We arrived in Copenhagen Denmark around 7AM. When looking outside after waking up, the weather was beautiful. However as we were eating breakfast (something I usually do not have), I noticed the clouds getting darker. I was praying the possible rain would hold off until after our tour (~ 2PM). Well my prayers didn’t work. As we were departing the ship, we noticed the rain had started. During our trip, this is really the only place we have had rain. It called for it in most of the locations, but never really materialized. Thank heavens this was a bus tour although we were going to be taking a tour of the harbor in a canal boat.
It was interesting to learn that Denmark is made up of a mainland peninsula, Jutland, and 406 islands. Copenhagen is the largest city in all of Scandinavia. Something I found interesting is in 2000 a transnational bridge was built that connected Denmark and Sweden. It is called the Oresund Bridge and this will allow Sweden and Denmark to work together to foster their labor markets. We drove by the Frihedsmuseet (Museum of the Danish Resistance Movement), Amalienborg Slot (Amalienborg Palace), and Tivoli Gardens. We made a stop at Tivoli Gardens which is said to be the inspiration Walt Disney had for his theme parks. Tivoli Gardens was built over 150 years ago and is a combination of a beautiful garden and amusement park. Reminds of what Coney Island in New York looks like. Nothing like King’s Island!
After visiting Tivoli for about an hour it was time for our canal cruise. It was, of course, still raining off and on and we were walking to where we needed to board the canal boat. In fact, it rained so hard at one point our guide found some shelter since most people didn’t have umbrellas or coats with hoods. After a brief pause, we made it to the boat and boarded. It was covered but the windows would slide up for air and picture taking. Not like our cars windows, but these were curved windows in sections to slide along the tracks to open. Shortly after starting, the rain quit and the sun came out. It was turning out to be a beautiful day. We cruised around the harbor seeing the various sites. When we came to the end of the canal cruise, they left us off near our ship which also happened to be quite close to the statue of Hans Christian Anderson’s Little Mermaid. In Danish, she is called Den Lille Havfrue (Little Mermaid). The story says she is the sea king’s half-human and half-fish daughter who must wait 300 years until she can enter the world of humans. Since she was put up in 1913, you can see she still has a long way to go.
That’s the last of my updates from our ports of call. I will update more if something really interesting happens though. So be on the look out!
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