Category: Copenhagen

Skol! Our Trip to Scandinavia Day #6 “Don’t Come Here (Copenhagen in May) For the Weather”

by reissmd, posted in Copenhagen

Today was billed as a day with a lot packed into it “Don’t be late, we have lots to do”. And we were not deceived. We did have a very full day but got a great start by having a wonderful night’s sleep. After breakfast we met our local guide for the day and headed onto the bus. We were told that we would be doing a lot of street walking. The tour guide warned us when crossing the street be careful of the “Psychopaths”. We asked him to repeat himself and without hesitation he again warned, “When crossing the streets be careful of the psychopaths”. We remained bewildered and our expressions must have revealed our confusion so he further explained, “Yes, the bicyclists have the right of way so you will need to be aware of their location on the CYCLE PATH”. Okay, got it.

The morning tour was complicated by rain and cold weather. We did a short walk before getting on the bus. During the drive we passed a number of historical sights and then found this one:

The Little Mermaid.

Our guide said that the statue has been the victim of multiple cases of vandalism including twice having her head cut off and once being completely demolished with explosives. Why would anyone want to hurt this sweet thing?

We did some more touring from there but I have to tell you being on a boat or bus hearing a tour guide go on and on about fact after fact just doesn’t do it for me. Patrice said she disagrees and likes that aspect. Hmmmm, see below.

Robert and Patrice taking in every word the tour guide is saying on the boat portion of the activities.

We were given a midday break to have some lunch and get some rest. We found a nice place where we could get some authetic Danish cuisine.

Can you get any more authentic Danish food than some good old Italian pasta with burrata cheese?

Then we were back on the road with our guide making sure to avoid the psychopaths. Our next stop was a bit out of the city. We passed some gorgeous homes on our way to Frederiksborg Castle. This place was beautiful inside and out. Here is a picture approaching from a distance.

Frederiksborg Castle (Frederiksborg Slot 10, 3400 Hillerød). The picture doesn’t adequately show its beauty.

After the castle we headed to dinner for an authentic Danish meal (unlike the Italian food we had for lunch) at Gamle Humlebæk Kro (are you impressed I could type the Danish letter æ?). The dinner was great but the highlight for me was a mindreading/card trick I performed for the group. People laughed at the jokes and were blown away when I picked the correct card. I promised to do my calculator trick the night before the trip ends and people were very excited. My magic ego got a major boost today.

The master magician and his assistant.

Tomorrow we fly to Norway.

Til i morgen.

Skol! Our Trip to Scandinavia Day #5 “How About a Little Danish?”

by reissmd, posted in Copenhagen, Denmark, Stockholm, Sweden

Last night we had a lovely dinner in Toftaholm preceded by some “entertainment” at the hotel.  Frequently on tours we are subjected to, I mean entertained by locals dressing up as people from the past.  It’s like seeing a history lesson on “Mr. Roger’s Neighborhood”.   I suppose people like this type of diversion because we commonly see it.  Personally. I would take a pass.  Last night they had some woman pretending to be a queen from the past.  As I mentioned this is not my cup of tea so I really can’t tell you much because I zoned out.    

The Toftaholm Herrgard hotel was more like a bed and breakfast.  Our room was small but adequate.  The bathroom was tiny with a shower that was small even by European standards.  Check it out.

Notice the doors are folded into the shower. This is necessary because the bathroom is too small for them to open out.
This is what the shower looks like when it is ready for use.

This morning we were taken by bus south to the Sofiero gardens in Helsingborg, Sweden.  The gardens were gorgeous but the rainy weather was not optimal for viewing.  We had a very sweet guide who kept giggling during her presentation.  I am not sure if she thought what she was saying was funny or was it that she had this group of stupid Americans willing to pay a lot of money to stand in the rain.   Yes, it rained a lot while we were traversing the gardens.  So a beautiful stroll through a gorgeous garden turned into  a “When will this thing end?” event.  Of course it stopped raining as soon as we went indoors to have lunch.  After lunch we were driven through the beach community of  Helsingborg.  I am not quite sure how popular a beach resort would be if the average summer high temperatures are in the low 60s.  

Just a fraction of the gorgeous Rhododendrons at the Sofiero gardens. There were a lot of beautiful plants but I chose this so I could show off that I knew how to spell Rhododendron.
This was an area we were standing while listening to our guide in the rain. Would a grove of trees been better?

The park had a classy bathroom. See below.

Could you imagine seeing real towels in a USA bathroom?

After Sofiero we headed further south across the Øresund Bridge which connects Sweden and Denmark.   I am sure you are thinking why does he bore us with that small bit of info?  I have to confess, the real reason is that I thought it was real cool that I figured out how to type, “Ø”.    Just don’t ask me what it is called.

We entered Denmark at the capital city of Copenhagen.  After a brief stop at the Phoenix Hotel to drop off our things we headed to the famous Tivoli Gardens.  This was much anticipated by me especially since I always thought they were in Italy.  As it turns out I am not a total dufus.  The gardens were opened by Georg Carstensen in 1843 and he named it Tivoli after the town in Italy.  

The Tivoli Gardens was actually more of an amusement park with rides, games, and lots of places to eat.  Most importantly the weather cooperated and let us enjoy the beauty without getting wet.  It is said that Walt Disney got his idea for Disneyland after visiting this lovely park.  

We had dinner at a restaurant in the park where we ran into two couples from our tour. They invited us to join them. It was a great time for sure. After dinner we walked back to the hotel. I wanted to use the hotel stairs to work off some extra calories and saw this in the stairwell.

That is not an illusion. The stairs and much of our room is on a slant.

We spoke with others on the trip and they too have uneven floors in their rooms. I spoke to the people at the front desk and asked about the hotel history. The clerk wasn’t able to tell me much except that the hotel was designed by a very famous architect from the Italian city of Pisa.

That is more than enough for tonight. I need to get in some magic practice. I promised the group I would do a magic trick during dinner tomorrow. I need to figure something out quick.

Godnat