I'd Like a New Set of Feet, Please

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Geo: 55.6763, 12.5681

Our arrival and disembarkation in Copenhagen was the mirror image of the previous morning in Kiel, but in this scenario, we were the ones trying to disembark for good. We were told to be in one of the lounges by 8:30am, which was the same time we were to dock. When we got there, we for the first time realized how few people had embarked from Copenhagen. There were maybe 20 of us in the room, which included ourselves and the seven folks with whom we'd shared the tours in Stockholm, Tallinn, and St. Petersburg. A few minutes after getting there, we were escorted off the ship. No fuss, no muss. Our bags were waiting for us just inside the terminal, and we then headed outside for a taxi. Ah, here was the rub. We all emerged at the same time and there were no cabs. It was early on a Sunday morning, but I would have expected some to be there. The same Swede who had helped us with our bags a week earlier was there, and he explained that cabs were on their way but it might take a while. He prioritized the groups based on number of people and destination. Most were headed to the airport for flights. After about 20 minutes, we got the third cab to arrive. Our driver was Somali, who spoke perfect English -- and we later learned Danish, as well. He explained that the city was packed as Gay Pride had been the day before and that this morning the annual Copenhagen Iron Man race was on. Participants first swam 2 1/2 miles through the city's canals, then biked for 110 MILES, and then followed all that up with a full marathon -- 26 miles. As he was telling us this, we came upon part of the bike route, and bikers were soon whizzing by us. Throughout the remainder of the day we were constantly coming in contact with bikers and runners participating in the race.

Our hotel was on the south (opposite) side of town, close to the airport, and the race forced our driver to go a longer route. After about 20 minutes we were at the hotel. It was not yet 9:30am, so our room was not yet ready. They took our luggage and then gave us outstandingly clear instructions on how to ride the metro (located adjacent to the hotel) down into town, which we did. We had a rough idea in our head of where we wanted to go, based on our "casing" of the city during our hop-on/hop-off roundtrip a week earlier. We exited the metro at the head of the very long main pedestrian (and shopping) street -- the Stroget -- and went to the Troll Bead flagship store, which we had attempted to visit two years earlier, but which had closed minutes before we arrived. This time we arrived too early, as the store didn't open until noon. We regrouped and navigated our way to Rosenborg Castle, which was built in the early 1600's and served as the main residence of the Danish king for almost a century. In addition to the extremely ornate rooms, all of which we were able to visit, the Danish crown jewels are housed in the basement, among an amazing collection of priceless items amassed over the centuries. The collection of ivory carvings, in particular, is outstanding. The castle itself is situated within a huge public park, through which we'd walk again near the end of our day. We arrived soon after the castle opened, so we did not have to deal with the long lines which already formed by the time we exited the grounds after our tour.

Mary had recommended a bakery located on the far end of the Stroget pedestrian zone, across from the main railroad station and famous Tivoli Gardens -- Café Andersen. It is actually run by a Japanese family, but is held up as one of the best bakeries for "upholding the Danish tradition of baking." We rode the train down to the rail station, and welcomed the opportunity to sit down and enjoy our danishes and coffee. The train was particularly interesting, as it was laid out to accommodate the extreme numbers of bikes in Copenhagen. The train carriage was predominated by a large open section in the middle, with built-in bike holders. In between the holders were fold-down seats. Very interesting design. Our weather forecast had been for rain beginning near noon, but the skies had cleared and it was already proving to be a very warm day, so the rest stop at Andersen's came at a good time.

Tivoli Gardens was already bustling as we started up the Stroget, past the Rathaus. Now that shops were open, the Stroget was packed with tourists and locals alike. As would happen countless times during the day, too, we had to cross the biking and running paths for the Iron Man competition. There were, luckily, crossing guards at each break point, who we helpful in allowing pedestrians to scoot across the paths.

We made numerous stops, including for Anna to buy a Danish-made Skagen watch, which she had been wanting for quite some time. We also finally got to visit K's Valhalla -- the Troll Bead flagship store. It was surprisingly compact, but they had a small "museum" in the basement tracking the history of the jewelry. Anna and I rested down here while K spent time chatting with the lone saleswoman and making a couple of purchases.

The so-called "New Harbor" is situated at the far end of the Stroget and has a Disney-esque look to it's postcard-perfectness. The New Harbor, in fact, dates back to the 17th century, but it is also from where several boat tours leave, one of which we decided to take to get a chance to see many of the canals and waterways that crisscross the city. By now it was after noon and it was proving to be the warmest day of our entire trip. The boat was a low open-air canal boat, and we were very glad to be able to walk on without waiting and then leave quickly, so as to enjoy the breeze as we floated across the water. The hour-plus tour was very enjoyable, though we could hear little of the multi-language narration from our tour guide as the people around us were having a grand time chatting it up. I even managed to get sunburn during the trip.

We were all three hot and sweaty by now and found an outdoor cafe in a shade-filled side street off the canal, down which there was a constant cool breeze from the water. The manmade windtunnel of sorts was perfect for cooling down, and we enjoyed a light lunch and drinks. We came face-to-face, however, with Copenhagen's prices, as our lunch of an order of french fries and one chicken-salad sandwich, which we all shared, and two small beers came to over $50. Ouch.

Recharged we set out on foot again, this time on the short walk to Amalienborg Castle, which is in fact four duplicate palaces facing onto a common plaza. The current queen of Denmark lives in one palace, the crown prince in another; a third is the "guest palace," and the fourth is occupied by offices for the royal family. Though the queen was out of the city, we were amazed at the access we had to the palace structure. There were several "beefeater-like" guards in front of two of the palaces, but no other security that we could see. It was an even shorter walk to Frederiks Church (or Church of the Marble) which was amazingly ornate for a Lutheran church. Pressing on, we headed toward Churchill Park and the Kastellet (or fortress island), which was very close to where we had stayed overnight two years prior. This was challenging as we had to cross the bike path for the Iron Man at one point, and then hit the marathon portion at multiple junctions. The marathon route was along the water, then up and around the Kastellet, and back into town, effectively making a U-turn right in our path. With difficulty crossing the route twice, we managed to get down to the water, but then realized that it was impossible to get down to the Little Mermaid statue, from where we had hoped to catch a bus. The run route blocked the only access from this side of the Kastellet. Using an app we downloaded for the Copenhagen mass transit system, we realized we had to retrace our steps in order to reach a bus, train, or metro, and opted to make a long walk back to the closest metro station, which was well over a mile northeast of our starting point. Most of the bus service in the central area has been cancelled on account of the race. The walk was very picturesque, especially as we ended up stairstepping through some very nice residential areas, and then cutting diagonally across the Rosenborg gardens, where we had started the day many hours earlier.

The metro was crowded and not air conditioned (no surprise, given that we were in Denmark), but it was a less-than-10-minute ride back toward our hotel. We had earlier picked out a restaurant for dinner on an island between our hotel and downtown, but by now we were all three exhausted and not hungry for a big meal. We decided to go to the huge mall neighboring our hotel and pick up some food to bring to the hotel. There was a very large Target-like store in the mall, which included an accordingly large food section. We were all really dragging now, though, and none of the food was ready made or easily eaten at our hotel. We ended up buying some drinks and then hitting up a small bakery, from which we picked up a couple of yogurts and panini sandwiches.

The hotel was a very welcome sight when we finally arrived. Our room was now ready. It was, in fact, two rooms. It was billed as a "family suite," and in reality was two rooms with an adjoining door. It was nice, though, as we had extra privacy and two bathrooms. One of the rooms' A/C unit, however, was broken. I called to have it fixed, was told they'd be right up, and then Anna hopped in the shower. After a long wait, I called back down, only to be told that there were in fact no maintenance workers on duty on a Sunday night -- the previous desk clerk had been wrong, no one was coming to fix it, and we'd have to move. Though, to their credit, they offered to come move us, we'd unpacked and Anna had just showered, so we elected to slowly shuttle our things from the 19th to the 24th floor. Things were fine in the new rooms, and Anna even survived making the switch in her pajamas with -- gasp -- wet hair!

We all three collapsed into bed. Both Anna and K forgot to bring their FitBits on this trip; I wish they had, as I was/am very curious to know just how much ground we covered during this very full day. No one can accuse of us not making the most of our limited time in Copenhagen.

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Photos

Thrones at Rosenborg
The lions are placed around the coffin at royal funerals.