Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen

To wonderful, wonderful Copenhagen

Friendly old girl of a town

'Neath her tavern lights

On this merry night

Let us clink and drink one down....

Some of you may know that I'm no fan of the performer Danny Kaye. But Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen, one of his songs from the musical based on Hans C. Andersen, did play in my head on our ferry ride to that city two weekends ago. Wonderful, it was.

It started out inauspiciously. We'd booked the tickets on line but neglected until the day of departure to figure out just where the DFDS ferry docked. We had a general idea (the port area of Oslo; duh!) but miscalculated significantly and found ourselves speed-walking to the boat. The stress and exertion led us to head, once on board, straight for the top deck and the bar.

Au revoir, Norway!

We'd been warned that, by October, the 17-hour ferry ride could be very cold and choppy. We were lucky. The weather was gorgeous and the North Sea very calm. The boat was huge and although we'd also heard that it attracted drinkers, the passengers all behaved quite well. If there was excessive imbibing, it was done in Scandinavian fashion--quietly, without drawing attention to itself.

The ferry travels at night, delivering passengers to Copenhagen around 10 the next morning. So I arranged for a 4-bed, sea-view room. The room was small, with Murphy-style cots that fold out of the wall, two to a wall, creating, in effect, two bunk beds. Very diverting for the kids, and hence not much sleep was had. On the way home, we ended up with a 5-person cabin and the first-experience of a triple bunk.

We enjoyed breakfast on the ferry (a standard Scandinavian buffet that was very good) and then disembarked, exhausted with a long day ahead. 

After Oslo, we were unprepared for the scale of Copenhagen. The population is double that of Oslo and the streets seem wide and the buildings huge. The port is industrial, with lots of container shipping. On a Friday, morning, this part of the city was also surprisingly quiet and virtually empty of people. 

We'd heard that the Little Mermaid statue was in the area. So we chose not to board the free bus to the city center, where our hotel was, but to search for the famous emblem of unselfish love from the HC Andersen tale. We saw it from a distance and hurried toward it, only to be utterly repulsed by what we found.

Was this the sculptorr's intent--to entrance tourists from a distance and then shock and disappoint them with this disfigured creature?

We then decided to solicit help. Turns out--unsurprisingly--that Danes are also fluent in English. We found the Little Mermaid.

The only disappointment here was the large noisy throng of tourists clamoring to touch her or climb up next to her. She ignored them, her reverie undisturbed.

In a park nearby, we found a memorial to World War II that told the story, in bas relief, of a peaceful community surprised by dastardly invaders, temporarily overcome, but then, recovered, cooperating to beat back their enemies and restore peace to their homeland. The massive monument also listed the names of all the Danes killed in the war.

Several hours later, exhausted and crabby, we found our hotel and managed to nap despite being four in a room not that much larger than the one on the ferry. Then we headed for the big event of the day--an afternoon and evening at Tivoli Gardens, purportedly the second-oldest amusement park in the world.

Built in the 1840s on land granted by the King (after being convinced that an amusement park would keep the public's mind off politics), it sits on 25 acres right in the middle of the old city. The Nazis razed a good part of of it in the 1940s but it was quickly rebuilt. Walt Disney visited several times in the 1950s and modeled parts of Disneyland on it. To someone who grew up visiting Disneyland, which is over ten times larger, Tivoli seems small. But it makes up in sophistication and relaxed fun what it lacks in size.

Here's a photo of the Peacock Stage. We caught the last act of an evening ballet performance there.

To the left, a hotel and one of the several Nimb restaurants. At the Nimb Terrace, we saw a long line of couples in semi-formal attire waiting for tables.

All that Addie and Bram could think about were rides, rides, rides. We had unlimited-ride passes and the lines were short (this was the last open weekend of the season at Tivoli), so their wishes were fulfilled.

 Den Flyvende Lufert was one of my favorites. We rode in treasure chests and spiraled past characters from the HC Andersen fairy tales. Here's the Snow Queen:

 

 The ride reminded me of Disney's It's A Small World, but less cloying. I was certain that Disney had ripped off Tivoli, but it turns out that Den Flyvende Lufert dates from the 1990s. The kids were about as impressed with this as I had been at their age by It's A Small World--not very.

 We all agreed that the best ride was the wooden roller coaster. Built in 1904 or so, it is the oldest still operating roller coaster in Europe. "Holder på hatten!" And say a prayer. The coaster is made up of two cars, holding about 12 people in each. In between the two cars, is the operator. Although there is a chair for him, he almost always stood (!) We learned afterwards that he is actually determining the speed of the coaster as it races downhill, and determines when to brake. 

Here are Addie and Bram "piloting" their flying fish.

 Addie and Doug take to the water.

 We stopped for dinner at an area near a mini replica of The Great Wall and, improbably, ate French-style hotdogs (a half a baguette with a tube-shaped opening down the length; said opening is filled with relish/condiments of one's choice; sausage is then poked into the hole). Later, we had dessert. Doug opted for the caramel-licorice ice cream. (Licorice is the candy of choice in Copenhagen but also Oslo. We never knew their were so many varieties of licorice, none of them tempting.) But he said the ice cream was good.

We stayed well into the late evening in order to see the lights. Goodbye, Tivoli!

 Once I sailed away

 But I'm home today

 Singing Copenhagen, wonderful, wonderful 

Copenhagen for me