Tuesday, November 19, 2013

ROOTS - not the movie - 9

     The time has come for us to depart my brother Frank's house so he and his wife Lone drive us across the island of Møn,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/M%C3%B8n
http://www.denmark.net/denmark-guide/places/mon.html

and across the island of Bogø
 http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bog%C3%B8
http://www.visitdenmark.com/denmark/bogo-stubbekobing-ferry-gdk615162
http://www.stad.com/index.php?city_id=2623847

through the town city of Stubbekøbing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stubbekobing 
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=stubbekobing+denmark&qpvt=stubbekobing+denmark&FORM=IGRE

to the "big" city of Nykøbing
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nyk%C3%B8bing_Falster ) (http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=nykobing+falster+denmark&qpvt=nykobing+falster+denmark&FORM=IGRE )

on the island of Falster
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falster 

It is at the bus station in Nykøbing that the time to say good bye comes - we have had a great visit for a long time - though not often; the last time being in 1989 and the time previous to that in 1975.

Oldest brother (me) left and youngest brother, Frank, on the right.

 The tickets have been purchased, the luggage loaded on the bus, and we are off across "Guldborgsund", which literally translated means "Gold Fortress Sound", http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Guldborgsund
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=guldbergsund%2c+denmark&qpvt=guldbergsund%2c+denmark&FORM=IGRE

to the island of Lolland and across that same island, on highway 9.
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lolland

On we go through the town of Sakskøbing with its humerous water tower, in the photo below,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sakskobing
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=sakskobing+lolland+Denmark&qpvt=sakskobing+lolland+Denmark&FORM=IGRE


    Then through the towns of Maribo,
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Maribo 
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=maribo+lolland+Denmark&qpvt=maribo+lolland+Denmark&FORM=IGRE

followed by Stokkemarke, Halsted which has a nice old church, skirting the town of Nakskov and finally on to the small village of Tårs, where the bus is driven on the ferry which is the next part of the journey - the ferry between Tårs on the island of Lolland to the village of Spodsbjerg on the island of Langeland (Longland), so named because this island is long and very narrow.
http://highways-denmark.com/ferry-spodsbjerg-taars/
Being a former ship captain and always interested in thing maritime (ships, cargo capacity, etc..) I had a good look at this little ship but did not find any capacity charts. There were quite a few auto's as well as two or three trucks and one bus on this trip. On the upper deck is a snack bar and lounge.
The crossing of the Langelands Belt takes about 45 minutes, and there is a departure every hour.
We met the sistership going in the other direction; the photo below.


In Denmark there is a little "joke" that one can always recognize people from Langeland because they are pigeon toed, otherwise they would get their feet wet with all the water on each side of the  very narrow island. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Langeland

Then it is across Langeland, skirting the "big" city of Rudkøbing on Langeland, cross a small bridge onto the island of Siø, population about 20, http://ipicture.mobi/?c=da&UN=-3816726&DG=ISL
then across another bridge to the island of Tåsinge, which is rich in history;
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/T%C3%A5singe
http://itouchmap.com/?c=da&UF=-2752229&UN=-3819727&DG=ISL
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=taasinge+denmark&qpvt=taasinge+denmark&FORM=IGRE

The only one more bridge and we are on the island of Fyn (Funen)
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funen 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Funen_County
http://www.bing.com/images/search?q=fyn+denmark&qpvt=fyn+denmark&FORM=IGRE
 

where my brother Rene and his wife Vivi lives in the town of Svendborg. Since we are four boys and I am the oldest and Frank is the youngest Renee is number three in the line.

Norma, Vivi and my brother Rene who is even taller than Frank.
Their "dream" house in the back - it is not their house, they only
dream of owning it.

We almost missed getting off the bus in Svendborg because the bus did not go to a bus station, but continued on the highway, and I just happened to see someone at a bus stop that looked like Rene and called for the driver to stop.

This was an interesting day - we saw a lot of Denmark - and perhaps we suffer a bit from impression overload.

More to follow in the next post.



Saturday, November 16, 2013

This is very GUTSY -

Would anyone care to follow in this man's footsteps, kayak wake?

Man paddles kayak from Minnesota down Mississippi River, to Key West, up US East Coast, across Northern Shore of Lake Superior to return to his starting point.

He even paddled a section of river I was at this past summer, the Kaministiquia River, in Ontario, Canada.

Kakabeka Falls on the Kaministiquie River, Kakabeka, Ontario

Looking downstream on the Kaministiquie River from Kakabeka Falls, Kakabeka, Ontario

This short article is a good read.

http://www.startribune.com/lifestyle/231690841.html