Tues, May 17/11- Copenhagen -we were scheduled to dock in Copenhagen at 5:00 this morning and everything apparently went as scheduled because we were in dock when we got up around 6:00, having woken earlier than planned. I ve wondered if our bodies might even be having trouble adjusting to the series of time changes, even though we have faced them gradually -we met J and B, around 8:45, as we waited on the stairs in a line of people waiting to debark. With NCL s free-style approach to the process, we were able to take our own bags off if we wished and many people chose to do so -it was raining when we set out for the Nordhavn station, with bags in tow, so we needed to use our umbrellas, although the rain never got heavy, thankfully. I sold J and B a couple of the tickets from our strip of ten so we did not need to stop for them to buy tickets. In a short time, we got on a train and were soon off at Vesterport station. From there it was just a short walk to the Best Western Richmond at 33 Farmagsgade. It helped to have done a dry run on the route when we were in the city 9 days ago, without our bags. -it was too early to check in but they allowed us to put our bags in their luggage storage room and we soon set out for our day s sight seeing -it was still raining, but not heavily, when we set out down the road that extends from Hans C. Andersen Boulevard, en route to the cemetery which was our first stop for the day. Traffic was much busier than when we were here on a Sunday Baltic April-May, 2011 235
-by the time we reached Assistens Kierkegaard where he and many of Copenhagen s leading citizens are buried, the rain had stopped -I checked the map of important people buried there but found just three names I knew and we were able to find the graves of all of them -Soren Kierkegaard Baltic April-May, 2011 236
-Hans Christian Andersen and Neils Bohr, atomic physicist Baltic April-May, 2011 237
-en route to the State Museum for Art, we stopped at a Netto Supermarket to pick up some food for lunch and then found a picnic bench in a nice little courtyard for surrounding apartments. Few people were around and no one asked what we were doing there -when we got back to Farmgsgade Street and turned north for the museum, B indicated that his knee had begun to give him trouble and that he needed to drop out and go back to the hotel. Janet opted to go on with us -as we approached the museum we found a lilac tree beautifully in bloom. We had been observing all day how much further along the growth is than when we were here 9 days ago. Baltic April-May, 2011 238
-we were not allowed to take our bags or cameras into the museum so we have no pictures of its art work but we certainly enjoyed looking at their fine collection of the work of classic masters and spent about an hour and a half looking at it. We skipped the modern section, since that is not of much interest to us -the sun was beginning to come out when we set out for the Botanical Gardens which were nearby and that enhanced the beauty of what we saw -the gardens are expertly tended and we could easily picture how splendid they will be at their peak. The tropical house is extensive and we enjoyed some time in it, include a climb up the narrow spiraling staircase to an upper walkway and that gave us a fine view of the whole forest below Baltic April-May, 2011 239
-on our way back to the hotel, we stopped to pick up Magnum bars, which were new to J, but she enjoyed her bar and she also got one to take back to B. -We got to the hotel shortly after 15:00 so B was already in their room and our room was ready for us. We took no time to unpack before lying down for a nap, but that did not last long because the hotel is not well insulated for sound and the noise of others in the building disturbed us. Our room is clean and pleasant though, even if very basic, and we are happy to have found something well located and reasonably priced. We can see part of the action in Tivoli, from our window Baltic April-May, 2011 240
-after a brief nap, we headed over to the Netto Supermarket on the next corner and purchased food for supper tonight and for breakfast tomorrow. Prices are high in Copenhagen but this was a less expensive way to eat than in a restaurant, even of the fast food type, and we enjoyed our simple repast of naan bread with curried egg salad and bratwurst, with strawberries for dessert and some trail mix for a follow up snack -walked 16.8 kms today Baltic April-May, 2011 241