Copenhagen, Denmark - July 17

Jet lag is becoming a thing of the past. Have to say we were up in the middle of the night, but not for nearly as long as the previous 2 nights and got up pretty easily in the morning. Must be getting old...can't remember taking longer than a night in the past.

After breakfast in the hotel we head to the Rosenborg Castle. The day is a whole lot hazier than yesterday, but still warm at about 24 degrees. Rosenborg Castle was originally built as a summer residence for the royal family. The interesting this about this castle is that the large grounds that surround it are a public park. On the sightseeing bus yesterday we were told that this park is where the poor university students with little money for bathing suits come to sun themselves “European” style. We didn’t experience any of this. The park is beautiful with many picnicking and strolling. The castle is relatively far from out hotel so we see a lot of the sights we passed yesterday on our bus and canal tour. We also see a replica of the Little Mermaid although as I mentioned she too is on vacation.

We manage to find a regular grocery store and pick up more water. Sadly this store is just as close as any of the 7-11s we visited, but of course we didn’t know. Things we learned on vacation…ask hotel about the closest piggly-wiggly. Anyway, not a big deal, but Chris thinks Copenhagen isn’t any more expensive than other big European cities and that I should give the Danish a break. I guess he is right…water at the 7-11 was 3 times what it was at the piggly-wiggly, same sort of mark up as at home I guess. Maybe it’s the different currency that makes things seem expensive. The money here is about 5/6 to our 1, so the price for a street beer is 75 and a pizza is around 120. I know how to do the conversion, but it still just strikes me as a lot. This is no Turkey… but what is really??

While it is easy for the Danish to take our money for food and drink, they have a bit more of a challenge in selling us things – just as it is hard for the shop keepers in Turkey, Croatia, Italy Ottawa and anywhere else we’ve been really. We just aren’t shoppers. Well…I don’t love it, but could probably be convinced. When I’m travelling with the world’s worst shopper I get drawn to the dark side of very, very little shopping. I managed to get Chris (can of beer in hand the whole time!) into a jewellery shop where I buy a bead for my charm bracelet. I considered leaving him at the hotel, but I planned no more than 10 minutes for it. That’s all it took and we were off to the next inviting Danish square where we had lunch serenaded by a great bossa nova group. Don’t know what they were doing in Denmark – probably the same thing the South American flute buskers are doing here.

Although it is cool enough to be inside dinner is outside in another square. This time it is Greek food. We’ve pretty much come to the conclusion that Danish food is very much meat and potatoes. Sure there are the open-faced smorgasbord type sandwiches and weird fish that we think of as Danish, but we haven’t found too much of that. We are maybe a little thankful as that could have been frightening.

Copenhagen certainly loves its bikes – a lot like Amsterdam. Bikes are EVERYWHERE and EVERYONE rides them. Simple bikes with no gears and usually a basket parked everywhere.