Copenhagen, Denmark
Today, we arrived in Copenhagen, Denmark, the home of Hans Christian Anderson.
We knew when we were arriving, at around 7am, because the noises that had disturbed us two nights before, happened again. Our cabin is located right at the very front of the ship, and as far as we can tell, when the ship is about to arrive at a port or depart, some drive shaft whirrs into life, almost certainly powering the mechanisms that pull the ropes in, or lets them out. It’s a constant mechanical whirring noise that sounds oddly like a fog horn from time to time as some other part of the system kicks in… I do believe we’re starting to get used to it, though; just the fact that we’re sort of expecting it makes it easier somehow.
Tracey and I were on escort duty, presiding over a tour advertised as ‘Walk and Cruise’.
The first part of the tour was, as advertised, a walk along the harbourside, from the ship to town, stopping at a few notable landmarks along the way.
Everybody in the group was issued with a small receiver that hangs around your neck, and a pair of earphones, so that the guide could communicate with us as we went along. I’m generally not a massive fan of these systems, but on this occasion, I was rather looking forward to hearing what Stewart, our guide, had to say. As we walked along, however, one lady at the back of the group started complaining that she couldn’t hear what the guide was saying. Since she had paid for the tour, and I, as escort, hadn’t, it seemed appropriate to offer to swap my receiver for hers… which I did. Unfortunately, this meant I didn’t hear a single word the guide said for the rest of the trip… ah, the price of responsibility…
It didn’t really matter too much. Our first stop was to see the famous statue of The Little Mermaid, immortalised in Hans Christian Anderson’s folk tale.
It’s a small bronze statue situated on a small rock just a few feet off shore. Being famous, of course, it attracts large numbers of tourists, all jockeying for position to take photographs. That, I get; after all, it’s a famous statue, so everyone naturally wants to take their own photographic reminder. What annoys me slightly, though, are the hordes of Japanese tourists, all of whom insist on taking a selfie right in front of the thing, or posing while one of their mates takes a photo of them… basically ruining the photographic opportunity for everyone else. It never stops there, either, since everyone in the group has to have the same photo taken by their camera.
Our second stop was to view a fountain, atop of which rides some mythical person riding a chariot pulled by four bulls. It’s an impressive piece of work, with some great little touches, like fine spray coming out of the bulls nostrils, looking like steam.
Again, it was a challenge to try and take a decent photograph and not include someone from the selfie brigade. The guide wasn’t dawdling, either, making photo-taking difficult.
Eventually, after walking through the elegant parliament square, and stopping off for a complimentary coffee and Danish pastry, we reached Nyhavn (which translates as ‘New Harbour’), a popular, colourful and vibrant tourist harbour lined with bars and restaurants. From here, a short walk brought us to another quayside, where we decanted into large, flat, glass-topped canal boats for the second part of our tour, a canal ride through Copenhagen.
Naturally, the few outdoor seats that there were got snapped up quickly, meaning most people had to sit inside, and look out through the grimy glass as the buildings passed by, which wasn’t really much fun at all. The bridges we passed under were exceedingly low, with only a couple of inches gap in a few places, so the guide had to remind those on the outer decks to sit down quite frequently, to avoid losing their heads.
The canal boat trip lasted about 50 minutes, finishing up at the quayside alongside the Magellan, just in time for lunch.
After lunch, Tracey and I went out for another walk, to see the Little Mermaid again, and to take another look at the bull fountain, both of which were, by now, not so crowded. We also discovered this rather marvellous sculture on the quayside…
We returned to the ship along the ramparts of the large fort
We’ve decided we rather like Copenhagen, and it was nice to see it on a nice day as opposed to the our last visit two years ago, when we got right royally drenched.
