Ron's Retirement Adventure: Back in sunny Denmark

Finally, after weeks and weeks of rain, the weather broke and warmth and sunshine showed up.

But first, let me tell you about Goteborg, Sweden. I needed to get there to catch the ferry back to Denmark. The weather was still a little rainy two days ago when I got there after my ride south through the Norwegian Mountains, but it was starting to clear up. This gave me a chance to camp again after weeks of hotel rooms. Now, I have gotten spoiled by those hotel rooms, and would much rather have a warm, dry bed than to sleep in a tent, but camping allows me to do two things I can't do at hotel rooms, at least not easily: work on the bike and wash it; and wash my clothes at the campground laundry room.

The campground at Goteborg was quite a place. It was clean and very up-to-date. Just look at this playground area for the kids.

I took these pictures early in the morning, but from mid-morning until late at night it was filled with kids running around and playing.

There were artificial trees to climb, and climbing walls, and climbing nets, and high beams to walk along, and hills to play King of the Mountain on, and I don't know what all. I do know the kids were loving it. There were kids as young as 4 years old, and kids as old as 12 or 13, and there was not an adult in sight. It was just kids having a swell time being kids. I think the older kids were off playing miniature golf or riding horses.

And what do you think of this toy auto attached to a make believe camper? What fun!.

There was a real shuttle also, but I don't know where it went.

This is where the super clean toilets and showers were. You couldn't get in there unless you had a camper key card with you.

Of course, my main concern, after washing my clothes, was to do some maintenance on the bike. I thought about trying to take a picture about halfway through the job, but by that point my hands were too oily to pick up a camera. Besides washing the bike, the primary thing I had to do was to clean the seaks on the front fork, one on each side, because they were both leaking oil all over my front brake pads.. I had to get on the internet and get some advice on how to do that job. It turns out that the easiest way is to cut some plastic and run down between the seals and the forks to remove any sand or other impurities that get into them. Repair by Coca Cola. Who would have thought it.

With the bike cleaned up, I bought a public transport pass to go into the town center. It is a big town, and it was misty rain again so I did not want to ride the bike in. I wanted to go see the ships at the Maritime Museum. They let me climb around pretty much anywhere I wanted in those ships. Try doing that in litigious USA. Here is a destroyer I explored.

You are a true history buff if you know what this next boat is.

Here is another picture of it. It isn't very photogenic.

Need a hint? Okay, here ya go -- One just like this fought the Merrimack at Hampton Roads during the Civil War in the first battle of the iron-sides.

Yep--You got it This boat is a "Monitor". Did you know that countries all over Europe rushed to make ironclads after that battle at Hampton Roads? I didn't know that. I went down into the boat. It was pretty roomy inside, but I bet it was noisy and stinky during a battle.

There were lots of other ships and boats to explore at the Maritime Museum. I especially liked playing around in the submarine. Couldn't get any good pictures in there though.

Here is another view of the seaport area in Goteborg.

I don't know if I have shown you these rental bikes before or not. You see them in cities all across Europe. I think they are even showing up in some American cites also. You just put your money in, take the bike, and return it to another stand like this one somewhere else. I think it is a cool idea.

I had some extra time,so I decided to go to the Science Museum. My wife would have loved taking our kids to this place when they were younger. They could have ridden on an animatronic Saber Toothed Tiger in the Life in the Ice Age exhibit.

The monkeys and birds were just running (or flying) free in the Rain Forest area.

Up in the Space Exploration section of the museum, there were lots of things for kids (and adults) to do. This girl had on a velcro suit which let her stick to the wall.

One last shot from the Ice Age area. Hmmm. I guess the animatronic mammoth is a good thing to show you. That guy sure was huge.

I woke up this morning to absolutely beautiful, sunny, warm weather. I could hardly believe it was finally Summer in Scandinavia. I sure don't miss that rain -- but I kind of like the cooler weather that I have been having.

After a good breakfast, I packed up and headed off to the ferry to Denmark. Once again, my stupid GPS took me miles and miles out of my way. I wound up exactly where I was yesterday, down by the Maritime Museum after a bus ride of 20 minutes. I thought from the git-go this morning that my GPS was taking me in the wrong direction, but I didn't know for sure where the ferry was. I am glad I had left myself plenty of time.