We took a guided tour of Copenhagen on one of the many tour buses. You can ride it for two days, getting off at any of several stops along the way for one price. It is a great value and inexpensive way to get around. John even left his camera on the bus, and was able to get it back. We are either extremely lucky or the Danes are good people. I'm sure both are true. We were extremely careful with our passports and all as theft is a distinct possibility while travelling. But, we have also found most people to be very honest and trustworthy. When we are careless and lose things, we can't blame it on others. And, a thief could be anywhere waiting to prey on tourists. You just have to be careful, and use commonsense. We didn't see women carrying pocketbooks as they are just too easy to steal. We make it a point not to travel with things that can't be replaced. The tour busses were not handicap accessible.

I did find this information on a website about Denmark: "All foreigners staying temporarily in Denmark are entitled to free treatment in hospitals and casualty wards in the event of sudden illness or aggravation of chronic disease, provided the patient has not come to Denmark with the intention of obtaining treatment or is not strong enough to return to home country. Transport home is paid by patient."

It is wonderful that the Danish government is using wind as a power source. I am told that they are striving to be totally wind powered. There is more information on this website: Green Power

Sweden

As we entered Sweden from Copenhagen across the new Øresund bridge, the customs officials weren't as interested in seeing our passports as they were in letting their dogs "sniff" our luggage. "The Øresund trains are also unique in that they are built to run on both Danish and Swedish track systems. When passing through a neutral section at Lernacken in Sweden, the trains automatically adapt to the change in voltage - 16,000 volts in Sweden and 25,000 volts in Denmark - without changing speed." These new Øresund trains first started running when the bridge was officially opened in July 2000. This 16 kilometers long link between Sweden and Denmark is now complete.

Malmö is Sweden's third largest city, with about 250,000 inhabitants. It has a nice train station and it is all non-smoking. Because we were running out of time, we only got a few hours at the train station in Malmö. That is our loss. I would also have liked to have had time to visit Stockholm, the capitol. But, we had to head up to Norway to see the fjords. Maybe, on another trip we can come back to Sweden and even take the ferry over to Helsinki, Finland and on to Estonia! Well, at least I can dream...

© 2001 JKH