An entry in The TFS Travel Journal
Had a relatively painless flight and flew through the airport and to the Hotel Neptun, where they had no room for us until 11:00am! We stumbled through attempting to eat breakfast, when we were pleasantly surprised to be informed that they actually had a cancellation, and we would be given a junior suite, which would be available shortly. What a joyful beginning!! (Although, if this is a suite, we’re fearful of what our regularly scheduled room would have looked like)
Wendy napped while Milton went for a walk, but soon caught the feeling that he, too, could probably use a few winks. How right we were! Slept ’till around 1:30, and then walked to Rosenburg Slot (castle) to see the crown jewels and the gardens. Saw both (and some topless sunbathers!). Gardens were nice, with a cute puppet show. Jewels and castle were small, but packed with Danish history. Our favorites — the Ali Babba room of cascading shelves of all types of glass, and the crown crowns, and the emerald/diamond ensemble. Why don’t they have any light in that place, though?
Stopped en route to the Rundtaren (round tower) to buy a Milky Way ice cream pop, then ascended the spiraling tower, no small feat in our condition, I might add. Nice view.
Ambled back to the hotel to prepare for our dinner with our new best friends Rikke and Thomas.
Cabbed to their lovely new apartment and had bugles and potato chips with dip and champagne.
Made int’l small talk, and learned about Thomas prior life as a primarily U.N. pilot in South Africa, Angola, Pakistan, and Afghanastan. (and learned that Rikke’s birthday is March 10! 1975 aaahhh!)
Went to Tivoli Gardens to choose among the 28 restaurants and settled on Bistro Terace or something like that. O.K., but too french and expensive. Our guests shared the Chateau Briand, while Wendy had a divine lobster bisque and a mediocre lamb. Good sweetbreads, though. Milton had an interesting veal carpaccio and a passable lobster-stuffed lemon sole.
Strolled the Stroget back to the Nyhavn and our hotel, and collapsed. Milton learned many interesting things from Thomas, while Wendy valiantly attempted to draw young, shy Rikke out of her shell.
We also learned about Rikke and her friend’s crazy day in N.Y. that fateful April day — a walk from Rock Center to the WTC with virtually no money (after tipping the porter $10/bag at the JFK hotel!) and dining at McDonalds.
Copenhagen thoughts: Very biking friendly town with bike lanes the size of regular car lanes and lots of bikes. Very quiet, though, for such a large city; except during peak biz. hours, but any time else surprisingly subdued. Weird language — lots of vowels and vowel sounds. . .