A Harbor Cruise

Dave and I set out walking yesterday and wound up taking a spur-of-the-moment harbor cruise from Nyhavn (above). We went on one of the flat little boats like the one at right, which are built to glide beneath Copenhagen's numerous incredibly low bridges.

It was an interesting experience -- and cold, at least on the outdoor deck! For one thing, it gave us a fast-track route to the famous Little Mermaid sculpture on the harbor. We only saw her from the back,  surrounded by her usual retinue of tourists, but that's enough for me.

And we saw some interesting architecture, from Copenhagen's ultra-modern opera house...

...to the more traditional Marmorkirken, or Marble Church, which was started in 1749 and then took about 150 years to finish. (I shot this after we got off the boat and walked to Amalienborg Palace, home of the Danish royal family.)

This guy was entertaining the passers-by on the canal in Nyhavn. It's not often you see a busking clarinetist, is it?

Dave and I ate an insane amount yesterday. After the boat tour we had lunch, the traditional smørrebrød, a kind of open-faced sandwich -- or, in our case, four open-faced sandwiches. (We didn't quite understand the menu.) They were topped with pickled herring, paté, sliced beef and shrimp with dill sauce -- with more Tuborg Christmas beer and aquavit, it made quite a lunch!

After lunch we walked to Rosenborg palace (lots of palaces around here) and then to the Rundetaarn, a tall, historic round tower with a sloping ramp. Supposedly there are great views from the top but we didn't ascend it, having walked quite a distance by that time. Dave, in particular, was ready for the hotel, so he headed back while I went on a brief exploration of the local park and some little side streets. I found a gay-themed store called Homoware, where I chatted with the proprietor and then felt like I should buy something -- so I picked up a pair of striped gym socks. I'm sure I'm supposed to wear them clubbing, but I'll probably wear them to walk the dog.

We ended the day with dinner at a nice seafood restaurant not far from our hotel. This time we did some advance research on the menu by translating it with Google Translate, but the results were questionable. One shrimp dish was translated as "hand-peeled travel in congestion."

Fortunately, the restaurant had a menu in English. I ate light!