Dragons and Mermaids

Our voyage across the Atlantic ended with some sweet memories.  We made a few friends during the past two weeks that we felt like we knew for years.  So farewells were bittersweet but we all hoped we’d meet again on another voyage.  It was a foggy morning and from our side of the ship we couldn’t see anything for awhile.  But then the sun suddenly appeared.

It was a chaotic trip off the ship and we took a shuttle to Central Station in Copenhagen.  It was the sick ward with people hacking away with uncovered mouths.  We avoided any shipboard sickness so we put napkins over our faces and made sure we didn’t touch anything on the way off.  Once in Copenhagen, the bus unceremoniously dumped us all on the street.  We loaded Maps.me and found our way to our hotel.  It wasn’t very far but Bruce stopped to puff on his cigar while I rested my back.

Our hotel room wouldn’t be ready until 3 but they had a place to store our bags.  Now we had time to explore Copenhagen but of course I needed a cup of coffee first.

This was a cute little cafe with good coffee.  I also had granola and Greek yogurt.  Yummy!

Our first order of business was to go to the train station and find out about the train to Sweden.  It was an interesting old station.

They even had a Dunkin Donuts.  Made me feel like home.

The train ail station is across the street from Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the world.

City Hall is centrally located across the street from Tivoli Gardens.  The facade of the building is ornate with gilded ornamentation as well as sculptures.

In the City Hall Plaza stands the Dragon Fountain, as well as a sculpture of Hans Christian Anderson, the writer of fairy tales.

We stopped at the hotel to check in and change our clothes.  We have a cute room with a window looking out on the street.  We can also see the City Hall clock tower from our room.

Christiansborg Palace was built from 1907 to 1928.  It is used as the seat for Danish Parliament and the Prime Ministers Office.

The Royal Family doesn’t reside here but they do use the Royal Stables, Palace Chapel and Royal Reception Rooms.

The Royal Library is also on the grounds.

The grounds were quite grandiose and due to time constraints didn’t go inside for a tour but did go into the gift shop, which had sculptures and paintings.

We exited the palace on the other side and came upon the Royal Naval Church.  This church dates back to the 1600s.

The carved piece is dated to the 1600s and is made of oak.  The organ has 4300 pipes and was originally built in the 1700s.  It was last rebuilt in 1956.

After we left the church we saw that there was no wait line for the canal boat rides.  There had been long waits all day so we decided to go for a ride.  It was great!  It was right across the street from the old stock exchange building with the three tailed dragon sculpture.

Our tour guide spoke in 3 languages and he was great.  It was amazing to see the old architecture mixed in with the new.  We rode under low bridges.

The theatre is a modern architecture where people can sit outside and enjoy the sunny days.

The opera house, another modern building, has 14 floors, 5 of them underground.  They also use the flat top roof for cliff diving events.

One of the most interesting and colorful places we went was Nyhavn, a 17th century waterfront canal district.

It was a former red light district in the 1600s and there may still be a few remnants of that today.

But mostly it is colorful buildings, beautiful old boats, and tourists.

We also saw the Little Mermaid, unfortunately only from the back.

According to our guide, the poor mermaid has been decapitated and mutilated and spray painted over the years.

For dinner we ate at Tight.  It was good but pricey.  I had pasta with prawns, Bruce had it without.

For dessert we went to Bertels Salon for cheesecake.  Very good!

Today we went to Tivoli Gardens.  On our way over to the park, we saw the press gathering.  It turns out Caro, the World No. 2 Danish tennis player was going to be here.  However, it was not for another half hour so we didn’t hang around.

We decided not to go on rides but just to go to take pictures and get a feel for the place.  Walking in, you can feel the age of the place although the rides are very modern.

 

One terrifying ride called vertigo went so fast, spinning I was wondering how people were when they got off.  I noticed only teenage boys and girls went on this ride.  I don’t think I’ve ever seen a ride at this speed before.

There is a roller coaster which is supposedly the oldest wooden roller coasters built in 1914.  The bumper cars and Ferris wheel are very old as well.  The tilt a whirl are Viking ships and the carousel has exotic animals.

There is a hotel inside the park with restaurants Nimb Bar and Grill.  This place looks like it’s in India.

A pirate ship is actually a family restaurant.

Bruce and I had pastry at Tivolis Kaffebar.  I had a macaroon and Bruce had rhubarb pie.

We spent quite a few hours walking the park and here are some random shots from the day.

We returned in the evening to catch Tivoli under the lights.