Sat, 19 Jul 2003

author Tim	location Malmö, Skåne, Sverige
posted 22:30 CEST	section Europe2002/Europe/Sverige/Sverige 1 ( all photos )

Around Malmö ( 4 photos )
(Continued from Danmark 1)
And so, we were heading for our third country in two days, Sverige, which most of us know as Sweden. Home to Volvos (seen plenty already), Ericsson, and of course the famous Swedish Chef, this one is going to be fun. This site is supposed to have lots of interesting information on the country, if you have time to read a bit more.
Continuing over the bridge, the signs suddenly changed colour, we needed to learn a new set of speed limits, and oh look, another currency. I really do appreciate just how much the Euro helps tourists out - it must have been a complete pain to change money at every border. Of all of Scandinavia, only Finland uses the Euro, the other countries use their own versions of the Krone - hence we now have Danish Krone and Sverige Krone, with more to come.
So, you can imagine our relief when arriving at the toll gate at the other side, we were able to pay in Euro, which we still have some of. Mind you, at once again the equivalent of about AUD $60, we aren't going to be making too many of these crossings.
We stopped just along the road at SkŒnegŒrden, a tourist office designed for people entering from Danmark, which is exactly what we were doing. A quick look around and a coffee later, we had a destination in mind for the night's stop and to get our bearings in a foreign land - Sibbarps Camping, on the beach looking back at the bridge and København.
A much faster than yesterday check-in process completed, we were directed to a field and told to pick a spot. We did so against a tree, with views of the sunset behind the bridge in one direction and open green space on the other. Very nice indeed.
We wandered along the beach for the afternoon, and I was even brave enough to go in for a couple of swims up and down the beach. The water was chilly, but warmer than the last few times we have thought about jumping in. It turned out to be one of the most refreshing experiences in ages, and we are hoping to do it again tomorrow morning.
Dinner and a few photos of the bridge/tunnel and sunset later, bed is calling.

author Tim	location Malmö, Skåne, Sverige
posted 21:59 CEST	section Europe2002/Europe/Danmark/Danmark 1 ( all photos )

Across Denmark, Into Sweden ( 1 photo )
This morning we got updated with journals and photos for a while, before checking out of the caravan park. The place was quite well catered for, with large jumping hemispheres (for want of a better word) for kiddies, and a crazy-looking game called Snooker-Golf.
We got on the road, and headed East towards Sweden. Since we don't want to spend too much time (and hence money) in Scandinavia, we are heading up through the more distant countries first, then spending time in places like Danmark on the way back as we see fit.
It is only relatively recently that bridges have been built joining parts of southern Scandinavia together - we drove across several of these today.
The first joins Danmark's islands of Jutland and Funen, arriving at the amusingly-named town of Middelfart where we stopped for a quick break and a photo of the sign. From there, we basically followed the motorway further East, crossing the bridge joining Funen and Zealand. This one was the first where we got hit with the amazingly steep toll of about AUD $75! I guess that's not too bad compared to a ferry, but still...
We were pushing it on fuel just outside København (Copenhagen), so pulled in for a very quick look around the outskirts looking to fill up. We did so, and intend to get back and spend at least a couple of there on our way back through.
From there, we drove onto the newest of the bridges (opened 2000), the Øresund Fixed Link. This is a bizarre combination bridge-tunnel where you go underground for the first third or so, only to appear in the middle of the sea, drive up onto a bridge and continue the remainder of your water crossing above water! This amused us no end, and is actually a very picturesque feat of engineering.
Half way across this bridge, we were officially in Sverige (Sweden).

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