Copenhagen, 7/18/14

The ship docks in Copenhagen at 10:00 am. Our excursion doesn’t go out until 11:30, so we eat a late breakfast and enjoy being lazy. Judy and I are concerned because Mr. Sanchez (reference Moscow, 7/13) is on our bus. This could be interesting.

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We get a bus tour around the city. It’s really charming. One of the commonalities with most of the cities we’ve visited is they’ve burned to the ground at some point in their history. Either due to war or conquest, or a careless citizen, most have had to be rebuilt. Copenhagen has burned twice, most recently in the early 1800’s. Denmark and Sweden have had a thing for ruling each other through the years.

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“The Little Mermaid”. A famous sculpture honoring Hans Christian Anderson’s story.

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The first major stop is Tivoli Gardens, the first amusement park in Europe. It has a few modern rides now, along with several older “historic” rides. Its’ real “claim to fame” is that it was the inspiration for Walt Disney to create Disneyland. He visited here in the early 50’s and you can see the influence it might have had. Sections of the park are themed and decorated accordingly, but not to the extent that Disney ultimately went to. It’s still very quaint and picturesque. There are tons of nice restaurants with a wide variety of foods. We settle for ice cream and find a shaded bench to watch the world go by. I’ve enjoyed our tours and all we’ve learned and seen, but I also enjoy watching the people in each country and how they interact with each other.

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Tivoli Gardens

Next on the itinerary is Rosenborg Castle. It was the official home of the many of the Danish kings, dating back to the 1300’s. It’s much smaller than the Russian palaces, but the setting is much more intimate. We get up close and personal with tapestries, thrones, and later the crown jewels. The collection is small but impressive.

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Carved out of ivory.

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These are real gold & jewels

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Rosenborg Castle

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Back at the ship (no problems with Mr. Sanchez today) we walk down the pier to a series of small outlet shops, but nothing appeals to us. Back on board I get a chance to organize our photos (this has been a never-ending job since the kids arrived in Beijing). I’ve managed to stay on top of the job, at least within a day or two of the activity or tour. Digital photography has its’ advantages, but I tend to shoot too many photos, knowing I can edit them later. There’s lots of downloading, deleting, and labeling to be done every time we go out. I’m looking forward to “normal” life.

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