Tuesday, August 21, 2018: Copenhagen, Reffen, Christiania, Tivoli

I should first note that our National Geographic expedition starts on Wednesday.  We arrived a couple of days early to get our feet wet (not literally) in Copenhagen.  So what happens yesterday, today and early tomorrow is not indicative of, nor the fault of, National Geographic.  We are doing this part on our own.

The first full day in Copenhagen starts with an early, as in before 5:30 a.m., photography walk to Nyhavn to catch the morning light and few tourists.  I start by capturing the plaza in front of our hotel and the Town Hall which during all normal times of the day is thronged with people.

I spend an hour and a half in Nyhavn before, during and after the sunrise along with a fair number of fellow photographers.  Here are a few shots of Nyhavn that you won't get in the middle of the day.

Then it is back to the hotel and back to bed.  We slept great last night even with the city sounds of Radhus Plaza with our hotel room windows wide open.  On the first full day of a European trip, we often have a slow, leisurely morning pace and today is no exception.  We do manage to make the hotel breakfast before it closes.  It's our experience that Scandinavian countries have candles on the table at breakfast and that tradition holds true here.

What is happily unusual to me is the chocolate available on the breakfast buffet.

As we start the real day, it is our goal to ...

 

We use the "hop on, hop off" bus system to make our way to Reffen, an outdoor food truck eating area easily having over forty different food trucks or food stands.

Bill has a crispy pig sandwich, open face, of course.

 Beverly chose polenta with sausage, mushrooms and Parmesan cheese.

The problem with non-recyclable water bottles is solved by having a "water box".

We walk past a view of the "currently being refurbished" Copenhagen Opera House complete with its own diving board right into the sea.

We walk through Christiania, a "free town" harboring those who lead an alternative life style.  There are signs up saying "no hard drugs".  No photographs were allowed inside.  Hmmm, no evidence maybe?

One of several canals over which we pass on our way back.

After a respite eating the wonderful danish that Beverly picked up on the way back, we decide to have wine and a light dinner at Tivoli.

We are pleasantly surprised to find an orchestra and singers performing popular broadway hits (in Danish of course) at an outdoor stage.

We take a table at an outdoor restaurant adjacent to the seating area for the concert, dine, drink and listen to the music.  It is very relaxing.

Prawns with egg and greaves with a lemon remolaide.

Hoost cheese with rhubarb jelly and a crisp.

 Here are a few more pictures from Tivoli.

And we did make someone smile today.  It was a little girl (with her father) to whom I gave a token to add to what her dad had won at a balloon dart game.  I was trying to win a teddy bear for Beverly but came up a few balloons short.

There is one more segment from Tivoli tonight.  I went back for the 10:45 p.m. "illuminations" light show.  After having seen "illuminations" from Epcot, I felt that this was singularly unimpressive ... but very popular.

Goodnight from Tivoli.