We met our group and our guides, Bodhi and Phillip, in the lobby at noon. We were pleasantly surprised as Bodhi had been our guide on the Czech Republic trip in 2013. We were dressed to bike and walked to the train station for a short trip to the bicycles where we got seats and pedals attached and rode up and down the street a bit to make sure everything was good.The first part of our 7-mile warmup ride was in Denmark on a bike path along the Øre Sound to Helsingør and we stopped for a windmill photo.  Actually it’s a photo of Tom taking a photo with the windmill in the background.Our ride is mostly on a bike path beside the road and with good views of the water.Stopping to take a photo. We were in long sleeves so the temperature was probably in the 60s.Arriving in Helsingør, we wait to board the ferry. Kronborg Castle, the castle that Shakespeare set Hamlet in, is located here. Whether Shakespeare ever visited here is still a mystery.One of the risks to riding your bike onto the ferry is to not get a tire caught in a crack. Otherwise your leg can end up looking like this.

The ferry ride was only 20 minutes, barely enough time for Tom and Cindy to finish their “two reds and a green.”  This waterway is one of the busiest in the world  Anything traveling to the Baltic Sea has to go through this channel.  We docked by the flag of Sweden. We then rode into Helsingborg and concluded our ride at the V Hotel. Helsingborg, Sweden’s oldest port city, is 1,000 years old and the closest point to Denmark. Dinner was a smorgasbord with more than 20 dishes including three types of herring, crayfish, anchovies, moose meat, reindeer, and pork loin. I will pay for this feast tomorrow. Bodhi provides some entertainment and history of Sweden.

Happy Father’s Day.