Our cruise vacation started with an extra day in Copenhagen. We spent the night at the Crowne Plaza Copenhagen Towers. The hotel provided a free shuttle from the airport…just had to meet them outside Terminal 2 after giving them a call. This hotel was spacious and conveniently located next to the metro and train stations. The hotel was clean and the bedding great. Michael checked us in and answered all of our questions with lots of detail and good advice for visiting all of the main sites in Copenhagen. Maps were also available. Michael was very helpful for metro & train instructions…and was able to sell us the tickets we needed. The hotel was able to lend us a power converter for the room and an umbrella for a trip into the city. In spite of the red eye flight out of JFK, we were heading into Copenhagen by 1:30 pm. We hopped on the metro and headed to Kongens Nytorv where there was a lot of construction to walk around to see the sites in that area. Next we walked over to the Nyhaven area. The foot bridge to Christianshavn wasn’t completed yet but we did head over to visit the nearby Amalienborg palaces and park. Had a great sandwich and a really good blonde beer at Café Holberg No. 19. After eating we jumped on one of the harbor tours which was a great experience to see more of the sights from a different perspective such as the Opera House and the Little Mermaid. We stopped for ice cream at one of the waffle shops which was quite good. Rick Steves book was terrific as a guide. We did go to the Tattoo Ole at 17 Nyhavn but the beer kiosk at Holberggade wasn’t there that day. It was rainy and late in the day. Next we headed down the Stroget for more sightseeing according to Rick. The streets were relatively empty. We walked all the way down to Tivoli Gardens and City Hall Square. By then we were losing daylight and our knees were talking to us. We hiked back to Kongens Nytorv to catch the metro and head back to the Crowne Plaza Towers. By then it seemed that we had been up for 2 days.

Day 2 in Copenhagen: We found out that the central train station was on the backside of Tivoli Gardens! We could have taken the train back rather that hiking back to the metro the night before. We jumped on the train near the Crowne Plaza and got off at the first stop. We ate breakfast at Andersen’s Bakery across the street from the station. It was very good. After that we toured inside City Hall and hit the Tiger store on the Stroget. When Tivoli opened at 11 am we were nearly first in line having purchased tickets via one of their kiosks near the entrance. The Gardens were great as described. After a couple of hours, we headed back on the train…and one stop later we were at the Crowne Plaza Towers. We had already checked out but they were very kind to hold our luggage until we came back. Michael called us a cab and gave us the approximate price to get over to the Royal Princess. Michael was terrific. Traffic was heavy but the cab driver who grew up in Copenhagen knew every back road to get us to the pier at the price we expected. Check in was a breeze. Luggage arrived quickly and soon we were at our CC Meet and Greet. It was a nice get together especially since many of us booked the same tours with SPB. There were a couple of things I noted while in Copenhagen. For all of the healthy bike riders in Copenhagen (as in thousands of bikes everywhere) there were cigarette butts all over the streets. Interesting too were the bikes that were all outfitted with baskets, rear carriers, and fenders because bikes are more for business and daily life than pleasure….yet almost nobody wore a helmet.

Our first stop on the trip was Oslo. Being one of the first off the ship that day helped because we inquired about the Oslo pass and had to go to the Tourist Information office behind City Hall to get one! We waited less than 10 minutes to make the purchase. Don’t believe the online info that says Oslo Passes are sold in many places. They aren’t. In any case, the pass worked for us because we went to several of the museums and used modes of transportation and the Pass covered all of them. First we took the #12 tram to Frogner Park. After the sculptures, we headed down a few bus stops and picked up the #30 bus over to Bygdoy. After visiting the old houses at the Norwegian Folk Museum and then the Viking ship at the Viking Museum, it was back to the #30 bus to catch the ferry (near Kon Tiki) back to the downtown area. There we stopped at Rick Steves suggestion of Deli DeLuca for a bite to eat and getting a few pictures of the sights along the way. Next we headed over to the Ankersus Fortress to visit the Resistance Museum. We did make a pitstop at The Whiskey Bar (Radhusgata 28) not far from the fortress entrance. After a Norwegian beer, a couple of AquaVits (made in Scandinavia), and a Glenfarclas 15 year old single malt we were back on the trail. We found the Resistance Museum to be quite somber as you walked through the timeline and amazing artifacts. Afterwards it was back to the Royal Princess which was docked very near to the fortress. It was another great day. Read more