Once upon a time, a long long time ago, I was a young lad working in Europe and Julie was a blond Aussie chick travelling on holidays.  Our paths crossed, our hearts fluttered and the rest, as they say, is history.  We’ve been back many times since and years ago even took our kids on a big drive-along European tour.  Europe holds a special place in our family history but now it is the third leg of our Follow the Sun around-the-world journey.  We just needed to retrieve Tramp from the port authorities in Antwerp after his long ocean cruise and then we’ll be on our way!

As it turned out, the shipping and Customs processes at Antwerp port, the second largest port in Europe, were a breeze and we were able to drive Tramp away on the same day it cleared all official procedures.  Our reunion had been relatively pain free – Julie and I caught three flights from California to Frankfurt Germany and then a train to Antwerp Belgium, staying at a hotel near the train station for a couple of nights before driving away in Tramp.

In addition to being a huge port, Antwerp is the capital of the Belgium state of Flanders and is known as being one of the most ethnically diverse cities in the world.  We couldn’t get over the multitude of cultural and religious attire and the crazy range of languages we heard as we walked around.  I called it the Noah’s Ark of humanity.

Unfortunately with all the chores and administrative items we had to do in order to start a new continent we didn’t get a chance to see much of Antwerp but we can report the beers are fantastic, the people are exceptionally friendly and it seemed like bicycles are the primary form of transport and have right-of-way over all cars and pedestrians.

But we were on a mission, a very important mission, to drive north over the next two days and meet up with our daughter Anna, her hubby Carl and our beautiful granddaughter Abby in the northern German town of Lubeck.  So after a local Ford dealer replaced the shock that we broke in Chile with a new one we carried from California we drove north and camped the first night in the historic city of Utrecht Netherlands.

With nary a glance at Utrecht we harried ever northward, across billiard-table flat rich agricultural land, crossing into Deutschland, staying in the slow lane so the hell-bent Germans could race their BMWs and Mercedes at 200 kilometres per hour across their beloved autobahns.  We arrived in historic Lubeck with great excitement at being reunited with our growing family.  Abby and her travel buddies were in good form from their first three weeks in Europe and we enjoyed a great night in a local campground catching up on their trip and the prospects of another couple of weeks travelling together.

Lubeck is a beautiful city, its old town strategically placed on an island of the Trave River, featuring spectacular examples of medieval Gothic architecture, rich in history from the middle ages, today a large port and thriving tourist centre.  The longest day of summer didn’t deliver much summer-like weather and under drizzly skies I spent most of the day with Tramp getting his house batteries recharged at another local Ford dealer after they had become completely discharged on his trans-Atlantic voyage.  That’s two fantastically helpful Ford dealers in the first two days in Europe!

History, vehicles and weather aside, the most important part of the day was all the time we spent with each other.  We had lunch in the old town of Lubeck, found a pub to watch the Aussie Socceroos play in the World Cup and in not-so-summery weather spent a cool and windy night at the campground.  And unlike camping on the Patagonian steppe or high in the Bolivian Andes here we were surrounded by very slick mini-RV’s, all with bicycles tied to the back, Europeans enjoying their exploration of Europe.  It was quite a contrast to what we were used to.

But Scandinavia beckoned and the next day we drove northward across rich fertile plains covered in endless fields of grain and corn, traditional red brick farmhouses and barns dotting the landscape.  We crossed over into Denmark and had a picnic in a park in the town of Odense.  The Danes showed no signs of resenting us despite their draw against Australia the day before and their driving wasn’t quite as manic as the kamikaze Germans.

Scandinavia is famous – or infamous – for its high costs and our first indication of this unenviable feature was the spectacular Great Belt Bridge, a stunning multi-part bridge that ran for 18 km (11 miles) between the islands of Zealand and Funan.  That’s all impressive, for sure, but the cost for Tramp to cross the bridge was a staggering $57.  Ouch!

We finished the day at a campground outside Copenhagen, the temperature too low and the wind too high, at that confusing latitude of 55 degrees north.  Confusing because the Argentinian town of Ushuaia, which marks the southern tip of the South American continent, is at 54 degrees south, meaning we were already further north than our southern most point on the last continent and we were expecting to spend at least the next month or so even further north again.  Latitudes can do your head in if you let them.

Copenhagen is said to be the go-to Scandinavian city if you want history, culture, architecture, nightlife and uber-friendly natives.  Home to champion ice skaters in winter and a zillion cyclists in the summer, historically related to the Vikings, culturally related to Hans Christian Anderson, Copenhagen has broad appeal.

We walked the two kilometres into the local suburb of Ishoj and caught the train into Denmark’s capital for a day of exploring, sightseeing and absorbing the vibe of this city.  We started in famous Tivoli Gardens with its amusement fun rides, parks, lakes, food outlets and fancy restaurants, then hit the impressive Rathaus (City Hall) and various palaces, castles, cobblestone walking streets, canals and churches.  Climbing to the top of the Roundtower for views of the city was a particular hit.  Abby was a trooper throughout the day and by the time we returned to camp she was the only one with any energy left to play.  Oh, to be young again.

Denmark is said to be the most egalitarian country in the world.  They say the gap between the wealthiest and the poorest is smaller in Denmark than anywhere else.  Which is a good thing for sure but we were trying to reconcile this with the huge cost of everyday items.  For example, the 20 minute public train was about $12, a can of beer in the supermarket is $3, an unpowered campsite was $40 per night and then there was that monster bridge toll I was still struggling with.

North of Copenhagen is the coastal town of Helsingor which marks the narrowest gap between Denmark and Sweden.  It also hosts one of the most spectacular castles in Europe, known as Kronborg Slot, and we had to check it out.  To get there we followed the coast through pretty little beachside towns, the Danes out in force on this sunny Sunday.  The beaches were modest and the surf was non-existent but there was action everywhere – an endless stream of cyclist pelotons on the road, groups of walkers, hordes of runners, full parking lots of people playing in the sand, kids splashing in the water, the sun warming everyone’s backs.  Great fun.

Kronborg Slot was built in the 16^th century by King Frederick II and later expanded by his ambitious son King Christian IV.  It sits on the entrance of the Oresund, the waterway which separates Denmark and Sweden. Its strategic location and large cannons enabled the castle to collect tolls from all passing ships for almost 400 years.  It housed the kings, hosted weddings of princesses, threw lavish week-long parties and generally shined with the extravagance of royalty.

Today it welcomes all visitors willing to mortgage their house to buy tickets to explore its courtyard, chapel, royal bedrooms and dining rooms. We really enjoyed the grandeur of the castle, the rich history and the magnificent views that its tower provided us across the water.  Kronborg Slot rocks!

We drove onto the ferry and 20 minutes later we were in Sweden, our fifth country of our European leg of Follow the Sun.  And we drove smack dab into a Swedish long weekend so ended up camping cheek to jowl with thousands of blond Swedes absorbing their early summer sunshine.  We’d had a roaring good time so far, travelling with Anna, Carl and Abby, letting the pace and direction of the day be determined by the whims, wants and needs of our seven month-old Abby.  And it couldn’t be any better!