Our last day in Frankfurt was spent together as a family. Scott took us for a long drive through the country in a Mercedes car-to-go (of course via the autobahn) our to the longest suspension bridge in Germany. It was over 300m long and across a deep gorge.

Michele and Scott were game enough to walk across and marveled at the spectacular views. Teresa was an excellent supervisor.

Arriving back into Frankfurt we realised that we hadn’t eaten all day, so we found a German restaurant and finally had a delicious (massive) crispy pork knuckle!

Saying goodbye to Scott is always hard and we will miss him very much.

Goodbye holiday, hello Australia 2020.

Good night!!

The ICE train we had reserved for the Hamburg to Frankfurt was replaced with an older one.

We had bought first class tickets but were informed that there were no reserved seats. We found an empty booth in one of the first class carriages but were then informed that this train had no Wifi. What??? Do we actually have to speak to each other? Ha ha. It was lovely. We caught up on the blog and enjoyed the scenery.

The train conductor was a lovely young man who was keen to have a chat and asked about the fires.

We also had a cart come through a few times with refreshments and snacks.

At Hanover we were joined by another passenger who was a maths/physics teacher. We chatted as best we could with his limited English but it was much better than our German!!!

We know Frankfurt well enough now to get to Scott’s place on our own. A trip that takes less than 10 minutes on foot from the main Hauptbahnhoff.

It was great to be back with Scott. He had made an awesome batch of pierogi for us and was preparing a schnitzel feast for when Amadeusz joined us.

The meal was exquisite and was washed down with a white wine and red wine provided by Amadeusz. Then it was time for the games!

Monopoly was the first game, which Teresa won. Then the good kids went to bed and, as usual, Amadeusz and Michele (the naughty ones) stayed up to play Yahtzee and drink vodka until the early hours of the morning. So good to catch up though.

After a good night’s sleep we set out to see some more of the sights of Frankfurt. There is a tower which has a observation deck at the top . We rode the elevator to the 55th floor and walked up the open air! It is a bit freaky as there is glass all around. The views were spectacular!

Lunch at the Selzkammen restaurant was Savoury soup, Pork Schnitzels with mashed potato and peas with carrots and a savoury sauce.

Frankfurt has a very large shopping precinct so off we went to explore.

Michele and Teresa stopped at L’Avenue bar which was interesting as they still allowed smoking inside and we could only access wifi inside. We were given a table at the very back away from the smokers.

We returned to the apartment which was being readied by Scott for his AirBnB guest.

Tonight we will be staying at the Hotel Excelsior which was the hotel we stayed in 2 years ago with Irene! It is right next to the Hauptbahnhoff which we will be catching a train from to the airport. Tomorrow is our last day. Gute nacht!

We had a very early start to catch our 4.55am Flixbus to Hamburg. The bus stop was just down the road from our hotel so it was easy to drag our luggage there.

While driving through Denmark we noticed that there was a section of the Baltic Sea that we had to cross. And a nice surprise for this trip was that the bus had to cross this sea on a ferry!

After brekki we took a walk around the boat and stopped out on the portside just in time to see the sun rise up over the water.

Such an unexpected but spectacular addition to our trip. To think that our entire bus/ferry trip only cost €17 each!

When we arrived on the ferry the driver announced that we have a 40 minute break. Wow! We walked up a couple of flights of stairs and had our pick of places to get coffee and food from. We chose the front of the boat, which was a little pricier but we got first class views of crossing the waters at dawn looking into Germany, whilst enjoying coffee and a buffet breakfast.

Our hotel in Hamburg seemed to be in the busy, seedier part of town, but it was very central and a quick walk from the main bus station and Central train station (where we will catch a train back to Frankfurt from tomorrow). We hauled our bags up a long flight of stairs to reception only to be told that our room is on the 4th floor, and sorry, the lift is broken. Lucky this place is only $65 a night and only for one night!

We felt sorry for the poor housekeeping staff as we passed them, as no lift would mean lugging all of their cleaning products, linen and rubbish up and down all day.

We took the front office staff member’s advice and walked to a street around the corner to find a restaurant for lunch. We found what looked like a little pub and ordered currywurst and a large beer each. The friendly ladies behind the bar giggled at our delight and need to take a photo when we got our food.

Hamburg is quite a large port and we set off to find the water. Michele’s google maps hadn’t saved offline properly so we found a little cafe on the Alster lake to connect to the wifi (the pub had no wifi), ordered a cocktail each and reloaded the map. While we here we noticed a boat cruising along the lake and looked up buying tickets on the internet. We found that we were able to purchase 2 tickets for the 2:30pm cruise online. Perfect!

The boat was quite full when we got on so we didn’t get a window seat, but it was still very easy to see. Refreshments and snacks were available for purchase on board and we also found that we could connect our phones via wifi to the audio information for an explanation of the sights we were going past in English.

The cruise was an hour long and took us past some of the most expensive real estate in Hamburg. Including a house that Diana and Charles stayed in almost exactly 9 months before William was born. So the Hamburgers joke that William is ‘made in Germany’.

After our cruise we alighted and walked up a little way to admire the Rathause (local town hall). This building is quite magnificent and very ornate, the photos don’t really do it justice.

Darkness was descending and we decided to navigate our way back towards our hotel and find a place for dinner.

There was a busy restaurant on the same street where we had lunch and we were lucky to get a table for 2. Germany can be a little backward when it comes to using credit cards. Some places accept Visa, others only accept credit cards that are specific to Germany. This restaurant informed us that they take cash only. So interesting to think that we had just come from Sweden, a country where many restaurants are now cash-free. We never had to withdraw any cash in Denmark or Sweden, we were able to use our everyday VISA debit card no matter where we went. No extra fees apply when you pay this way.

We both ordered Weiner schnitzel with horseradish sauce with potatoes and salad. They were delicious and washed down with dark beer and vodka!

Before heading home we stopped at the extremely busy Central station to work out exactly where we need to be tomorrow morning. We worked out that the escalators at the side of the stairwells sensed which way you wanted to go (up or down) and changed accordingly, how cool!

Now it was time to go back to the hotel room and rest up, ready for our fast train ride to Frankfurt (and Scott!) tomorrow. Gute nacht!

This was our last day in Malmo so we took our time before heading off to the restaurant that our Front Office manager, Mikael, had recommended for a traditional Swedish menu.

Of course, the Australian bushfires are still big news. The world is behind us and people we meet are empathetic and concerned.

We were also concerned for the poor people affected by the Ukrainian plane crash…. just heart wrenching!

Bullen was easy to find and already well patronised by locals. The special for today was pork fillets with white sauce and potatoes which Michele ordered and Teresa chose the meatballs with gravy, pickled cucumbers, lingonberries and mashed potatoes. We had finally found some local cuisine!

We wandered around for a while and walked across a bridge with shoe sculptures down each side. We aim to find out what this means to Malmo.

It was time stop for refreshments and we returned to the cafe from the night before.

The weather was still drizzly so we decided it was best to go home and ready ourselves for the very early start tomorrow.

We had some chips and dip but Michele got hungry and decided to try Uber Eats for the first time ever. The app showed a range of options and she picked a Mexican burrito. When the app showed that the delivery was here, she went downstairs and was informed by the front office staff that Uber Eats is actually illegal in Sweden and that she probably wouldn’t eat her order. She walked outside the hotel just to be sure, and there was a guy in a car who confirmed who she was before handing her the most delicious burrito ever!

There was a really interesting documentary about the band 10CC. Will have to find it sometime back home.

Another amazing day in Scandinavia!

We awoke, got ready and walked down the street to the Central Station to catch a train to Copenhagen for the day. Buying a ticket was relatively simple from the ticket machine once we realised that Köpenhamn is the Swedish word for Copenhagen. The train took us back across the Oresund bridge and we alighted at Copenhagen Central station.

The weather in Copenhagen was much the same as Malmö, very drizzly. We put on our hoods and navigated the 3km to the Little Mermaid statue. The statue itself is quite small and underwhelming, but….when in Copenhagen…

On the way we also viewed many other Copenhagen landmarks, like the magnificent Amalienborg (royal castle) and St Frederick’s church.

After we visited the Little Mermaid, the rain had kicked up a notch, so we decided that we needed lunch and a dry off. There was a little restaurant advertising traditional Danish food called Cafe Toldboden. Smørrebrød are a type of open-faced sandwich served with a choice of toppings. The very friendly waiter informed us that the menu is a list of the toppings that you can choose from and all are served on a traditional danish rye bread. He had sat us on a table right next to a wall of akvavit (Danish snaps) but informed us with a smile that it was not ‘serve-yourself’.

Teresa chose 3 types of herring on her bread, and Michele chose roast beef with remoulade, fried capers, pickles, fried onions and fresh horseradish. We of course had to oblige and pair our meals with a beer and the traditional shot of akvavit, which was chosen by our waiter. The meals came out and were honestly a holiday highlight. So delicious!! We decided to share one last plate so we ordered the Smørrebrød with fried fish, remoulade (like a homemade tartare sauce), sundried tomato and dill. This was one tasty too, but we agreed that our first dishes were the best. We paid the bill, which was probably the most expensive meal we’ve had, but we are in an expensive country and the food was well worth it.

Leaving the restaurant, we trudged through the rain with the intentions of seeing more landmarks. We saw Kastellet (an old fortress) and made our way to Rosenberg, another beautiful castle, before finally admitting to each other that our saturated coats were not fit for rain and we were no longer enjoying walking around like drowned rats. We found a cafe to have a drink in and dry off and Michele looked at Google maps and realised the Metro was across the road…Hallelujah!

We were so close to the Merman but we were so desperate to get out of the rain that we missed it. Of course, we wished the entire time that we could send this much-needed rain to Australia.

The Copenhagen Metro is very clean and easily navigated. It all appeared to be underground and we were able to catch a train directly to the Central Station and then hop on another train back to Malmö.

We wanted to get some supplies for the evening and quickly realised that buying wine is not as easy as it is in Eastern Europe, where you just pick it up from the supermarket. We actually had to walk into the main part of town to find a Systembolaget, which appears to be the liqor store of Sweden. We were a little peckish for dinner and found a bar/cafe/restaurant and ordered a couple of dishes. One was cauliflower croquets and the other was described as ‘fried pork fat’ with mushroom. What came out was giant pieces of crispy-fried puffed pork crackling with mushroom dust and dipping mayonnaise. Not what we expected but both dishes were delicious!! Great low-carb meal.

Bellies satisfied, we made our way back home to our warm and dry apartment. Tomorrow we will check out the traditional Swedish restaurant that Mikael, our friendly hotel front office staff, has recommended. Godnatt!

Sunrise is around 8.30 am here and it will set at 4pm.

We were hoping for a hair fix and found a hairdresser but will have to wait until tomorrow. So we wandered on to try and find the Turning Torso building. It was difficult to see in the fog but we found an old castle, Malmö Castle, which was once a fortress, a prison, and is now a museum. We strolled through Kings Park hoping to finally find a squirrel. No such luck!

It’s been really difficult to find somewhere traditional to eat authentic Swedish food. We walked and walked and just couldn’t not find a restaurant or cafe that was not Asian, Italian, French or Middle Eastern (we can find all of these in Sydney). We made the frustrating decision to go back to the restaurant that we had lunch in yesterday (it was delicious, just not what we wanted) and washed our frustrations away with a couple of Smoking Pot cocktails (just fancy mojitos) and another truffled mushroom pizza.

Teresa suggested that we catch the train to Helsingborg. This was originally part of the plan, as she wanted to visit the museum of Failed Designs. She has since found out that this museum is closed, but the trip looked interesting anyway.

The train is easy to buy tickets for. It is a smooth ride and the trains are clean and quiet.

The countryside was shrouded mainly in fog but there were glimpses of quaint housing, modern windmills and lovely towns. There was much construction occurring and the landscape was dotted with cranes here and there.

Since it was still daylight (albeit for another 1 1/2 hours) we decided to get on a ferry across to Helsingør in Denmark. This is a very easy process directly from the Helsingborg train station. The ferry is enormous and goes every 20mins. We walked on board, purchased some refreshments in the form of sparkling wine, and chose a spot in the lounge to watch our journey across Oresund.

The trip was smooth and coming into Helsingør we noticed a rather large castle on a point. A quick google revealed that it is actually the castle that Shakespeare’s Hamlet lived in. This also made sense of the fact that the Ferry we travelled on was named Hamlet. We walked around the castle and the grounds, quite spectacular. The museum inside was closing in 15mins at 4pm so we made the decision not to pay to go in.

It was getting dark so after a bit more exploring we found a little restaurant on the water to have a beer in. We also were delighted to meet the restaurant owner’s Australian Shepherd, names Kenzo, who offered his belly to anyone passing by.

After our refreshments we caught the ferry back across to Helsingborg in search of somewhere to eat. Once again we could not find any authentic restaurants so we settled in a little Italian restaurant instead. We both ordered a pasta dish and a vodka each, both nice but nothing to write home about. We did get speaking to the ladies at the table beside us, who once again expressed their empathy with Australia about the bushfires. We finished our meals, paid the bill and hopped on the train for the hour-long trip back to Malmö.

While we were on the train we used our app to convert what dinner had cost us..$110! We’re not in Eastern Europe anymore Toto! (Thanks for the quip Scott)

Tomorrow we have frisor appointments and will be salon-ready once again. Godnatt!

We left Riga very early in the morning surrounded by snow. We caught a taxi to the airport which cost around €11. The airport was very busy but we found wifi and a good cafe, to sit at, right next to the boarding gate.

The plane took a while to take off because they needed to wash all the ice and snow off the wings. This was a bigger Air Baltic plane than the last one and it was full. Air Baltic were efficient and easy to deal with, mostly being able to check in online and get mobile boarding passes. Security was thorough at the airport and off we went to Copenhagen.

At Copenhagen airport we made our way through to baggage claim which took a while and then walked straight out …. no passport checks.

The train to Malmo is really easy to buy tickets at the station and go to platform 1 where you board the train that travels across the Oresund Bridge directly to Malmo, Sweden.

Our accommodation is only 450 metres from Malmo Central Station so we easily walked to The Best Western Royal and were pleasantly surprised that we could check in immediately and not have to wait or store our luggage until 3pm.

So we had travelled from Latvia to Denmark and then Sweden in less than 3 hours!!!

Our room is on the fourth floor with a view of the canal. We are also back in the same time zone as Germany again.

Off we went to explore some of Malmo. Today is a public holiday in Sweden but being near the heart of the city we could find some shops and restaurants open for business. We stopped at a restaurant in the main part of town and decided to share a pizza and a couple of local beers. We got talking to a Swedish couple next to us and overall have found the people here quite friendly.

All the Swedish people we meet speak excellent English and can identify that we are Australian. There is much interest in the fires and it is being reported her on the news also.

We explored the cobble-stoned streets some more and then stopped into a little cafe for a Bellini and some wifi. Agreeing that we were both pretty tired from the early start, we decided that dinner would just be a snack, so we asked the waitress for a recommendation of a supermarket. She suggested Willy’s, which was just down the street and was full of everything needed.

After stocking up, we walked back to our hotel and settled in for the evening. Godnatt!

We took advantage of the lovely breakfast rooms to have coffee and brekky before starting our day.

Riga Central Markets are a massive undercover and outdoor operation. Areas are generally organised according to the goods sold.

It was an easy walk from our hotel and there were spatterings of icy snow around. We entered through the fish section first which offered all sorts of smoked, fresh and unusual seafoods …. and of course there is a distinct fishy smell.

The next hall focussed on fresh fruit and vegetables and other plant products. Lots of cabbage and pickled vegetables!

More stalls sold milk products, breads of every variety and all sorts of nuts.

Another hall was devoted to fresh meats and we remarked on how there was a lack of smell you might expect around this produce.

There were souvenir stalls throughout and then clothing, flowers, shoes, household goods and many more inside and outside.

We found a cafe called Cepelins, which we quickly realised was the ‘Lido’ type of canteen that we missed in Minsk. Heaven! Teresa chose the traditional Latvian meat and vegetable soup and Michele enjoyed a stuffed roast capsicum of meat and rice topped with white sauce and accompanied by grated cheesy potato and bacon. A couple of dark beers were also very refreshing. This all cost the equivalent of $20 AUD, which was a very economical choice for us, and a stark contrast to the $90 lunch that we enjoyed the day before!

After a recharge at the apartment we set out to explore some more of Riga Old Town.

We found a lovely little cafe called ‘Problem Solver’ where we had some refreshments while listening to some live music.

It was time then to get to the Christmas markets again so we could get some street food for dinner. We went back to the Georgian stall for more of their delicious food and hot drinks (which he spiked with rum upon special request).

Many families and individuals were enjoying the festive atmosphere as we wandered around and marvelled at how lovely it really was.

Riga is definitely a place we would recommend to visit. The people are friendly and the streets in the old town are relatively easy to navigate. Time for bed, up early tomorrow for our next countries. Ar labunakti!

Our flight for Riga from Vilnius was with Air Baltic. They have a very easy online checkin process with mobile boarding passes. We travelled to the airport in a lovely clean Prius UBER.

While waiting for our flight we passed the time with some shopping and then a Prosecco each.

The plane was tiny but comfortable and the service was great…. take note Wizz air!!!😤

The wifi at Riga airport is poor so Michele could not connect with the Yandex Taxi app. We spotted a booth for Baltic Taxis and they charge a flat rate of €15 to get us to our destination. A very simple process that takes away the anxiety of finding reliable and trustworthy public transport. It took about 20 minutes to get to our accommodation at http://www.booking.com/Share-8qA7Vz.

They stored our bags and recommended the Mildo restaurant as traditional Latvian food. We were greeted at the restaurant by a very cheerful waiter called Maris. As we were the only customers to begin with, we were given the choice of any table in the restaurant. We chose a window table and ordered a round of dirty martinis.

For lunch we ordered a soup each, Michele’s was Jerusalem artichoke with chicken and blue cheese, and Teresa had borsch. We also ordered some meat-filled potato pancakes to share. Omg what a fabulous meal!! The restaurant filled up but the service was outstanding. On departure the waiter asked that we leave a review on TripAdvisor, which she did.

We checked into the hotel and recharged phone batteries. The room is a bit more spacious than the last one, quite comfortable and in a great location. Teresa (typically) had only booked for one night, but luckily we noticed ahead of time and we were able to negotiate a much better price for the second night.

Batteries recharged, we set off to explore. On the way to the Christmas markets we found a permanent set of markets full of handcrafted local products made from wood, textiles, leather, amber and other materials. We spent a fair bit of time here admiring the handicrafts. As twilight approached (around 3:30pm!), we wandered through the picturesque old town and found the House of the Blackheads, which is a famous historical landmark of Riga.

Then there were the Christmas markets…..

The most authentic and delightful ones we have experienced since Frankfurt 2017! Perusing the stalls with Gluwein in hand, most vendors spoke very good English and there was a real sense of community. We even met a stall owner who had to show us his Wallabies beanie when he realised that we were Australian.

We enjoyed the traditional entertainment and the electric atmosphere for quite some time because it as just so enjoyable. A lot of the music that they were playing was from the late 1970s which took Teresa on a nostalgic tour back to her uni days.

There was a stall selling traditional Georgian cuisine and we ordered a wood fired type of gozleme with cheese and mince meat. delicious!

A couple more warming gluweins and it was time to leave the festivities and go back to our hotel for the night. We talked excitedly about how Christmas markets of this type really bring family and community together. We’re not sure that it would ever work the same in Australia though.

Riga has not disappointed so far. More exploring tomorrow. Ar labunakti!

The Involita Hotel provide a wide range of choices of hot and cold breakfast foods.

Using Google maps makes it so easy to navigate in unfamiliar places. You can download the map while online and use it offline. We walked to the KGB museum which is in the old KGB building which includes the interrogation rooms and the gaol beneath. It was a very sobering and sad experience created through politics and power.

We are also keeping up to date with the horrendous situation of the fires in Australia. To see how the community is supporting the RFS and those people who have been affected is very uplifting and shows the better side of humanity. Our hearts and thoughts are with you always❤️.

After the KGB museum we wanted to find the Skybar at Radisson Blu which promised a spectacular view of Vilnius. On the way we found a shopping complex where Michele purchased her new Europe hat – very classy!

At the Radisson we took the lift to the 22nd floor to find the bar would not open until 6pm. So we took photos from the windows and then settled for G&Ts in the classy hotel lobby.

The darkness began to set in so we made our way back across the Neris River to the next museum we wanted to see.

There was a permanent exhibition displaying optical illusions and light tricks. The other display was of particular interest to Teresa as it was all about absurd inventions and patents. There was also a whole section dedicated to Chindogu, which is a whole lot of useless gag inventions native to Japan.

We tried to get a table at the restaurant that we couldn’t get into the day before but this time we were ignored. This particular street seemed to be the one place that every tourist wanted to eat in, so we decided to go wider. We found a lovely little ‘GastroPub’ called Mason. Here we ordered beef stroganoff, which was served with fries and pickles! We washed these delicious meals down with some Italian Pinot Grigio. Wine is actually quite expensive over here in European restaurants (from previous experiences also). We commented that in Australia, ordering a bottle of wine to share with dinner usually keeps drinks cost down. Over here it seems to be the opposite, if you stick with beer or spirits you will have a much cheaper bill. You can still pick up a decent bottle of wine for around €7 at the supermarket though.

Dinner done, it was time to make our way back to our apartment and get our things in order. Latvia tomorrow. Labos nakties!