July 2nd 1915 was my dear late Dad's birthday and even when he was 50, I doubt that either of us would have imagined that his eldest son would not only be living in NZ, but would also be addicted to world cruising, 49 years later!
My only previous visit to Copenhagen was about 1971, when I spent a long weekend assembling the Duty Free trader's exhibition at the Hilton Hotel, then dismantling it afterwards, so I saw very little of the city.
Once again, the Ho-Ho buses were alongside the ship, but this time, there were three different companies. A red one with flags, a green and yellow one and a red and blue one. The company we normally used were around, but didn't seem to stop at the ship – the all red buses.
With a 15 minute parking restriction, the local constabulary seemed keen to enforce it – even for these Ho-Ho tour buses. So we didn't have to wait long to start the 60 minute run on the red and blue. Fares were taken on board and once again, Visa was the method and this time what was billed as 190 Danish Kroner each was a discounted 300Kr with a 8.50kr processing fee. Probably about €20 each – at a guess.
We'd only been going two minutes when it started to rain and the driver was very quick to stop the bus, run upstairs and pull over the canopy, to cheers from the full complement of passengers upstairs. Then the rain stopped anyway! A sharp contrast to Oslo was the amount of graffiti – particularly on and around the railway line, which we followed at times. Massive road works along part of the route where they are extending the Metro.
We opted to stay on board the bus for almost the full circuit, hopping off at the stop before the 'Little Mermaid' statue, the Gefion Fountain.
We walked past the throngs photographing the Little Mermaid (and yes, it is indeed little) and called back at the ship as it was so convenient, for a change of shoes – and a coffee and soup from the International Cafe.
Back outside again and caught the bus again. We crossed over the narrow pedestrianised Stroget, reputedly the longest shopping street in Europe. I say reputedly, as I am not too sure about that claim.
This time we got off at the closest stop to the world famous Tivoli gardens. Although one of the two roller coasters celebrates 100 years this year, our entry ticket didn't include any rides – which seems odd paying 99kr for a park that contains 45 dining establishments, 14 ice cream and sweet stalls, 16 shops and just 26 rides – and that includes several kiddy rides.
Rides were an extra 25Kr each, or multiples of 25Kr, depending on the ride. The kiddy rides being 1 ticket, 9 rides (with heart warnings…) 3 tickets - and we have no idea how the ticketing system worked as very little information was in English. I presume the ATM style machines spat out the armbands but although we didn't look closely, I have no idea if there was an English option. My knowledge of Danish is limited to Lurpak…
A lovely well maintained park with several paths somewhat surprisingly, in gravel rather than the easier to clean concrete or paving. We had to be back at the ship for a 4:30pm departure so we didn't stay long enough but we did managed to walk right round. Two or three of the rides looked a bit extreme – even for me – but although there were plenty of people around, nothing like Disneyland for queues. Plenty of grassy areas and gardens but a staggering number of quite classy eateries.
We returned to the bus stop and as I stepped ahead for the bus to show the ticket, being careful to watch out for cyclists, Paula had a bit of a fright, as a large woman apparently pushed into her and then started abusing her! No idea what that was about but she was a bit shaken. Anyway, we'd just missed a bus by about 15 seconds so we sat on the one waiting until the next one came around, then transferred to that. We chatted away to a nice English couple who were on another cruise. We seem to have chatted to lots of English couples so far, on and off the ship and all bar one have been from north of Watford.
Back to the Little Mermaid stop and we walked the last few yards.
So a comparison between Oslo and Copenhagen? We felt that Oslo won by a country mile. It seemed to have more charm and probably more places where we'd like to spend more time than that allowed on a one day visit.
Back on board, it was later in the afternoon and we opted for the cabin rather than trivia.
Sadly, most other passengers were probably on the internet by then and I couldn't get a connection or it dropped out altogether – until dinner time.
Another nice meal – 'surf and turf'. Just one smallish, tender steak and just one prawn – so that help with a light day.
The 10:30pm show was singer, dancer and multi-instrumentalist, (sax, clarinet and flute) Joe West. A very polished performance and an 8.5/10 from me.
The rest of the ship seemed to be on a Country Music theme night, but calling in at Club Fusion, there was more interest in the TV football than on the dance floor.
We got back to the room and on the TV was the film "Rush" – the epic 1976 battle between Niki Lauda and the late James Hunt, a film that was first released last year whilst we were away, so I wanted to see it, but as we didn't know it was on, I missed the first few minutes.
A very late bedtime, but a sea day tomorrow before a busy run of six port days, so that didn't matter.
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