“Wonderful, Wonderful Copenhagen, Friendly old girl of a town” may not be a song a lot of people know but for me it is a childhood memory; I grew up with Hans Christian Andersen and fell in love with Danny Kaye in his role of him.
Karen and Greg with one of the city's statues of Hans Christian Andersen.
Even though I am older, every now and then I watch the movie and still can hear my mother singing beside me and telling me all about her trips across “the water” from Kiel to Copenhagen. I fell in love with the place my mother visited, made famous for me through the movies, without ever actually visiting Copenhagen — that is until May, 2010.
I can’t say that I have ever thought of my “bucket list” and although I have always wanted to go on a cruise I never in a million years would have imagined that my first cruise would be a Baltic cruise visiting countries I heard about from my parents, read about in books or saw in movies — Copenhagen, Sweden, Finland, Russia, Estonia, Poland, Norway — for me the trip of a lifetime.
My dream vacation started when my boyfriend, Greg, asked me if I wanted to go on a cruise — of course I said yes I’ve always wanted to go on a cruise. When he suggested the Baltic cruise, well, could it get any better? Actually it did when my brother and his wife decided to join us.
Copenhagen is everything I imagined and more. The culture, the beauty and the breathtaking scenery all part of an amazing trip.
Tivoli is filled with beautiful gardens and entertainment options.
For me the highlights included the Tivoli Gardens with its breathtaking gardens and diverse musical acts; the harbour where the angel awaits the sailors return; and the canal tour, showcasing the colourful homes, restaurants, cafes, shops, and history.
Another interesting discovery for me was the number of bicycles here. Back home, I work in the department that takes care of our city’s bike lanes, so it was extremely interesting to see that in Copenhagen so many use bicycles as their main mode of transportation. No matter whether it was hot, sunny or pouring rain, wearing suits, dresses or casual wear, riding to work, shopping or exercising, biking was extremely popular. The streets even have “bike counters” to show how many bikes have passed by a certain spot in a day and for the year to date. We could certainly learn from this country — they embrace and promote biking, to the point of having dedicated bike lanes, complete with turn lanes and their own traffic signals (which, as far as I could see, are obeyed!).
Hans Christian Andersen's home.
But most of all, Hans Christian Andersen is everywhere here — there are statues of him around town, his tomb is here, and best of all, there’s a Hans Christian Andersen Museum, located in one of his old homes, that gave me a further education on the talented and varied author.
And of course for Hans Christian Andersen fans — and really anyone visiting Copenhagen — one of the highlights is going to see the Little Mermaid statue in the harbour. Alas, on our visit the Little Mermaid was not perched on her stone, she was in Shanghai, China at the Danish exhibit at the World EXPO — certainly disappointing but not enough to spoil our experience.
However, I hear she’s now back in place, so if I’m fortunate enough to get to Denmark again, that’s where I’ll head to complete my Hans Christian Andersen fairytale in Copenhagen.
The Little Mermaid Statue was away while Karen visited, but here is back on her stone perch in the harbor.
One of the bike lane counters found in Copenhagen.
Great commentaries on Copenhaven. I worked as an exchange teacher in Denmark for six months and had a chance to visit much of the country. Another place to consider in the city if you like art is the Lousiana art museum. Its worth a visit
We are planning to book the Scandanavia/Russia tour for June 2012. Considering an inside room to save money. Any thoughts?
Hey Karen,
Greetings from Salt Lake City, Utah, home of the 2002 Winter Olympics! Thank you very much for the enticing article about your experiences in Copenhagen. My wife, Susan, and I will be embarking the beautiful Emerald Princess, August 31, to do the same Baltic Cruise itinerary as you did. This cruise will be our “lucky” 13th cruise with Princess. We are very excited to learn more about Copenhagen as we will be staying on after our cruise to see the sites. It looks like Tivoli Gardens is a sure bet! If you are interested in reading one of our experiences, please refer to the St. Andrews, Scotland posting from our fantastic British Isles Cruise last summer on board the fabulous Crown Princess. You’ll see it in the “Reader Experience” section just a few lines down the column from yours. Thanks again for posting your experience and photography. VIVA PRINCESS CRUISES!
We were on this same princess cruise of the Baltic Sea. We took a Princess offered excursion at each port. The weather was grand and we had a wonderful time…..BUT, I lost all our photos on our trip home. I lost my memory card. And have NO pictures. Would you care to share a copy of your pictures? We stayed in Copenhagen 3 days so we took many photos there also.We live in the US. Please respond if you care to share. Thank you.
Just completed a Baltic cruise and yes, Copenhagen is an amaxzing city. I also went up north to Helsingor to visit the castle of “HAMLET PRINCE OF DENMARk” …the shakespeare play I read since I was 10 yrs old….the people are very friendly. In fact a Danish gentleman bought me the return train ticket to Helsingor when my credit card wont work….and I just met him at the coffee shop at the airport…what nice people!
It sounds like a great cruise to do Karen as I too frequented the Princess lines in the past 8 years. As a sailer I went by Copenhagen on the way to Finland but never went ashore in Denmark and would have liked to see Tivoli Gardens but…. I heard say that Danske flickas are mukke bras.lol
hello from AUSTRALIA karen ,i also really loved copenhageb and luckily ‘the little mermaid was there so i have a photo,loved all the scandinavian cities ,i think they have the most beautiful girls
Karen,
Thank you for sharing your Copenhagen experience! It’s definitely a “wonderful” town.