We had planned to use a Hop on Hop Off bus for our visit here, and expected it would take us to all the key destinations, and otherwise hadn't planned too much and were just improvising.
We got an early breakfast delivered to our cabin, then were ready to get off the ship and on one of the first buses departing at 8am.
The initial ride was merely getting out of the port and into the city, and the scenic tour began. It was early and the city was still opening for business. Everywhere, people were commuting by bicycle. The bus ride was harsh, bumping around, and jerking on off the brakes and accelerator, and not pleasant. So we decided to jump off the bus at the next stop, and decide what to do. This actually worked quite well.
We hopped off in the neighbourhood of Christianshavn, a nice area with many shops and cafes. Right where we got off, there was a canal that was so still, it looked like a mirror. We would later tour this by boat.
We wandered to the nearby Saviours Church for a look. I would have been keen to climb the tower but it was too early, so we decided to walk the same path that the bus would take. This took us along past some interesting, and old, buildings to Castle Island. Here we saw the stock exchange building, and Parliament Buildings.
This was also the location where we could get a canal boat ride as a part of our bus ticket. There was a 40 minute wait for the boat, which was OK, as it gave us time to soak in the surroundings. Once the boat arrived, we were first on, so got to sit at the front. By now the day was warming up, nice and sunny, with little wind.
The boat ride was the highlight of the day. It took about an hour, and went along the man canal to see various sights, as well as some back canals full of expensive boats.
We saw a real mix of classic architecture, as well as ultra-modern glass buildings including the Royal Danish Library (known as the Black Diamond).
We also got our first glimpse of the famous Little Mermaid statue. Seeing this up close, from the water, was hilarious as a bus load of tourists had just unloaded to take photos. I wonder how many photos we are in?
Once off the boat, we had a wander through the Parliament buildings, a large and impressive enclosure featuring gardens, and we saw some horses being exercised.
By now, time was marching on, so we again followed the bus route on foot up to Nyhavn, a beautiful canal lined with with restaurants and boats.
We found a nice local bakery in a quiet side street and had some lunch to keep us going. While here we found free WiFi so caught up on emails. Suddenly I remembered we should visit the Lego store while here, so Googled its location. It was actually back in the direction we came from, very close to Parliament! So we headed back but intentionally took a different route, which ended up taking us into the heart of the shopping district, full of flagship stores.
We found the Lego store, and Helen made a small purchase. We did ask, they don't sell anything unique to this store, all of the Lego flagship stores worldwide sell the same products.
We only had a few hours left before returning to the ship, so walked to the nearest bus stop. The bus took us up to Gefion Fountain, which was amazing, and not so many tourists here.
We then talked through the Citadel, which is still a working military base but they allow the public to walk through.
From there, it was only a short walk to the Little Mermaid, where by now it wasn't quite as busy, and made for a nicer photo opportunity.
This was also the point where we would pick up the shuttle bus back to our ship, marking the end of a superb day in Copenhagen. We really needed another day or two to see this city properly, so would happily return again.
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