Copenhagen, Denmark (Day One)

Today – according to the original itinerary – was going to be a sea-day. Then several days ago, the captain announced that because we had left Dover a day later than scheduled, and essentially missed a port, he was happy to announce that he’d secured a visit to Ronne, a Danish town on the island of Bornholm, in the Baltic Sea. Unfortunately, when we arrived this morning, the sea was so rough that we couldn’t safely get into port, so a further announcement by the captain confirmed that we would, instead, be heading straight towards our next port, Copenhagen. As a result, because we wouldn’t be arriving there until teatime, I ended up having an unexpected class this afternoon, which took place in The Supper Club.

This also means that we have an overnighter in Copenhagen, so on our arrival, and after dinner, we went out for a walk to see the Little Mermaid statue…

and the Gefion Fountain…

The Gefion Fountain is a large-scale sculpture of two huge oxen pulling a plough and being driven by the Norse goddess Gefjon. We love the fountain because of its little touches, such as the water coming of the front of the oxen in the form of a fine spray, which looks brilliantly like steamy air coming out of their nostrils.

We also took a walk around Kastellet (The Citadel), which is one of Europe’s best-preserved star-shaped fortresses, dating back to 1663, in which there is a rather magnificent windmill…

We sat around waiting for the sun to set, in the hope of seeing the Gefion Fountain lit up (which it is supposed to do at dusk). Unfortunately, it didn’t happen, and the weather was on the turn (heavy rain and thunderstorms), so we abandoned the idea and headed back to the ship. I did manage to snap a good sunset from the side of the fort, though…