Except for restaurants and bars, almost everything in Denmark is closed on Sunday. We had a long day yesterday and wanted to take it easy today anyway. The only thing we brought that does not seem to like European voltage is the Sonicare toothbrush charger. So we decided to drive to Sweden, where the stores are open on Sunday, and buy a converter.

One of the surprises when we laid out this trip is how close Denmark and Sweden are. They are as close as two miles at the northern tip of Zealand, the island that contains Copenhagen. We went to that point the other day on our drive around the island.

At the southeast corner of Zealand the two countries connect via a tunnel-bridge combination that is relatively new. On the Swedish side is the medium-size city of Malmö. We did a little Internet research, found a department store (Clas Ohlson) and set off.

The first problem we found is that our on-loan navigation system (See Day 3 for that saga) does not cover Sweden. We quickly figured out it does not have Norway either. So we have no coverage for half the countries and more than half the driving.

We went back in the hotel and grabbed the free lobby wireless with one of the iPads, looked up directions to Clas Ohlson, wrote them down (in Anglo-Swedish) and set off. The bridge is supposed to be spectacular and it is cool, just not spectacular. But it is expensive; about $60 each way.

Anyway, long-story-short, we found the department store, got what we needed, had lunch, sat in a café in a nice breeze and set off for the return trip. The new navigation system (Garmin nüvi 1200) works great. I’m updating the maps and downloading Germany as I type this entry.

Tomorrow will be the longest drive of the trip, over 600 km, or almost 380 miles. The car is a great cruiser, but speed limits in Sweden are a good bit lower than in Germany. We’ll take plenty of breaks and use the cruise control a lot!

PS No photos today, it was hazy on the bridge and Malmö wasn’t that picturesque. Sorry Malmö!