Into the Baltic

Day 7 - Wonderful wonderful Copenhagen
A much calmer sea as we sail into Copenhagen.  The funny thing is that the coastline we can see is actually Sweden (Denmark is on our starboard).  Although we berthed at 7.30, breakfast is not until 8.00, but no hurry as we only intend to walk around the city,  The weather forecast is good, with an expected high of 17 degrees.  I decided that today would be a good day to bring out the shorts!

We are somewhat annoyed that there are no proper maps onboard and the one provided is minimalistic to say the least.  We were hopeful that there would be a tourist office at the port, but no there was nothing, in fact there were very few people about at 9.00 when we took off.

We (sort of) headed in the wrong direction initially, but in my defence it was because I was looking for the Castle, rather than the Palace.  This would prove to be our misdoing through the day.   Anyway, a nice young woman saw us studying our map at the first set of traffic lights and directed us in the right direction, with a shortcut through the Fort (we didn't know about that, but this is where the guards live).  Anyway it was well worth the walk and on the other side we reached the Palace. 

Vivian was sure the changing of the guard was at 10.00, but other info. had it at 11.30., Well, we are still not too certain where we were but at 10.00 a contingent of bearskinned guards marched out and processed around the courtyard, replacing guards as they went.   We then trekked over to the castle & gardens.  The gardens were a great disappointment and this has been common so far.  Anyway, at the castle we found the Army band practising their maneuvers and playing music, such a "Wonderful wonderful Copenhagen" and we saw a much larger contingent of guards going through their pre-parade dressing.  But come 11.30, everyone disappeared.  One of lifes mysteries.

By now it was time for a coffee (just before lunchtine), so headed towards what initially appeared to be the university area and found a cafe/bakery,  Delicious Danish of course along with coffees, which were tasty but not overly hot.  The cost was eyewatering, but at least there was free WiFi.  With the WiFi I was able to update our location on the tablet and we now had realtime tracking, which proved very valuable later (when I took a wrong turn).  Our next destination was the town square/hall etc.  On our way there we passed through the main shopping and eating areas, which were very busy as it was after 12.00, but once again the prices were well out of our range.  That is the thing with the Scandinavian countries, high standard of living but high prices - certainly when we try and convert it back to NZD.

Admired the Town Hall etc., which pretty well takes up a whole large block and when we were at the rear we saw the top of a Ferris wheel at Tivoli gardens.   It looked only a short distance away, but after doing a other block and a bit we decided that it really was too far.  Vivian was starting to tire and the temperature was up in the mid 20s.  Also we were the furthest from tne ship, so headed down to the water and home.  I must admit that it was further than I anticipated and with so much of the City being separated by waterways, we had a "challenging" trip!

Once again Copenhagen is a cycling city, but at least here they have designated cycling lanes so we weren't accosted by cyclists from behind.  But we did forget to look out for them when crossing the road - the seem to have priority even at pedestrian crossings.  I think I remember that from when we were in Amsterdam.  The other thing which struck me later was that most people live in apartment buildings.   Undoubtedly out of town there would be some stand-alone buildings, but from the port, as far as the eye could see there were apartments and more apartments.  Still they are reputed to be the happiest people.

Our last stop was really just 100 metres from the ship and this was to see the "little mermaid"  and although we'd been told how small she was, we were still surprised at the size - but at least we have the photo to prove it, along with hundreds of others (mainly Asian at this time).  I forgot to mention that there were 4 cruise boats in port, including P&O Britannia, which is the same design as the Royal/Regal/Magestic Princess (nearly 4,000).  Only one other ship was berthed close to town, the other 2 were about 4 or 5 kilometres away, so we were lucky in that respect.

Ah, back on board, with no queues this time thankfully.  Up to the Lido for a bite and cool drink then a bit of a rest before we sailed out just before 4.00.  We were the first ship to leave and we had to reverse several hundred metres to turn around in the harbour - there was not much room aft.  The ships exchanged foghorns as we departed.  On leaving the port we turned right and continued our way through the narrow strait between Denmark & Sweden, passing over the tunnel which is part of the 10 mile bridge/tunnel/causeway recently constructed between the 2 countries.  Interestingly,  this narrow passage which we travelled through allowed us just 4 metres clearance under the ship - we went *very* slowly.

We had a very early evening as we were tired after our day's activities and the lack of any entertainment to stimulate us.  The dining room was pretty empty and once again we dined alone as our remaining other couple were doing a big all say trip.  Anyway they didn't miss anything as the main course (pork chop) was simply inedible.  The Head Waiter offered a replacement, but frankly I was not interested.  The food on this cruise has not been that good, either by choice or quality.  I do miss the left hand side "always available" on Princess.

Day 8 - Another sea day, another formal night
We are at last in the Baltic and what perfect weather.   Although I must admit it was a bit chilly on our mile walk this morning, the day has continued to improve.  Sitting on the balcony before dinner with the sun streaming in  it must be in the mid 20s.  The sea is glasslike and we are steaming along at about 13kts.  Well to be honest  it is not really that far to go to Stockholm and I suspect that the idea is to break the port days a bit, particularly as we have 4 days in a row coming up.

We actually made it to afternoon tea today after bridge but were not overly impressed.  It was very rushed and we had to wait for ages to get scones.  Come 4.30 exactly, tables were cleared in front of you and although I appreciate that they needed to get the ballroom set up for tonight, but somewhat indecent haste we felt.  It is a pity to have to leave the balcony and the sun, but that is one of the penalties of early dining, although we wouldn't survive late dining! 

Once again, just the 4 kiwis at our table (the other 2 women only lasted day1) - Phil & Raewyn from Alexandra.  Phil was in Air Traffic Control and we have quite a large number of mutual acquaintances. A mighty small world indeed.  At lunchtime we sat with a English couple (not hard to do on Cunard) and in conversation "have you sailed Cunard before" it transpires that we had indeed sailed with them before, on the Queen Victoria last year.  They did the whole world cruise and we were the first people ever that they'd met who had cruised on any of their previous cruises.

Tomorrow is Stockholm and then we become a little port intensive with the highlight being St Petersburg on Sunday/Monday, so in advance I apologise if this blog is not as regular 😀.

Photos:
View from the Fort  moat
Changing the guards
The castle
Band practice
Canal
Little Mermaid
Bridge over to Sweden