Still in Copenhagen

Hi again,
We are leaving Copenhagen tomorrow so I thought I'd finish off my post about Copenhagen...that and the fact that once again, I'm not sure when internet will be available. Gotta take opportunities as they come!

Fantastic to hear from you Cheryl, and glad to hear you are enjoying travelling with me. I hope you enjoyed Neuschwanstein, especially as you must have found climbing the mountain easier than I did. [grin]

But this is one of those 'It's Tuesday, so it must be Copenhagen' type of tour so from now on we will be really racing around.

Sunday 15/6 - Soaking up Copenhagen
Started the day with a bus tour of the city of Copenhagen. We had a local tour guide called Monika, and she was really good. Not only did she know her stuff but she had a wicked sense of humour and I commented to Norbert that she would be really fun with a couple of Schnapps under her belt. [cheeky grin] Also, she spoke English really well and this seems to be the case here as although neither Norbert or I speak a word of Danish, we are having no problems with language at all.

So...this is what Copenhagen looks like (see photo). It reminds me a lot of Amsterdam in Holland and I guess as they are both ports from similar times, it makes sense. But isn't it pretty!

Lots of water, boats and canals.....and lots of old buildings painted in bright colours. But Copenhagen is also a very modern city and I can back up some of my first impressions. Its rather 'arty' with lots of beautiful old statues green with age, such as the statue of Hans Christian Anderson and many of the past Kings. But there is also lots of modern art. I took a photo of something....but still not sure if you could call it 'art'. [laugh]

We actually got to go into the Palace! This is not something that your average individual tourist can go on as unlike most palaces, this one is not a museum....its actually in use and in fact the Queen was currently in residence. Not only that, Mary was in residence too although she didn't pop down to see us. Maybe nobody told her that there were Australians downstairs! [grin] You know what's weird though....the locals here say that she is from Tasmania...not Australia. And the bartender last night actually thought that Tasmania was part of New Zealand! :-D

We did have to wear these funny bootees though! Here is a photo of Norbert's feet. Aren't they cute! :-) Something to do with the parquet floors, I think.

One of the 'must do' photo opportunities in Copenhagen is 'The Little Mermaid' and the tour guide told us that although the Disney version of this story has a happy ending, the real legend has a very sad ending with the little mermaid not getting her man, and being turned into sea foam. Sad. What's even sadder is that she has lost her head 2 times...the statue, that is. No kidding! It has had to be replaced twice and the last time they filled her neck with concrete so that any future idiot doesn't have such an easy task.

There was an optional afternoon tour but Norbert and I decided to do our own thing and just walk around the city and 'soak it in' seeing as we only have one day here. The main thing one notices is that there are bikes everywhere! Copenhagen (like Amsterdam) is very flat so it is very practical but there are special bike lanes and even little traffic lights for them, so it makes it quite easy. The only problem is that they move very fast and in fact I almost got run down by a bike! We were walking along the road coming up to an intersection and Norbert said "Let's cross here"....and I took him literally and stepped off the kerb. Bad mistake..... but no injuries suffered. [grin]

The rest of the afternoon we wandered around just enjoying the shops, people and scenery. Amber, here is a photo for you.

Tonight we visited the Tivoli which is a lovely, genteel city garden filled with water, restaurants, theatres, live bands......and several scary theme park rides! If one ignores the screams from the kids on the roller coaster, one can imagine 19th century ladies with their fans, enjoying the sunshine and admiring the swans. We had some tea and wandered around, but weren't interested in the rides (sorry Skye) so we ended up coming back to the hotel. It was getting quite cool anyway.

Gotta have an early night tonight as we have an early morning call and the bus leaves at 8:00am to take us to the Ferry.....which is then a short hop to Sweden. I'm looking forward to this country as I have visions of lots of tall, muscly blonde guys called Sven. [cheesy grin] I'll let you know....

Seeya from both of us!