Capturing Copenhagen (July 20th, 2011)

July 20th, 2011
Kris, Terri, and I followed Carol, Clark, Lisa, and Brad around Copenhagen. While waiting for everyone to arrive off of the boat, Ellen and Chris emerged. We got to give hugs goodbye. It was so very nice to meet them.

Copenhagen has a bunch of elephants on parade in town. We tried to take a photo of all of the ones we saw.


First stop, the ultra impressive Hans Christen Anderson inspired statue of The Little Mermaid. Ooooo ahhhh.

While impressively made, The Little Mermaid statue is teensy.

(I really didn't give a hoot about the statue, but I did like the elephant statues found all about the town.)

Next up was Kastellet. This would be my favorite area of Copenhagen. It was peaceful and pretty. Kastellet is one of North Europe's best preserved fortifications. It is currently used as a military establishment.

Due to this, certain areas were closed off. This didn't stop Carol and Kris from going to the windmill.

Kris and Carol - daredevils

Kris with the windmill - definitely worth the climb.

Luckily, they weren't arrested.

We walked around town a bit more.


And had to stop a few times so Brad and Clark could admire the local art.


Poseidon...

Who needs Florence...here's the Jolly Green David...

Jolly Green David

This is where the Danish Royal Family waits to get on their boat.

The Royal Family waits here to get on their boat.

Outside of the royal Winter Palace.

Next up was a harbor cruise. The guide spoke four languages (English, German, French, Danish). (Below is our guide giving another tour. Tip: Don't take a canal cruise if the boat isn't open top.)

Our tour guide on the next tour.

The most interesting tidbit of info given to us was why the houses in Copenhagen (and likely other Scandinavian cities) are so narrow. Properties were taxed based on how much surface area of ground they touched...so the narrower, the cheaper.

After the canal ride, we grabbed hot dogs from a cart. (They put spicy mustard on mine, so I couldn't eat it.) Along with the hot dog, I will share another elephant and a quick military parade.

Careful...the mustard has horseradish.

Terri, Kris, Brad, and Carol all climbed up an incredibly tall church steeple. (Lisa, Clark, and I waited below due to our various injuries.)


Kris took this photo from the top of the church steeple.

About an hour later, we were off to the self-governed section of Copenhagen called Christiania. Christiania is hippie land of illegal things. I saw lots of herbs and lots of white powder...and couldn't believe I was there. We found free wifi there...but got a headache while using it.

Taking a photo of the no photo signs.  I was yelled at while doing this.

After Christiania, we walked to a palace and ruins. Clark and I sat outside waiting on the group. (My ankle was hurting rather well, plus I had a stomachache and a headache. I wasn't doing well.) We did run into Sharon and Jane outside, and it was nice to chat with them for a while.

This building was watching us.  (See the eye?)

Big brother is always watching.

Half an hour later or so, the group emerged from the ruins and we were off to Tivoli.

At Tivoli, we all split up. Carol, Clark, Lisa, and Brad went to their hotel to scope it out and reserve a taxi while Terri, Kris, and I went to the central train station to figure out transport to Dragør the next day.

A while later and we were walking down the Stroget (the main pedestrian area of Copenhagen) on our way back to the boat. Terri found a Little Mermaid charm. I found tons more elephants.


The walk back to the boat took us an hour and a half. It was a lovely night, and we perused a grocery store. We also saw the old barracks for Kastellet. (Some still function as such and others are apartments.)

Hercules...Hercules

Cool light post

We made it back to the boat for our final night and ran into Lisa and Brad. I gave Lisa the information for going to Dragør the next day in case they were so inclined.

Terri got her photo later with her cookie guy Alan. He kept her in macadamia nut cookies all cruise.

Terri and Alan, her cookie guy

To be continued...



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