Monday, June 2

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We had an amazingly good night, given that we are only two floors up from a busy city street with quite a bit of 24/7 noise and kept the windows open–even the very early daylight didn’t really bother us (the sunrise being at 4:30 still takes a bit of getting used to!). We got up around 7:30, and once everyone was upright, dressed and showered and we had even located our guidebook for Copenhagen, we left about 8:30 to retrace our steps to the “Black Diamond,” where we knew there was a cheap student cafe with outdoor seating; we had coffee, tea, scones, and a sweet cookie that was a little like a jam tart, except big and square. We then checked out the library for its architecture and the view from the sixth floor, which was pretty awesome. We also took a quick walk through this spherical glass building that is temporarily displayed next to the library and features some very simple but beautiful sustainable architecture. Then we walked through the library garden and past Slotsholmen, the current parliament but also a former royal palace, toward Nyhaven, the very picturesque but touristy area where the houses right on the canal are very colorful and have street cafes in them on the bottom floor. The boat tour that we had picked started from there, and was actually quite cheap for 95 kroner(about $ 20) for all three of us. The guide explained the sites in English and Danish, and kept us busy and curious for the whole hour-long tour of the harbor and the canals, all in the bright sunshine. We saw the very modern new opera house, and across from it Amelia Palace, where the Danish royal house still resides; we also saw the little mermaid statue (which is tiny; only about 3 feet high or so) and the mostly residential canals on the other side of the harbor. After the boat tour, we went in search for something cheap to eat and found a Thai noodle place where the lunch “boxes” were only 54 kroner (or about 10 bucks) which counts as cheap in touristy Copenhagen. We then went on our very own walking tour for about 4 hours, and saw a lot! Kai was really a trooper about the walking, and had a lot to say and to ask about the things we were seeing. We walked along the waterfront to the royal palace and the church behind it (called the “marble church” and memorable for its big cupola), and then on to the little mermaid statue. On the way, Mark and Kai watched a small military ship dock and some high visitor being dropped off by it, and after we’d seen the overrated mermaid, we walked around the star-shaped citadel that lies right behind it, and is still an active, if also very cute and endearing-looking military barracks site. We walked around half the ramparts, and then continued, with an ice cream / coffee break, toward the King’s Garden (Kongens Have) and an older palace, called Rosenborg Slots (or palace)that is now a museum and houses the Danish Crown Jewels. We didn’t go in, but walked around the grounds a bit before heading in the general direction of the hotel, via the shopping district, to take a quick peek in the Lego store (which, even though Legos were invented in Denmark, looked pretty much like any Lego store, except that it had a recreation of Nyhaven and a tiny diorama of the Black Diamond with a bunch of little “jewels”–tiny transparent multi-color square legos–spilling out of its middle). An hour of rest did us all good, and it was actually nice that the sky, which had been bright blue all day, clouded over a bit, so that the room could cool off (air conditioning not being a thing in Northern Europe, and with a high of 68 today not really needed, either). We then ventured back out to find ourselves some dinner, and ended up eating a vaguely Turkish buffet not far from our hotel for a reasonable price (89 kroner per person, so about 12 Euro or 16 or 17 dollars), but the small drinks still bug both of my guys a lot, especially since this particular restaurant required that you buy a drink. We’ve been buying water all day long, but the prices varied from exorbitant at the local 7-11s to super cheap in certain tourist locations where you wonder whether you’ve just been sold tap water. At any rate, our food was good, and after dinner we walked the extra block to the Tycho Brahe planetarium, which looked cool and very 60s, but is mostly famous for having an Imax theater, so we’d decided earlier that we really didn’t need to check that out. We then added the last component to our Copenhagen day–spent the time from 8 to about 10 in the Tivoli, the big amusement park that’s right in the city center (only about 5 minutes from our hotel, actually) and has been there, with some changes of course, since 1843. It’s a very cleancut and tidy amusement park, with rides, booths, restaurants and boutiques and an emphasis on old-fashioned design and bright but sort of Victorian colors (and a tendency toward oriental kitsch) even in the newest rides, which include some major twirl, drops, and heights. We enjoyed hearing other people scream, but had really no inclination to go on any rides ourselves. Kai got to have cotton candy and we all had ice cream, but otherwise, we just enjoyed walking around and looking at things. It was easy to understand why Disney, who visited in 1950, was inspired by this place, even as its newer attractions were maybe themselves inspired by Disneyland ideas and designs. As it got a little darker, Tivoli’s lights went on, and although we didn’t wait for the light show at 10:45, the illuminated buildings etc were fun to look at. Now for another good night before we take off for Roskilde in the morning!