Monica J. Pileggi

Our ship arrived in Copenhagen at noon. Celebrity had courtesy shuttle busses to the center of town near the Nyhavn canal. Our usual group took a one-hour canal boat ride around the city. Prior to leaving, a man was selling beer and wine on the boat. I thoroughly enjoyed the ride seeing the city from the water. There is one area, Christianshavn, where houseboats are docked, along side beautiful sail boats. The homes along this canal are quite colorful. We passed by many sights, including the royal yacht, Holmen (naval base), the Little Mermaid statue, Amalienborg Castle, the Henning Larsen opera house, a very contemporary building jutting out on the water, Our Savior’s Church with its spiral tower, and Christiansborg Palace.

The weather was perfect for our canal ride, at least for us! Soon after, we found a place for lunch next to the Nyhavn canal. About 15 minutes after settling into lunch, it poured! Some cruise friends told us later they got caught in the rain and hail! Some of us ordered the chicken club sandwich, which was very good. David ordered a specialty dish with various Danish foods.

I loved Copenhagen! Outside the wonderful sights of Saint Petersburg, I think Copenhagen was my second favorite city on this trip (well I did love Tallinn and Rostock). The architecture of the buildings and palaces, the perfectly manicured gardens, and statues seemed so regal. There is a pedestrian street, Strøget, about a mile long, that the group walked. There were many exclusive shops, including the famous Royal Copenhagen with its china and porcelain. I purchased a blue/white Christmas ornament at a reasonable price.

Looping back to Strøget, the stores were opening up. Jeff went to his store and after a while, I headed out alone for the rest of the short morning. I ran into 2 crewmembers that somehow either recognized me or just guessed I was a passenger, and told me the ship would now leave at 2pm. What a relief! I felt I was rushing, but could now slow down a bit. I headed back to see Jeff and Robin to tell them the good news when I ran into one of the Japanese couples who sat at the dinner table next to mine. I explained the time change, which the woman didn’t understand any English as she kept repeating, “No thank you.” The husband understood, smiled and thanked me. By now, he knew who I was since we had eye contact throughout the cruise at dinner.

After telling Jeff the news, I headed out again. I decided I wanted a light lunch along the Nyhavn. The day was beautiful, like the previous day, so I selected a place with outdoor seating. I waited almost 15 minutes and the waiter never came outside to take my order, so I got up and left. It was getting close to noon and I remembered that the changing of the guards took place at the Amalienborg palace so I headed there. The changing of the guards was not as impressive as the one in Stockholm!

I headed back to the ship at a leisurely pace along the waterway. I found many people having their photo taken with the Little Mermaid. I was not impressed with the statue, but did have the obligatory photo taken. The souvenir shops near the ship were much higher in price, so I didn’t buy anything. Hell, all of the Baltic ports were expensive (except Tallinn).

After lunch, I headed to the upper deck as we sailed away from Copenhagen. One small fishing boat was returning from sea and hundreds of birds were hovering around the boat hoping for a bite to eat.