Northern Zealand
Day 3 - Friday, 4 August 2000
We slept in until 7:30 AM, then after breakfast caught a train back to Allerod to meet Janice for a tour of the northern part of Zealand. Soon we arrived at Frederiksborg Castle. From there we went to the small fishing village of Gilleleje. At Helsingor (Elsinor) we saw (from a distance) Kronborg Castle made famous by Shakespeare's Hamlet. About 4 PM we caught a train back to Copenhagen for 5 PM tour meeting.
Our tour officially began on Saturday, August 5, 2000 at 5 PM, with a meeting in our hotel. Here we began to get to know each other, and especially our tour guide, Dave Fox. Dave surprised by announcing that his mother was joining our tour. After a round of introductions, and instructions on how we are to behave while under Dave's care, he led us to the Riz Raz vegetarian buffet restaurant for dinner.
We discovered there are big differences in alcohol laws in Denmark and Sweden. The Swedish laws are oppressive, with the government keeping track of how much alcohol an individual buys. If you buy too much, they come out to counsel you. At least they used to do that; apparently that has been relaxed recently.
However, the laws are still in stark contrast to Denmark where alcohol is freely available. So the Swedes come over on ferries with their bicycles. You can hear the empty bottles in their saddlebags going clank-clank, clank-clank. They turn in the empties and buy a fresh supply to take home. But while they are in Denmark, they imbibe freely, to the dismay of the Danes. When the visitors get drunk, they exhibit behaviors that are not appealing.