In 2002 we decided to take a little road trip to Austria. We rented a car in Sweden, because the rental cars in Copenhagen/Denmark at least at that time did not come with winter tires and since we were going at a time where snowfall was easily possible, we added a quick trip to Malmö/Sweden to the itinerary. Thanks to the bridge connecting Denmark and Sweden between Copenhagen and Malmö it really just took a few extra hours to get there, pick up the car and drive back to Denmark. On the way to Austria we drove all the way across Denmark, entering Germany close to Flensburg, then continued along Highway E45 until Nürnberg where we switched to Highway E56, crossing over into Austria and still continue on A8/E56 and later on A1/E60 till Vienna.
Along the way we made two stopovers in Hamburg and in Würzburg.
On the way back we cut the trip short and basically made one over night stop due to the weather conditions. It was snowing like crazy, since we left Austria way later than we planned it was late already and we really needed the break already. We tried a few resting stations/hotels along the highway but they were all fully booked and so we drove off the highway and started looking for a Hotel to spend the night in.
We were driving through a little village when we noticed a police car following us at about 50 meter distance. They clearly were checking us out and did not let us out of sight until we reached the border of their municipality. It was kind of funny. Thinking back, I have no clue why we didn't simply ask them where the nearest Hotel can be found...? Eventually we bumped into a Best Western and were incredibly happy about it. We had no problem falling asleep that night :).
Denmark   Entering the toll road over the Great Belt Bridge (Storebæltsbroen)
 Driving over the Great Belt Bridge (Storebæltsbroen) - Nyborg to Korsør, Zealand
The bridge is one of the longest ones in the world, the eastern bridge (Østbroen) from Zealand to the island of Sprogø
measures 6,790 metres (22,277 ft) in length. It is 254 metres (833 ft) high. The western bridge (Vestbroen) from Sprogø to Funen
measures 6,611 metres (21,690 ft) in length. There´s lots of interesting information available on Wikipedia on that bridge.
   Driving over the Great Belt Bridge (Storebæltsbroen) - Nyborg, Funen to Korsør, Zealand
 The lighthouse on Sprogø, an island in the middle of the Store Bælt between Nyborg and Korsør.
The station has first been established in 1809 and the lighthouse as such was built in 1868. According to Wikipedia, a darker part of the island's history are the years between 1923 and 1959, when the island was used for containment of women deemed pathologically promiscuous, the main
concern being unwanted pregnancies. At the time it was considered a very humane approach, given the
fact that they had previously been confined.
  Germany  Hamburg    Some street. The Hamburger Television Tower sneaked in on the right side of the picture.
   St. Nikolai Church
The church was bombed from the air during World War II and burned down in July 1943. Only the bell tower
and a few walls are left and today serves as a monument for the victims of war and violence during the years 1939-45.
        City Hall (Rathaus) and Rathausmarkt
   Binnenalster and Jungfernstieg
   (also known as Hamburger Tele-Michel, Fernsehturm, TV-Tower, Heinrich-Hertz Tower)
 On the road again  The four wheels we rented for the trip. :) We totally enjoyed the ride.
 Würzburg  today it is a World Heritage site.
   
The Court Garden (Hofgarten) of the Würzburg Residenz
            was probably a small fort built early in the 8th century by the Franconian-Thuringian dukes, together with a church
which in 741 became the first church of the Würzburg bishops. From 1200 an unusually large castle was built,
which was extended during the late Middle Ages and the Renaissance.
Following the storming of the castle in 1631 by the Swedes, Prince-Bishop Johann Philipp von Schönborn built
a circle of massive bastions to protect the Marienberg. In 1945 the fortress was almost completely burned out,
and its reconstruction was only completed in 1990.
    
Inside Fortress Marienberg
 Austria      Vienna   View from St. Stephen's Cathedral
 View from St. Stephen's Cathedral
 View from St. Stephen's Cathedral
    In the 4th century on this location the first church of Vienna - at time it was a roman military camp called Vindobona - has been built.
             The monumental structure, built at the behest of Emperor Franz Joseph I as part of his expansion of the city in 1858, was intended to both unite
and appropriately represent the artistic treasures that had been collected by the Habsburgs over the centuries.
Construction work lasted 20 years, from when ground was first broken in 1871 to the museum building’s completion in the year 1891.  Guntramsdorf      On the road again direction Denmark            |
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