We left Copenhagen at 8:00AM after staying for three days and were headed for Berlin, 360kms. away. The fastest way to get there without having to drive back to Hamburg, where we already came from, was to head straight down south and take the ferry that crosses the Baltic Sea to the German city of Rostock. From there, it would be a breezy drive on the E55 to the capital. I planned to catch the 11:30 Scandlines car ferry.

We started on a leisurely drive passing by the picturesque Danish countryside to Gedser 130kms. away. Everywhere the fields were yellow, covered with rapeseed flowers that stretched as far as the horizon line. I couldn’t help but stop every now and then to shoot some postcard-pretty views and must have been distracted by all the bucolic landscape that I missed the turn in Onsler. Instead of heading south, we kept heading southwest until we were almost at the coastal town of Rodbyhavn before I realized that we were 35 kms. off course.

Queueing to board the car ferry at the last minute

What to do? Made a quick U-turn and drove like hell through the two-lane countryside hoping no cops were out waiting. My luck held and made it just in the nick of time before the bar to the pier’s entrance was lowered. Whew! Two minutes more and we would’ve been shut out. It didn’t matter if we were the last on the queue of vehicles boarding up the ramp of the Prins Joachim ferry.

We found parking on the first deck, sandwiched between two Scania truck behemoths and made our way up the passenger lounge as the 152-meter long ferry blew its whistle and lifted anchor. A quick glance at my watch told me it was 11:30. Boy, these people don’t waste a single minute! It reminded me of the time in Allen, Samar where our Philtranco bus waited to board the RoRo ferry 2 hours behind schedule. What a world of difference.

Across the Baltic Sea, we meet this cruise ship

The amenities onboard were impressive: comfortable reclining seats, outdoor deck chairs, two restaurants, and a huge Duty Free shop crammed with booze. Apparently, with alcohol so expensive in the Scandinavian countries, people there hop on the ferry and go to Germany or even stay onboard and return on the trip back to bring in tax-free liquor. One guy told me that he did that usually on weekends and took along his family for the ride. Drive, sail and drink. Not a bad idea. Well, in our case, we stocked up on fresh Danish pastries and Belgian chocolates before heading to the cafeteria for a quick lunch of smoked salmon and buttered rye bread piled with various cheeses. Surprisingly, the food was very good and didn’t taste like shipboard fare at all.

Multitasking: driving while drying laundry on my lap!

We spent more than half of the 1-hour and 45-minute crossing of the Baltic in the open deck enjoying the breeze with the warmth of the sun on our faces. Although it was summer, Denmark was still quite cold for my taste. Many seagulls followed the ferry and passengers enjoyed throwing food at them which they caught in mid-air. Ah, to be a bird and soar through the blue skies without a need for a passport!

The ship docked right on time in Rostock at 1:15PM. We were out in a jiffy and rolling on the autobahn within the next 15 minutes. Suddenly, the wife realized that she had laundry to dry! On our last night in Copenhagen, she hand washed some undergarments and socks because we had ran out of them since we forgot to use the hotel’s self-service laundromat. They were inside a plastic bag which the son used as a pillow until water spilled out drenching his head! And so I had to stop at a rest area and we draped the darn things on the front dashboard and back seat of the car. Because there was more laundry than space would allow, we put some of them on our laps and turned them over very often to catch the direct rays of the sun which was now in front of us. Some drivers of the trucks that we overtook must have seen what we had done so they smiled, blew their horn and pointed at us. I’m not sure if it was a traffic violation in Germany to have laundry scattered all over your car to dry.

This was the reason for our mad dash: Slowhand Clapton

We finally made it to Berlin at 4:00PM and got enmeshed in heavy traffic along Lindenstrasse which was close to our hotel. People were celebrating the start of the World Cup and James Brown was  belting out “Living In America” thru the huge loudspeakers set on a stage right in front of Brandenburg Gate while a group of skimpily-clad dancers pranced around. There was going to be a party that night.

The reason why we were in a rush to get to this city was because we had an appointment with Eric Clapton in Wulheide stadium at 7:00PM. Yeah, we made it with time to spare. And he didn’t disappoint.