Our trip is over, and we’re back home in Windsor , California
We left Oslo , Norway mid-afternoon, and sailed down the fjord
that leads to the North Sea . Once out of the fjord, we encountered a wind
that approached 65 knots and seas churned up by the wind. For the rest of the afternoon and evening,
the captain kept adjusting our course to minimize the effects of the wind and
sea. As we got closer to Copenhagen , the wind died
and the sea calmed down.
We arrived in Copenhagen
early in the morning; we were already docked by the time we woke up. The departure schedule, which we had received
the day before, listed our time for disembarkation as 8:45 AM, so we met our
friends at a lounge/waiting area and enjoyed some coffee, juice and
sweets. When our time was called, we
left the ship and reclaimed our luggage in a large tent set up on the dock. The entire process went smoothly.
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| Nyhavn |
We had rented an apartment in Copenhagen , which we shared with our friends,
Karl and Pam. The others in our group
were staying at the Copenhagen Marriott Hotel.
After calling to alert the apartment manager, we taxied to our apartment
where we were met by a representative who showed us through the apartment. It’s a large, bright, two bedroom unit in a
building located off the street so traffic noise was non-existent. It’s located in a neighborhood called, “Nyhavn”
which means, “new harbor”, but it’s actually one of the oldest harbors in the
city, dug by Swedish prisoners of war in the 17th century. The canal itself is lined with old ships that
probably have sailed for the last time, and the streets that line the canal are
filled with restaurants, bars and hotels.
It’s a vibrant, popular neighborhood with locals and tourists alike.
After unpacking and getting settled in, we set out to
explore the neighborhood, get a bite to eat, and find a grocery store for a few
supplies we’d need for a six-night stay.
Copenhagen ’s
traffic, both cars and bicycles, is very heavy, but the drivers (and bikers)
are as courteous as we’ve seen in any country, obeying stop lights and
pedestrian right-of-ways. After a few
wrong turns, we found the grocery store, completed our purchases and started
looking for a restaurant. There was a
cold wind blowing so we did not want to eat at any of the many sidewalk cafes,
so instead we found a small café about three blocks from our apartment. We enjoyed a fairly modest lunch with a beer,
and then came to the realization that Copenhagen
is a very
expensive city. Our lunch for four came to $118. Wow!
At least the tip’s included in the bill
throughout Denmark.
The next day, Saturday, we were treated to a walking tour of Central Copenhagen .
Karl is retired from law enforcement, and he’s a member of the
International Police Association (IPA) which provides police contacts in cities
and countries around the world. Karl had
been in email contact with Rene, a retired police administrator in Copenhagen , and he and
his wife, Majbritt (pronounced Mybrit) met us at our apartment to show us
around. We walked to the Amalienborg Palace Christianborg
Palace , site of the fortress built in 1167 from
which Copenhagen grew. Fire burned the palace several times over the
centuries; the present palace was built in 1907. The stable and other buildings behind the
palace date back to the 1730’s though.
Adjacent to the palace is Denmark ’s
Parliament, where the actual job of running the country occurs. Denmark is a
constitutional monarchy, run by a prime minister and 179 members of parliament,
made up of representatives from 8 political parties or so. The queen has to sign all laws, but they are
first passed by parliament.
From there we walked a few blocks to the Rådhuset or Town Hall. At Rene’s suggestion, we stopped at a hot dog
stand in front of the town hall for lunch.
It was delicious and cheap! We
watched a human rights protest gathering in front of the town hall before
strolling one more block to Tivoli Gardens, where we met our “Marriott
companions”. Together we entered Tivoli , which opened in 1843. It consists of gardens, amusement rides,
theaters, restaurants and shops, and it is the most popular seasonal theme park
in the world. It is said that Tivoli was Walt Disney’s inspiration for Disneyland . It opens each year in mid-April and closes on
December 30. We spent all afternoon and
evening at Tivoli, seeing the sights, watching a couple of gospel concerts and
eating both lunch and dinner in the park.
Just before the 10 PM closing, we headed back to our apartment.
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| Rosenborg Castle |
Sunday morning we walked a few blocks to yet another castle,
Rosenborg, built in 1606-34 as a summer castle, complete with a moat. After about 100 years, another summer castle
was erected in a suburb of Copenhagen . Since that time, Rosenborg has been used
primarily as a storehouse for royal family heirlooms, including the crown
jewels and thrones. We toured the 24
upper rooms, each as it was when their respective kings lived there, and also
visited the basement rooms which contain the crown jewels, including many of
the current queen’s emeralds and diamonds.
From Rosenborg, we took our travel group to Nyhavn for lunch, followed
by a visit to show off our apartment.
After our fellow travelers left to head back to their hotel, we hopped
on a canal tour boat to see the city from the water. Along with many areas we had seen on our
walk, we also saw the new Opera House, built across the harbor from the central
area, and the “Little Mermaid” of the Hans Christian Anderson fairy tale. The statue was created in 1913 with funding
from the Carlsberg Brewery. She has been
vandalized repeatedly, losing her head and arms on a couple of occasions.
On Monday, we took a “Hop-On, Hop-Off” bus tour of the city
which took most of the day. Debbie had
spotted a Royal Copenhagen Porcelain Outlet on a brochure and wanted to visit
it while on the bus tour. When we
stopped at the Copenhagen Zoo, we hopped off and headed for the Outlet. Maps are deceiving, particularly when no scale
is shown. We walked more than a mile
before we reached the store. After
deciding that most everything in the store was beyond our budget (imagine a cup
and saucer for $100), Debbie bought a few small bud vases as gifts for folks
back home, then we trudged back to the bus stop at the zoo (uphill this
direction). We also stopped at the
Little Mermaid again, this time to see the front of the statue; she faces the
land. |
| Memorial Wall |
Around 7 PM that evening, Rene and Majbritt joined us; Majbritt took Debbie and Pam on a shopping trip,
while Rene took Karl and Tom on a tour of Police Headquarters. We visited the Central Police Station which
is used as an administrative center, and saw a memorial wall which is dedicated
to the many Copenhagen police personnel who were
executed by the Nazis during WWII. He
also took us to a precinct station where patrol and investigative officers are
located. It was a very interesting tour.
Following that visit, he took us out of the
central area to a large conference center and a brand new hotel with a
strikingly different design. It is 23
stories high with a penthouse bar and a spectacular view of the city!
The following day we caught a bus for a day-trip to Malmö, Sweden, about 30 KM east and
just across a bridge from Copenhagen. (This
town is mentioned in the “Girl with the Dragon Tattoo” series of books.) It’s an interesting city, much smaller than Copenhagen , but still, the third largest city in Sweden . We walked
along the central shopping street, visited the harbor and had a very good lunch
at a Japanese restaurant in the central square.
From there, it was a little more shopping, then back on the bus to Copenhagen . It was
a short stay, but at least we can add Sweden to
our list of countries visited.
On Thursday, Rene and Majbritt joined us again; this time
for a trip to a small fishing village about 12 KM south of Copenhagen called
Dragør. Dragør has many well preserved historical
buildings. The old part of the town is a cozy, picturesque maze of alleys with
yellow-painted houses, thatched roofs, and cobblestone streets built in
the traditional Danish style.
Many of
these buildings are hundreds of years old.
Dragør was a prosperous seafaring town in the latter half of the 19th century,
and its charming harbor front is still in use by both pleasure and fishing
boats. The weather wasn’t particularly
cooperative during our visit; wind and occasional rain and hail followed us
around town. We visited Dragør on Ascension Day, which is a
holiday in Denmark, so some of the stores were closed, but many were open. We had an excellent lunch at a local
restaurant and did some souvenir shopping while there. Following our bus ride back to our apartment,
it was time to pack for home, as we were leaving the next afternoon.
On Friday we caught the Metro to the airport around 10:30
AM, in plenty of time to catch our flight at 1 PM. We flew on a Lufthansa regional jet from
Copenhagen to Munich, and then caught a non-stop Lufthansa flight to San Francisco. We traveled across 9 time zones, arriving at
SFO around 6:30 PM. After grabbing our
luggage and clearing customs, we stepped outside the terminal and there was an
Airport Express bus to Santa Rosa at the curb.
We got to Santa Rosa around 9:45 and Debbie’s sister, Susie picked us up
and took us home. Brenda, our kitty
sitter, had left the house in great shape with clean sheets and towels for
us. We fell into bed for a good night’s
sleep, to be interrupted only by jet lag at 2:30 in the morning. Bah!
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