Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen!

As I write the words of this blog, in my head I am hearing the song from the early 1950s movie of the same name starring Danny Kaye as Hans Christian Anderson.

Anyway, on May 2nd, we docked in Copenhagen about 8 am and had until 4:30 to explore the city.  I am not sure what my expectations were as I have never been here before.  In spite of the blog title, I can't say I actually felt the magic of this city.  Maybe it is just that I just like the Med more than the Baltic.  On the Hop On/Hop Off bus (the ticket was $33 USD, I connected with the Aussies I'd met a few days earlier and we decided to tour of Denmark's capital together. 

The bus commentary wasn’t very informative and the scenery wasn’t that great.  We did go by the National Gallery, the city hall, the famous Tivoli Gardens (which from the bus looked like a tacky amusement park), and over to Christianshavn which has an area called Freetown Christiania which we didn’t see.  The tickets we had purchased did not include the canal boat ride (that was annoying) but we got off at the canal boat stop anyway and went and purchased a ticket for a one hour canal boat trip.  While it was interesting, we didn’t go up the canal to Nyhavn, the famous part of the city, but we did see some other interesting buildings (many of them with very modern architecture).  As well, we saw the Royal Palace (the Queen and Prince were in residence), the royal yacht, and, of course, the iconic “Little Mermaid” statue which seemed to have people crawling all over it.  The city opera house is set in the harbour sort of like Sydney and we also saw a building called the Black Diamond which is apparently the Danish Jewish Museum.  The canal boat trip passed under innumerable bridges and was quite interesting.

 

The National Gallery

The Royal Yacht

The Black Diamond where the Danish Jewish Museum is

The Opera House

When we got off that it was only just before noon, so we wandered along Stroget, a shopping street filled with the usual high-end store – Prada, Michael Kors, Zara, Louis Vuitton and such.  We were interested in seeing Nyhavn which is famous for its colourful buildings along the canal.  It was a short walk and we ended up having lunch there in one of the restaurants.  I had a Caesar salad with chicken and a glass of wine.  I had no Krones so paid with Euros and my lunch was €28.  Yikes!  The city is expensive.  That part of the city, however, is lovely and you can get those ‘tourist’ shots you associate with travel posters of this city. 

Above and Below:  Nyhavn, our lunch spot

After lunch, we decided to walk along the waterfront back to the ship.  It was only just over 2 km.  We had an opportunity to take more photos of some of the buildings we had tried to photograph from the canal boat.  On the other side of the Citadel, we got to the Little Mermaid.  The statue wasn’t quite as busy when we got there so we managed to get some better photos than we got from the boat.  One thing to note is that it is only about a 15 minute walk from where the ship docked.  I don’t know what I was expecting but the setting for the statue wasn’t as charming as I thought it would be.  The statue itself, however, is lovely.

The following notes about Amsterdam are from the cruise ship information:

What started as a tiny fishing village has transformed into an up-and-coming metropolitan hotspot.  Towering high-rises now adorn a landscape that, in the 11^th century, boasted a church, a market, two wells, and one large estate.  Although written record of Copenhagen’s inhabitants dates back to 1043, there is evidence that the town existed as a settlement during the Viking Age, which would make Denmark the world’s oldest kingdom.  The city’s booming success lies in its harbor.  Once an industrial powerhouse, Copenhagen is now a central hub for rich culture, high-tech science, and up-to-the minute media.

The city’s port is now a major stop for cruise ships and four waterbus lines.  Upon arrival head to the National Museum, the largest museum of archaeology and cultural history in Denmark, for a comprehensive look at Copenhagen’s rich history, complete with ancient artifacts.  Two of the world’s oldest amusement parks live in Copenhagen:  Tivoli Gardens and Dyrchavsbakken.  Both offer rides and games, and there’s even a little something for architecture buffs:  historic buildings, including the Panoramic Theater, can be found in the gardens.

Transportation is easy in Copenhagen and going “green” is highly encouraged in what is one of the most environmentally friendly cities in the world.  With bicycle paths lining nearly every street, it’s no wonder that residents cycle more than 80,000 miles a day.  If you’re looking for activities, there’s no need to empty your wallet.  Walk along Stroget for street entertainment, including a myriad of musicians, magicians, and jugglers, or venture out to one of Copenhagen’s many gardens, beaches or museums.

A couple of things I learned from my visit here were:

·      You don’t really need to use the HoHo bus to go into Copenhagen and that it is an easy walk into the town centre.  The HoHo bus ticket was expensive $33 USD and we only went on half of the route.  We started early so the traffic wasn’t bad but we heard from others it took ages to do the route.  Further, for €5 more we could have got a ticket which included a canal boat ride and we weren’t given that option.  So, we paid additional money for another canal boat tour.

·      Second, some of the restaurants take Euros but they certainly use an exchange rate that is to their advantage. 

·      Finally, while I am glad I came here and I am sure there are parts of the city I didn’t see which are lovely, my overall impression was that it wasn’t a city I would want to come back to.  So, glad I have seen it but I’m ready to move on.