One last day — An Elegant Sufficiency

Our last day was spent in Copenhagen. Mariner would stay here overnight, so those staying on board had a couple of days in the city. Of course, we were heading home but looked forward to one last day and taking an opportunity to do something rather special.

Our chosen tour was “A Tale of Two Kingdoms” and we began in the Kingdom of Denmark with a walk through the area described as Frederiksstaden, beginning with the Marmorkirken or Marble Church. Our Swedish guide was fine if a little disorganised at times, though perhaps that was due to some language difficulties?

From here we walked through the Amalienborg Square, where the guards were on patrol. I couldn’t help but notice the slight contradiction between the lethal weapon he carried and the heart carved into his sentry box. Here was one occasion where our guide seemed a little confused. She said that the guardsmen’s fur hats had been given to them by the country of Scotland but then wondered out loud if perhaps it had been the other way around and Denmark had given a set of similar hats to the Scottish guards? We had no idea!

From here, we walked through the gardens and along the harbour towards Nyhavn,

passing a sculpture of Karen Blixen on the way.

Though we’ve been to Copenhagen several times, I don’t think we’ve walked along here since the very first time we were here, many years ago. On this occasion, our guide pointed out to us the home of “HC Andersen”, painted red and with a plaque beneath one of the windows.

I’ll take the opportunity here to post a photo of our tour coach today: a double decker. Guess where this lucky couple got to sit this morning? The relevance of that will become clear very shortly…

Having rejoined our coach in the square, we continued on our way out of the city towards Malmö. Soon, we were driving along the coastline, past desirable properties offering a great view of the Öresund.

From here we caught a first glimpse of where we were heading: The Öresund Bridge. We’d become a little familiar with it by means of the TV series The Bridge and marvelled at the engineering and architecture involved. Until now, however, we’d not crossed it.

The first approach is through a tunnel, beneath the Öresund for a few km

after which we popped up into the light again on a man-made island.

It wasn’t such a bright and sunny day, sadly, but at least it was dry and clear and we had good views of where we were going, thanks to the best seats in the house on the coach!

Soon, we were on the bridge itself and somewhere along here was an EU sign at the Swedish border. What about that dramatic sky, then?!

Clearly the weather Gods were working in Sweden today, because as we reached “the other side”, the sky began to turn blue and things brightened up. We were on our way to Lund, a medieval University city and home to our guide.

Our coach stopped outside the cathedral, opposite a beautiful old “apotheke”. With no time to spare, we were straight in through the ancient Cathedral door and turned left, where a large group of people were seated in front of the 15th century mechanical astronomical clock. Our guide explained it to us and as we listened, we realised why the crowd were sitting, waiting. At 12 noon, it would “perform”. It was now about 11.40am.

Rather than stand and wait, however, she suggested we took a look around.

I was glad we had, because the mosaic above the altar was magnificent, even if I didn’t feel able to climb those steps without a handrail. Noting a small side door out into the square, my Hero and I ran across to the tourist office where we’d been advised there were some loos!

Keeping an eye on the time, we ran back again with perfect timing to take our place there in front of the clock for performance at noon! We watched as the two knights at the top rattled their swords before the music began (“Now Thank We All Our God” or Nun Danket) and the figures on the left came out and travelled round and through the archway on the right. One minute and 33 seconds from start to finish.

Time to go!

Our next stop would be Malmö where we arrived in the main square about twenty minutes later.

There in the centre of the Town Hall Square was King Charles X Gustav who lived an eventful life and who died rather young after a short illness, graphically described on that Wiki page.

Here, we were set free for an hour, to explore the city centre and to get a bite to eat. My Hero and I found a cafe with some tempting sticky buns!

It’s hard to believe, but these were genuinely the first (and last) cinnamon buns we’d had in Scandinavia on this trip!

We’d decided to take a slowish walk around the block, my eye having been caught first of all by this tea shop window…

where this little gang of marmots were moving slightly (breathing?) and gesturing occasionally in a most life-like manner. We were not the only people to be utterly enchanted by them!

We turned the corner into the main street and found a small marching band there.

This “Optimist Orchestra” was bringing a smile to many, especially me, when I saw this fellow

We were actually heading for the building behind this little band, however.

The Apoteket Lejonet had been pointed out to us on our arrival by our guide, who said it was an historic treasure and well worth a visit.

The man who built it had chosen to have himself built into the design.

His friends are there too, supporting the first floor balcony. I loved all the little cherubs shown working in the laboratory as well. The detail is amazing.

Of course, we went in to see the magnificent glass ceiling and the wonderfully preserved interior.

My Hero sat by this lovely mosaic panel with a lion’s head fountain.

I enjoyed simply looking around, noticing all the small details and feeling rather envious of those banks of small drawers, neatly labelled with the contents. I could have stayed longer but it was time to go.

We had the fun of another journey over the bridge.

The light was better this time too.

It was clearer to see how the island ends and the tunnel goes beneath the last stretch of the sound, as well.

We were soon back in Copenhagen, where the traffic was horrendous. We drove slowly over the Big Long Bridge whilst the cyclists and the pedestrians made their way over the Little Long Bridge alongside it.

We were moving slowly enough for me to capture a photo of Hans Christian Andersen as we drove along the Boulevard that bears his name.

It had been quite a day but we were ready for home. After a short photo stop for those who wished to visit the Little Mermaid, we joined the traffic jam through numerous roadworks and finally made it home.

Home for today, that is. Tomorrow, we’ll be heading for our own home…with a very early start too.