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Just when we thought the weather in Copenhagen could not get much worse, we awoke early this morning to a frosty 35-degrees, with a few SNOW showers! Cindy and Dee were delighted at the white flakes swirling around, but thankfully the winter wonderland display was short-lived. In fact, by later in the day, we enjoyed mostly sunny skies with mid-50s for temperatures. Talk about a dramatic turnaround!
Since the weather forecast called for clearing skies in the afternoon, we decided to take a canal cruise for an overview of the sights we may want to visit in the coming days. So shortly after noon we bundled up, and then walked to the nearby Sankt Annae cafe, where Dee and I had eaten a few days ago. We thought Cindy would enjoy the food and laid-back atmosphere of this place, and we all enjoyed the homemade cauliflower soup while sharing a chicken salad sandwich.
Our destination after lunch was Nyhavn ("New Harbor"), a recently gentrified sailors' quarter that dates back to the 17th-century. This picturesque canal is lined with bars, cafes, tattoo parlors and souvenir shops, along with all manner of sailboats, vintage sloops and other boats moored along the
quays. When we arrived around 2 PM, after a 20-minute walk via the Havnegade Promenade alongside the harbor, we purchased tickets for one of the canal sightseeing boats, and had but a short wait before the 60-minute cruise began.
The route followed by the tour boat, into the harbor area and through several canals, provided a glimpse of several of Copenhagen's famous sights, including the iconic
Little Mermaid statue (a gift to the city in 1909 by a beer brewing magnate); the very contemporary-styled Opera House; the Royal yacht at anchor; the Amalienborg Palace (home to Queen Margrethe II and her husband); the picturesque Christianshavn canal (along which our apartment building is located); the so-called "Black Diamond" (a ultramodern library made of shiny black granite); the Christiansborg Palace (former royal residence that is now home to the Danish Parliament); and the ornate facade of the Old Stock Exchange.
When we returned to Nyhavn and had disembarked, a gathering of cheering people (potheads?) appeared to be celebrating the virtues of marijuana, which is technically illegal in Denmark, but mostly overlooked by police. As we approached the speakers' podium, the smell of weed was in the air, but we could
not understand the speeches being given over a PA system set up for the occasion.
At this point, as we began our walk home, the girls stopped at a souvenir shop to buy some earmuffs, as the air temperatures are still quite chilly. We took a different route home than this morning, opting instead to walk across the new Inderhavnsbroen sliding bridge for pedestrians and bikers. This bridge is known by locals as the "Kissing Bridge" because two sliding, or retractable, sections "kiss" when they join together. Once across, it was fairly easy to navigate our way to the Christianshavn canal, where our apartment is located, by "homing-in" on the unique spiral steeple of Our Savior's Church, which is just a few blocks away.
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Dee Bitting
non-member comment
Snow in Copenhagen
The morning was wonderful ,Cindy and I was overjoyed with the snow flakes falling hubby not so much But the afternoon was cold but wonderful we had so many laughs and stops along the way ...Cindy is a great travel partner