After a short night's sleep, in somewhat uncomfortable seats at the "back of the bus", we arrived in Copenhagen without any drama (the type of air travel I prefer!). Immigration was quite easy, and Customs seemed to be non-existent.
A number of items stood out. Firstly, how nice is the terminal in Copenhagen. It has a lovely wooden floor throughout, and was maintained in excellent condition, given the traffic which it endures. (As we were leaving to return to Seattle, I did notice a workman repairing the floor in one place). Next was the lack of drinking fountains - you want water, it was apparently necessary to buy it!
Signs were in Danish and English, but there were also many graphical displays, such as the TV monitor at the luggage carousel, which showed moving suitcases against our flight number when the luggage was on its way. Also the carousel was very quiet. Unlike those in the US, this used a flat design, with rubber segments, rather than the stainless steel used in the US. Thus, much of the noise goes away. And secondly, there was a sensor to hold luggage about to be placed (rather than slid or dropped) onto the belt if there was luggage about to pass by the entry (drop?) point.
I was in the first group of people to come through to the terminal proper. Barbara, our tour leader, went off to find the bus to take us to our hotel. After a number of false starts, she found the double decker bus to carry the ten of us to the hotel! But, alas, the bus would not start. So our driver roped in some passers by to push the bus and get it started! I was unaware of this, otherwise I might have gone out to (surreptiously for fear of being asked to help!) take a photo of the event.
When we had all assembled, it was time to board the bus and head off.
Copenhagen here we come! How to escape the airport.
Barbara asked the driver to explain the sights as we travelled along, which he obligingly did, although apparently a new experience for him. It started off on a funny note - at least to those intrepid souls who ventured upstairs. As we were on the roundabout, the driver started his commentary, with words to the effect "On the right, you can see the freeway". After a slight pause, we burst into laughter. Yes, very obviously it was a freeway. However, the commentary then continued "to the new bridge to Sweden". I presume there was something to distract the driver while negotiating the roundabout. I don't have a photo of the bridge, as it was seen from the back of the bus, and I was in the front row. But it is quite a piece of engineering, and there are photos of it later in this saga.
We took a few (apparently) back streets along the water's edge while heading into the city proper. Being a new country, even this part of the journey was interesting. We, of the upper deck, were discussing the less obtrusive nature of the power lines and power poles in comparison to those of Seattle. We were a very erudite bunch, especially considering we'd just crossed 9 time zones in 9 hours. Well, except for Maria, who flew from New Jersey, thus crossing 6 time zones in 7 hours. Our conclusion was that Seattle uses solid wood poles, whereas the ones we saw were a metal lattice work, and presented a much less visible presence.
![KPLU Viking Jazz: Photographing Our Saviour Church [Von Frelsers Kirken]](i14-18876-dscn6019.jpg)
The next point of interest the driver pointed out was Our Saviour Church [Von Frelsers Kirken], which has an external staircase to the top of the spire. Several photographs later, I snapped this one. The others show vegetation flashing past - the curse of the digital camera and its "I'll take the picture soon" behaviour. This church is located in the area of Christianshavn, we would later find out. It's quite a landmark!
It didn't take long before we found ourselves in city traffic congestion. In all fairness, I should point out that our visit corresponded with the week the city decided to rebuild one of the major squares [ Kongens Nytorv, or Kings New Square], through which, it seems, most traffic in this part of Copenhagen must travel.
There are 3 buildings on the left. The first is to the left of the white "TIL LEJE" sign (To Lease, I'd guess). The next is the Borsen or stock exchange, built by Christian 4th in the 1600s, and the third major building (directly above the orange bus) is Christiansborg Slot or Christiansborg Palace. It is now, among other things, the Parliament.
This close up of the two spires shows more detail. The left one on the Borsen, has four dragon tails twisted around to form the spire.
This was quite close to our hotel, the Admiral Hotel which is located on the waterfront, in an old grain warehouse built in 1787! (And as a point of reference, that was the year before Australia was colonised by the British!).
After checking in, we had time to shower and generally clean up before our "welcome dinner" in the hotel's "Salt" restaurant. It was a nice meal, with good company to boot.
After dinner we caught a cab to the first concert. (My preference would have been a quiet night, but when there are tickets already paid for...) So 8 of us headed over to the Amager Bio - by cab, since we had no idea where it was. We took 2 cabs, and I was in the second one. So, naturally, the order to the driver was "Follow that cab!". I (and I think all of us) have wanted to say that! We followed the cab as far as the exit from the hotel! The first driver started to turn left, but our driver remembered it was a one way street going the other way! [The one way-ness appears to have been a temporary measure during the rebuilding mentioned above - it became two way again the day we left].
Alas, the concert venue turned out to be less than we believed it would be - standing room only. And as is common in Europe, plenty of cigarette smoke. As the music was not especially to my liking, Maria and I decided to leave fairly early. The original plan was to catch a cab back, but after a while we decided to walk. It was a delightful evening, and even though it was getting late, we thought the walk would do us good. And with my (fortunately good) sense of direction, we made it back to the hotel without trouble, and absorbed more of the atmosphere of Copenhagen.
Going To Copenhagen
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