Copenhagen Randoms Day .5

We disembarked our boat on our own accord. After stuffing as much buffet breakfast as humanly possible into our three bellies we were set for our half day in Copenhagen before catching our 530 pm flight home. We had planned on lugging ourselves, our stroller, our three suitcases and two backpacks to the nearby (kind of) train station and store our luggage at Central Station. We were then going to find a 'Hop on, hop off' bus and hop around the Copenhagen sites until we needed to go to airport. Of course all companies that operate anything involving tourists are smarter than us. As soon as we got off the ship and collected our luggage, there was a 'Hop on, hop off' bus waiting right at the cruise terminal. It gets better. The tickets for an all day ticket were the same as what it would have cost us to take the train into the city. This bus' first stop was Central Station... lucky us. We hopped on, hopped off, stored our luggage and hopped on. We rode around for much of the afternoon until it was time for lunch. Oh, and we felt like we had to see Tivoli so we wandered around there for awhile before deciding on (I'm embarrassed to admit this) the Hardrock Cafe. I typically avoid restaurants like these but we were on a time crunch and Chad loves the Hardrock so there we go. We then headed to the airport and were on our way home....

Below are some random shots from our time in Denmark...

like our view from the room...

or from around the hotel...

going under The Great Belt bridge in Denmark.

Interesting sculptures in and around Copenhagen...

my #1 must see while in Copenhagen... the Little Mermaid.

Tivoli...

baby peacocks!

My pal... I call him Aflac. See him?

The End.

Copenhagen Day 2

When I asked Chad what he wanted to see on our trip to Denmark he said one word.

"Vikings."

Honestly, I was a little perplexed. Denmark didn't say 'Vikings' to me but okay, we'll roll with it.

According to my book, THERE were vikings in Denmark (and most Nordic regions)... silly me... and to commemorate that part of their history they even have a Viking Museum in a little town outside of Copenhagen called Roskilde.

Roskilde was about a 30 minute train ride from Central Station.

Once we arrived in Roskilde, we had to wait for about an hour for the one bus that stops at the Viking Museum.

It was at that time that I realized I had forgotten to throw in the baggie with Rhett's lunch in it.

It was conveniently packed and placed on the desk back at the hotel.

And even though I tried to fill Rhett's stomach with fruit puffs and veggie sticks I knew they weren't going to cut it.

Fortunately for us, while waiting that hour for our bus Chad had enough time to visit a Danish grocery store and pick up some baby food. Phew. Crisis averted.

We eventually made it to the museum with a full bellied baby and we stepped on a Viking vessel, watched a man carve a traditional vessel, learned about how they recover and restore the remnants of the Viking's boats and the restored boats themselves.

This museum also offers 'Viking' boat rides which we could not partake in because they don't have life vests for babies.

The highlight of the trip for Chad was dressing up in a viking cloak alongside Rhett.

Really? He loved it.

After the museum and the train ride back we were too exhausted to go back into the city so we ordered room service and called it a day... uh... night.

You like vikings too? Check out the museum here.

Copenhagen Day 1

Our cruise left out of Copenhagen so because I'm crazy and 9 days on a boat isn't a long enough vacation we decided to spend 2.5 days in the city before embarking on the cruise.

Even though Copenhagen wasn't on my bucket list, I was excited to go to Denmark to meet the happiest people on the planet.

I mean... what's their secret?

The french hot dog maybe?

The WORLD'S best restaurant, Noma?

How about all that windmill generated power?

I don't know.

I never did find out but we had a nice time nonetheless.

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Our flight left Stuttgart at 6 in the morning... it's an international flight which means you have to be there 2 hours prior to take off.

We also had to finish packing, shower, dress the baby, etc. which meant we were up at 3 in the morning.

We arrived in Copenhagen by 930 and thanks to my good planning, our hotel was connected to the airport.

Bless the sweet, swiss born Hilton trainee for allowing us to check in... we sacrificed having a room on a higher floor with a better view but at that point we had been up for 7 hours and been on two flights.

I'll take the room on the 5th floor, no worries.

After regrouping we hit the city.

First up, harbor tour.

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Before traveling anywhere, I usually invest in a Top 10 book. I find them to have just enough information to get you by for a good price and they are smaller than some of the other travel guides out there. I try to avoid looking lost and clueless whenever possible but sometimes it happens.

This trip included... twice.

We eventually found the harbor tours and it probably wasn't our fault that we got lost and wandered aimlessly in the rain for 30 minutes because they were doing construction along the harbor which may have had an impact on our map (our map reading abilities... I can't be so sure of) and did I mention we woke up at 3? Ok.

We started our tour in Nyhavn... a once bustling port and now a bustling street with bars and restaurants galore.

And cute little houses.

The boys... SUPER excited about this harbor tour. At least it stopped raining!

Below is where the monarchy live... think Buckingham Palace of Denmark.

Church of Our Savior... both Chad and I commented on the fact that if my mom had been there we'd be hoofing it up to the top.

We didn't think that was very safe nor manageable with the baby though.

Christiansborg Palace below... for Parliament and Ministry of State.

After our harbor tour ended we needed a little snack and decided on the french hot dog.

Essentially it's a juicy, delicious, roasted hot dog jammed into a french roll.

Heaven.

We ended up wandering around aimlessly after that because I had planned on going to a museum but we just didn't have the energy.

Conveniently around dinner time, we found ourselves in an Indian restaurant outside of central station where we had the most delicious food and a server that I feared was going to snatch Rhett and run out the back door. She loved him so.

After dinner, we got on the bus and headed back to the hotel.

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So here's a little recap for you.... 3 am wake up call, 2 flights, train to downtown Copenhagen, boat ride, hot dog, walk (a lot), dinner, hotel.

What a day.

Next up, Chad's only Danish request.... VIKINGS.