The Purple Penguin

So we bought the Copenhagen card (or cOPENhagen as it’s called) yesterday and used it for the first time today. First I had to wake up Joe – if you lie very still and just stare at a sleepy person they squinch their eyes shut! Having got Joe up we headed out to the Nationalmuseet – Danish National Museum. It’s a bit of a cheat putting it on the card as it’s a free museum! But we wanted to see the Viking things (as the Viking museum is in Roskilde so we won’t get there this trip). We just spent the time in the ancient Danish areas of the museum, so barely saw a fifth of the place!

Our feet were tired and we wanted something where we could sit for a while, so we headed for the canal boat trips and only just missed the 12.20 boat, which was mostly empty. Drat. So we went and had a coffee and watched the people go by until the 13.00 boat, which was pretty much full, drat. But it’s a nice trip and we can do it again (that is included in the card!) It took all over the waterways of Copenhagen. We really must walk into the areas away from the sea at some point! We did go past the Little Mermaid but it wasn’t a good view as it was on the other side of the boat! (Travel tip – sit on the starboard side of the boat as that’s the best view of most things!)

After the boat trip we headed into the shopping area looking for lunch. We were thinking a quick light lunch but ended up in a pub with sandwiches. They were very good – Joe was after a snack but ended up with a huge burger! We passed the round tower but decided to do that later and instead headed for Christiansborg, the original city of Haven and the castles. We headed for the ruins under the castle and then into the reception rooms with the modern tapestries. Very colourful.

We then decided to hop on the bus that had conveniently stopped right by where we were standing and was heading for the Little Mermaid. So we had a ride out to the cruise ship area, walked along the tacky shops, then through the gardens along the water until we got to the Little Mermaid. Surprisingly the crowds weren’t there – a few people around but Joe managed to get several photos without anyone in them! We also got two Hans Christian Anderson tales in one – there was a family of swans swimming around the statue. We then took a slow walk along the harbour wall and then popped in to see the sand sculptures. They were interesting. Then back to the hotel to wash off sand, drop off bags, and go out for a light meal.