Cruise Day 10 Copenhagen

There was much confusion aboard the day before about exactly where the ship was going to dock. The possible alternatives would make quite a difference to the day and it was hard to understand why the port lecturer - employed by the ship - didn't know. His two sources were, what had happened on his previous cruises (admittedly including this very ship in this very city) and feedback he was getting from passengers who had asked ship officers for information. When I quizzed him, his comment was "no-one has told me". Quite why he was unable to get advice is beyond me. That night we did our research online via the very patchy satellite internet, we found the port's web site showing the ship's berth booking details. This has been a strange issue all through the cruise. Our plan for Copenhagen was to walk until we were too tired and then bus it back to the ship. Depending on how we went for time we would drop items on our list and move on to the next. We were able to get a decent map from an info cart dockside but there was nothing open to do currency exchange. Nor was there anywhere to buy a "Copenhagen Card", which would cover multiple entrance fees and transport tickets. So we walked inbound. The weather was clear and cool becoming warm in the sunshine. First we came across some statues, including the famed Little Mermaid, which sits on a rock in the water a couple of metres from the bank. Already it was clear that this is famous enough that the behavior of tourists taking photos was to ensure that they were all captured in the photo with it. Nearby was another, somewhat larger mermaid with a more adult depiction. Read into that what you will, I felt it was too kitsch not to take a snap. From there we skirted around a structure that we later walked through so more of that anon - but we did note plenty of people jogging along it. Just beyond this was the large Gefion fountain. After trying our luck at a souvenir shop we reached some very orthogonal gardens set slightly back from the waterfront. By turning through these we found ourselves at one corner of the current royal apartments. Nothing here was open yet so after noting how the square had no markings and that cars were driving through and around the tourist pedestrians, we sallied further afield. Soon we can to Nyhaven, a short dead-end canal with lots of boats, lots of period merchant buildings and lots of outdoor restaurant/cafe/brasseries. Most were just setting up but clearly a lot of Danish food and beer was going to be consumed there. After failing to find the currency exchange shown on our map... we just carried on walking. Soon we came to the canal that surrounds the island of Slotsholmen which has the older set of royal buildings. Our first target was the Royal Library. Here, "royal" had the context of "national". The original historic library building has clearly been extended with a very modern appendage. We were spotted taking photos inside, and with one of us exposed as a fellow librarian we were soon ushered into the staff-only areas and pointed to the prime viewpoints and the most valuable treasures. This library sure has some treasures though, their most expensive is a copy of Audubon's Birds of America. Personally I was impressed to see an original score by Bach of one of his cantatas. From the library we walked into the old grounds of Christiansborg Palace, in which there were several areas we could have viewed. We opted for the Royal Reception Chambers. Once again this is the sort of palace complex where a nation displays its magnificence. This time however, while the building is historic, much of it was lost to fire relatively recently. Hence some of the redecoration and re-ornamentation is in modern interpretations of the majestic style. For example, one large hall had all traditional framing but had tapestries with designs that were modern but which didn't clash. Another room had been decorated with large modern images of flowers. Many of these stylings had been selected by the current monarch. From there we walked over to the City Hall, which clearly dates from a much earlier time and was mostly about the merchant traders. This one was notable for having a glazed ceiling over its original courtyard. We pointlessly followed some signs promising to lead to an upstairs feasting hall - perhaps it was closed with anonymous doors because we saw no such thing. The City Hall was opposite the Tivoli gardens from which there was a constant rain of screams from people on various rides, some of which we could see when they rose high. As the adjacent city square was at one end of the pedestrian mall (called the Stroget) we decided to follow that on our general return route. Unsurprisingly it was full of tourists of all sorts and most of the shops were targeting this. We bought some postcards. Thus we ambled back to the Nyhaven area and started to get a bit weary. When we reached the current royal residences - Amalienborg Palace - and popped our heads in to see what was accessible we were disposed to pass and carry on. This we again approached the Gefion fountain but this when around its other side and into the castelett. This had been a fort and barracks, on a star shaped island with high earth ramparts built all around. It was the grassy ramparts that we had seen people jogging along earlier. The path that went through the fort was much lower down and very cobbly. No-one would jog or cycle through that part - but absurdly one tourist was trundling a wheeled suitcase on the heavy cobblestones. The buildings were simple as befit their military origin and there was reconstruction work being done on them as there were many temporary plywood doors on them. The fort ramparts are surrounded by a wide moat, so it was over a bridge to pass through to return to the dock. This time the shops were open and full of people, presumably returning to the two cruise ships then in dock. We had an unfortunate run of poor service that night at Dinner and when we were asked if all was fine I reluctantly felt required to complain. We're used to confusions over meal ingredients so that part wasn't an issue. However our two waiters spent so long chatting to an earlier table that we were unattended for 20 minutes. At one point one of them said to the back of my head that they would be with us soon. Bizarre really. Eventually our details were taken and I was able to order. I didn't get any bread until just before the entree arrived. Perhaps because of the delays, entree and mains came unusually close together. Then despite asking twice for gluten-free bread none came until we were half way through mains. After dinner we went to the theatre for the late session of a British singer, who had apparently risen through a UK reality show. Clearly a performer in the beginning of a stage career, she was ok. Perhaps she sung too much from the head rather than the diaphragm. I felt her microphone technique was a problem. The material covered was a fair range, though it seemed to be a matter of which singers she liked mimicking.