Arrival in Arles; Restful and Homey, September 25 & 26

 September 25 Montpellier to Arles

We packed up our apartment after a last-minute pastry run in Montpellier. Jerry picked us up at La Place de la Comedie and we drove via the Camargue to Arles.

Jerry and Mark in Jerry's garden

 We had a lovely outside on Jerry's peaceful deck overlooking his large vegetable garden. Lunch was complete with tomatoes, peppers, and grilled zucchini grown in his garden. The three of us never run out of topics to talk about.

September 26 Peaceful Day in Arles

   This was a day off from touring and a day of rest, relaxation, repast, recollection.....and Mark getting a French haircut.

  While Mark had a haircut by a Brazilian in France, Jerry and Barbara did a bit of grocery shopping.

    We did a wash which dried fast because it was a sunny (80 degrees) and slightly breezy day.

     Otherwise - chatting and eating in the garden. Jerry went to tango in the evening.

Mark with his new haircut

Montpellier, France, September 23 & 24

 September 23  Copenhaven to Montpellier, France

Our plane

    We all got up early (5:45) and neatened the apartment, took out the trash etc. We walked to Norreport Station and, by accident, got on the wrong train! Luckily, we asked someone if we were en route to the airport and, when told that we weren't, we hopped off. Then, we figured out how to get to the right Metro line, which included 2 Metro lines. It was not an auspicious start, but really only added about 25 minutes to our morning. Luckily, we had left early. These are the challenges of traveling that challenge our brains in a good way.

Place de la Comedie, Montpellier

"Our" rue in Montpellier, premier etage

    We were a bit nervous about the boarding pass situation as we had not bought the tickets directly from Norwegian Air, but all was well. The reason we couldn't get the passes yesterday was because we had to check our carry-ons. 

     The flight was smooth and on time. We landed around 1 p.m. and took an Uber into town. As with Stockholm and Oslo, our flat is in a pedestrianized zone, so drivers have to drop us off outside that area. The historic area is called "L'Ecosson." With the help of GPS, we worked our way to 8 Rue du Plan Agne, right across from St. Roch church.

Spiral staircase, looking into our bedroom

Four keys to get in!

The streets are narrow and wonderful. Our little street is quiet, although we are only a few blocks away from the center of Montpellier and the main shopping area and the Place de la Comedie, anchored by an opera house built in 1888.

      The flat is very quirky! We are up some steep stairs on the second floor. We need 4 keys to get in! Etienne met us, a very nice man. There are two bedrooms, but the second one is up a treacherous (for us anyhow) spiral staircase with no railing. And, the ceiling is so low that even Barbara has to duck! We opted for the downstairs bedroom which also has a bathtub and sink. But, it has tons of character and atmosphere. The main floor has high beamed ceilings and huge windows.

Vegetable salad at "Rocco et sa mere" 

Looking at our apartment above the restaurant. Note: trompe l'oeil on the building

     As the flat wasn't quite ready, we left our luggage and went to a Vietnamese restaurant close by. It was just what we needed as we hadn't eaten much in the morning and nothing on the plane. We discovered that we are just two to three blocks away from the center of the city and the main shopping district and close to the Place de la Comedie. We found a Monoprix and got some apples, yogurt, bread and cheese. As we are only here for two nights, there is no point in getting in much food. 

Mmmmm.....baguettes being baked

     We can already tell that two days won't be enough.

September 24.    Full day in Montpellier

    What a wonderful day! We spent the entire day just walking but it came to about 4 miles. In French- walking aimlessly = flaner. 

       We walked had coffee and a croissant at a patisserie where we saw the baker making the baguettes.

        We walked to Montpellier's Arc de Triomphe and the Promenade du Peyrou, the Royal Square, dominated by a statue of Louis XIV. The bulk of it is under renovation, so we walked in the park around it. There we came across the Saint Clement aqueduct. It is not a Roman aquaduct, but one built in the 18th Century to supply water to fountains, among other things. 

Aqueduct built in the 18th Century

   

Montpellier's Arc de Triomphe

    We ate lunch at the Italian restaurant, Rocco et sa mere, underneath our flat, which was recommended by Etienne. It is named after St. Roch church; evidently Rocco is Roch in Italian.

St Roch- invoked against the plague in the 1300s

Mmmm. Note: the trompe l'oeil behind Mark

Anyhow, the restaurant did not disappoint. Mark had carbonara and Barbara had a vegetable salad with burrata in the middle. Both were delicious, served with excellent bread made on the premises. Dinner was nibbles at home with the baguette we bought in the morning.

Last full day in Copenhagen - Trip to the Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde

September 22 Viking Ship Museum at Roskilde, Denmark

    Today we took a train, bright and early, out of Copenhagen to Roskilde, less than half an hour away. We rode their on a gorgeous double-decker train. From the train station, we caught a bus to the Viking Ship Museum. 

     We took a tour of the museum led by a fantastic guide who had the knowledge of the archaeology, the history and the boat making skills involved in Viking ship building. The Museum holds the world's best preserved ships from the Viking era. Five Viking ships from 1000 years ago were rescued from the harbor in 1962. They have been painstakingly reconstructed, some with more original parts than others. 

The ships were deliberately sunk in 1070 by the Vikings to blockade the entrance to the Roskilde Fjord. The ships were of a variety: cargo, passenger, warship and fishing boats which made their discovery all the more significant. 

We took a tour lead by an engaging young woman who combined history, archaelogy and information about life at the time of the Vikings. We learned about the design of the boats; all we made with clinker construction which would call ship lap. That construction made the boats quite heavy. We learned about the various woods involved and the skill the boat builders possessed. Sails took about three years to make from start to finish. 

Viking board game

Photo of the voyage to Ireland

One myth that was dispelled was about how warlike the Viking were. Only 2% were warriors. The largest village in the Viking era only had 4,000 people. Many were

traders, craftsmen, farmers.  The docent said that much of the myth of their ferocity came from the monks who wrote about them, as well as a resurgence of national identity in the 1700 and 1800s in Europe.

The museum is a living museum which continues to work on replication of Viking era boats.

Boatyard where they are building more replicas

We saw one of the replicas go out with tourists at the oars and that was fascinating to watch as none of the rowers had any previous experience wielding oars of a variety of shapes in oar locks made of rope.

The largest replica, the Sea Stallion from Glennalough, Ireland, was reconstructed and launched in 2004. In 2007, the 100-foot long ship sailed between Roskilde to Dublin and back home again in 2008. It was a 1000 mile grueling trip undertaken by 65 people who set out to address unanswered questions about the Viking ship building and travel. It took six weeks with night stops along the way. Those who sailed it said that it was difficult with harrowing days of lashing wind and high seas.

Map of Viking explorations and travels

      We had a nice lunch at the SagaFjord restaurant - more open-faced Danish sandwiches for us - beef and haddock. Yum. Mark is determined to return home and make them.

           After a full day, we headed home to a meal of food we had in the fridge and did not want to waste. Neither Maura or us were able to download our boarding passes - always a bit stressful.

Two more days in Copenhagen! September 20 & 21

 September 20

    Today was lovely and warm again; the sun came out mid-morning.

Just a sampling of a lot of Danish chairs!

Fabric design, Pablo Picasso

    We took the Metro to visit the Danish Design Museum. (Mark had to run back to the house from the Osterport station as he'd forgotten his transport pass. 

    The Design Museum was thought-provoking. The first half of the museum was devoted to AI and futuristic things. Things like "How would you design your own death?" and things like that. Some of it was rather disturbing to think about.

Opera House on canal

This bridge didn't meet up, so it had to be altered!

     The second half of the museum was devoted more to design and specifically to Danish design. It was noted that, after WWII, the Danes were not involved in war and had post-war posterity which lead to an economy and attitude that encouraged design. The Danish are very green and looking to the future, as were the Norwegians and the Swedes. It is impressive.

     Also impressive were all the young people at the museum keenly studying the designs. More than Danes were represented. There were fabric designs from many places and from famous people such as Pablo Picasso and William Morris.

      We had a lovely meal at the museum cafe. Mark and Maura had paninis and Barbara had a smorrebrod sandwich.

Nyhavn, old mercantile district

       Then we caught a commuter ferry bus and went down a canal to the end of the ferry's route. It passed through the heart of the city and into the suburbs. With the sun, people were out on and in the river - on paddleboards and many swimming. There are ladders and swimming areas designated all along both sides. People were out enjoying the sun and life.

      We docked at Nyhavn where the colorful mercantile buildings line both sides of a small canal. It was crowded with people enjoying the sun and a Friday afternoon. We walked up the street. Mark had a hot dog and we sat for a bit before walking home. 

       A lovely day.

At "Social Brew" - more smorresbrod

September 21 Strolling around Copenhagen on a beautiful Equinox day

We strolled for almost 6 miles!

We started off exploring the manmade lakes behind our neighborhood. They are very shallow and had quite a few moorhens on them.

Flowers blooming in Botanical Garden

 Then, we strolled through the beautiful Botanic Gardens and across the road to the gardens of the Rosenborg Palace where Maura bought 2 carrier bags. We had coffee in the Palace gardens and watched people enjoying the sun and their friends and family. Everyone seemed so happy and relaxed. It's nice to be in a culture where families are put first and there is a safety net of child care, health care, education etc. You can feel it in the air.

It's hard to capture just how many bikes there are.

From there, we just wandered and let our feet go where they wanted to. We walked through the pedestrianized shopping area to the Stroget street (also shopping) but called Walking Street. We passed by a church where a red Mustang, year 1964, was waiting for a bride and groom. We walked by the Synagogue which was guarded due to Gaza. It was interesting to see "stumble stones" there like the ones we saw in Berlin. Slightly raised pavement stones with the names of people who died at the hands of the Nazis.

Moor hens in one of the "lakes" in our neighborhood

Sobering stumble stones of names of Jews who died in concentration camps

We ate at at a randomly chosen restaurant with the unfortunate name of "Social Brew" where we had a delicious meal and two lovely waiters who tried to help us to pronounce smorresbord. Maura and Barbara had rice bowls (chicken teriyaki for Maura)