The night brouught a violent thunder storm, which passed right over us. The ten light up like day, and the thunder claps rattled our fillings. Wind grabbed the tent and shook it violently.It had me thinking how casually and gently I had tapped in the pegs in yesterday's fine weather. But, it all held together, and we stayed dry.
In the morning we chatted with some of our fellow campers. I asked one, Rudi from Denmark, about "danish pastry" and he denied having ever seen or heard of it. Hmmmm. We'll see about that!
Rudi is Danish, and he denies knowing what "danish" is. He also denies eating pastry. At breakfast, he says, danes eat "cake".
Dodie's three losers in the competition to replace the fire starters confiscated by security. These were too big, too small, and no spark respectively.
This lady was very supportive of our trip. The whole conversation was in German, made possible because the lady spoke slowly and simply. This is how (other) children are taught the language.
It was just 6 km into Flensburg. The route we chose took us through outskirts that featured big retailers. Still, unlike the similar areas in North America, there was no fast food or other franchise blight. Very very soon we were into the beautiful city, and quickly were by the Rathaus, a large and old church, and a walking street with retailers and old houses. It was beautiful, easy, and pleasant.
The harbour too was great, with many small vessels and businesses. We know the massive BC ferries were built here, but that heavy industry was not in evidence where we cycled. We then crawled through some light industry, on the way to Denmark. We did not actually cross the border until we had headed for Sonderborg, but of course we ddid eventually cross it. Hooray, a new European country (for us) to discover!
Entering Flensburg, it looks like any other town. Max Bahr, like OBI, is "Home Depot"
So far Denmark appears less prosperous, and less neat, and with fewer bakeries and smaller, weaker grocery stores than those we have grown accustomed to in Germany. Bike routes and marking are also weaker. Houses are more varied in finish and design, but on average they are smaller and plainer. That's the report after one day, anyway. Let's see what we find out as we see more of the country. Here in photos is a little more of what we saw and did. There was also a family of parents and 4 kids, on a cycle vacation from Switzerland. Their seven year old had a loaded bike, and was really fast. I got her photo as she zoomed past Dodie:
