Day 33 – Thursday, June 29

Ugh, 2:30am wakeup for our 6:10 KLM1976 flight to AMS. The taxi was waiting, we were a little early, checked out and off we went to the airport in a nice Tesla Model Y. About 40€, but worth it. We paid the 2 extra nights and breakfast meals with Thomas’ business rate.

We stumbled on the Sky Priority check in for AirFrance and KLM together. There were lots of lines at 4 in the morning for all kinds of flights. Easy-peasy and bags all checked into LAS, flight KLM635. Security scanning was a little long, but later on in the day we only could assume that it would get worse! A blessing that we moved to an earlier flight, we think.

The flight took off on time for our 45 minute flight to AMS and we arrived right on time. We had to exit via a people-mover bus thing and had to exit through EU passport control. The line there wasn’t too bad as well. We found the KLM lounge at area 52 and had a nice breakfast of pancakes and eggs and coffee. The lounge is huge, 2 stories, with a bar and lounge up top.

Flight KLM635 boarded at 11:44am. Ten hours later, we arrived in Las Vegas right on time, about 2:00 pm MDT. Processing through customs and passport control with the Global Access pass was a piece of cake. Our luggage was waiting for us!

It was a bit of a wait for the auto shuttle pickup to appear, but we made it and the Subaru CrossTrek that we chose was our ticket home. Not our favorite vehicle, but it worked and we had dinner at Gregory’s in the Mesquite Eureka Casino steak house. We were home about 8pm, quickly unpacked the basic stuff and headed for bed.

The long day today worked out with no issues, we were blessed!

Day 32 – Wednesday, June 28

Breakfast in the Port restaurant and we have 11-11:30 am tour times at the Miniatur Wunderland tour! We took the number #2 bus and arrived at 10:00 am, too early for our time window. We took the opportunity to try the Kaffeemusuem Burg just down the road. It was a worthwhile detour, with lots of coffee history.

The Wunderland tour was just as intense as the Maritime museum, lots of very tiny events, organized by country. Too much energy spent in miniature, but it is a Mecca for train aficianados. Lunch was at a little Italian bistro around the corner, pizza!

We purchased the river cruise combo ticket and had time to visit St. Nikola’s church, damaged during the Allied bombing of WWII.

We jumped on the river cruise as we took the U3 back to the hotel, a very hot boat ride with no breeze. But, we received a text that our KLM1778 flight was CANCELLED! Later on, they rebooked on KLM1776, at 6:10 am, ouch! Taxi pickup at 3:30 tomorrow morning from the hotel.

Day 31 – Tuesday, June 27

We slept in late, 7:30 or so. Breakfast was included in the trip package. We met Grant and Lyn, Dick and Kay (had breakfast with them) and Sandy met Nick and Kay and Rod and Ann briefly as well.

Nice to have a shower and bath close by!

Day 30 – Monday, June 26

A hectic early morning with RV supply box packed, last showers, beds stripped and all returned to Thomas. We were the first to arrive at the campsite and the furthest away from the return ‘center’ for the RV return supplies, go figure. Final cassette dump and grey water dump in the funky grey water mobile cart system they had.

Off by 8:30 to the rental station, we swear we took the scenic by-ways route and we all made it. I was 2 ticks above 1/2 tank of diesel, just as we picked up the RV. Again, the checkin was a random process and all vehicles were inspected and paperwork completed. We mentioned the AC repair problem and the service in Lillehammer that took care of the temporary fix. We should be reimbursed the 300 Swedish Kroner, we think. We made NO mention of the ‘slight’ bump with Allen and Bev’s rig and they didn’t notice, when they opened and closed the shade awning! Don’t volunteer information! The rental agency charged people for window rock chip damage, the bumper mishap with Dick and Kay’s vehicle, they seemed to look for things to charge the renter with.

All were checked out by 10:30 and we were on the way to the hotel by 11am. The destination was the Hotel Hafen Hamburg for our farewell dinner and last sleep in Hamburg. Everyone has varying departure flights tomorrow, we leave on Thursday.

Luckily, our room, 30318 was ready. We remembered the hotel from our trip on the first day, so we took the stairways down to the BlockBraü for lunch. We managed to overload the elevator with the 2 of us and Leigh and Charlie and all of our suitcases, it was comedic. The hefe-weizen was pretty good. A change from the pils we’ve had for the past month. A quick afternoon nap and shower, we bypassed the river boat cruise and the hop-on hop-off bus trip. The gathering time for dinner was 5:45pm

Dinner was at restaurant down on the wharf, a ’10 minute’ walk. We had a nice final gathering, and the food and service were great.

Day 29 – Sunday, June 25

We drove from Strukkamphuk to Lübeck to visit the old city and the founding area of marzipan. Our start time was 8:15 and we were off. First stop was at a gas station for the final diesel and Ad-Blue topoff. We spent about 13€ for about 2500 miles of travel, not too bad.

Lübeck is beautiful, full of the Hanseatttic league history. We had lunch at the Niederegger marziapan store and had a great walking tour of the city before-hand. Lots of history and several churches to stroll by. St. Mary’s was most impressive. The dessert cake lunch was amazing, we are loaded down with treats for folks back home.

We arrived at Camping Lübeck by 2pm. Today is our last day, so we did have the afternoon to pack, cleanup and have the 5pm (6pm) happy hour pizza dinner. A warm and humid day and evening, could be worse … could be raining. A five star camping resort – nope. The refrigerator is empty and the suitcases are packed. Lots of stories to tell and future tales to look forward to.

Call time is 8:30 am tomorrow.

Day 28 – Saturday, June 24

We left camp at 8:15 am. This was a long day of 244km (152 miles). We are traveling from Denmark back into Germany.

We tool a Scandlines SeaFARE ferry from Denmark into Germany with tickets scheduled for 2:15 and 2:45 pm. We all made the 2:15, boarding around 1:45 or so for a 45 minute sail. The morning drive was through the country side, there must be a quicker way to the ferry!

We arrived at Camping Strukkamphuk, a huge camping area. It had a beach and a beach bar! We sampled new tonic waters and new gins, see the photos!

6:30 pm dinner was hosted by Thomas in the ‘Wind and Sea’ restaurant, delicious hunter style schnitzel for both of us. Apple strudel and some strange Greek dessert for me!

Day 27 – Friday, June 23

A call time of 9:00am, glorious! First Camp Björkäng in Varberg was one of the nicer campgrounds we have been at, lots of facilities and lots of space. Showers with no steam and humidity, what a concept!

We were headed from Björkäng to Hornbæk in Denmark via the ForSea ferry, a 25 minute ride. We decided to skip the Kronborg Slot castle tour and spend a day relaxing at the campground. Well … the campground at didn’t open until 2pm and we arrived at noon, go figure.

We had a nice lunch in the RV, I played some radio as OZ/K6WDE and checked in at 2pm, bread ordered for tomorrow morning and laundry tokens purchased. The mini Super Antenna is great in concept, but tough to implement, I think I prefer the 40 meter EFHW. I will just travel with the TACMini SOTA portable mast from SOTABeams.

Laundry all done, the Miele machines made in Germany are very efficient, but decoding the washing and drying instructions is a real challenge. We had a nice lady help us out.

The rest of the group arrived right about 4pm and the dinner Thomas and George BBQ was a great success. The German beer tasting and samples provided by George were a hit too. The chocolate and vanilla ice cream and the Loiten Linie Aquavit provided by Allen didn’t hurt either!

Call time tomorrow is 8:30am and includes a 45 minute ferry ride into Germany.

Day 26 – Thursday, June 22

An 8 am calltime, hurry up and shower and dump the grey water and fill with fresh water. We had more grey water than I thought!

Our trip was long, over 200 miles today. Our first stop was at the visit the city of Fredrikstad, Norway’s oldest fortified city. Nothing was open, we though about skipping it, we should have. This is a long day.

We continued through the customs and border crossings into Sweden with no issue, just drive across the border.

Our next stop was the amazing Rock Carvings of Tanum, a UNESCO world heritage site. Amazing artwork, a cafe with limited selection, we keep waiting for a full service kafe. No luck today, we settled on ‘hot dogs’ with lukewarm pepsi. The rock ‘paintings’ (not carvings) were amazing and the color preserved over time.

Our destination campground, First Camp Björkäng in Varberg is a part of the chain that Thomas likes to use. On the internet, every dog is a big dog! It is next to the beach, sort of. Today is a potluck, bring what you have, because we are wrapping up the trip!

Day 25 – Wednesday, June 21, Summer Solstice

Breakfast was scrambled eggs, up at 6pm for an 8:30 am departure for a morning bus ride to the city of Oslo and a tour of the downtown area.

The tour was beautiful, and toured Vigeland Sculpture Park, the Fram Polar Exploration museum and a nice hosted lunch by Thomas. By the time lunch was over, it was starting to rain and the 5pm meeting point at the City Hall for the public transportation walk, was looking wet.

We started in the rain, not sure of what to do, and picked up Lee and Charlie, on the way to the Tjuvholmen bus depot to pick up line 42 to the Bogstad Camping drop off. Thomas was going to meet everyone at 5pm, and then walk to the line 42 pickup. We decided to press on and stumbled on the bus, luckily at about 4pm, and made it back to camp about 5pm. The bus was packed. A fellow local passenger mentioned the rain messed with the passenger load. It rained for quite a while and dinner, which we though we could find in town, was a nice salad back in the RV. We are getting done with cooking in the RV.

Call time tomorrow is 8am, with a long drive ahead of us back into Sweden.

Day 24 – Tuesday, June 20

Start time today was 8am with a long day of travel from Roldal to Oslo of 199 miles (320km). The morning was cool and rainy and drizzly, you could hear the rain on the RV during the evening, not hard, just a gentle rainy noise.

The trip was long and challenging with the rain and fog. We traveled over the alpen tundra plateau on the Svandalsflonatunnelen on E134 in the Hauikelivegan one more time before descending to treeline and eventually sea level. Again the waterfalls were amazing, but the highlight for me was the road construction bypass that we took as work was ongoing in the tunnel. The lakes were still frozen and the fog and rain added to the views. It was like you were in Lord of the Rings or Vikings. Amazing.

We travelled to the Heddal Stave church, one of 28 stave churches still remaining and standing. It was built around 1200 and has amazing architecture. We arrived for lunch and a 1pm tour.

From the church it was a long drive to TopCamp Bogstad, in Oslo, another of the chain that we stayed it. It was huge but well put together. We couldn’t have been further away from the bathroom and washroom facilities though. Traffic was rush hour Oslo and was a real challenge!

Dinner, we tried, at the the Golf Pro Shop across the street from the camp, but even though we called, were refused seating because of 2 private functions. We had 4 people and 6 others from the caravan came in after we arrived. We persuaded them to purchase ‘take-away’ of 2 hamburgers and lasagna. The reception and service left a really bad taste in my mouth, I take it that we were Americans and not really their cup of tea. Oh well, their loss.

A nice gathering of folks after dinner, nice to hear other’s stories of the bath and washroom facilities!

Tomorrow’s call time is 8:30 am for a tour of Oslo!

Day 23 – Monday, June 19

Today was a ‘short’ drive from Bergen to Røldal. Call time was 8:30am and off we went through the countryside arriving at the ferrry across the fjord to Utne from Kvanndal. The ferry took about 20 minutes and we were loaded pretty quickly. Two of us did not fit on the ferry, George stood back with Allen and Bev. We were packed in pretty tightly, the dock workers telling us where to load.

After the quick trip, we took our time unloading and Sandy helped me clear the right side of the vehicle from the ship.

Lots of beautiful waterfalls and tunnels to the campground at Roldal Hyttegrund. It is not quite on the lake but in a nice ski looking meadow. We arrived by 2:45pm with time to relax until our 5pm happy hour.

Tomorrow, we travel to Oslo and dinner tonight was tacos, delicious again!

Day 21 and 22 – Saturday and Sunday, June 17/18

We left Flåm a little bit early and proceeded to the bakery in the harbor to find it overwhelmed with tourists, so we skipped the pastry and started toward Bergen.

We didn’t arrive much earlier than the group, but Grant and McCormick were already there, so we got a nice spot next to them. Everyone arrived shortly after. Some spots were not as good as others and there was lots of traffic, a very strange place on par with the first night’s campsite.

Our Saturday public bus ride into town was at 1:10 and we had a guided ‘whisper’ tour of the downtown area ending at the Fløibanen funicular. A great view location, but the Canadian wildfires gave the area of smoky view. The city tour was brutal, hot and super crowded due to concerts, city celebrations and other stuff. Very tiring!

At the 3 kroneren, we had reindeer hots dogs, they were very good!

We made it back to the campground at Bergen Camping Park. Bathroom and washing and shower facilities are ACROSS the street. The internet was fast though.

(Sunday) Washing facilities were definitely a challenge and FREE, watch out for the forward Germans! Fought them off. We were done by 8:30am with our stuff.

We had a nice relaxing Father’s Day morning with Norwegian French Toast and then headed off for some radio play time at the Tellevik coastal fort. A great view of the peninsula and the boats drifting by. Made 6 contacts as LA/K6WDE, tough copy as a QRP station, but it was expected. Dinner was the pasta we bought a while ago with the weird sauce that I picked out in another market. The salad that Sandy made was the best though!

Tommorow’s (Monday) call time is 8:30 am.

Day 20 – Friday, June 16

Another long day, with a call time of 10:15am. Our 10:45 ticket on the Flam Railway, took us to the town of Voss (after a 2nd train change with was late), where we had a nice salmon fixed plate lunch with time to walk the town. The railway took us to the Kjosfossen waterfall with a 5 minute stop for photographs. The 2nd train, the Bergensbahn from Myrdal was late, so our Voss shopping time was shortened, but the town was touristy, so there really was no loss. The scenery on the Flam Railway was truly amazing!

A bus ride followed to get to Nærøydalen fjord arm and the town of Gudvangen where we boarded the “Future of the Fjords” to return us to Flåm. The views were really stunning and the electric boat is truly state of the art. It is obviously battery operated and the charging circuits are hydroelectric driven from the city of Flåm. It is a way cool boat.

A call time of 8:30am tomorrow and dinner was at the port of Flam with a fish and chips plate. The cruse ship arrived at 7am and eft at 7pm, so the town pretty much rolled up. Our dinner was the last fish and chips!

Day 19 – Thursday, June 15

We went from our campsite in Ovre-Eidfjord to the city of Flåm. We had a pancake breakfast hosted by Thomas and George, it was delicious. A nice lesiurely pace for an 11am departure. We could not arrive before 1:30pm at Flåm Camping.

We took the toll bridge across the Hardanger Fjord, a beautiful span. There were lots of cool views of waterfalls and mirrored lakes on the 122km journey. Someone in the group mentioned that we passed through 12 tunnels on the way, the longest being the 11.4km Gudvanga (about 7.1 miles long). A couple had roundabouts INSIDE the tunnel system. One tunnel even had ‘mood’ lighting that would change from purples to blue to pinks, crazy stuff.

We arrived right about 2pm, a quick happy hour briefing about tomorrow’s all day “Norway in a Nutshell” adventure and off we went to explore the town. There was an MSC cruise ship in town and the town itself is a touristy wharf that caters to cruise passengers.

Today’s ship left at 5pm and tomorrow another is set to arrive at 7am, departing 7pm, I think.

Drinks were at the Ægir brewpub and dinner was upstairs, pork loin for me and BBQ ribs for Sandy.

Tomorrow’s activities begin at 10:15 in the campsite! A full day and another night here, we get to stay put.

Day 18 – Wednesday, June 14

A short day with a departure time of 9am from Gol to Ovre-Eidfjord. We left a few minutes early to get diesel in Gol. Our credit cards are not always the most accomodating in Norway. We seemed to have little problems in Sweden and Denmark, go figure.

Today’s drive took us through the Hardangervidda National Park to view the Norwegian plateau and the Voringfossen waterfall. Truly spectacular scenery, the Samen people souvenirs at the igloo-style huts (to early in the year for their sales …), the big yellow house and the troll on the hill, the plateau, frozen lakes and the tunnels through the mountains equal mesmorizing.

We ended at Camping Måbødalen, a place right on the highway, noisy.

Dinner was at the campground Kafe and the meals were quite good, beef and chicken stir fry, Norwegian style!

Day 17 – Tuesday, June 13

Today we left with George at 8:30am to go to Lillehammer Caravanservice AS as recommended by the Swiss folks who helped us troubleshoot the mains problem a few days ago. It turned out to be just 1.7 km from the camp and we were first in line! The 2 gentlemen diagnosed the issue as a AC fault problem, so … they disconnected the AC unit from the system and all works now! They were very reasonable and only charge 300 kroners, about $30 US. We gave them a 20€ tip and were on our way for the 9:30 departure scheduled by Thomas!

Our morning destination was the Mailhaugen museum, a collection of period buildings collected, like cars, by the collector Andres xx. Lots of preserved buildings in chronological order. Lots to see and explore. We had breakfast after the RV fix and had lunch for our 1pm departure.

The afternoon was spent traveling less than 100 miles to Camping Personbråten in Gol somewhere on the way to Bergen. A place right next to the highway, road noise and 1 men/women shower for the entire complex. The travel views were amazing on the trip and we arrived around 5:15 with a happy hour of 5:45. Tomorrow we depart at 9am!

Day 16 – Monday, June 12

We left at 8:15 from First Camp and arrived at our new campground at 5:15 pm, a very long day.

We visited the Dala Horses woodcarving first thing in the morning. A tour of the factory and the amount of horses they produce is truly outstanding. The cool part is that staff that actually paints them, work from home, not due to Covid, but because that is the way it has always been. We did some damage, dollar-wise.

We stopped for breaks, lunch and breaks before crossing into Norway in the early afternoon. On the way, in Sweden, we were car #3 and we got to see a moose, way cool. Some areas have fencing like the turtle preserve at home and some do not have anything. We saw the moose in a section with no fencing.

This was a long day of 223 miles and we arrived at Lilllehammer Camping about 5:00 pm. Total confusion about who was in which campsite. We had 3 vehicles arrive early, none of them took their assigned spots, go figure. That threw the rest of us off, because our sites and swipe cards were tied to the space that we were given!

Pizza from the pub in the campground for dinner tonight!

Day 15 – Sunday, June 11

We left Stockholm at 8:30 am on a long 321km or 199 mile trek to Rättvik. Our first stop was at the Gripsholms Slott, one of the best castles for portraits paintings of the Scandinavian rulers from the 1600’s to the present. The castle was amazing, we toured 3 levels ending with the theater room of King Gustave, III.

Right after the tour, we went rogue and made the trek through the country-side to the First Camp Camping Siljansbadet. On our way to Uppsala and Rättvik, we crossed a draw bridge and waited it out as it opened and a couple of sailboats passed right on through.

The campground is right on the lake and since we arrived at 3:40, we were able to make a 4pm appointment to use laundry facilities. We were done just in time for the 5:15 happy hour. Dinner was 6:30 in the campground restaurant. I had the fish and chips and Sandy had the pork loin, both were very good.

Still no power in the motorhome, George agrees that the GFCI has tripped into some undetermined state. He and Thomas think they have a lead, when we head into Gol, we’ll see. Tonight, the extension cord approach passed through the truck door!

Tomorrow is an even longer drive.

Day 14 – Saturday, June 10

We had the heater running in the morning but the power was knocked out shortly after it turned off. I turned it on about 4:45, it warmed up nicely, but by 6am we had no shore power, again. Thomas did his best to troubleshoot, but being Saturday, no one could service the vehicle, so he said. From here out on the trip, help may be hard to find, we’ll see. His plan is to find a guru in some of the smaller cities that we will be traveling through. George is off site as well, his main troubleshooter.

On the road by 8am to get to the Vasa Museum for a 10am private tour. The train system is extremely thorough and we arrived with no issues. We bought the senior rate day pass, it was 110krona/per.

The Vasa ship was amazing, a great tour and a must-see. We walked around the island, went back to the Old Town and stumbled on the USCG Eagle in port but giving self-paced tours. We walked the training ship and talked to the crew. A great surprise.

We had tickets for the 2 hour Stroma Under the Bridges tour at 2pm, so we grabbed lunch on the boardwalk at the Miss Behave Bar, it wasn’t too bad and we split an American Burger! We added a Fika to the boat tour, its an afternoon coffee/tea and cinammon roll break-time.

With some time on our hands, we went to the Nobel Museum, listened for just the first few minutes of the docent intro and had to bug out. As we walked to the museum, we stumbled on the end of the noon changing of the guard, it was fun and cool to watch. Twice in 2 days!

After the 2 hour boat tour, and on the way to the train station, we stopped for dinner at Operabaren OK, a restaurant we just stumbled on. The veal schnitzel was amazing and the swedish meatballs were even better. A great meal! The walk to and through the Central Station was a challenge, but with the help of a couple of guides, we made the train back to camp.

No luck troubleshooting with the main breaker, but a large group of Swiss folks on RV tour next to us, gladly jumped in a tried troubleshooting as well. They were very generous and kind and eager to help. No joy in the fix department. The Swiss folks suggested an RV repair in Lilllehammer Caravanservice AS. There is a major short/fault in the heating/refrigeration system. I am annoyed.

Day 13 – Friday, June 9

We took a leisurely drive from camp to Stockholm. It was an uneventful drive of about 85 miles and we arrived around 11:30 am. We had 2 hours to have lunch in Bredäng Camping on the outskirts of the city. Not the most efficient camp, but it has plenty of WC and shower stations in various stages of ‘quailty’.

We had a tour guide, Anna, who took us through the central portions of the city in a crowded 25 passenger van bus. Lots of things to see!

Tomorrow, as a group we have a 10 am private tour of the Vasa museum, and our call time is 8 am.

Dinner was a chicken salad, Sandy grilled the salad and I did the rest of the lettuce prep. We washed the dishes in the communal washing station, each family has their own unique styles of dishwashing.

Day 13 – Thursday, June 8

We started with a planned 8:30 departure delayed by an issue with George and the exit arm of the campground. There was some kind of issue and the arm, the motor, his RV and the Fiat RV of Grant and Lynn had an “issue”. The delay was about 15 minutes.

Our morning cruise had us headed to Gamla Linköping, a Swedish city preserved and moved from the center of town. “Where history comes alive!” It depicted life in the early 1900’s in Sweden. Bjorn was very entertaining.!

The afternoon was us heading for a quick shopping stop at Maxi in Linköping and a final destination of First Camp Kolmården. After getting diesel from Gamla, we had the number #6 vehicle tap the rear of our crank-out sunshade, with a small crack. The consensus was that the Maxi was better than the Coop!

We all arrived safely, the temperature was 17.5º C. It will be cool tonight!

Dinner was spaghetti and penne pasta.

Day 12 – Wednesday, June 7

8 am departure and we were headed to Kalmar Slott (Castle), one of the best preserved castles during the Viking period. Our tour started at 8:30 am with Oscar and he was very informative, lots of history. We were done by 10:00 am, parking expired at that time. Thomas has this stuff all dialed in. We had to park the RVs on side streets, and he pulls it all off.

Off we went through the scenic Swedish by-roads to a Moose farm rest stop in the Småland country. A little campy, but worth the stop.

Onward to the Kosta Boda glassworks for a 1pm tour departing at 2:20. Orrefors and Kosta Boda are the 2 types of glass manufactured. We experienced the ‘factory’ floor, churning out standard glassware and the creative, artistic section where artists in work create their masterpieces and hand down hand blown glass skills to their apprentices. We had high hopes that the Swedish glass would be like that in Murano, but nothing really caught our fancy. Oh well.

We opted to skip the Swedish Emigrant Institute and just relax at the campground. Today was the warmest day, we reached 27ºC (81ºF). We parked, leveled out, spread the awning and I got to play radio as SM/K6WDE. I made one contact to another portable POTA station somewhere here in Europe. I could hear lots of operators, but tough for my QRP to punch through.

Our campground and dinner stop at Evedals Camping in Växjö and was hosted by Thomas. It is a nice campground with timed shower and a fantastic dinner. Choices were fish/scnhitzel, salad/soup, creme bruelle/chocolate cake. All were winners.

We are right by a lake, a worthy stop to just spend a few days.

Day 11 – Tuesday, June 6

D-Day, 79th anniversary …

We went rogue today. With a long trip of 340 km (211 miles), we thought we would save time by just heading out from København to Kalmar and Stensö Camping.

We left at 8:30 and arrived about 2:30. A very scenic drive from Denmark through Sweden via the Øresund bridge. At km 203, we took exit #52, but got lost and ended up at the Maxi store instead of the Coop. It had everything we needed and all was good.

We are right on the Baltic Sea, a worthy stop to just spend a few days.

Dinner was Sandy’s cashew chicken with rice boiled in a bag.

Day 10 – Monday, June 5

Laundry early in the morning was a nightmare, but Sandy figured it out. The Pixel Phone is working now, go figure.

On our free day, we were ready to hit town about 10:30 or so. We knew that Tivoli opened at 11am, so we figured the train situation could get us there in plenty of time. We left our station and headed into the main central with the 24 hour pass. No one checks your tickets here either and we were quickly in the center of town.

Tivoli was across the street, we had pre-paid our tickets so, like going to a movie, we showed the bar code and were in. Tivoli is like Disneyland, Knott’s Berry Farm with rides and restaurants in different themed areas. We were hungry, so we headed to the steak place for lunch that we had seen on our bus ride. It was ok, not fantastic. I had fried fish and Sandy had the BBQ chicken. We shopped and strolled around. There is an attached food court with all styles of food that you can enter into without going into the park.

Sandy wanted to ride on the canal boats, so one of the guides suggested we walk, rather than take a taxi to the Stromma Canal tours. We took the taxi, and after the cruise, we strolled back, window shopping to Tivoli and dinner. The cruise was relaxing and we ended up at the Biergarten in Tivoli for dinner.

Back on the train and in the campground, after a quick stop at the Aldi around the corner, by 6:30 or so. A long day! Tomorrow, we go rogue!

Day 9 – Sunday, June 4

Today we do Copenhagen and the Little Mermaid. We are here for 2 days, tomorrow, Monday on our own.

Our trip started with a gas stop after our 10:30 departure. Some of us were down to diesel low fuel warning, so Thomas re-programmed the GPS to make our first stop near last night’s campground. I ended up in the commerical diesel line, so that some pre-paid card effort, THEN, type in a code printed on the receipt.

We all ended up at Camping Kobenhavn at various times due to the gas stop, but we all made it by 11am or so. Internet via the Google Pixel is non-existent, PIA. 2:30 was our bus trip into town with Florika again. She is a character, it was hop-on/off type approach, she took us to all the highlights of the inner city, starting with the Little Mermaid statue in the harbor.

Some of us stayed behind downtown for the night life, we will go the Tivoli Square tomorrow and bought the tickets online as we were going thru the tour. A nice happy hour group after the tour and then Sandy made taco Tuesday (Sunday). They were delicious!

Day 8 – Saturday, June 3

Roskilde campground is BIG, over 200 campsites with lots of facilities and families. The RV gets parked 2 nights!

A nice leisure morning, we ordered the fresh bread and picked it up at 8 am. We had eggs and bacon and our cinnamon roll.

Off we went to the Roskilde Cathedral via the local bus to the starting point and met our guide, Florika at 9:30 am. She was quite the firecracker and gave us stories about the history of the Fredrick and Christian Kings and Queens as we strolled the city square.

At 11:30, we were allowed in the Cathedral and we had 20 minutes of touring before we left for our authentic noontime Scandinavian “brunch”. Brunch was eggs, bacon, pastries, hot wings and bread and salads, strange stuff. Not my favorite fare.

After lunch, we headed to the Viking ship museum to stroll through before our Viking ship rowing and sailing experience. It too was a bust, but an entertaining one! Posted a quick video of us attempting to row in the longboats.

Happy hour instructions at 5pm for tomorrow’s 10:30 am departure! This is one of those places that reads the electric meter or each individual RV and charges for showers based on time. You learn to work fast!

We ordered a meat pizza and it was just passable from the sack/bistro shop.

Day 7 – Friday, June 2

A two part day, first part departed at 8:15 for Egeskov Castle with a short 19 mile drive. The castle is private and working, but does allow visitors throughout. It was very impressive, the moat, the area and the minitature doll house, and the the knight armor room.

There was an extensive collection of motorcycles, cars and airplanes on site as well. A great self-paced tour that we finished by traversing through the trees.

From the castle, we headed to Roskilde for tomorrow’s Viking ship adventure tour. A beautiful drive over the famous Great Belt Bridge, a little windy but beautiful views. We continued to Roskilde. We are spending two nights in the campground. Beautiful hills overlooking the bay to Roskilde Camping. A very popular “resort” and we ordered hot rolls/bread for tomorrow!

Sandy decided to make spaghetti, a little tough in a small RV with a poor sink drainage system. But we made it work! Delicious! The campground has kitchen and washing dishes facilities so clean up was a quick and efficient trip to the sink area. Call time tomorrow is 8:50 am.

Dave sorta figured out the heating system. There is a boiler with antifreeze that is heated and piped through out the RV, there is no blower, it just radiates like a … radiator. Quiet system, but he set it too hot last night!

Day 6 – Thursday, June 1

We are going to take a detour through Thomas’ birthplace in northern Germany on the way to Denmark. We had a tour of Flensburg with Rolf, a guide friend of Thomas. The city is full of history and is a collection of German, Danish and other folks. Lot of downhill walking to the fjord and the seaport area. We taxied back to the RV parking location, thankfully!

We left about 11:30 and headed to Odense, the birthplace of Hans Christian Anderson. We blew by 3 AutoGrills, entered Denmark and crossed the Lillebaelt bridge. We finally stopped at a rest stop for a quick 30 minutes. It too had a restaurant, like an AutoGrill. But, we had PB&J sandwiches instead, not sure of what the plan was!

While Germany has no speed limit on the Autbahn, Denmark does, 130kph and lights must be on at all times for RVs.

Our 2 pm tour was right on time and we walked the downtown city of Odense, the childhood place of Hans Christian Anderson. Very beautiful, lots of history, but after this morning’s walk, we are a tired group.

After the tour, we had 1 hour, 15 minutes of free time on downtown Odense and most folks headed to the nearest restaurant for dinner, us included. We did too and we were taxied back to DCU Camping Odense. Thomas is very efficient.

The reason why the campground was not available until 2pm, was that the band Rammstein is having a concert over the weekend and the place will be packed. A quick happy-hour meeting and we leave tomorrow at 9am, a luxury!

Dave played radio and made 2 contacts, QRP, using the Vern Wright SuperAntenna. The 3 20, 15 and 10m radials worked great and the contacts were on 20 and 40 meters (I think).

RIght before bed, the shore power went out, and my measly troubleshooting skills were a failure. The evenings are cool and a heat would be appreciated.

Day 5 – Wednesday, May 31 (Sandy)

We began our day at breakfast, with the other adventurers. We finally caught up with Leigh and Charlie, who had had flight delays and arrived late last night. We caught up with them a bit and then went back to the room to finish packing up and checking out.

We all met in the lobby prior to 8 am only to find the bus was stuck in traffic and late. Once it arrived, we stowed our gear and were off on the first day of our adventure. We were dropped off at the RV rental place (DRM) and found that we were assigned Coach 3. Johannes gave us a tour and explanation of the RV, then we went to sign our life away and came back to unpack. As usual, the amount of space to store things is directly opposite of the amount of stuff we bring. We managed to find a spot for everything (hopefully we will remember where we put things) and were ready to head off to the market for our grand shopping trip. We did look through the RV to see what was provided and what was needed. Thomas does a good job of stocking things in the RV (utensils, dishes, etc.) but not quite enough to invite guest (I guess they can bring their own since they also have an RV).

We all managed to find the market/gas station (which was probably about a mile away). We decided to gas up first and then shop. I had forgotten what a marathon the shopping part was going to be. We shopped for about an hour and a half and were both exhausted. We managed to forget a number of things because we just wanted to be done. The store is a like a super Walmart, with just about everything you might need. We definitely filled up our cart, with things we recognized and some we didn’t. Since everything is written in German, we had to guess at a number of items. One shopper helped us at the butcher station, where the butcher only spoke German. One way or another, we managed to get some meat items. Even though Sandy thought ahead and made a grocery list, there were too many things to get! The poor shoppers behind us had to wait a while as we checked out and tried to get everything back in the cart. It ended up taking two carts to stow all the items. Thomas had recommended stocking up on beer, wine and other beverages, as he said they are much more expensive in Scandinavia. One of our intrepid RV folks had an app that he could scan a wine label and it would tell him about that wine. Definitely an idea for next time. We just tried to figure out what type of wine it was and if it would hopefully taste all right. Not a very scientific method!

(Dave) Driving for about an hour, we arrived at our first campground, the ex-military base, Nord-Ostee-Camp. Our first happy-hour meeting and we are set for tomorrow’s 8:15 am departure. This base space has been converted to other land uses, one of those is the campground. We are in the group area, no scenery, just packed in, right next to each other. Bathrooms are very clean and showers hot, but a bit of a walk. Tomorrow is one of the longest days. Our 11 am campground checkin has been delayed, so Thomas is making adjustments.

We had bread, cheese and wine for dinner!

Day 4 – Tuesday, May 30

Time for meet and greet is 4:30 in the lobby. Breakfast was the standard stuff.

Went to the Langenhord Markt via the subway, heading north, the next stop over! There was a large shopping center and farmer’s market happening. We snagged our first bratwurst at a very clean roach coach. We strolled through the supermarket focusing on groceries and other items we will need to stock up the RV.

Headed back to the hotel, relaxed until our 4:45 meet and greet time in the lobby. We have 10 couples, Leigh and Charlie arriving later due to a flight delay. And … we headed over to the Restaurant Rotbuche for our intro and dinner meal. We both had the schnitzel, Sandy’s with mushroom gravy was better, it is the Hunter or Jaeger version. Seems like a nice group of folks, all but one couple from the US, the other from Canada. Our tailgunner (sweeper) seems nice, a solo guy named Georg Bach.

A long dinner at Restaurant Rotbuche and we meet the bus as 8:00 am tomorrow! I really didn’t sleep all that well, maybe the anticipation?

Day 3 – Monday, May 29

Breakfast in the conference room was a quick and efficient buffet. The automated coffee machine was pretty cool. Simple eggs, fruit, muslix, rolls, meats and cheeses for choices.

We decided to head into the wharf with the subway and try out the hop on-off bus tour of the city. After walking down to the station, and downloading the Hamburg metro app, we determined that the U1 line to the S1 line would get us to the wharf area. Starting at Fuhlsbüttel Nord, we headed south to Jungfernstieg, transfering to the west S1 line and exiting at Landungsbrücken, the wharf area. It took us a while to figure out the payment system and we ended up breaking a 50€ to feed the machine with a 20. The fare was 8.40€ each but the funny thing is that there was never a turnstile or checkpoint to verify the fare cost/distance. The credit card ‘tapping’ feature didn’t work either.

The system is very efficient and we arrived at the wharf in front of the Die Roten Doppeldecker hop on-off bus. The fair for the 1.5 hour tour was 16€ each. Off we went and toured the city. We didn’t hop-off.

After the tour, we went to BlockBräu for a late lunch. They have their own pilsner beer and we split the schnitzel plate, good stuff.

All we had to do was reverse the subway process and we were stumped in getting back to the U1 line. S1 to Jungfernstieg was no problem, but it took a bit to find the U1 line to continue north. The U2 and U4 were clearly marked. We finally found the U1, got on board and 1/2 through trip, an announcement came at a a stop to vacate the subway. Everyone quickly got off and we stood around, lost. The train left and the next train showed up and people unloaded. We could not load however and it left empty. The next train was coming in 16 minutes, so we explored options outside of the station, taxi or a 37 minute walk. We came back to the station and in just a few minutes another train came, we loaded and a few minutes later, arrived at our original Fuhlsbüttel Nord station. A quick walk and we were back at the Marriott. Weird. There is an Aldi nearby, a 10 minute walk, we will explore tomorrow.

After a quick rest, dinner was at the Restaurant Rotbuche, we had margherita pizza and fries! The local Jever pilsner was pretty fresh and good!

Tomorrow the meet and greet with Thomas and the others!

Day 1/2 – Saturday & Sunday, May 27/28

Well this postponed Covid trip to Germany, Denmark, Sweden and Norway is finally underway! Printed our boarding passes for KLM flights 636 (LAS-AMS) and 1781 (AMS-HAM). The flight leaves at 4:10 pm this afternoon. We left the house about 10:00 am, not sure of the traffic into Las Vegas. We sailed through with out any issues and found ourselves at Terminal 3 by 11:45 or so (PDT). We decided to short-term park, drop off (check-in) the luggage and head into the MGM Grand for lunch and play time. The only hiccup was that the KLM counter on the EAST side of terminal 3 opened 4 hours before flights. We were first in line for Business Class as it opened at 12:10. Check-in was very efficient and the agent re-issued our boarding passes straight through. Easy peasy and we were at the MGM Grand by 12:30 for lunch and ‘entertainment’.

We left about 2:00 pm from the Grand, returned the one-way rental (from St. George airport to LAS) by 2:30 or so. We proceeded to the CLEAR station in the middle of the terminal, but the TSA-Pre line was empty, so we just walked right on through and cleared security quickly.

The Boeing Dreamliner 781 was a little late in arriving, so our departure was at 4:26 instead of 4:10. The flight was a long 10 hours to Amsterdam, tough to sleep, but the only comfortable way to travel! We arrived in AMS at the F terminal and strolled to the B terminal for KL1781 to Hamburg. Since we arrived in an international zone at Schiphol, we had to go through passport control. It is between the F and other terminals. The line was a little long, but the Dutch are very efficient and we went through quickly. Flight 1781 too was late, instead of 1:10 pm, it was 1:41 pm. I miss-read the flight sign and Sandy had to go find me in the bathroom for boarding. There was no plane at our B-18 gate. We had to take a packed shuttle bus out to the tarmac to board at some other location. We were on the 2nd bus, I was last to board it … and we waited, overheating. There was one other passenger running late as well, we sat for them. Half of the plane was boarded with bus 1 and we were soon taking off on our Embraer 175/190 City Hopper after a long taxi around the airport.

After a short 50 minute flight, our luggage arrived at carousel 2 and the Marriott Courtyard Airport shuttle was there waiting. The hotel checked us in to room 176, we unpacked and rested for a bit before dinner in the ‘Horizon’ restaurant. It was OK, a steak and asparagus pairing that we split for 71€. We called the kids, it’s Doug’s birthday, on the Google phone with the new WhatsApp app.

We managed to stay up until about 8:00 pm, pretty good for day 1/2. Breakfast is included in the hotel reservations, so we may head into downtown tomorrow. However, tomorrow, Monday, is Whit Monday , a public holiday here in Germany.