Kobenhavn, Denmark: Day Eight and Nine

Saturday and Sunday were Jff’s second and third opportunity to see Kobenhavn. Although we had planned that he would come into the city to meet me for evenings there, there were several things that worked against us: the cost of taking the train in and out was big, the amount of time it took (40 minutes at least), the unpredictable nature of our schedules and no way to contact each other, and most of all the fact that in the evening after about 7 o’clock, the bus from Roskilde to Riso (600S) would only run hourly. We spent a couple of times waiting for an hour at the very empty train station.

So Saturday we made it out to Fredreksburg to visit the Carlsberg Brewery. A self-guided tour with two beer tickets for each person at the end—all in all, I thought it was worth it. Jff and I had brought our picnic stuff with us, so we took our beers out to a green area and a bench. The beer tasted fabulous with our smorresbrod, or open faced Danish sandwiches, of Rye bread, soft cheese, and sausage. The beer probably went down a little too fast as we were both buzzed post lunch, especially my dear, dear husband who was all aflutter and very funny.

We took the bus back into town and when we finally made it to our first stop, Vor Frelsers Kirken, the church where you can climb up the steeple, was closed for reconstruction. A bummer, so instead we walked through Christiania, the alternative lifestyle mecca on the army barracks, so husband could see. We went a little further in this time—all the way to the canal and I liked it a little better this time.

It was a long walk back, but we headed for the Danish Resistance Museum (during WWII and German occupation) along the waterfront. I liked that museum a lot, but both Jff and I remarked at the end that although all the “captions” were in English, all the primary documents they referred to weren’t. The weather was again absolutely perfect and so it was nice to stroll and watch all the people out on the Nyhavn Canal and finally lay down in a park near the Kastellet and the old fashioned windmill.

On Sunday, we had the added challenge of having our luggage with us, since we had checked out of the guesthouse in Riso that morning before riding the train in. The Kobenhavn train station has a place where you can put your luggage in lockers for up to 72 hours, so that is where we left most of our stuff. After a debacle with a broken can of Nutella in a backpack- we were set to go.

The Marmokirken was our first stop- a church with a huge dome allows two groups of people to climb via a tiny, tiny spiraling staircase and metal walkways that pass on top of the internal dome, (but still inside of the external copper dome) only on Saturdays and Sundays. It was amazing: amazingly claustrophobic, amazingly high off the ground, and amazing views of the city. We had a good time.

After a last walk down the stroget, a stop for sandwiches at Nyhavn, and a visit to our favorite secluded park spot, we headed back to the train station and then to the airport. Our flight to Prague was uneventful and fast, and we arrived at the airport at around 8 pm. It took us about an hour to reach our guesthouse via a bus and two metro transfers, but with husband the mass transit expert along, it was a breeze. We made it to the Lida guesthouse on one of the hills of Prague around 9 pm. Jan, (pronounced YAWN) sat down with us for a drink and a quick orientation to the city and we were set to head to bed.