Wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen

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Hi again,
Finally up to date now! We arrived here last night and are staying in a lovely little hotel (Hotel St Thomas) quite near the centre of town. Have a nice breakfast included each morning - most places have had similar and we have been able to eat our normal cereal and piece of toast, then I make a ham & cheese bread roll or sandwich for us to take for lunch as cold meats and cheese are usually provided as well.
Today we went on a 2.5 hr guided bus tour of Copenhagen - very good with a live guide for a change rather than a recorded commentary in multiple languages which don't always work very well! Stopped a couple of times to see special sights like the changing of the guards outside the royal palaces and the Little Mermaid statue at the edge of the harbour. Once again, our plans to see some of the sights have been thwarted by the Christmas Public Holidays here (25 & 26 Dec). Have booked our next train trip from here to Cologne overnight tomorrow, but will just trust to luck from now on for daytime trips as it has been quite expensive to reserve seats yesterday and now a sleeper for this overnight train. Feel I must for the overnight ones to make sure we are safe and can get some sleep.
Today we visited a store called the "Make a Bear Workshop" that Caitlin spotted as we walked past. Of course the idea is to choose the bear or other soft toy shell from the huge range available, have it stuffed with wadding (as well as a little heart and a sound box if you choose), then choose some clothes from the vast range on sale to dress your new toy. Caitlin wanted one of course, but when I saw the size of these toys and the prices I tried to get outside as soon as possible! Then we remembered the money Caitlin had from Russell for Christmas and she decided to use it to buy a beautiful white and pink cat to make, while I said I would pay for the clothes as a Christmas present. Caitlin decided to name her cat Serafina and to dress her in a winter jacket, pink skirt and white ice-skates to remember this trip by.
We are hoping to do some sightseeing tomorrow when everything should be open again as we have to wait until 7 pm to catch our train.
Merry Christmas again - hope you all had a great time with your families - we are thinking of you all especially at this time.
Love,
Patrice & Caitlin

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