Good morning, Sweden!

We woke up at M/S Baltic Princess around 5 AM after a poorly slept night. The engine sounds of the ferry were quite loud on deck 5, where our cabin was. The pillow was clumpy and thin and I got the sofa bed, which was even more narrow than the other bunks. Oh well, it's always the same thing for me, not sleeping on a ferry. 

The breakfast was also served very early, starting at 6 AM. There was a huge crowd of Japanese tourists, it was like a Japanese invasion! They were everywhere, bouncing around. I hate to say this, but as the other customers were patiently queuing, some of the Japanese just went in the middle and took from the buffet whatever they fancied. Hey, get some manners! 

When it was time to clear the cabin and get back to the car, it was a bit of a shock when our car computer showed a message saying that an intrusion attempt had been made. Meaning that someone probably had tried to break in and steal our stuff. I guess the car alarm went off and scared that someone away. Luckily enough they got nothing..!

Now we are cruising on a E4 motorway heading South-West. It's a beautiful morning, sunny and +19 C degrees. Just lovely!

Here we go!

Today's agenda: 

Update: the next day, Monday 8th July

We just drove.. 

...and drove...

..and drove...

.. through the not-so-very-interesting Swedish highways until we saw the first signs to

The Oresund Bridge (Juutinrauman silta), which connects the third biggest city in Sweden, Malmö, and Denmark's capital city, Copenhagen, is a striking sight. The bridge is 7845 m long and crossing it is a very convenient and enjoyable way to cross the border, but it's not free. The smallest fee is nearly 50 € (one way), but for bigger cars and trucks the fee can be much bigger. 

Unfortunately we didn't manage to get good pictures of the bridge, but you can always Google it!

First we went over:

and then we went under:

The 13-hour drive went past remarkably fast and none of us even really felt tired, when we finally reached our hotel Mercury Medical Park in Hannover at 7 PM. The hotel looked clean and neat and the check-in was done in a few seconds; apparently they had been waiting for us. Nice 'n easy.

We had only had the early breakfast at the ferry, a few sandwiches and some snacks, so we were nearly starving. However, the boys had been so patient during the drive that we wanted to let them go to enjoy themselves in the hotel pool for a while. While the kids swam a few rounds, we had drinks at the pool bar and decided to stay there for dinner. We didn't feel very welcome though, and the two waitresses were both quiet and unwilling (or unable) to create a nice atmosphere. I wanted to try some local dish, something completely new, and it was a bad, BAD decision. Potato soup with crab was quite tasteless and we had to add salt to it, and the main course, sour meat, was like some kind of cold jelly meat.. Eugh. The dressing didn't help at all and we ended up in eating only the baked potatoes with onions. Gruesome experience. But hey, the wine was good..!

The room was nice and quiet and we all slept like babies. Air conditioning worked well and there was enough room for the four of us. Worth the 4 stars, it was. 

Today, we continue to Southern Germany to visit the Neuschwanstein castle, the one Disney used as a model for the Cinderella castle. It's supposed to be marvellous!