Part of Your World (Copenhagen, Denmark, part 3)

The day commenced as they tend to do in Denmark, with beautiful sunshine. Sadly, dear reader, it is often short lived. Today the drizzle was forecast from around 3pm. Our day kicked off at Buka, of course, for pastries and coffee and to purchase a baguette. It would be another 'French' dinner tonight to exhaust our supplies prior to our next transit day.

Our café was already out of baguette so we walked the 200 metres towards the Square to the other store to make our purchase there.

Today we decided upon a canal cruise so, after depositing our baguette back home, we grabbed the camera and the bags containing the lenses. The cruise promised many photo opportunities. We left home at 10:30am to arrive at 10:45 for an 11am cruise, as is recommended in the company information.

Below is my Tripadvisor review.

Stromma Canal Cruise

This canal cruise promised so much and delivered so little. The only accurate part of the 'sightseeing' description was we were in a boat on the canal and it lasted for an hour. Oh, yes, and there was an English speaking guide. Did that really matter when you couldn't see what he was speaking about?

A quick snap before anyone stood up.

Unless you were fortunate enough to get a seat on the side, or outside, you saw very little apart from other passengers. Most seats were taken when we arrived at 10:45 for the 11am cruise. Soon after we left the dock, passengers were invited to stand up, thereby obscuring any view those seated closest to aisle might have hoped to have.

The windmill in the Kastellet area.

As for seeing anything through the roof. The perspex had ceased to be transparent long, long ago. This appears to be purely a money making venture and you will see far more on foot creating your own personalised tour. It will also be more enjoyable. We walked to the Little Mermaid once we were off the boat. A much more pleasurable experience and we saw so much more of Copenhagen.

A garbage incinerator that doubles as a ski slope.

Don't waste your money.

I was just reviewing the blog and noticed the nice white outline for the cut and paste of the above review. I'm not sure why it also includes the next two paragraphs, they were definitely not part of the review. Nor was this, but hey, computers and stuff.

What I didn't put into the review was the absolute disregard for other passengers displayed by many people on board. There were two large family groups in front of us on both sides of the boat. While they could have probably occupied two rows of seats each they placed two members of their family on the side of the boat in three rows each. Some then spread out and turned their back on the aisle to ensure no-one else could sit there

A similarly crowded boat.

The two people to my immediate left, closest to the outside, stood up as soon as we reached the harbour, not only preventing me from taking photos, but completing obscuring any view. We, on the aisle seats, were prevented from standing up by the discoloured, dirty perspex canopy.

The commentary was in Danish and English. This meant the guide raced through the pre-prepared script in both languages. I was uncertain at times as to what language the guide was speaking, let alone what he was saying.

New apartments on the water. Asking beetween $2m and $30m AUD.

Some people occupying the aisle seats gave up trying to see anything and unsurprisingly resorted to doom scrolling on their phones.

As an experience, I couldn't rate it lowly enough. I received an email from the company this morning asking me to rate my experience. That should be fun.

Marmorkirken

Following such a scintillating experience, we needed to walk off some frustration. This would require taking on the weather forecasters and the afternoon drizzle.

HCA lived in both of these houses. Not at the same time.

Back through Nyhavn past Hans Christian Andersen's many abodes, apparently he really liked the area, we turned toward the harbour and then Marmorkirken. The dome is breathtaking and dominates the skyline of Copenhagen. If you forget it exists, you can round a bend and there it is, floating above the landscape. I'm quite fascinated by it.

HCA also lived here. It's the opposite side of the canal.

To get to the dome, we had pass through the Amalienborg Slot square where the changing of the guard was once again continuing at its glacial pace. Many people had lost interest in watching two rows of tin soldiers standing staring at each other and the crowd had thinned, so I got the photo I missed out on the other day.

A serious staring competition.

Through the Square and across the street to the Marmorkirken. There was a constant stream of people moving in and out of the church. It was quite crowded inside, people sitting in quiet contemplation. Good Friday influence I imagine. It was not possible to photograph the entire dome without changing lenses and lying on the floor. Probably not appropriate behaviour. I snapped a couple of quick photos and another of a stained glass pane in the ceiling of the foyer that Jayne pointed out. 

The dome.

The ceiling in the foyer.

The Little Mermaid

Outside the church, the clouds had become heavier and the wind a little stronger. The drizzle might be arriving earlier than expected. Undeterred, we commenced the 1km walk to the much maligned statue.

Although the story is loved, as is the original Disney animated film, the good people of Denmark do not share that love. All types of heinous acts have been perpetrated upon poor Ariel. She has been graffitied and defaced. In one act of violence she was beheaded.

The "English" church.

Today she sits upon her rock, bereft of the love of her prince and of her native people. A statue that is the backdrop for innumerable selfies, a canvas for mindless morons who feel the need to document their travels by sticking their face into every photo taken. Aside from that, birds shit on her head.

A swan making good use of the castle moat.

The walk down and back passes through the Kastellet precinct. It houses the Museum of Resistance, several churches of different faiths, a castle, the launching point for the royal yacht and finally the statue of the Little Mermaid.

There was no time for deviation from our plan as the drizzle had commenced. We followed the crowd to the mermaid. It would not be easy obtaining a clear photo given the number of people clambering over the slippery rocks around her. One vacuous girl was being photographed on the beach twirling an umbrella and turning to look coquettishly at the camera. Or her girlfriend. Whatever.

Look at me when I'm speaking to you.

We paused momentarily for a change of camera lens and swapped in the 300mm lens, meaning I could shoot from a distance. Obligatory photos taken, none of which included our visages, we left the crowds clamouring for position as they muttered "just one more picture". It was said as an apology but lacked sincerity.

I'm not looking at you. A bird has shit on my face.

It was officially raining as we reached home. Excellent timing. The rain was going to hang around all day so we decided to call it quits and adjourned to our warm abode to crack a bottle of chablis and discuss the day's events. And hate on Stromma.

Ah, yes. I'd be unhappy too.

Of course the title today Part of Your World is from the 1989 Disney animated movie The Little Mermaid.

A shop window on the way home. Interesting.

And that's about it from Copenhagen.

Until next time.

Good Day Sunshine (Copenhagen, Denmark, part 1)

During our exploration of our local area yesterday, dear reader, we came across Taste, a French patisserie not far from home. The wheelie bag drag from the station took us through the Latin Quarter and it appears we live near the French Quarter. Why is there never an Australian Quarter? Good taste perhaps?

I digress. Taste was the destination for breakfast not just because of the mouth watering pecan pie Jayne saw in the window. It was also next door to Marmorkirken, our first tourist stop for the day. Alas and alack, Taste had done the French thing with a random bridge day closure. The public holidays actually commence tomorrow (Thursday). Taste has gone next level though and is closed for 7 days.

An act of defiance.

Fortunately there was another bakery about 100 metres back down the road, Baku. A quick about face had us seated and enjoying good coffee and excellent Danish pastries. Who needs the French? We also purchased a baguette because they looked so good. As we were leaving, we enquired about their holiday hours. "No change," was the reply. "We have usual hours of operation." Breakfast over the Easter period is solved.

Marmorkirken

Rather than turn our dinner baguette into a tourist, we returned home, left it in the kitchen and traced our steps back to Marmorkirken. The French influence is obvious throughout Scandinavia in many ways. Take the best view of a significant landmark or other tourist attraction and destroy it by parking trucks in front, or turning the plaza into a Metro station. The Danes did both with Marmorkirken.

Marmorkirken.

It has an absolutely magnificent, sky dominating dome that can be seen from many different points around the city. When there are not major refurbishment programs occuring, like now, the view from the Opera House back through the square that houses the four palaces to the church is simply awe inspiring.

The size of the dome and the church underneath made it difficult to take a photograph that captured it all. Especially one that didn't include a parking area or passing traffic. But I tried.

One of the identical palaces.

Amalienborg Slot

This is an area just beyond Marmorkirken. It is a huge cobblestoned square (not really) that contains four identical palaces that face the equestrian statue in the centre. In one of these places reside the Danish royals and our Mary of course. It is here that the changing of the guard occurs everyday at noon. And do the people turn out to watch? Oh, yes, in big numbers.

A guard that required changing.

Prior to the changing of the guard, we visited the one palace open to tourists. There were two floors open to the public. On one floor there was a look back at recent Danish kings including a timeline that traced the current royals. The rooms were filled with memorabilia from earlier reigns. There were photos, books, swords, riding paraphernalia and pipes. Lots of pipes. The Danes love a smoke. Quite a curiosity for us as smoking is not such a thing in Australia.

A champagne cooler, not a baby bath. They must drink more than us.

The other floor was pretty much devoted to the new king, Frederik X with lots of photos and video presentations of the royal wedding, his pre-nuptial life and the coronation.

Our Mary and some guy she meet in a bar.

Tour complete, we joined the ever growing crowd for the changing of the guard. Suddenly at 11:45am people began running to get into position. No ropes and barriers like we experienced in Sweden. Hence we found ourselves at the rear of the crowd, no matter where we tried to position ourselves. I gave up and moved away from the throng and left Jayne to try to spectate. From what we could see, not much was going on, so we departed the square, somewhat disappointed.

The crowd watching the changing of the guard.

Nyhavn

We discovered we weren't far from Nyhavn (new port) and wanted to have a look at this part of town because our canal cruise leaves from there on Friday. The walk would also take us along the waterfront and hopefully to an area where I could get a clear shot of the Opera House without the fencing and construction works in the way.

It did. There is a vast wharf area called Ofelia Plads near the Skuespilhuset which appears to be an entertainment centre of sorts; currently featuring Madame Butterfly. Not sure why this wasn't at the Opera House. From there, we could see a bridge crossing the canal to what looked like markets. So over we went.

The Opera House across the water.

There appeared to be an inordinate number of couples kissing on the bridge (bikes and pedestrian traffic only). Ever the romantic, I asked Jayne if she wanted me to kiss her. You know what the reply was, dear reader. Later I discovered this is the 'kissing bridge'. And the markets on the other side turned out to be a street food area.

No hot dogs.

Excellent we thought, we can get a Danish hot dog. It's a thing one must do, apparently. We circled the area checking out each food stall. No deal. You can get pasta, Mexican, Vietnamese, fish and chips, and more, but no Danish hot dog. Back across the bridge (still no kiss) to Nyhavn.

Nyhavn.

This is an area similar to Bryggen in Bergen but with life and lots of people. The sun was out and people were enjoying it. One side of the canal is lined with bars and restaurants. Hopefully the forecast rain will clear quickly and we will get to eat here later in the week. 

We found where our cruise will commence on Friday and turned towards home. We wandered looking for a restaurant last night and one turn in a different direction would have led us down here where the options were too numerous to count.

Kongens Nytorv

It was less than 10 minutes walk home and just out of Nyhavn, we stumbled on Kongens Nytorv, a huge cobblestoned square constructed in 1907. Translated it is the king's new square. Near one side of it was a small pavillion surrounded by deck chairs and small tables. We had walked a long way and had been on our feet for a while so it was time for a Carlsberg, the local beer, and to enjoy the first extended sunshine we'd seen since home. And today's title, Good Day Sunshine by the best ever band The Beatles from their 1966 Revolver album.

It was a great place to people watch and 'enjoy' the second hand cigarette and cigar smoke of the locals who haven't heard that smoking is not good for your health. It would appear that the Danes have yet to decide that vaping is a preferable alternative - we haven't seen one vaper since we arrived here. We did, however, see some other interesting sights. People certainly get dressed up to go on a tour of the city. A very sparkly skirt and matching sneakers. Her friend was wearing full length fur. Not quite appropriate unless you're wanting to demonstrate how much money you have.

Overdressed yes?

After the beer, it was time to wander home or rather, to another tourist destination.

Rosenborg Slot

The Rosenborg castle is in Kongens Have (the king's haven), the park directly across the street from our accommodation  and we visited it in the afternoon, post grocery shopping. We're not really sure what will be open tomorrow given the holiday period is commencing.

Rosenborg Slot.

The park itself, the oldest in Copenhagen, is well utilised by people walking dogs and tourists checking out the sights. The flowers are beginning to bloom and the trees are coming back into leaf. The sun was still shining so there were a lot of people out and about, including bus trips visiting the castle.

There were soldiers everywhere around the castle. Jayne was singularly unimpressed by their marching. I was equally amazed at how they held their rifles. We watched some of them practising, badly, before we turned for home.

What a rabble.

Dinner tonight was the delightful baguette purchased from Buka earlier in the day with ham, cheese and tomato accompanied by a French Sauvignon.

The dome is visible everywhere.

Sadly the sun has gone down and rain is predicted.

Until next time.