On to the cruise ship - August 20, 2023

Aug 19, 20235 min read

Updated: Aug 23, 2023

SUMMARY Breakfast and a long walk through Copenhagen. Metro + 30 minute walk to our cruise ship (we eschewed the bus), the Azamara Pursuit. So nice to totally unpack for 12 days and stow the suit case! Drinks at the bar and excellent dinner (filet Mignon and sea bass) at the onboard steakhouse, Prime C. “Meet your entertainment crew” performance in the cabaret then bed. - Karen

Photos | Previous | Next | Index

DETAIL We wake. Karen didn’t sleep great. Out our window we see that they’ve made good progress at cleaning up the main city square where the Pride Festival’s going on. No more crazily dressed (or undressed) people. Back to normal life for another year.

Before we head up to the 6th floor for breakfast we ask about late checkout. Normal checkout is noon. They off us 2pm. Not sure we’ve been offered that much of a late checkout, but we’ll take it. At breakfast we’re again asked if we’ve made a reservation. “No”. Will you be with us tonight? “No”. Ah, well, then you’ll be over ‘here’. Not sure that that’s all about. Not good to mix the real clients with the short timers.

We finish packing and leave our bags in the room. There’s a lot more city we haven’t seen. We head in a promising direction, towards water. Of course in this city there are a lot of directions that fit that bill.

Walking past, and peeking in on, an impressive art museum we see white marble sculptures outside and in. The huge entry hall is ornate enough for us. We see what we can see without buying a ticket (which is quite a bit) and head back out and continue our walk.

At a bridge we hike down some stairs to the road and paths along the water down below. There’s lots of different colored plastic tape cordoning off the different areas where they do, and don’t want you going. We quickly figure out this is for the Ironman Triathalon going on today. Along the shore we walk on the pretty, wide wooden walkway. The Danes take their walking (and biking) seriously. Cars and trucks are more of an accepted nuisance and they know their place.

Along the canal the wooden walking path occasionally widens to accommodate sunbathers, of which there are quite a few. There’s floating ropes delineating an area for swimmers and a smaller floating seating area, with water in the middle, presumably for younger paddlers. At one point the wooden path splits and goes up and up. A couple of young kids were using it as a high diving point (or in their case, high jumping).

Every so often there’s an Ironman (or Ironwoman?) runner passing by to a smattering of encouraging applause. Each has an escort of a bike or two in front and in back, at a comfortable distance. There are event workers (volunteers?) everywhere in bright yellow. Some are ensuring the participants go the right way, and others are keeping the non-participants off the course.

When doing neither of those two things they’re playing music and doing crazy dancing. All good fun.

At one ‘possibly legal’ spot we cross the Ironman route and head ‘inland’. There is (of course there is) yet another royal palace of years gone by. It’s still in good repair with a nice fountain and lots of flowers and trees. We find our way back to one of the many main pedestrian walking streets and head back to our hotel. It’s Sunday, sunny, and summertime, so there’s lots of people out enjoying the weather. Looking at our watches we realize Spain and England are playing the final of the woman’s soccer World Cup, but don’t see any outward evidence of the game being watched.

Once more in possession of our luggage we head across the street and down the stairs to the metro station. We’re told it was just put in like 20 years ago. That must have been quite a mess, but the result is awesome. There’s lots of bike parking and the space is well lit with high ceilings, nice for an underground space. We get our tickets and hop onto our shiny, clean un-manned metro train headed for the cruise terminal.

Had we walked the whole way to the cruise ship port it would have taken 90 minutes. By hopping on the metro that time is cut down to 30 minutes of walking. There’s a bus we can take but we opt to walk. At one point a 40-something year-old gentleman stops us and asks if we’re sure we’re going the correct way. He, and his husband, had been riding here a couple of days ago and this route was blocked by construction. We were to wait here while he continues ahead to ensure the path is open today. He husband stays behind on his bike and we chat. A few minutes later we get the ‘all clear’ and sally forth.

At the terminal, we’re welcomed aboard and asked for our credentials and about any Covid symptoms. We roll our carry-ons up to our room, drop all our bags, and head to the pool-deck to sign-up for the special dinners for which we’d pre-paid. The line is a bit long and slow moving. When boarding the people in the suites and nicer cabins board first, then the less nice cabins, and eventually the inner cabins and stowage. We aren’t in a suite, of course, but we do have a fairly early boarding time. Even so, our choices for special restaurant dinners, on this 12 day cruise, were often down to 6pm or 8:30pm, all the more normal times already snapped up.

After unpacking we head topside to watch the castoff, sorry to see wonderful Copenhagen fading in the distance. The drinks in hand and prospect of dinner soften the blow. It’s already cooling down for the evening and, as we’ll be traveling north, are sure we’ll be having even cooler temperatures ahead.

Photos

Copenhagen has so many nice walking paths. The ones along the water are especially nice. This one has an area cordoned off for swimmers and an even smaller area for aquatic partying.