MSC Orchestra: Copenhagen, Denmark

Our first stop on our Baltic Sea cruise was Copenhagen! The ship set sail at 5pm the night before and we woke up at 8:00a in Denmark! That's the best way to travel.

We woke up later than expected, actually I'm pretty sure we would've slept through the day if it wasn't for the fact that I had ordered us breakfast the first day. I had booked it with the travel agent and completely forgot about it! It was a nice surprise, especially since we probably would've had to fight our way through the buffet.

The night before when we were unpacking, we had realized that we had left our Rick Steve's Book at home! :( Drew had mistakenly thought he packed the book, but he actually put it away! So we had no plan for our cruise (those who know me know this drove me nuts!) 

After enjoying our lovely breakfast, we got dressed and decided to head off the ship to explore. We had the WHOLE day in Copenhagen. It is another port of call, so people were getting off and coming on board the ship. We didn't have to travel far, once off the ship there was a Hop On Hop Off Bus waiting to take people around to the city. We saw people walking to the town, but since we had no idea what we were going to do or even where all the sights were we decided to use the HOHO Bus. I think it was money well spent. We got to hear the history of Copenhagen and enjoy the beautiful day.

We stayed on the bus for a bit, looking at the map and trying to figure out where all the sites were.

Sidles' @ Copenhagen 2014

Our first stop of the day was to the Gefion Fountain. The story behind the fountain was why I wanted to get off, The fountain depicts the mythical story of the creation of the island of Zealand on which Copenhagen is located. The legend appears in Ragnarsdrápa, a 9th-century Skaldic poem recorded in the 13th century Prose Edda, and in Ynglinga saga as recorded in Snorri Sturluson's 13th century Heimskringla. According to Ynglinga saga, the Swedish king Gylfi promised Gefjun the territory she could plow in a night. She turned her four sons into oxen, and the territory they plowed out of the earth was then thrown into the Danish sea between Scania and the island of Fyn.

Famous Fountain!

Kastellet Copenhagen, it is one of the best preserved star fortresses in Northern Europe. It is constructed in the form of a pentagram with bastions at its corners. Kastellet was continuous with the ring of bastioned ramparts which used to encircle Copenhagen but of which only the ramparts of Christianshavn remain today. A number of buildings are located within the grounds of Kastellet, including a church as well as a windmill. The area houses various military activities but its mainly serves as a public park and a historic site.

:)

We go to see some Danish guards!

The ONLY time he isn't behind it!

The old barracks

See it ship?!

"Look! Cannons!"

We walked around the Kastellet for a bit, and we realized that we had ended up back at the port! We could see the ship as we continued walking! We didn't think it was a big deal because the famous Little Mermaid was right around the corner from the ship! Based on the fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen icon and has been a major tourist attraction since 1913. In recent decades it has become a popular target for defacement by vandals and political activists. This statue has been damaged and defaced many times since the mid-1960s for various reasons, but has been restored each time. We tried to get some pictures in front of it but there were so many people that we could only get pictures of it. We ended up coming back before heading back to the ship and got pictures in front of the little mermaid.

We hoped back on the HOHO bus and headed back into town. We got off the bus in the center of town and decided to find some food, we must have walked for a bit because by the time we found a place to eat I was starving! We didn't do anything too crazy, we found a little restaurant who's prices matched ours and we sat down. When we were searching for food we noticed the Hard Rock Cafe and decided that we didn't want to eat there but we did want to come back for drinks! After having lunch we headed back to the HRC and sat for a drink. We didn't realize how thirsty we were. July in Baltics are the best time of year, but what they don't tell you is how hot it is! It's not as hot as Italy during the summer, but it must have been in the 80's while we were their. Our whole vacation we were blessed with beautiful weather.

He thinks he's a Rockstar.

There is literally an amusement park right next door to the HRC. The famous Tivoli Gardens, which is said to have inspired Disneyland. (Disney sure loved Europe!) Tivoli Gardens has been open since 1843 and is the second oldest amusement park in the WORLD!

We caught the HOHO bus once again and decided to stick on the line for a while. (HOHO is fantastic in a big city!) We got off the bus at the famous Nyhavn (New Haven) Harbor, is a 17th-century waterfront, canal and entertainment district in Copenhagen, Denmark. Stretching from Kongens Nytorv to the harbour front just south of the Royal Playhouse, it is lined by brightly coloured 17th and early 18th century townhouses and bars, cafes and restaurants. Serving as a "heritage harbour", the canal has many historical wooden ships. When I think about Copenhagen I think about Nyhavn!

This is my favorite shot from the day. I plan on blowing it up and having it framed!

Nyhavn is a nice place to look at, there isn't much to do there though. There were mostly restaurants with out door seating and people walking around, but since we had stopped off for food earlier we decided to keep walking. We wanted to find some souvenirs! We found a colorful wall that people from all over the world could vandalize, haha. It was pretty difficult but we found a place to leave our mark on the #HappyWall!

We're pet friendly <3

Once we finally found souvenirs, the prices of them made me wish that we hadn't found any! They say that Scandinavia is more expensive then the rest of Europe. It is! Copenhagen is expensive! People who are from Copenhagen don't actually live there because it's so expensive!

Parliament Building

Bikes EVERYWHERE!

Crown's everywhere!

Opera house and a pretty fountain

After finding our little trinkets, we explored the city area. I thought it was absolutely beautiful! We got back on the HOHO bus and just let it take us around the city. We snapped pictures of all the beautiful buildings. 

I'd recommend going to Copenhagen. It is a beautiful city, with rich history and the natives bike everywhere! But make sure you've save a little bit before heading to the stores.

Up Next: Gdansk, Poland