Day 22 - Thursday May 11, 2017 - Copenhagen
We’re both awake at 3.30 am but, after reading for a while, go back to sleep and don’t stir again until 7.15. Down to breakfast in the basement at 8.15 for the continental breakfast buffet – limited in its choices but certainly adequate. Lots of people already there and we sit and watch as some of them (mostly older ladies) surreptitiously stuff bread rolls etc. etc. into their handbags. Why not? If you want a sandwich for lunch, you may as well. Interestingly, there was no room check etc. when you arrived so it seemed anybody could just walk in.
We head off to the station to check it out as (a) we have a train to catch on Saturday morning and it always helps to have a sense of where you’re going and (b) to see if we can figure out how to catch an S-train a couple of stops to get us close to the Botanic Gardens. On the way, we recognized the place where we unceremoniously emerged from some siding yesterday. It had a large ’26’ sign which, once we were in the station, turned out to be the platform number, with a sign saying it was 15 minutes walk. A bit of an exaggeration but it certainly wasn’t ‘in the station’.
Rows of ticket machines but we fail miserably as we can’t get it to recognize the station we want – Norreport (that’s ‘Nora-port’). We go to the Information kiosk where the lady (who, like most people here, speaks perfect English) points us in the direction of the ticket office. As we get there and hesitate at the door as we try to figure out ‘how to take a number’, a staff member asks if they can help. He promptly takes us to a bank of ticket machines identical to the ones we already tried. As I key in the station name (‘n – o ..), he promptly steps in and deletes the ‘O’ and replaces it with Ø and voila!
We take the train two stops to NØrreport and walk up to the Botanic Gardens. It had started to drizzle but undeterred we meandered round and visited the fairly impressive Palm House. On the verandah outside was a coffee caravan so … time for a coffee. Looking at the map we realised the National Gallery of Denmark was in the park next door so headed over there for a look round. An interesting collection though regrettably one of the advertised exhibitions ‘Danish and Nordic Art : 1750 – 1900’ was closed as they were installing new air conditioning; nonetheless, plenty of other stuff to look at. The old Gallery building has been extended by building a new wing onto the back of it – very modern architecture so very different but rather well integrated with the original building. It’s hard to pass up a decent cafe when it’s offered so coffee and a very large cookie provided sustenance.
We walked over to the adjacent park, home to Rosenborg Castle but opted not to visit and so began to meander our way back, passing the Round Tower on the way. We somehow ended up on a ‘tributary’ of the main shopping drag we had walked down yesterday so soon found ourselves on the corner of the square by George Jensen etc. This time we stopped for a look in the window – some beautiful pieces – but the prices (and the very burly security guard just inside the door) suggested further exploration would not be beneficial.
Yesterday Anne-Margaret spotted what appeared to be an excellent cake/coffee shop but, as it was crowded, we didn’t stop. Today, it was not so busy so in we went; coffee and a couple of excellent ‘Danish’ later, we made our way back to the hotel. Doing so, we took a shortcut through the garden of the New Carlsberg Museum. Not, as one might think, something to do with beer (at least not directly) it was built to house the ancient Roman art collection of the son of the founder of the Carlsberg brewing empire. As ancient Roman art is not our forte, we won’t be visiting it but its garden is delightful. No doubt the Carlsberg heirs still need some contributions so we’ll do the Carlsberg Brewery tour tomorrow, as well as the Danish Design Museum. They are in opposite directions but as the Copenhagen train system and, in particular, the ticket buying process no longer holds any fears for us, we shall sally forth!
One thing you have to get used to in Copenhagen is the cyclists – lots of them. The cycle lanes are built between the road and the footpath and, for the uninitiated, they tend to blend into the footpath so its very easy to find yourself walking or standing in the cycle lane, in mortal danger of being run over. Walker beware!
For dinner, we head to Jensen’s Bofhus, a steak/ribs/burger place round the corner from the other side of the train station. Lots of bicycles still parked outside the station.