Steve and Cathy's Blog

Technically, our cruise is ending, but having signed on for the “next” cruise, we are considered “in transit.” We have a day on our own in Copenhagen, as we have foregone the two excursions offered by Oceania Cruises. On our way off the ship this morning, Cruise Director Shawn Carter tells us that, of the 500+ people boarding today, 358 of them are first-time Oceania Cruises passengers. That in itself is quite a change in the ship’s complement. On the one just completed, 85% of the guests had previous Oceania cruise experience. There are also a couple of dozen crew members whose contracts have ended that are going home for a few months and we see new ones boarding that will take their place.

We pre-book the Hop On Hop Off bus and boat package on line – we feel very hip and savvy for having done this – and depart Nautica around 9am. The HOHO bus is waiting. In fact, several different HOHO buses are waiting, all of them red. We see Stromma on the side of one and know that’s ours. Steve has not been able to print our reservation, of course, but he did take photos of the screen. 

We are the first ones to board, and our driver Dan is very friendly. He is able to log us in okay, but for some reason can’t give us paperwork we will need for the rest of the day as we change buses or boats. We will get that at Stop One in the center of town.

We are at Ocean Pier 6, which is a mile or so north of central Copenhagen, and it takes about 25 minutes to reach the center.  We are listening to recorded commentary through earphones, and it’s all with a loud British accent that Steve finds annoying. The narrator also keeps mentioning how environmentally conscious the Danes are – such as the city goal in Copenhagen to be carbon neutral by 2025 so everybody is urged to ride bicycles. All this virtue signaling by the HOHO company as they crowd the streets with diesel-powered double decker buses is a bit much.

We arrive at Stop 1, retrieve our required paperwork, cross the street and board a HOHO boat. Only on this one, there is no HOHOing. Same company, but it is a one-hour non-stop tour narrated by a lovely, beautiful, young blonde woman. I say this to introduce this fact: Copenhagen is packed with beautiful young blonde women. There must be a Nordic woman model convention going on somewhere in this city.

Sorry, that just had to be said. Now, where were we? Ah, yes, we board our tour boat and sit at a table with another couple. Off we go, with instructions that there are very many low bridges on the canals of this trip, and we must be seated for our safety. In the center part of the boat, where we are, it’s covered, but the boat is open on both ends. This requires our guide to repeat, over and over, “please sit down, please sit down” every time we approach a bridge. There are lots of families, almost all of whom are European, and our guide speaks in English and Danish. Many people just keep on talking throughout the trip, which prompts Cathy to say out loud: “Are we – and they (pointing to our very polite tablemates) – the only ones listening to the guide?!” They laugh. 

But we do have a wonderful view of the city:

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Steve takes photos of everything in sight, and writes down what a few of the subjects are, although he will no doubt get a few of these buildings mixed up when posting. The boat moves right along, and our guide is talking almost nonstop. Before we know it, the hour is up, but we have had a very comfortable – if quick – waterside introduction to this beautiful city.

Now how she did it we will never know, but somehow near the end of our boat tour, Cathy has spotted a restaurant to check out for lunch possibilities. It’s right near our debarkation point, and is practically hidden by subway construction, but there it is: Krog’s Fiskerestaurant. We find our way there and Cathy checks out the menu. Cathy is totally sold on the menu. Steve does a doubletake at the prices, but in we go.

It is a very small restaurant with one tall young Dane as the waitstaff. It’s 11:30am, so we are early, but there is one other party of two women there. We are seated near the window. The place is gorgeous, very upscale, and has been visited by Danish royalty and nobility for the past 150 years. Somehow we have happened upon one of Copenhagen’s most celebrated eating establishments. Good effort, Cath!

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Obviously, it is very quiet and peaceful, but the selection of background music is Louie Armstrong. As incongruous as that sounds, it is very pleasant and enjoyable, and it adds to our experience. Service is good but very unhurried. Steve orders a Carlsberg beer and fish and chips. Now I turn this post over to Cathy for her description of the sumptuous lunch she has ordered: It was called “The Lunch.” First was an open face sandwich of curry smoked herring with pickled onions and sprouts on dark bread. It was amazing. Then came three more open face sandwiches: shrimp and hardboiled egg on white bread, fish cake on dark bread, and “house smoked” salmon on dark bread. Pictures attached. It was one of the most delicious meals I have ever had. 

The lunch is indeed a wonderful experience, and we are glad that our day in Copenhagen will have included this refined and sophisticated restaurant. During the meal, we have plotted what we would like to do and see before we must return to the ship at 4:30 sharp. Cathy wants to see the Royal Gardens, and we carefully plot our walk through central Copenhagen to the Kings Garden. There is a walking tour on our map that we are trying to stay on, assuming that we will be passing through some interested neighborhoods. Kings Garden is beautiful. We stroll through this large expanse of lawn and wide straight paths lined with carefully pruned trees. We are in no rush. Cathy wants to sit for a while, and does so near a statue of Hans Christian Anderson, one of Copenhagen’s most famous and beloved people from the 19^thcentury. She sits with a woman our age that is taking care of her grandson, and strikes up a conversation as this nice woman speaks excellent English.

Steve wanders about looking for photo subjects, then sits and joins the conversation. After a few minutes, with directions from the woman with whom we have been chatting, we head off for the Royal Gardens.  They are gorgeous, and Cathy is enthralled. She has a brief conversation with one of the gardeners, which is fun. Steve snaps away on his camera. This is a very worthwhile way to spend a beautiful summer afternoon in this gorgeous city. 

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We do have to start keeping an eye on the clock, and we are far from any HOHO bus stop. We need to get to HOHO stop 5 to pick up their shuttle bus back tom Ocean Pier 6, and that is right by the Little Mermaid, which Steve wants to photograph. We debate whether to seek out a different HOHO stop to take or to just continue on the walking tour. We choose the latter, and it takes about thirty minutes and twenty more photos to arrive at our destination. Here are a couple of them:

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To say that the Little Mermaid statue in Copenhagen is iconic is an understatement. It is indeed one of Europe’s most visited sites, and hardly anybody who tours this city leaves without paying their respects. The statue itself is very unassuming, but it has taken on an almost mythical reputation. EVERYONE wants their selfie to have her in the background. The place is mobbed with people from all over the planet. Cathy has a sit while Steve maneuvers to get a decent photo of the Little Mermaid. For fun, he takes a “Before” photo with just the statue. Then there’s the “After” photo of the actual scene, with dozens of people surrounding her. Being tourists ourselves, it is hard to complain about the crowds. It truly is wonderful people-watching time.

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As always, Steve and Cathy are early and want to catch the shuttle bus without fail. It’s only 3:15pm when Steve asks a Stromma HOHO bus driver if this is the right bus, only to find out that THE shuttle bus will not be here until 4pm.  He tells us exactly where it will stop, and our concerns about arriving on time at Nauticaare allayed. The bus actually shows up at 3:40 but we hop aboard and take seats at the rear of the upper deck. The driver reminds us that he won’t be leaving until 4pm and invites us to get off. We explain that we are pooped and happy to just sit here. 

The day has been essentially a walking tour for us. We have covered over three miles right in the heart of the city, and we are fine just sitting. Indeed, promptly at 4, we leave. The route is very circuitous and takes up though a busy industrial area – neat as a pin in typical Scandinavian style, of course. We arrive at the ship, having found out that we were the only passengers on the bus. We check in and are on board in plenty of time. Sail Away begins promptly at 6:00pm, and we leave along with several other cruise ships and ocean ferries. 

We pass by wind turbine farms and the Copenhagen-Malmo tunnel and toll bridge built in 2000, an engineering and diplomatic feat about which both Denmark and Sweden, rivals and sometimes enemies for a thousand years, are quite justifiably proud. 

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We have had a really busy day and the enormous lunch we had has left us with little appetite, so around 7:30pm we head up to the Terrace Café for a light dinner. Sushi for Steve and dessert for Cathy. We are beginning the Nordic Knights cruise that will take us to seven fascinating places before it’s over. Lots to look forward to. But we need to put Copenhagen on the growing list of places to re-visit.