Hello from Beautiful Copenhagen!
Well, technically we're no longer in Copenhagen but currently cruising up the Denmark coast on our way to Norway. I haven't had a reliable network connection, or a real trusting electricity converter so my computer died. But now on a US based ship I have our brand of electricity and everything...I mean EVERYTHING is charging.
We hopped on the ship today around noon and will be on the Royal Caribbean Serenade of the Seas for 7 nights and 8 days. These cruise ships are very much floating cities. They're massive and this one is no difference. I'm not sure how many total on board, but we do know it's only 400 Americans. Which I noticed right away. It's very European, Asian and Indian. A nice diversity.
Before I get too far into the cruise, let's talk Copenhagen. We spent 3 lovely days there touring the city and hanging with my BFF from high School Claudia. It was such a riot to see her again. It's true what they say about good friends...no matter how much time passes, you pick up right where you left off. She's a delightful person I'm so glad we've remained friends all these years.
We got in VERY late on the 22nd after what felt like the world's longest flight. We left right on time on fancy Virgin Atlantic airlines (I'm so in love with this airline). When Janet and I got to the airport I discovered I had mistyped Janet's last name and missed the "p" in Wraspir. The ticket counter supervisor (John) and his pal Kay took care of us. John spent an hour calling all over hell's half acre to make sure the name change was corrected everywhere so we'd not run into trouble. And then he upgraded us for them taking so long. So I said to him, "Let me get this straight...I screwed up and you're upgrading me?" He just smiled and said he felt it took him too long to straighten out. Ok.
So we got premium seats which meant we had a TON of leg room. Nothing else special. But it's Virgin so everything was special.
That lovely flight followed with an 8 hour layover in Heathrow. We had to go to SAS - our next airline - to make sure the name change worked and there'd be no problems. It was in a completely different terminal. And after me hobbling over to it we only had about 5.5 hours before the flight and we figured it was probably safer to just wait it out. We went and grabbed some breakfast and coffee and just hung around the airport. I joked with Janet about feeling like we were living in the airport now.
The flight on SAS was only 2 hours, but a completely different experience. They charge for everything. You want a coke? It'll cost ya.
We landed and got in a cab and were at our hotel by 10pm. It was still VERY light out. I hadn't thought about being this far north and having it be daylight longer.
Our hotel was fantastic. Mrs. Landlord recommended it and we loved it. The Copenhagen Plaza is central, it's clean, it's old but nice. It was perfect. They put us in a top floor room (6th floor) overlooking the famous Tivoli gardens. So from our bed we could watch all the rides in Tivoli. Then our last night there, last night, they had a spectacular fireworks show that we watched snuggled in our own beds. I highly recommend this place. It was right next to one of the Tivoli gardens exits and the train station, but once we figured out closing the windows at night, it wasn't bad at all.
As is usual for us, we did the Hop on Hop off bus, with an added bonus of a canal cruise. So we got up and met Claudia bright and early on Thursday and off we went to ride the bus. It was a beautiful day in Copenhagen and we really lucked out with that weather. In fact, I laughed because I took my sunscreen off my packing list because I figured I was coming to Copenhagen and wouldn't need it. I got a bit burnt on Thursday.
That afternoon Claudia had to leave to go pick up her kids and so Janet and I hopped on the canal cruise and we cruised through all the canals in Copenhagen. Fascinating. And in some areas some serious money on the water. Tons of nice boats and expensive looking house boats. It was just great.
On Friday morning, same thing. We met Claudia for breakfast and coffee, hopped on the bus and headed to the royal palace to watch the changing of the guards. I love stuff like this. All the tradition. All the pomp and circumstance that goes on. They certainly aren't as fancy as they would be if the queen was in town, but I loved it all the same. Claudia mentioned that if we left a bit early and found a cafe along this one road to sit and eat, we'd see the guard march down the street. By the time we got sat out side, had our beers and ordered lunch we had forgotten all about the guard. I happened to glance down the street and they were right there!
Before I go any further...let me tell you about the food. I wasn't really sure what to expect. I had done some research and had read about all the seafood they have and I wasn't really looking forward to three days of fish. Turns out that is a part of the cuisine, but not the only part. They have these opened faced sandwiches called...Smørrebrød. There are so many options to choose from. You can have pickled herring or roast beef. Chicken Salad or shrimp. Everywhere we went for lunch that's what we had. I had fried fish on one. I had roast beef with these amazing sauces and small salads on the. I had Danish meatballs on one...the list goes on. I decided I think I'm going to do a Sunday dinner with these guys...The bread is almost always rye bread and as Claudia put it, just a holder for the good stuff. It's not necessarily something they "eat" all the time. We did. We couldn't shovel it in fast enough.
For other meals I had fried fish... of course...I had a chicken coq au vin that was out of this world.
And the beer...oh boy. When we were in Ireland all I talked about was wanting to drink Guinness. What I found was a whole world of other Irish beers that I loved. Denmark was similar. I came over assuming Carlsberg was all there was...and it is delicious. But they also have this beer called Tuborg that was so much better than Carlsberg. I drank both...a couple of times.
That's really Copenhagen in a nutshell. I couldn't possibly list all the things we saw and did. Heck, most of you are on FB and already see that I'm sure.
I've been a bit bummed because my foot is acting up and it's slowing me down. Janet's a good sport about it and I've told her a couple of times to "leave me behind" and she won't. I was really hoping it would work itself out by now...but alas it did not. I feel like an old broken lady...now I know what Mom felt like.
Tomorrow is a day at sea as we make our way up the coast of Denmark. We'll go up and over to Norway landing in Geiranger on Tuesday. So stay tuned.
0 comments:
Post a Comment