Tuesday, September 20, 2011

9/19 Malmo and Dragor

We are up and out, but not as early as normal.  Sort of slept in a bit, then had our breakfast and finally made it to the train station a little after 10.  Had a whole day to just wander, so we weren’t in any great rush.

Since we’ve been in Copenhagen before (for 2 days), we decided to take the train to Malmo, Sweden, and explore the town that is known as the city of parks – and they claim to have the largest concentration of restaurants per capita.  Sounds like a place for us!

Bought train tickets and then an all day pass for when we got back to Denmark.  Train is easy – 30 minutes, across the bridge across the channel, and voila – you’re right in the heart of Malmo.  We got a map and info from the train station and headed out to the city’s center square, Stortorget.  The town hall is here, and a beautiful little fountain that represents the location of the old city well and a statue of King Charles X.

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Next we wandered through lanes and squares, filled with, yes, restaurants! But since we had already had a huge breakfast, we decided to wait until we got back to Copenhagen to snack.  We stumbled on a huge park and cemetery – then wound our way up through Kungsparken to the Malmohus castle. It was a gorgeous day to be walking around the lush park.  In the 60’s with a stiff, cool breeze – we totally enjoyed the freshness of the day!

In Kungsparken there is a wonderful statue named Diana after the war goddess –A mama bear and a cub, with what looks like the golden goose on their head, and surrounded by 15 bronze deer, with a little gold quiver  laying on a shield.  It was spectacular and odd and beautiful all in one!

We wound our way to the Malmohus castle – which houses a host of museums, including a special 1920’s display with flapper outfits and history.  It’s a really cheap ticket – only about $11 US for both of us, so we spent an hour or so exploring the displays – and viewing the King’s private rooms along with the Cannon tower. Wow – can’t imagine being in the tower (which was more like a dungeon) when those things went off!  Talk about hearing loss!

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After the castle – we went to the Science and Maritime museum where there were planes and engines on display and a U3 submarine.  You could go inside the sub – and literally crawl through hatches to get to the separate sleeping, command and engine rooms. Totally wild- honestly – crawling through that tiny submarine. Can not even imagine being in that thing for more then the 5 minutes we were – and we could get out!  Ack!

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In an old city full of renaissance buildings and traditional windmills, the one that stands out is the   Turning Torso.  It’s a huge modern building, that looks like a twisted mass of steel, and gives the impression that it is “turning”.  Old and new….

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So – after walking off our jet lag and lack of exercise in Malmo, we hit the train station, and headed back to Copenhagen. From the airport, we took a bus the short 10 km to Dragor, a sleepy little seaside village.  Very pretty – nice little harbor – it was a beautiful place to wander around and stretch our legs again.

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