The Zuiderdam arrived to the port of Copenhagen, Denmark early this morning at 7am, and we were docked by 8am. The skies were clear and it was a bit chilly, but warmer than Amsterdam. We bet it will warm up and be a marvelous day. Denmark is considered the most livable and happiest nation in the world. Of course it comes with a price of high taxes, but most everything is free, we have been told by tour guides. Great health care, free education, and extended paid vacations as well as maternity and paternity leave once a child is born is provided for all. It is, however, very expensive to live here.
The population is 5.6 million residents that speak Danish and most speak English too. Copenhagen is the capital. They are best known for the Vikings, Hans Christian Andersen, Danish design, the plastic-fantastic Legoland, and excellent cuisine. The Danes are described as fun-loving frivolous party animals with liberal and progressive attitudes. And we are so looking forward to visiting Copenhagen with museums, castles, shops, bars, and historic sights. The Danish Monarchy, a constitutional one since 1849, is still functioning today making it one of the oldest in the world.
Copenhagen's harbor is 850 years old and has smartly retained its historic areas. With their copper spires, cobblestone squares, and colorful gabled houses, Copenhagen is considered one of Scandinavia's coolest capitals. It is also home to 15 Michelin-starred restaurants, and also home to the tiny statue of the Little Mermaid. The city ranks as one of the most bike-friendly cities in the world. It is a popular means of transport with 42% of all locals using a bike to commute back and forth to work. New bike paths and bridges are designed every year to improve the ride for them. By the way, the locals seemed much more careful riding these bikes today, compared to what we encountered while we were in Amsterdam. The city has 386 km of bike lanes to explore. And they do not have to be young to do it.
What do the Danes eat here? Try smorrebrod, an open-faced sandwich, Danish meatballs, pickled herring called sild, and Danish pastries. Favorite drinks are beer like Carlsberg and Tuborg, also schnapps. Micro-breweries are on the rise too.
We stayed onboard until noontime, having slept a bit later today. With so many ports in a row, we are finding that it is catching up with us. Now we really appreciate the sea days, and miss having them. The longest stretch will be Trans-Atlantic, but that is quite a ways away yet. The free shuttle bus from Ocean Quay, a new dock far from town, was waiting for us to load. The bus people had city maps that they handed out, which we love. We had almost a 20 minute ride to Kastellel park surrounded with blooming cherry trees. Just stunning, it really woke up the spring allergies with us. From there, we hiked to the harbor's edge to see The Little Mermaid. Not hard to locate, because lots of tourists were crowded at the railing to take photos of the copper statue. We continued to walk along the harbor past the theater and on to Nyhavn Harbor. It sure was crowded, but then it was also Friday, and folks could be off for a long weekend. Or there were a lot of spring tourists here. There wasn't a seat to be had with all of the harborfront cafes and eateries. The old gabled houses always present a photo opportunity and we sure did that just fine. Many boats were in the canal also. They have the canal tours here as well.
Leaving Nyhavn, we ended up in a gigantic square where we recalled the beginning of the Stroget pedestrian walkway was located. We had to head down the street where the Rolex building was on the corner. This street is loaded with all of the high end stores that you see worldwide. There used to be bakeries and places to buy cheese, but we did not see them today. There were some hotdog stands with the best long and skinny dogs that are famous here, but we were saving ourselves for lunch if we found the Hard Rock Café. The further we traveled down this lane, we came upon the more touristy section selling all types of inexpensive clothing and loads of souvenirs. Finally we arrived at the end of the Stroget, and saw Burger King on one side, and Hard Rock on the other side. Happy we had found it, we went inside and got a high top table for two. We also noticed that we were directly across the street from Tivoli Gardens, a place that inspired Walt Disney to create a theme park following the ideas here. Besides some rides, gardens, and restaurants, they have a broad range of concerts all summer long.
Back to lunch, we shared a burger and the big brownie ice cream dessert with two Stella beers. Compared to other places we have dined on this trip, it was very expensive here. Like the equivalent of $75 USD… and we shared. We did pick up a city T-shirt, which was priced about the same as all of their stores. The salesgirl that seated us, loved the New York HRC sweatshirt one of us was wearing, and threw in a free HRC collector's pin for free. Sitting and relaxing with the beer was priceless naturally. We took a slightly different path back, and went around the back street near Nyhavn to avoid the crowd. That brought us right to Amalienborg Palace where several guards were marching with their rifles, just like you see in Buckingham Palace. Years ago, we were here during the noontime changing of the guards and it was most impressive.
But it was time to move on since all aboard was at 5:30pm, and the last shuttle from the park was at 5pm. It was a long hike, but we made it to the bus by 4:15pm. And as luck would have it, our buddies Greg, Heo, Ginni and Rich were on the same bus. We all had to laugh that we did it again – running into them in the last several ports. What are the odds? The ride back took 15 minutes and we were back to the room by 5pm. Just then, we had a knock on the door and a waiter came in with a tray of chocolate-covered strawberries. No card, so we do not know where they came from. We suspect they were an apology for missing the birthday a few days ago. Whatever the reason, they were really good.
Captain Frank spoke before we left, and mentioned there would be some scenic cruising as we leave the city and head north. We had the sun shining on the veranda, and it was heaven sitting outside. The Captain also mentioned that tomorrow's scenic sailing into and out of Oslo will be wonderful as far as the weather is concerned. But he also added that we better enjoy tomorrow's sun, since he expects unsettled weather the further north we travel. Hope he is wrong with that, but we shall take his advise and take what we can get of the sunshine and blue skies.
Dinner found all of us present with stories to share of our daily exploits. The guys had walked as far as we had but stopped for morning coffee and Danish pastries. Then they followed up with a light lunch before coming back. Barb had stayed onboard, and so did Woody. He talked to Susie who is still in the hospital in Lisbon, and waiting to be flown home with an escort soon we hope. Working with insurance can be complicated, especially when you are overseas.
Turning in early as we can to be ready for tomorrow's scenic sailing into Oslo, Norway. But we were told this evening that there will be a passport check in the morning, so our breakfast will be moved to deck two. Nothing like waiting for the last minute to spring this info. But what else is new?
Bill & Mary Ann
