Our travels

Something captivating about the sun setting at sea. Here are a few of some I saw

Sunsets

Sunset on The Palm bathes the hotel with rose hues

Cobh and the cathedral at sunset as we were leaving

This beautiful sight ended our cruise with friends across the Atlantic. Norway awaits

After a day in Flam (see separate post) the sun set once again on another day.

One last opportunity to catch a sunset before the end of the cruise.

With such early sunrises not often up in time, but I caught one or two

Sunrises

An unusual sight. The sun rising over the eastern Pacific Ocean

This one at Ponta del Garda was not quite so early

Not a sunrise, but this is the early morning mist which greeted us as we sailed up the canal to Amsterdam

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Sailing down the Sognefjord towards our first stop in Norway – Flam – the morning sun bathed the snow covered mountains

We had to be up early to watch the sail in to the fjord to Geiranger, but this was one of the sights at 4:30am. After which I went back to bed and around 6:30am I took this next one

Our previous quick stop in Copenhagen prepared us little for the walking tour we took around the city today. Except, perhaps for the fact that we knew it would be very busy.
Our walking tour was conducted through obscure streets, zig-zagging through the city with speed. However, our pauses were then enriched with historical commentary delivered with much tongue-in-cheek humour sprinkled amongst the facts. Our guide Magnus is Danish born, but has lived in Australia. His English was excellent as a result. At our coffee stop he confessed that he had to leave Denmark to appreciate his country of birth. Something I can relate to, but I have no desire to return to my roots.
Copenhagen's history is wound up with the other Scandinavian countries. However, being connected to mainland Europe it was vulnerable during WWII, and our guide related an interesting story of one Dane's extraordinary adventures during the occupation by the Germans. They were based in the famous Hotel de l'Angleterre which still stands and is still the accommodation of choice to famous people.
We did visit the major buildings - the Parliament Christiansborg Palace; buildings associated with H.C. Andersen along Nyhavn; Amalienborg the home of the Danish royal family. This is where our tour ended and our guide timed it to perfection arriving just prior to the changing of the guard.
We found our way back to Nyhavn where we picked up a canal boat trip. This provides a different perspective to this bustling city. You may wonder why I did not mention the Little Mermaid as a sight on our walking tour. Well it is not considered much of a 'sight' my most Danes, but we did see it from behind on our canal boat tour - you will notice why we did not bother to walk the extra 15 minutes at the end of our walking tour just to see it.
After we finished our canal trip, we found our way back to Stroget, the longest pedestrianised shopping street in the world. Now filled with crowds buzzing with anticipation about the impending final of the Eurovision Song Contest. This annual song-fest has an interesting following extending as far away as Australia. It certainly brought some colourful groups in to the city.
We had hoped to visit the live site, which was close to our hotel, but the rain came and as we were packing up and leaving the following morning we did not want to have wet clothes. Ah well, the atmosphere was worth it.