Hamburg

A monkey puzzle! The first of the trip.
Yellow signs.
Very wet roads, harsh cobbles, bumpy cycle lanes.
When I arrived in Hamburg the weather was better, but it was late, and now the sunset doesn't last long. I vaguely hoped to find a place to camp somewhere, then gave up, and found a cheap hostel - also the first one of the trip.
It seems absurd to leave Hamburg tomorrow, there are so many things to see! What will I do?

Lübeck

I took a boat from Malmö to Lübeck. That's a shortcut, but I'm running late.

Lübeck retains its hanseatic Sunday charm even in grey weather.

Hven

The island of Hven is Swedish, but, well, it has long been contested territory. Hence the numerous flags.
Here Tycho Brahe (1546-1601) looked at the sky, without any telescope but with big and subtarrenean quadrants, surrounded by a whole slew of gardeners, cooks, scribes, children, paper-mill operators, and produced and published many super-fine calculations.
There are also lovely alpagas.

Copenhagen (bis)

I reluctantly left Farum, Marianne and Marie-Louise, the wonderful room with Lübeck furniture, the tablecloth that's in fact a valuable Persian fabric, and all the tomato and apple varieties. Thank you so much!
Then, on Marie-Louise's advice, I visited the Glyptotek, founded in 1882 by the brewing magnate Carl Jacobsen, and spent time reading in the warm, grandiose yet cosy inbuilt glasshouse. Another great reading spot was the Royal Library's garden, under the stern but sympathetic eye of Søren Kierkegaard.

Copenhagen

First a morning visit to the gorgeous glasshouse (also called wine castle) of Marie-Louise and Marianne in Farum...
Then, with Marianne (the best guide ever), to the botanic garden glasshouse, without fun tomatoes but a nice turpentine tree.
And to the astonishing David's Samling, of which it is hard to believe that it was gathered by only one man, comprising so many items of Islamic art that it would take weeks to look at them all as closely as they deserve.
Then the boat-bus to Christiania, with its cannabis plants.
I'm sleeping next to a peculiar chest of drawers from Lübeck, and on a Persian carpet.

Louisiana Museum of Modern Art

Just a few km south of Helsingør can be found the most visited art museum in Denmark, and one understands why. The communication between the inside and the outside is such that the sea always seems accessible, as well as the magnificent old trees.
I discovered Emil Nolde.
A succession of rooms has been turned into a riverbed by Olafur Eliasson. That made me extremely happy, and not only me, my only regret being that on such a small rivulet it is impossible to skim stones.
And even Le Corbusier can be turned into LEGOs...

Helsingør (Elsinore)

The sun is shining on Hamlet's castle, in fact a gigantic tollhouse, and its surroundings. A very pleasant discovery was the maritime museum, M/S - Museet for Sjøfart, built in and arround a former dockyard, designed by Bjarke Ingels. Both the architecture and contents are a delight. There you can learn how to use a sextant, among many other things.

Sjaelland (Zealand)

No stable internet connexion, but everything is well in Zealand. Will probably be in Helsingør this evening and Copenhagen either Tuesday evening or, more likely, Wednesday.

I slept just by the sea, in one of those wooden wind shelters that Denmark vas designed for campers. And before that, I shared wine and chocolate in the boat of Michael and his five friends - sailing from Kiele to Sweden... Much warmer inside the boat than in the wooden shelter. Sorry, no picture of either...

On a small intra-zealand boat, I noticed from the upper deck some interest for my bike (picture), and subsequently met Marie-Louise and Marianne, the two of them Danish, who are married together. They were going to Farum, 20km North of Copenhagen... but right now I will to carry on along the coast! And I'm going to Helsingør. A stop in Farum on the way to Copenhagen could be a good idea, though.

Aarhus

Visit of Den Gamle Bu (the old town, halfway between a genuine old town and an open-air museum) in the second city of Denmark. A very successful, and good-humoured, staging of modern and contemporary history through the clever display of building, furniture and corresponding characters.
Thanks to Jorgen and Edith for the car ride to Aarhus, and to Stene for lending me her apartment for the night...
Then I took a boat to Zealand!