European Adventures - 14. The Tivoli Hotel

14. Tivoli Hotel, Copenhagen

Boarding the Ferry

It was not that far from the Egestorfer Hof to the Ferry Terminal; maybe a 2 hour’s drive?  ‘Scandlines’ will take us to Denmark.  It is a ferry service that runs back and forth between Puttgarden in Germany to Rodby in Denmark. A one way trip takes 45 minutes. The cost was U.S. $175 for the car and us, 2 passengers.  

We did not have reservations but found it no issue. We just paid with a credit card and were asked to stand in line and only waited about 5 minutes before we could embark. Somehow we timed it perfectly.

Tivoli Hotel Pool

 We also had no problem getting into Copenhagen and finding our hotel, the Tivoli Hotel. God bless the GPS. I had pre-booked the Hotel but parking was extra. The Hotel had a large parking garage behind it. Everybody spoke English.

The Hotel we had in Copenhagen was very modern with A/C, a pool and gym. We took a nap for an hour after we checked in and then, towards late afternoon we walked towards the famous Tivoli Gardens. It was a long walk, maybe 1 or more km away from the hotel.

Entrance Street At Tivoli Gardens

Toy Soldier Railings

The Tivoli Gardens has been part of Copenhagen since 1843, so for 175 years, people enjoyed themselves in the amusement park setting, restaurants and gardens that are within the walls. And, it seems people still love this place. There is an admission charge to enter.

No Thank You

Hans' Dessert - Healthy

Carol's Dessert - Oh, Oh

 

Restaurant Fru Nimb

No we did not partake in the rides offered but there is so much to see and explore it does not feel like a pure amusement park.

We chose to watch people and had our dinner in the park.

The Tivoli Gardens is not a cheap place; it is very well maintained, very well thought out and has an elegant flair to it. The prices reflect it. Our dinner for 2, very good food but nothing outlandish was U.S. $130, we each had just one beer.

Beautiful Gardens and Fountains

One cup of coffee will set you back U.S. $7.

Welcome to Scandinavia.

More Fountains

Too Tired to Wait For Dark

We hung around the Gardens until we could take some ‘night’ time shots, but the summer dusk only happened around 10 pm. We are that far north; the real night shots need to be taken in the winter months.

Popcorn Truck

Hans Christian Anderson in the Flying Trunk

Concert Hall Behind the Fountains

After this outing we walked back to the Hotel and slept well after all this walking.

Night-Time Lights

Tivoli Gardens Map - Main Entrance at the Bottom - Entrance We Used Is the Middle of the Right Side

In 2016 alone 4.6 million people visited the Tivoli Gardens. 

And yes, we had a good time, too.

European Adventures - 13. Egestorfer Hof, Near Hamburg

13. Egestorfer Hof, Near Hamburg 

After we had our breakfast in the apartment, we packed and were on our way early. We stopped off at Stefan’s on the way out to return an umbrella Oliver forgot in the car and then said our goodbyes to the Paull’s and others. It was not a social visit but just the return of a ‘lost’ item.

We wanted to at least make it to Hamburg today, so we set our GPS for Copenhagen, Denmark (our eventual destination) and off we went. We were on the road by 9.30 AM.

Egestorfer Hof

This was an all day drive going north using one Autobahn after another, we just followed the GPS. 

We even used the GPS to find us a hotel when we had had enough driving for the day. It found the Egestorfer Hof. 

Thatched Roof

And the machine found us a jewel. We were in a small town, off the main road. The Hotel had all the amenities one could ask for, great dinner, a good breakfast and was easy to find and had plenty of parking. The town was a small town that time forgot. Some houses had still thatched roofs like they had on houses years ago. 

Main Street

We are in the region of the ’Lüneburger Heide’, a heath area a bit away from Hamburg, that is a popular vacation spot in Germany. Many poems and songs were written about this area.

While we were moving into the hotel for the night, a group of Norwegian Motorcycle dudes moved in too. I counted 8 BMW machines in the parking lot.

It’s amazing how everybody in Europe, all the ’young’ folks, speak English fluently.

We conversed with the Norwegians and even the personal of the hotel using English. Those folks could switch over in mid sentence, from one language to the  other. Amazing!

Norwegian BMW Riders

Our room had a very large, a bit odd, balcony, it was a cozy room and certainly large enough. We did not need our fan this night, we left it in the car.

Our Strangely Shaped Balcony

 

Another New Friend