Baltic cruise Day 9 - Copenhagen, Denmark
After a good night’s rest, we woke to find the ship moving very slowly through the narrow channel between Sweden and Denmark. You could stand in one spot and see two countries - that was sort of neat. We docked at about ten and we were some of the first to get off the ship.
We had decided to grab a shuttle and look around to see what was going on in Copenhagen. The bus dropped us off at Vester Voldgada and we started walking. It’s interesting in that the sidewalks are mostly paving stones or cobble stones. I don’t see how some of the women were walking on them with spiked heels. I had a hard enough time with sneakers!
We walked down one of the canals and back up the other side, which I got to experience Danish plumbing. No matter where you go, there’s a line for the ladies! After that, we decided to walk to the Royal Gardens and to Rosenborg Palace. It was an overcast day, but it warmed up to the point of where I was missing my shorts.
After some photo shoots with Fred and Agent T, we headed back to the shuttle pick up point and back to the ship. We had intended to stop along the way and eat, but none of the restaurants seemed to suit Chris. Come to find out he was looking for a Mexican restaurant (I know, I know…). We ended up at the ship’s luncheon buffet. It was fine as buffets go.
We headed back to the cabin for a bit of a nap before our night excursion. We headed out at seven for a canal tour and to see Trivoli Gardens.
Because of the lateness of the tour, we had to eat at the buffet again. It was fine, nothing to rave about, but the food was tasty enough. We ate with some of the people we met through Cruise Critic. They would be on the same tour as us, but we ended up never seeing them except for a few minutes at the end.
The canal tour was great fun, especially going under all the small tunnels. We were able to see The Little Mermaid statue, who has had its head stolen twice, the royal palace, many government offices and a lot of the social life. Many people live on their boats parked in the canals and it was as if we were going through their living rooms. None of them paid us much mind other than to smile and wave. We went the Opera House (its roof is the size of two football fields) and the National Drama center (funny side story, the dressing rooms face the canal and the architect/designer didn’t put in curtains as he felt them should have the best view of the canals. The only problem was that at night, the people in the canal had a really good view of them changing. There are now curtains up in the dressing rooms).
After the canal tour, we boarded a bus and headed for Trivoli Garden. This is a pleasure garden, but there is very little ‘garden’ aspect. Mostly it is a collection of restaurants and a few rides (mostly roller coast or other high adrenaline rides). We wandered around a bit and were most taken by the Pantomime Theatre. Its front curtain was a three-d peacock whose fanned tail made the grand rag (front curtain). As the show started, the curtain split in half and either side went down into a pocket in the floor as the peacock was lowered. The staging was pure Commedia del Arte and that delighted Chris to no end. He loves the stylized movements that discipline demands.
We were at the Garden for about an hour, which was more than enough time for me. After the mega-parks, like Disney World, this one seemed very, well, uninspiring. It was back to the ship, where we arrived about 10:30. This is a very late night for me, but I was surprisingly awake, so much so that we stopped for drinks and listened to the pianist in the lounge for a bit before heading back for the cabin.
When we arrived, we found that we had been invited to the Chef’s Table. It’s a multi-course extravaganza for a limit of twelve people only. It’s sort of first come, first serve, but they have been known to show preference. Originally they had balked at my food allergy (clams), so I was a bit concerned. No worries, though. We, as well as our four friends, were in.