As many of you know, we love the Scandinavian shows on SBS & one of our all time favourites has been The Bridge.  The first series began with a murder & the body was found on the Oresund Bridge which connects Sweden to Denmark. It was strategically placed half in Sweden & half in Norway which meant that the two police forces had to cooperate to solve the murder.

So today we caught the train from Copenhagen to Malmö in Sweden. The train bridge is underneath the vehicle bridge. The bridge runs nearly 8km from the Swedish coast to an artificial island Peberholm where the tracks enter a 4km tunnel to the Danish island of Amager.  It also calls at Copenhagen airport.  The train runs every 20 minutes. The body of water is called Oresund Strait.

Malmö is a pretty town with many potted gardens, lots of restaurants and lovely old buildings.  We had lunch there & came home again.

Now that we are so close to coming home, we both are quite keen for Tuesday to come. We’ve had a wonderful holiday & have some amazing memories which will keep us going for a long time but the thought of our own bed is very attractive. Mind you the bed on the Marina was, I think, the most comfortable bed we’ve ever slept in!

There are at least 2 things you can do in Europe that you can’t do at home:-

• Catch a train, ride for 40 minutes & have lunch in another country & come back again
• Take your dog on the train to the other country with you. (A dog sat next to us on the train this morning – on the floor at her owner’s legs. They can even stay in this hotel!)

This morning we walked to Torvhallerne market & were not disappointed, except that we couldn’t stock up & come home & cook up all the lovely vegetables: white asparagus, broad beans, peas, beautiful little caulis……  That’s the bad news about staying in an hotel rather than getting an apartment. I forgot to take pics of the beautiful berries, cherries & other stone fruit but we did stock up on them & on a delcious nougat!  We had another tasty Danish open sandwich for lunch. The bread is so good!  We also had an excellent flat white, a proper one, the best since we left home.

This is a lovely park between our hotel & the market:

After David’s nap & my reading time, we went to the famous Tivoli Gardens which are just a block away. The gardens there are beautifully maintained &, of course, the rides are amazing but not for us. But the grandkids would love it, wouldn’t you all?  Well 5 of you anyway.  (Lotte is a bit small yet). There are many restaurants there too.

I think Copenhagen has almost as many bikes as Amsterdam. Apparently 9,000 pass the door of this hotel every morning.

Only 15,500 steps today!  I think he’s getting used to it!

Who would have thought David could walk almost 20,000 steps in a day (without complaining)?  Not me but he did today!

We left the hotel (Comfort Hotel Vesterbro – which is reasonably comfortable but we have been spoils over the last two weeks.) about 9:30 & walked up the main shopping street on our way to Amelienborg, the home of the Royal Family. We watched the changing of the guard which was not of the standard of Buckingham Palace & not as entertaining as the Greek guards with their unusual stepping. No flags were flying so our Aussie Princess wasn’t there & nor were other members of the royal family. The ceremony was drawn out. We watched for 45 minutes & it was still going.

We then walked on further to see The Little Mermaid.  She perches on a rock beside the canal & is a tribute to the Hans Christian Andersen start & the ballet of that name.

By this stage we needed a rest so we went into a restaurant with a view over the canal & had a Danish open sandwich – David, ham & me, herring. Very tasty.   The harbour is very busy with dozens of canal tours out on the water all crammed with tourists & all pausing beside the mermaid for photos.

We were going to catch the metro back but weren’t sure where the station was. We asked a guy selling orange juice from a cart & he said: “I get asked these questions a thousand times a day. I am not an information centre.  I just can’t do it”. So he was no help!  All of his customers were tourists but hey, he didn’t want to be helpful.

In the end, we walked back to the hotel. A rest & then dinner at an Italian restaurant across the street. No more walking, the man said!

We’re sitting back in the very comfortable library enjoying our books. It’s been a bit crowded as it has been a miserable day but the sun has come out now so people are moving out to the deck chairs.  Baristas with OK flat whites is just next door so life is good!

We really like some of the art work on the ship. Here’s some for you to enjoy:

The public spaces are elaborate & there are many nooks, crannies & large spaces to socialise or hide away but all tastefully done:

The on-board shop has some lovely goods, probably my favourite is this set of Matroska dolls with 20 pieces but at $3600 it might have to stay in the shop unfortunately.

We really like this ship – we prefer it to the Queen Elizabeth. We love that we can eat at a time that suits us in The Grand Dining Room. We’ve had a lovely breakfast there every day. David has been enjoying grilled lamb chops. They are much more generous with soft drinks, coffees, bottled water, the speciality restaurants all being included. The staff are very friendly & are always cracking jokes. It’s great. We’re loving it & certainly enjoying the luxury!

So now we’re doing the “another day, another country” thing but at least our home moves with us & we’re not packing, unpacking all the time. Thank goodness!

We docked here this morning about 8 & caught the free shuttle bus into the old town. We really appreciate these free buses that Oceania put on. It allows you to go into town & just enjoy it. Many people did tours but we really don’t want to tour any more castles, cathedrals or churches as we’ve seen plenty over the years so we’re happy to wander on our own.

Helsinki is surrounded by water on 3 sides & overlooks the Gulf of Finland & the Baltic Sea. We loved the fish market, very similar to the Bergen Fish Market – lots of delicious looking fresh berries, peas & potatoes – made us wish we had an apartment & could stay a while: (In the background you can see the lovely building which is the city hall).

There are a couple of beautiful old churches. Firstly, the Lutheran Cathedral ( this is the most popular religion here):

And the Orthodox Church:

We had great fun shopping here. There were sales everywhere & we bought some lovely things.

Apparently 33% of Finland is green space & we saw plenty of lovely parks as we drove into town & walked around:

It is lovely to see the sun & obviously the Finns thought so too. As I sit on our balcony, I can see many people enjoying water sports on the harbour.

We sail very shortly for Riga in Latvia & to meet our Jewish genealogist for a tour & to learn more about the life & culture of Jews, better to understand the life of David’s great great grandparents who migrated to Australia in 1888. Looking forward to that!

On our last afternoon in St P we boarded a bus to go into the city centre to ride the metro & see their renowned stations. It was fun & a little bit testing since there were 30 in our group with a guide in the front, a young helper at the rear & a few very old, not very active passengers in our group. The 2 elevators at the station where we entered took us down 71 metres. It’s a very deep subway & for someone like me who has a fear of going down, especially on elevators, it was a challenge …. But I hung on tight to David & all was well – just as well I’d practised a few weeks ago on the London Underground.

It was worth it!  The mosaics in the stations were lovely:

The very tall man in the mosaics is Peter the Great. He was 201 cm about 61cm taller than other people at that time.

Our guide was very excited that she didn’t lose anyone.

Then she let us loose to wander & shop on our own which we enjoyed and we stocked up on a few presents.  Shopping arcades are shopping arcades anywhere.

When we returned to the ship we set sail for Finland.

We had dinner in the Grand Dining Room where the service is excellent, you can eat at any time & it is free seating. We were joined by an American couple from Orlando & an English couple from the Midlands. Everyone on this ship is so friendly it is really enjoyable. After dinner we went with our new friends for 30 mins of dancing & then to the ship’s nightly entertainment: an Iris magician/comedian. It was passable.

The crew are wonderful. One of the waiters in the Grand Dining Room is a real card. He even came & stirred David’s coffee at one meal.

So yes, we’re having a wonderful time. We reckon we will sail with Oceania again. Half of the passengers are American but there are 37 nationalities amongst the passengers & 49 amongst the crew!  So we are a multicultural lot!