the benefits. So basically the “socialism” that many in the US are so afraid of just means that the rich have a little less so that there isn't any poverty and all who work have the dignity of a living wage. Awful isn't it? I will get off my soapbox now.

It is 2200 miles from the North Cape to Paris where we pick up Rebecca on July 29 so we have to hustle.