The ferry trip was overnight, and though the seas were a little rough, it wasn't too bad. We did feel like we were rocking still for about 24 hours after, though. Kimber, my mom and Sidney all slept in a small cabin, and my dad, Papa and I had sleeper seats. As many Norwegians take advantage of the fact that alcohol is much cheaper on the ferry (and pretty much any other place than Norway), the sleeper seat room becomes somewhat of a "sleep it off" room, so it is not the quietest place to try to sleep. I am pretty sure there were at least 5 loud snorers in the room.
Once in Denmark, we drove down from Hirtshals to Copenhagen, which is about a 5 1/2 hour drive. The countryside is very pretty, and we were struck by how much it differs from Norway. There are also a lot of wind-power generators along the way. There are also places that have no speed limit, at least not that we knew of, so we were able to drive faster than the 62 m.p.h. Norwegian limit. Our rental car could do at least 100 comfortably.
The bridge from the island that Odense is on to the island Copenhagen is on was quite impressive. I think it is somewhere around 12 miles long, including a huge suspension bridge. There is also a nice lighthouse just before the suspension bridge, as seen here.
Copenhagen is a very cool city. There are fantastic shopping areas, lots of restaurants, and a nice mix of old and new buildings. There is lots to do, but as our time was somewhat limited, we just hit the major stuff.
Our hotel was located near the central train station and Tivoli (the famous old Danish amusement park), so we were in a good place to get to things. While we didn't go inside the amusement park, the outside was dressed up for Halloween, and looked pretty cool. We also saw it all lit up at night, which also looked neat.
Copenhagen also just hosted the selection committee for the Olympics, so the city was still somewhat dressed up for that event. Some of you may remember that President Obama attended to lobby on behalf of Chicago. Kimber was in Copenhagen for business during his meeting and pointed out how much his visit interfered with things like the train schedules, about half of which were canceled for security reasons. Congratulations, by the way, on that Nobel Peace Prize. This picture is City Hall at night.
We were quite taken aback by the number of bicycles in Copenhagen. There are bikes everywhere! There is bike parking all over, and it is all full, and there are still a ton of people riding around. There are also some really cool bikes, including these designed for carrying babies and kids. They have a kid area on the front and two wheels, then look like a regular bike on back. They are quite popular, and can be converted to carry large amounts of cargo after the kids outgrow them. We looked at one in a shop, and it was a little over $3000.
We also took a boat tour of the harbor, which I would highly recommend. Copenhagen is a water city, as is reflected in its name (the -hagen, or -havn in Danish, means "harbor"). There are canals, bridges, fountains, boats and all sorts of other water-related things to see. Here you see one of the older parts of town that tried to monopolize on the "city-on-the-water" idea.
One cannot come to Copenhagen and not see her most famous resident - "The Little Mermaid" statue. It is to honor the character in their native son, Hans Christian Andersen's famous story. Yes, it is a pretty statue. It is, however, somewhat of a letdown. In a city with beautiful architecture and history, wonderful restaurants, shopping and things to do, the most famous attraction is a brass statue that looks to be about four feet tall sitting on a rock at an out-of-the-way location in the harbor. Just goes to show what a little marketing can do!
Danish fashion, while still somewhat "different", still seemed to outdo Norway. These were some particularly ugly pants we saw in the shopping area. They were bright red corduroy embroidered with little bird dogs. Kimber did find a nice dress on sale, and we will return to do some shopping at a later date. There were also a lot of really cool and colorful housewares. Maybe we'll buy some new dishes when we come back!
Papa seemed to have a really good time, and I think he even gained a pound or two from all the food. Here you see him admiring the shopping area downtown. The other picture is of him doing a little hunting. Just kidding - he didn't have his shotgun with him.
Copenhagen was a lot of fun, and we wished we would have had more time there. After all, any place with a store named this has to be cool. We will come back with empty suitcases to fill there next time.
We decided to take a ferry across the channel instead of driving all the way around through Odense, and it cut about an hour and a half off our trip. It was also a nice break from the car. We stayed in Aalborg, and made the very early trip up to Hirtshals the next morning.
The ferry back to Stavanger was an all-day trip, leaving at 8:30 a.m. and arriving back in Stavanger at 8 p.m. It was a little crowded, as people were not sleeping in cabins and such, but it wasn't too bad. The weather was actually very nice, and we were able to spend some time out on the deck. Here are Papa, my mom and Sidney, all enjoying the sun. Sidney was also able to make several friends n the ferry (big surprise,huh?) and spend a lot of time in the little play area on board. She also played a few games of "Go Fish" with Grandpa.
We made it back okay and got a bit of rest last night. Today we went to church and the candle factory, as well as a few other local tourist spots. Here are my folks, Papa and Sidney at the Three Swords monument.
Our next post will be on my folks last couple of days, as well as the fall colors in the area (unless something comes up between now and then!)
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