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.

Waiting for the sun (Copenhagen, Denmark part 2)

Hello again dear reader, today's title might be somewhat of a give away. After yesterday's beautiful sunny afternoon we returned to more familiar patterns of grey cloud and drizzle. Well, following a brief burst of morning sunshine. Once again we were left waiting for the sun, a classic from one of the best bands to come out of America, The Doors.

Our discovery of Copenhagen continues. There is so much to do here, museums, galleries, historic buildings and statues, of course. Being here over Easter has limited our options due to public holidays so we have decided we will definitely return in their summer next year. Although our accommodation is spacious and very central, we hope to stay in the same building but on the ground floor.

Our second full day was also affected by the weather. The cold has really not been an issue for us. Thermals, a warm coat and gloves and a beanie work wonders. Even the rain hasn't been such a problem. Drizzle is never far away and mostly is just an inconvenience since it is so light. Not today. Rain is predicted.

Our place through the Rosenborg gate.

At breakfast we returned to Buka to sample different pastries but still with a double espresso. It was reasonably cool, but not cold. We returned home to rescue the washing and place it in the drier.

Reffen

Initially our intention was to go to Reffen in the morning before the rain set in. Despite Easter, Reffen was open and had a number of events happening to attract the holiday crowd. There's food, alcohol, music and dancing. Some Christian religions would be appalled.

Reffen is a street food market where you can buy street food, obvious, but also fresh food to take home and cook. It was a 30 minute bus ride and given the weather and the need to check out the station for our impending departure, Reffen got the flick. Until next time.

Central Station

The bag-drag to our accommodation was defined by crowds, cobblestones and misdirection. Walking 2 km with a wheelie bag is OK if the conditions are kind. I was determined to arrive at the station on Saturday, not stressed or tired or sweating profusely. Searching for the route that would deliver this was problematic because a lot of it was similar to the reason why the LNP elected Dutton as leader, a mystery.

The back of the Church of the Trinity.

We set the GPS which immediately redirected us to the path we had trodden a couple of days before. Useless. With a rough map in my head, we continued on regardless until Google caught up with us. I ditched Declan for this excursion. It proved to be an interesting morning. We finally found the Roundtower which is part of the Church of the Trinity. There was quite a queue to walk up the spiral ramp. The line moved slowly and we had other plans.

The Roundtower.

A little further along our chosen path, we came across two armed soldiers patrolling a section of road that had been closed to cars by the installation of metal swing gates at either end. Interesting. On the fence protecting the building from the street and passing traffic were laminated photographs each captioned "bring them home". It was outside the Great Synagogue. No photos.

The spire of St Peter's.

The rest of the walk was unremarkable. Cafés, restaurants, shops of various descriptions, the usual medley of buildings and businesses. The cobblestones still made their presence felt but not to the extent of our previous trek.

We arrived at the station in 35 minutes, including time for me stop and take photographs, found the required platform and returned home before the drizzle turned to rain. And to see if the washing was dry. Navigating washing machines and dryers is a little challenging when all the controls are marked in Danish or German.

Part of the bike storage at Copenhagen Central Station.

The rain increased in intensity and kept us indoors for the afternoon. Once it cleared, we ventured out in search of dinner.

Bistro 23

The rain had gone but the wind had picked up and it was certainly like a slap in the face if you turned into it. Jayne's coat has a hood and I wore a beanie as we set out to find a restaurant that served steak. That was the easy part. The French influence ensured there were many offerings of steak et frites. The problem was in the size of the offering.

Bistro 23 from across the water.

The first restaurant had the steak but not anything for Jayne. The next offered a 300g steak, way too much for me. And so we kept wandering and reading menus, passing many, many pizza places until we were back at Kongens Nytorv, a stone's throw from Nyhavn.

As I said in the last post, Nyhavn is lined with restaurants but we were uncertain whether they offered seating inside. All the action on a sunny day was outside. As we walked alongside the King's New Square where yesterday we sat in the sun and sipped beer, Jayne quipped, "I'll bet there is no problem getting a seat over there now." A particularly icy blast send my hands deeper into my pockets. She was right, there were plenty of seats available, but amazingly there were also some hardy souls sitting at tables drinking cocktails. And smoking of course.

Flowering bulbs hanging outside a florist.

We soldiered on until we stumbled across Bistro 23 in Nyhavn. A French Bistro with the right dishes, a waiter with a good sense of humour and most importantly, tables inside out of the wind. We may have left the Arctic circle but tonight it hadn't left us.

We had a delightful meal accompanied by a silky, smooth French red. My steak was perfectly cooked and Jayne's lamb chops turned out to be a rack of lamb. No complaints here. We were warm and comfortable and outside the smokers, rugged up like Kenny from Southpark, we're enduring freezing winds so they could feed their habit. Brave? Determined? Stupid? Addicted? I'm not judging, just smirking with a kind of Scott Morrison smugness.

Caspar, our waiter, gave us his card. We told him we'd see him in the summer next year. He thought national service might intervene on our rendezvous. He had not been required this year because there were too many candidates. I guess we'll see. I've written his name on the card so we won't forget.

It was a 10 minute stroll home. We really are in a central location.

Until next time.