European Odyssey: Copenhagen

Welcome to the 200th entry in this blog!

In late September 2012 Joan and I flew to Copenhagen to join the Lindblad Expeditions "European Odyssey" trip. Looking at the map, you'll see that Copenhagen is practically in Sweden.

We arrived, very tired, in the early afternoon; we couldn't sleep during the trans-Atlantic flight and had a five-hour layover in Frankfurt. We had arrived a day early to snare a better airfare while not missing the next day's activities, including getting on the ship. To boost the reset of our internal clocks -- Copenhagen is six hours ahead of Columbus -- we took a long walk in the remainder of the afternoon. 

Often I'm too bleary to take pictures on the first day after an overnight flight. This time, at least I took a few. The first one hints at the bicycle-friendly nature of downtown Copenhagen, which has dedicated bike lanes of which the crossing pedestrian must be wary.

Here is the spire of Helligand's Kirke (Church), which is no longer used as a church.

I must confess that I am forced to consult our Copenhagen literature and the esteemed Mr. Google to identify the structures in these photos. My jet-lagged memory is not good. Some photos do not exist; for example, we visited the Marble Church but no interior photography is allowed there.

We meandered down the Strøget, a car-free zone that is the longest pedestrian shopping mall in Europe. Along the way we passed the stork fountain.

A statue of the Bishop Absalon, who built the fortification that was the seed for the city of Copenhagen. No pacifist he.

A lovely piece of architecture is the four entwined dragons forming the spire of the old stock exchange.

Peeking across the canal and over a building is the corkscrew external staircase of the Church of Our Savior, or Vor Frelsers Kirke.

We returned to our hotel for dinner and a deep sleep. The next day we would join our group and the ship.

Although we were staying in the same hotel as guests who booked early arrival through Lindblad, and had consulted with Lindblad several times, our room was not on the list forwarded to the "people on the ground" in Copenhagen. Had we not double-checked with the Lindblad hospitality desk at the hotel, our luggage would have been left behind and not made it onto the ship. However, the operations people for Lindblad are much more reliable than the home office, and David Cothran made sure our bags made it aboard. Thanks David!

While the National Geographic Explorer disgorged its prior guests and was being made ready for the new guests, we had a morning and lunch at the Danish National Museum (NationalMuseet) followed by a city tour. Joan and I can't speak highly enough of this museum, especially the exhibits covering the era from prehistory to medieval times. We decided it would take several days to do it justice, because after a couple of hours our brains wouldn't be able to absorb any more.

One of the less conventional aspects of the National Museum was the blue-dot exhibits. These were narrations or objects based in folklore, legend, and tall tales. It finally dawned on me what the blue dots meant when I came to the mermaid exhibit, complete with preserved mermaid remains.

One of our stops on the city tour was the Church of Our Lady, which did allow non-flash interior photography. On this trip I would be doing a great deal of non-flash interior photography.

In addition to drive-by descriptions of significant statues and buildings, we were given a brief tour of the Opera House. The funding was a donation from the founder of the Maersk group, the largest container and supply ship operator in the world since 1996. Our guides emphasized that whatever the funder desired or desired not, his wishes were followed.

The mezzanine level of the lobby is dominated by glass sculptures.

The polished wood on the left is the exterior of the concert hall itself. It is a giant apple. Before our guides announced that there was no photography, I took a couple of dim pictures of the interior.

From outside the Opera House, the exterior of the Marble Church was visible.

The bus drove on. No tour is complete in Copenhagen without a stop at the statue of the Little Mermaid.

The bus drove on, and our ship came into view.

We boarded and after an initial fright our luggage finally showed up, towed by our hero David Cothran.

The first thing I photographed on board was the lounge where presentations and gatherings take place, and one of the two bars is located.

From the docked ship the headquarters building of Maersk was prominent.

The ship was underway in less than an hour, and we were on our overnight journey to Lübeck.