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| Little Mermaid |
We spent the day in Copenhagen, Denmark. Copenhagen is the capital of Denmark. Today was a beautiful day, 65 degrees and very little wind. Several shop keepers told us it was not like this a couple of days ago so we felt privileged to have such great weather. We took a walking tour of Copenhagen which means we left the ship at 8:45 and did not come back until 3:30. We had a tour guide and the usual non-functioning headsets but he finally figured out the best way to talk to his group of 16 was the old fashioned way – talking to us loudly! We started at the harbor front and the first “world famous” spot we saw was Little Mermaid which has become a symbol of Denmark. The city’s most famous resident was fair-tale author Hans Christian Andersen, whose memory is embodied at the famous Little Mermaid statute and was the name of the book he wrote about a mermaid and a prince. The reason the mermaid is looking out from the harbor is because she was looking for the prince to return. Unfortunately, as the fairy tale goes – the prince married someone else and the mermaid turned into sea foam. I thought fairy tales were supposed to have happy endings but anyway...But if you watch the Disney version, the little mermaid marries the prince! I think I like the Disney version.
We continued walking along the harbor and came the Queen’s Palace. We saw the changing of the guards and Dee took my picture next to one of the guards. We were warned not to touch them so I restrained myself from giving him a hug. Would not want to end up in the clink. We actually saw the Queen come in from her royal ship, hop in a car and off to the palace. It must be nice! We took a little coke break at one of the hotels that once was a palace, saw lots of statues and landmarks of Denmark, even a statue of President Roosevelt. Much of our walking was done on cobblestone streets which were all part of the medieval Copenhagen. They must have had better shoes than I did today because my feet are killing me. My walking buddies at Griffin will be happy to know that I have over 18,000 steps today and it is only 4:00 in the afternoon. We are definitely going to move up some spots in our walking challenge...don’t let me down!!
We also took a very pleasant rife on a canal boat as part of our walking tour. The leisurely cruise took us through the canals of Christianshavn with picturesque old buildings and our Savior’s Church with its green and gold steeple. It was a nice treat to sit for about 45 minutes before heading back to town so we could do a little shopping. We ate lunch at a sandwich shop and stayed with a safe ham and cheese sandwich. The guide suggested we go to an authentic restaurant where herring is served on a open sandwich but being the finicky eater I am, we opted for the ham sandwich. We stopped in at a computer store which must be like a Best Buy at home. Dee had to buy a mouse so while there I had my picture taken with the Jedi just for the grandkids -- Ethan, Aric, Owen and Reese!
We saw a swan with her new babies. Tenley, do you know what the babies are called? I had to cheat and look it up on the Internet.
We learned a little tidbit about Copenhagen that perhaps makes us happier to be in the U.S. They not only have a VAT (sales tax) of 25% as well as 50% income tax for all citizens. Anyway, that’s the story our guide told us. Maybe he was just trying to make us feel better.
Another interesting thing about Copenhagen are the trash containers. When you put your trash bags in the door, the garbage is sucked down into a tube. Maybe that would be a good idea for places like New York City. I bet we could learn some things from the Danes.
It was a great day and we really enjoyed the tour and just walking on the streets later by ourselves. We were going to take the shuttle back but actually ended up walking back. I would compare Copenhagen to Venice and I think I really liked Copenhagen better. There were not near as many tourists and it just seemed cleaner. The canals are certainly cleaner and prettier but that ‘s just me talking...
The ship is now leaving the dock and we took some pictures of the wind turbines and also of the fortresses that protected the original area. Beautiful views! The pictures do not do them justice.
We continued walking along the harbor and came the Queen’s Palace. We saw the changing of the guards and Dee took my picture next to one of the guards. We were warned not to touch them so I restrained myself from giving him a hug. Would not want to end up in the clink. We actually saw the Queen come in from her royal ship, hop in a car and off to the palace. It must be nice! We took a little coke break at one of the hotels that once was a palace, saw lots of statues and landmarks of Denmark, even a statue of President Roosevelt. Much of our walking was done on cobblestone streets which were all part of the medieval Copenhagen. They must have had better shoes than I did today because my feet are killing me. My walking buddies at Griffin will be happy to know that I have over 18,000 steps today and it is only 4:00 in the afternoon. We are definitely going to move up some spots in our walking challenge...don’t let me down!!
We also took a very pleasant rife on a canal boat as part of our walking tour. The leisurely cruise took us through the canals of Christianshavn with picturesque old buildings and our Savior’s Church with its green and gold steeple. It was a nice treat to sit for about 45 minutes before heading back to town so we could do a little shopping. We ate lunch at a sandwich shop and stayed with a safe ham and cheese sandwich. The guide suggested we go to an authentic restaurant where herring is served on a open sandwich but being the finicky eater I am, we opted for the ham sandwich. We stopped in at a computer store which must be like a Best Buy at home. Dee had to buy a mouse so while there I had my picture taken with the Jedi just for the grandkids -- Ethan, Aric, Owen and Reese!
We saw a swan with her new babies. Tenley, do you know what the babies are called? I had to cheat and look it up on the Internet.
We learned a little tidbit about Copenhagen that perhaps makes us happier to be in the U.S. They not only have a VAT (sales tax) of 25% as well as 50% income tax for all citizens. Anyway, that’s the story our guide told us. Maybe he was just trying to make us feel better.
Another interesting thing about Copenhagen are the trash containers. When you put your trash bags in the door, the garbage is sucked down into a tube. Maybe that would be a good idea for places like New York City. I bet we could learn some things from the Danes.
It was a great day and we really enjoyed the tour and just walking on the streets later by ourselves. We were going to take the shuttle back but actually ended up walking back. I would compare Copenhagen to Venice and I think I really liked Copenhagen better. There were not near as many tourists and it just seemed cleaner. The canals are certainly cleaner and prettier but that ‘s just me talking...
The ship is now leaving the dock and we took some pictures of the wind turbines and also of the fortresses that protected the original area. Beautiful views! The pictures do not do them justice.
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| Walking Path along Canal |
Tomorrow we are at sea all day and in Stockholm, Sweden on Friday. We must get rested up for another day of walking!!!
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| Pathaway |
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Church
 Palace Guard  Queen Entering Palace    Swan and Baby Swans  Restaurant Row  Trash Can that empties itself Put your trash bags in and they are suck to a central location   |
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| Jedi Returns Taken in a Electronic Store similar to Best Buy |
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| Palace Guards marching through the streets for the chaning of the guards at noon every day |
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| Famous Restaurant Nonna 6 Months waiting list |
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| Wnind Energy Provides 11% of Copenhagen Power Working on going to 50%  Statue of Christ holding a spear     |
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| Fort Guarding Harbour Artifical Island Built in the 1700 |
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