May 31
After breakfast we rolled our duffel bags to the train station which was a 7 minute walk.  The train was on time and we had a 1 hour 40 minute trip to Berlin.  The Berlin Banhof is huge and we finally made our way to the taxi stand for the trip to our hotel, Art'otel Berlin Kudamm, a Radisson property.  There are 3 Art'otels in Berlin and each has original artwork by a specific artist and ours focuses on Wolf Vostell.  The more expensive one has Andy Warhol artwork.  It was cool and breezy and we decided to walk around the area a bit.  We're a block off Kurfurstenstrasse and about 4 blocks from the zoo.  We checked out several restaurants to visit for dinners, got info on the HOHO buses, had a beer in a biergarten.  We then visited the Memorial Church (I didn't get the name) which was heavily ruined in 1943 by allied bombs and is being partially restored.  Unfortunately the exterior is shrouded in aluminum so you can only view a small part of the interior.  They have done a good job of displaying posters with photographs describing, in German & English, the entire history of the church.  I remember the church from my last visit here in 1964 and, at that time, I think the plan was to leave the remains as is as a memorial.  We walked by the zoo, explored some more and bought some wine & cheese for the room.  By dinnertime it had started raining so we went to a delightful small restaurant next to the hotel.  They specialize in Argentinian beef, which is our favorite, so we indulged and had a great meal.  Asparagus is in season and Pat has had it twice, however the Germans tend to overcook it so it loses a lot of its flavor.

May 30

We walked to Hafen City, the harbor area and Speicherstadt, a historic 

warehouse district along the canals off the waterfront.  Many of the 

warehouse buildings are being renovated on the interior and it’s a 

beautiful area with very interesting architecture.  We had a good sized 

breakfast so we skipped lunch and just explored.  It was about 1km to 

the area from the hotel.  After enjoying the waterfront areas we walked 

about 1 km back to the Rathaus area and stopped at a cute restaurant 

along the way to relax our legs and have a glass of wine.  We explored

several streets we missed yesterday.  The temperature was about 59 

degrees and it was windy so we needed our jackets.  Hamburg is a great 

walking city.  We returned to the hotel to rest our tired legs and then 

went to a nearby German restaurant where Pat had asparagus & smoked 

ham and I had a large pig knuckle and sauerkraut.  Both were excellent 

 and very filling.

May 29

It was cold and windy this morning as we headed to the train station to

catch the 8:00am train to Odense.  We had a half hour trip and then waited

in the first class lounge for 2 hours until the next train to Flensburg, 

Germany. The train was 25 minutes late but they made up most of the time

and the next train to Hamburg waited for us.  In all we had 4 ½ hours of 

train time and enjoyed viewing the passing countryside. At the Hamburg

train station we went to the tourist information bureau to see if our hotel 

was within walking distance.  Obviously the online booking through 

Wyndham was incorrect because the hotel was 50km from Hamburg instead

of city center as advertised. Fortunately the reservation could be cancelled 

and the tourist bureau booked us into a Best Western within 5 minutes

walking distance.  We checked in and then went out to explore the area 

around the Rathaus (City Hall.)  The Rathaus is a beautiful old building

with statues of German kings since they became civilized.  There was a 

protest in process but we didn’t find out what it was about.  Walking back 

towards the hotel we passed a square filled with camping tents and it was 

the “Occupy Hamburg” site.  We returned to the hotel, had some wine and 

went to a small Italian restaurant near the hotel.  The menu was in both 

Italian & German and the staff didn’t speak English, but we worked out

what looked good and our “surprise” meals were delicious.

May 28

Today is our last with Claus.  We had another beautiful sunny & warm day, but the wind has picked up and the temperature is supposed to drop overnight and be cool tomorrow.  We attempted a final load of laundry but the belt on the washing machine broke and there are no open stores to get a replacement today.  A friend of Claus nearby was kind enough to let us use her machine.  We drove way out in the countryside to Birkegårdens Haver, a former farm turned into a group of huge gardens.  The Japanese inspired and Danish/English gardens are the largest and they also have a convent garden and prairie garden.  This is the ideal time to visit the gardens because the flowers are all in bloom.  It was interesting to see more than 10 colors of rhododendron and gigantic peony flowers.  We stopped to pick up the laundry and sat around with the family for awhile and returned to Claus’ to pack and prepare dinner.  After dinner we walked to the cliff overlooking the beach and the wind was cold.   I booked trains and flight to our destinations between Hamburg & Barcelona and then we went to bed.

May 27

We stayed up late last night so we slept in this morning.  After coffee and omelet brunch, we drove to Skælskør and took a boat trip out through the fjord for a 1 ½ hour cruise.  The weather was ideal and we had a great afternoon.  Stores are all closed on Sundays so the town was very quiet.  Claus washed his car at the ambulance station and then we went to Slagelse to buy groceries for dinner.  Julie’s mother Sus Jensen came over for dinner and we had mussel soup and strawberries & cream.  We had a great evening of conversation and again went to sleep late.

May 26

We stayed up quite late last night so we slept in.  We all played around on our computers in the morning and Claus had to leave around noon for a friend’s wedding.  He offered us his car, but everything closes before 4:00pm so we sent him on his way.  We’ve been here before and have another 6 weeks on this trip so we aren’t in a need to do stuff all the time.   We walked the beach again to Skovhuset for beer & sausage and it started raining while we were there.  The beach had been crowded when we arrived but there was a great exodus when the rain began.  The rain stopped by the time we were ready to leave and we went to the grocery to get something for dinner and then walked the road home.  We found a mixed grill at the grocery that had sausages, and (we think) lamb patties and marinated pork all of which we cooked on the Weber.  After dinner we walked back to the beach at dusk and enjoyed the sunset.