Breakfast (mostly for Emerson) arrived at our cabin this morning at 7:30am. This seemed like a good idea because we wanted to get an early start, but we learned it’s harder to feed Emerson in the cabin (too little space, yet too much potential freedom for her).
We arrived in Copenhagen on time, around 9:00. We departed the ship around 10:00 and used the shuttle bus (10 euro per person; infants free) service to take us into the center town. As it turned out, we could have easily walked to/from the center of town. However, Copenhagen has a number of piers at a variety of distances from the city’s center, and since we’ve never been here before I had no way to easily judge which one we’d arrived at this morning. What’s more, I didn’t want to repeat yesterday, causing us to lose precious time by marching through uninteresting docklands.
Here’s one of my travel truisms (especially when on a cruise in Europe): when in doubt, spend money to save time. Don’t believe me? Divide the total cost of the trip by the total number of hours you’ll spend on land. You’ll find the 20 euro taxi ride (or whatever) between things you really care about seeing / doing to be an absolute bargain.
But, I digress… back to Copenhagen.
It’s a spectacular city! The shuttle dropped us of in Kongens Nytorv (King’s New Square). From there, we walked to Tivoli Gardens via Christiansborg Palace. I must confess that I went to Tivoli with lackluster interest and low expectations. But, it seemed Emerson-friendly and Libby-pleasing (as she’s far more of an amusement park aficionado than I am), which usually makes for a good combination. For those of you that don’t know, Tivoli (which dates back to 1843) was the inspiration for Walt Disney’s theme park creation. And, I could see the similarities, especially to early Disney creations, such as “Small World.” However, while Mickey Mouse has gone corporate and thus now feels perhaps a bit contrived, Tivoli retains its charm… an eclectic mix of high- and low-brow dining and entertainment that’s playful, charming, and captivating. Oh, and it’s affordable too (~$18/pp; kids under 8 free)!
We all came away smitten.
Libby & Emerson @ Tivoli Gardens
We left Tivoli a little after 1pm. Emerson was tired and promptly fell asleep in her stroller. We proceeded to return to Kongens Nytorv via Rick Steves’ suggested “Copenhagen’s Heart and Soul” self-guided walk. This took us by the impressive City Hall and along the city’s grand pedestrian corridor, called the Stroget. As it was Sunday, a number of shops were closed. But, I managed to grab a Danish (keeping with my penchant for eponymous-themed foods, which began with Belgian waffles). All told, we spent an hour or so wandering back to the shuttle departure point. We arrived at the ship before 3:00, which was about an hour before the ‘all aboard’ time.
View of Copenhagen (Nyhavn)
My only complaint with Copenhagen? Not enough time! This city is squarely on the list of places to return for an extended visit in the future.
Tonight was formal night aboard Vision. As is our pattern on any cruise not departing from Florida, we skipped this event completely. Instead, we ate in the Windjammer, which once again didn’t disappoint. After our meal, we walked around the open decks, returned to the cabin for a little play time, and put Emerson to bed.
Tomorrow’s a day at sea. After a busy long weekend (starting on Friday), it will be nice to have a bit of a respite before we hit our next port of call.
Today’s box score: +1 country (Denmark)