July 28, 2003
Today started off slow, but once we got going we were very busy.
We couldn't go anywhere until we changed our rooms. We were suppose to be able to get our room at 10:00, but the people hadn't checked out yet. The clerk at the front desk had to knock on their door and see when they were leaving. It was an older man with his three grandsons. He had his hands full.
Once we received our keys and left the luggage in the room we headed off to town. We weren't sure what the weather was going to do. It looked pretty grey. The first thing we were going to do was a canal trip. Copenhagen is on the water and it has a bunch of canals. The boat was a wide, flat bottom, with an open top. There were several low bridges and if you stood up you would have been knocked off. The guide of the canal trip was great. He spoke five different languages. The group was a mixture of everything and he would switch from one language to another. He pointed out all the old buildings with some of the history. He also pointed out new buildings. The ride was pretty on the canal with all the buildings close together and painted different colors and had pretty flowers. The guide was humourous and was a joy to listen to him. It sprinkled a little bit, but the sky cleared up after we were done. The ride as about an hour.
When the boat ride was done we headed toward the Churchofour Savin. It was a beautiful spiral and there was a stair case on the outside on the top. One can walk up the stairs to the top.
Before we got there we stopped at the Royal Palace Library, also called the Black Diamond. It is called that because when the sun shines on the black tiles it glimmers. I don't know, it wasn't sunny, so I didn't see it glimmer.
The Royal Palace Library is new and it is big and very nice. We stopped to use the computers to check on air flights. It is suppose to have 100 computers, but they are only to look up information on the internet with it.
We finally made it to the church. We had lunch before we tackled all of the stairs. We first went into the church. It wasn't big like the ones in England, but the altar and the organ were beautiful. The organ is what amazed me.
The organ case took two years to build and it is made of lime and oak. It is quite large and is fixed to the wall with iron brackets. Some of the organ pipes are in the front of the case. They are large and beautifully decorated. I read that this organ has 4000 pipes.
We then paid 20 kroners and walked to the top. The stairs were wooden and very narrow. As we walked up we could see the bells. It will always amaze me how these places were built. There are 400 steps and 150 of those are on the outside as they spiral around the top. I was a little nervous walking up to the top on the outside. We had a terrific view of Copenhagen, but I was glad to get back inside.
Our next stop for the day was Trivoli Gardens. I haven't heard of Trivoli Gardens before, but Laurie tells me it is what Copenhagen is known for. With that name, one would think it was all flowers and gardens. It is not. It is a small, old amusement park, about 160 years old. It does have some nice flower beds and fountains, but that is not the main attraction. I would say it is half amusement rides and half restaurants. They also offer free entertainment which Laurie and I spent our time enjoying. There were two prices, one with rides and one without. I thought the entertainment was worth our admission price.
The first place we stopped at was to listen to the Trivoli orchestra. As Laurie pointed out, I was probably the youngest one there and she was the next youngest, anyways the music was good.
The second place was a pantomime theater. We got there early and I saw a lot of youngsters. I told Laurie that this may not be for us. It was terrific and all ages were there. The crowd was about three people deep after the sitting area. We weren't able to see it all because we were on to the next event which we thought would be just acrobats. They had two acrobats from Berlin. They were great, such strength, and of course their bodies weren't bad to look at either. I told Laurie that this is what the almost Olympic gymnasts do when they have no where else to go.
After the acrobats there was a juggler and a magician. They were both pretty good.
The next stop was to listen to the Trivoli Big Band. When we got there I realized I left my fleece jacket someplace. I went back to look for it. It wasn't at any of the places I had been. I then checked out the lost and found. Someone was very nice and took the time to bring it there. I was very grateful.
I was able to get back to listen to most of the show put on by the Trivoli Big Band.
We decided to leave after that. We would have enjoyed all the lights at night but it doesn't get dark until 10-11. They have a light show at 1:45 at night and offer fireworks on Saturday nights. It is just too late for me, especially when I have to take trains to get back to the hostel.
Laurie and I picked up a frozen pizza to have for dinner. We got back to the hostel about 9:45 pm. I cooked, ate, and went to bed.
July 29, 2003
When I woke up the room was stifling. It was hot and I could hardly breathe. I got up and packed up so I could get out of there. Laurie and I were moving on. Odense was our next destination. The trains run pretty regularly, so we just went to the train station at a leisurely pace.
The train ride was about an hour and 10 minutes. When we got off the train, I think we were both impressed with the city. Everything looked clean and was right there. The library was attached to the train station, along with a movie theater and grocery store. The hostel we were staying at was right next to the store.
We checked into the hostel and it also was very clean. It seemed to be well organized. There isn't much to do in Odense, but I would stay longer just for the hostel.
