It was a late sail into Copenhagen and we were in good company; NCL’s Norwegian Star and Celebrity’s Constellation. With maps in hand we headed off, but all we needed to do was to follow the masses... First stop was a very large Mermaid Statue ... which the males seem to prefer... then just a little further around the marina, we found the famous little mermaid sitting out on the rocks looking out over the ocean. The light was bad and it was really crowded so we decided to come back later.
We followed the water around till we reached St Albans Church, a cute little Anglican church but the Fountain outside of it was magnificent. It was not till later when we were at the palace that we realised that this fountain is the start of the road that leads right there.
The trusty map lead us around the streets past many beautiful and ornate buildings. We eventually ended up at Frederickskirke (Fredrick’s Church). The Church was modelled on, and intended to rival St Peters in Rome, and it ended up with one of the largest domes in Europe. Very beautiful inside and attractive with its gold trim on the outside.
Walking down the street in front of the church leads you into Amalienborg Square. This is the site of Amalienborg Palace which is the official residence of the queen and her French prince. The Palace is actually made up of four identical baroque mansions, each connected by galleries or underground passages. We arrived just before the changing of the guards which takes place at midday only when the Queen is home.
Just like in Norway, beautiful gardens adorn the city with stunning flowers in bloom and statues all over the place... you can imagine our amazement when we walked back down to the waterfront to find a replica of Noah’s ark.
Nyhavn is a cute street that has a canal running down the middle. One side of the canal is lined with restaurants and bars where you can either enjoy your drink at the table, or get your beer to go and sit by the waters edge and still watch the world go by at half the price. On the other side of this street is where Hans Christian Andersen lived and there is even a little shop named after him.
We strolled through the city passing many other beautiful builidings including Charlottenborg Palace which houses the Royal Danish Academy of Fine Arts, the Royal Theatre and Christiansborg Palace which is home to the Parliament, Supreme Court and Prime Minister’s office.
Then we managed to stumble across The Straget, a major pedestrian street lined with many of the well known brand shops we have at home, and like most places, you have the high end as well as the lower more affordable end... if there is one here in the Baltic. At the end of cheap end there is the City Town Hall and square. Just across the road you will find Tivoli Gardens, with the claim to fame as being one of the very first theme parks. Time was against us and to go in would give it the high entrance fee justice.
We were getting tired now and we had a bit of a walk to get us back to the ship so we kind of retraced our steps, but I was a little confused now so Garry took over the map reading. As we were walking back via Nyhavn we decided that we would treat ourselves to a beer and wine at one of the small cafes, so we stopped for a rest and listen to the buskers just out the front. In Australia we reward our buskers with a coin or two ... here people would order them drinks or give them a can of beer for their troubles.
Regaining some of our energy we set off again, calling past the little mermaid to get a few more pictures now that the crowds had died down. Back on the ship, we had dinner and literally fell into bed ready for our next big day in Germany.
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