Sunday, June 19, 2011

Copenhagen Trip - Day Six

11 pm last night – looking toward downtown under clouds. Copenhagen – the city of steeples.

We decided not to go to Malmo this morning, as we hadn’t really finished our souvenir shopping in Copenhagen. The stores in Sweden weren’t opening until noon, and we would have had to buy both roundtrip tickets to cross the Oresund Bridge, as well as transit passes in Malmo, since the places we were most interested in weren’t easily connected on foot. And we would’ve needed to convert more money, since neither Sweden nor Denmark use the Euro, and neither country wants to use the other’s currency. By the time we got back to Denmark, the stores that were open here today would have closed...

The weather was cloudy and sunny with gusty winds and occasional sudden drenching downpours, or, as it goes, another typical day. Ann remarked we’d be huddling under an awning in Sweden, too, if we’d gone over there.

Instead, we headed back downtown and worked our way from Central Station out through the shopping streets and back.

These polser trailers are EVERYWHERE - you can get your sausage fix at pretty much any public square in the entire country. There's even one set up at baggage claim at the airport...

Wynn found several more elephants to pose with:

Posing with some kind of royal elephant-dragon-griffin critter in front of City Hall.

The Stroget after a nice stiff rainshower. Not nearly as many tourists out on a Sunday morning; it was a good idea to come back here as we could really take the time to look instead of just get pushed along by the crowd.

We went into Tivoli Gardens again (the Copenhagen Card gives free admission, so why not?) and had a very nice Scandinavian lunch. The music stages all over Tivoli were featuring high-school and college bands and singing groups – a very Glee-kind-of-vibe going on, including the songs being performed (“Forget You” – but since this is Denmark, the uncensored version… yes, with little kids walking all over the place… no, nobody got fired or even seemed concerned… the adults and teenagers seemed to be enjoying it…)

After returning to the hotel, I picked up a few last-minute items for dinner and treats to take back to the States, and then we went for a swim in the hotel pool. Ann & Wynn took a nap afterward while I worked through the leftovers in the fridge.

Tonight we’re running one last load of laundry and have the suitcases opened up on the floor, figuring out what gets packed where. We’ll head out bright and early to the train station – leaving the hotel about 7 am; our flight leaves at 10 for Amsterdam, where we have about 2 hours to connect, and then a 9-hour flight back to Minneapolis.

We still have Danish cash to blow at the airport – here’s 91,50 DKK just in coins to burn (that’s almost US$20). They don’t make 5 Kr coins for some reason, just 50 ore, 1 Kr, 2, 10, and 20. At 50 Kr (US$10) they switch over to bills – under that it’s only coins. And they won't convert Danish coins back into US$ at the Travelex at MSP...

Here's one last photo from downtown

This will be the last posting until we get back to the States. Happy Fathers Day, Happy Gotcha Day, and wish us good luck on our travels tomorrow!

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