Today morning, after one last round of farewell to the staff members we came to get acquainted with, we finally stepped out of the Vision of the Seas at Copenhagen.
We proceeded straight back to Hotel Bethel at the happening location of Nyhavn, where we had previously stayed, and checked in. As usual, since we were way earlier than the check in time, our room wasn't ready. But this time we knew exactly what to do. We left the luggage in the hotel, and took the open top red bus tour around the Copenhagen city. The bus stop for this was right outside our hotel, so it was super convenient for us.
Our intention was to take the entire tour first, without alighting, figure out which are the spots that really catch our interest, and then go back again on it the next day to just these stops and explore them in detail. This way we can make full use of our 2-day tickets for the bus, and do not have to waste time hanging out at places that don't catch our fancy.
So we sat on the bus and decided on two specific places where we definitely must alight tomorrow - the Little Mermaid and the Rosenborg Palace. The third stop we had in mind was the must-visit Tivoli Gardens. Tivoli Gardens is one of the oldest amusement parks of the world but what was most fascinating to me was that, today, it runs on 100% renewable power, enabled by its own windmill inside the premises! How awesome is that?! Anyway, we definitely wanted to get down at Tivoli and take a few pictures even if we don't go into the amusement park with the little one and it was on our list as well tomorrow.
At Tivoli, the bus captain told us that the bus would be waiting for at least 20 minutes, since it was its most important stop. So instead of sitting in the bus and getting stewed (the weather had turned pretty warm), we decided to alight at Tivoli, and finish off exploring it the today itself. And that basically meant walking around for a while, taking a few pictures, finding a good place for lunch and finally having really good bull hot dogs at a cafe.
Post Tivoli, we got back on another open top red bus and went back to our hotel. This time the room was ready and we checked in one last time. After unpacking and settling in, we took some much needed rest.
In the evening, we walked to the boat pier right next to our hotel and took a tour on the boat. It lasted for 60 minutes and took us through the canals of Copenhagen, past houses, palaces, several ancient buildings that now act as their stock exchanges, parliament house etc., statues and monuments and shops and restaurants. The boat also went out to the sea for a while and we could see the yacht used by the Royal Family, a three mast boat converted to a training ground for youngsters, an old submarine, the Little Mermaid (the iconic status in Copenhagen) and so on. Apparently yesterday marked the 100th year of the Little Mermaid exactly and to celebrate they had a big event there with free flow of beer sponsored by Carlsberg (which is a Danish company), story telling of fairy tales by Hans Christian Andersen (the author of Little Mermaid) and 100 women in bikini jumping off a platform in the mid-sea straight into the waters! We still have the Little Mermaid on our list of things to see for tomorrow because the view from the boat on the sea was more of the backside and we wanted to see it from the front.
After that very interesting tour, we walked through Nyhavn, enjoying its super cold weather. Since we had western/European cuisine on most days on the ship, we didn't feel like having that anymore, and I was badly craving for some hot soup, Asian style. Luckily for us, Nyhavn had a Thai restaurant and I had the most amazing ...and I really mean The Most Amazing Thai Style Noodle Soup there. The warmth of the soup bowl, the tantalizing taste of the spices on my tongue and the flow of the hot liquid through my throat and warming up my body, all added to the beauty of the evening.
The day, with that, ended on just the perfect note!
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