1. September: Kullen (S) - Mårum (DK)

2222.0km in 130:52, (56*01'44"N, 12*18'51"E)
Tonight I was thinking about what I wrote yesterday evening: the paradoxes of the natural reserves in Sweden... And finally I saw that we have the same mistakes in Switzerland: around the raffinery of Cressier, there is also a natural reserve. Question: is it really to protect wildlife or is it to protect humans health or is it to protect the oil company... Well, tonight I was thinking about the role of natural reserves (not national parks) and I realized that most of the time it's to preserve humans from their own mistakes (it's also much cheaper to put a fence around an area, than to decontaminate it)!

Well I left my hill this morning (is was sleeping at about 100m over sea level) crossed Molle and several other villages to reach Helsingborg: the medieval fortified city. I visited the old city and went up to (not in) the 30m donjon which offers a nice view over the city... and keeps an eye on the canal of Öresund: because on the other sode, there is facing Helsingør in Denmark (in medieval time both cities were Danish, so they must have controlled the whole sea traffic leading from the North to the East and the Baltic sea). I do not know how fare they were member of the Hansa alliance (going from Amsterdam to St. Petersburg) but when you see the buildings and the size of the old city  it is not hard to understand that it was nice to live in Helsingborg.

I had to take the ferry to cross Öresund (the bridge Malmö-Copenhagen is a highway and I did not wanted to cross it with a police escort: could be fun but really expensive and synonym of end of my small trip around northern Europe) and reach Helsingør. So I reached today the fourth (and last?) Scandinavian country of my trip: The question is if Iceland is also part of Scandinavia or not. To be or not to be (part of Scandinavia), that's the question... of Hamlet! And here in Helsingør they are huge fans of Shakespeare's dramatic theater (Hamlet is a Danish character)! So huge that they play the piece every summer in the Hamlet Castel!

I recognize that it's very hard to have an impression of a country after 8 hours... But when Sweden offers a big step to culture when you leave Norway, then Denmark is on the top of the ledger (échelle?)! One the other hand, if you want to escape in the nature, then Denmark is a flop and you should run to Norway: Sweeden is again in the middle and offers a good transit from one extreme to the other. But If you want to meet nice people, just go to Finland... and if you want to meet very nice people, go to Lapland... and if you want to meet Santa, go to Kemihaara!