I have wanted to visit Denmark since my teens. My best friend in high school was a recent immigrant from Denmark and from him and his parents I learned that it was a wonderful place.
Our danish experience started in the port town of Alborg. Our guide told us how Denmark had produced a high standard of living in an area with massive infrastructure requirements for bridges across fjords, connection between widely scattered communities and tunnels thru mountains. Recent petroleum revenue has helped but profit does not appear to drive the economy. Community and social needs are the major priorities for government expenditure.
Warnemunde is a major ship building port in Germany. Many of our fellow passengers went to Berlin on a 3 hour train ride but we elected to explore the smaller town. A good choice!
Gdansk in Poland was the home of Lech Walesa and the birth of the solidarity movement leading to the independence of Poland. The shipyards where the 7 year protest occurred is near where our ship docked.
Despite our orchestrated tour of the city to show the city in the best possible light, the country shows signs of a long foreign occupation and limited economic resources.
Well, that is all for now. We have had a day at sea and it has been a welcome relief. We walk 4 to 5 hours when we are in port and all of it in this part of the world has been on cobble stones. Tomorrow, i have a bicycle tour in Estonia. Perhaps it too will be on cobbles?