Woke up at 6:30 in Copenhagen where we docked at 7:00. While getting ready for breakfast, one of Celebrity's other ships, the Constellation pulled into port the next berth over with the P&O Artemis right behind. Lots of cruise ship activity for a Tuesday morning.

    

Met everyone except Denise for breakfast at 8:00 as she was off on her pre-arranged tour. At 9:00, the remaining seven of us independent explorers trooped off the ship and caught a shuttle downtown to our first stop, the Kongen's Nytorv (King's Square). Close by is the Nyhavn which is the canal that runs through the oldest section of Copenhagen.

      
    

After wandering up and down the adjacent street to the canal getting a tourists feel for the area, we ended up back at the square. From there it was over to the Stroget, the longest shopping street in the city. Unfortunately, most shops were not open as this day was a national Danish holiday, Constitution Day.

  
    

After a mile or so of meandering, popping into the odd shop that was open, passing through a couple of squares and just generally taking in the sights. To our surprise we ended up on Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard. I say surprise as we thought we were walking in the exact opposite direction to which we were. Obviously, it's easy to get totally turned around in narrow streets and unfamiliar surroundings.

Actually, it worked out well to end up on Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard as this is where the Radhus Pladsen (City Hall) is located and it also runs adjacent to the Tivoli Gardens. We didn't enter Tivoli due to time restraints, but had to satisfy our curiousity by peeking in from the street through the fence and shrubery surrounding it. Tivoli Gardens is the world-famous amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen. The park opened in 1843 and, except for Dyrehavsbakken in nearby Klampenborg, it is the oldest amusement park surviving intact to the present day. As well, it is well documented that Walt Disney used Tivoli Gardens as one of the primary models in developing Disneyland.

  

As it was now approaching noon, we decided to start back to King's Square to try and meet Denise who was planning on meeting us there after her morning tour was done. Just prior to leaving H.C. Andersen Boulevard we were treated to a marching contingent of the Danish Royal Guard who makes their way through the streets of Copenhagen at 11:30 a.m. everyday from Rosenborg Castle to the Amalienborg Palace to execute the ceremony of changing the guard at noon. The highlight of our own march back down the Stroget was that the ladies located a shop with Danish Christmas ornaments, of which they purchased three.

Arriving back at King's Square we ran into the Royal Guard again, so Bert and Laverne, Lee and Carole decided to tag after them to the palace.

    
  

LeVerne and I opted to hang around the square and wait for Denise, who appeared after twenty minutes or so. Having briefly filling us in on her successful morning tour, she still wanted to get down to Tivoli Gardens for a look-see, so away she went.

With no one else to meet, LeVerne and I started off towards the palace to rejoin our bunch. We hadn't gone 20 feet when who should appear coming towards us but Lee and Carole. Bert and Laverne had gone off on their own after they all saw the changing of the guard. Reunited, and as there wasn't anything else to see at the palace, the four of us struck off for a look at the Kongen's Have (The King's Garden) and the Rosenborg Slot (Rosenborg Castle). Along the way we popped into the Frederikskirken, or Marmorkirken (Marble) Church that was designed by Frederik V, and used to be part of the Amalienborg Palace to the east. It features an enormous and impressive copper dome, inspired by the Church of Saint Peter in Rome. After a quick tour of the interior we were again on our way.

        

Continuing on, the four of us made our way to the King's Garden or Rosenborg Castle Garden. This is the country's oldest royal garden and is also where the Rosenborg Castle is situated. The Rosenborg is a small castle situated at the centre of Copenhagen and was originally built as a country summerhouse for King Christian IV in 1606. It now houses a museum and the Danish crown jewels.

    

Meanwhile, the weather has changed from a cool overcast to warm and clear. While Lee and Carole toured the castle and checked out the jewels, LeVerne and I just sat on a bench outside enjoying the weather and watching the world go by. While waiting, we noticed a Celebrity Century tour group hustling out of the museum. Bringing up the distant rear was an older couple. She went around the corner in the direction the tour group had taken and he struck off directly the other way to presumably to take a picture. A minute or two later she comes flying around the corner, spots her errant husband and hollars, "Peter, hurry up and get over here. They're waiting!" His response was, "Can't a guy take five minutes to take a picture?" I guess that's part and parcel to joining a tour group.

  

Finally, the gals emerged from the castle and we began to make our way back through town to catch our shuttle bus from King's Square. We only stopped once, for a Carlsberg draft at a sidewalk café, and it was pretty darned good. Arriving at the shuttle stop, we climbed on board and were back to the ship by 3:30 p.m.

    

With an hour and a half to kill before the ship departed, we thought we'd try to walk over to the Little Mermaid statue that we had missed during the shuttle rides. We started out, but soon realized it was at least a half hour hike one-way. Not wanting to cut it too close before the ship pulled up anchor we reluctantly make the decision to forego that famous Danish landmark and trooped back to the ship. Have to get a picture from somewhere to include here.

      

The ship pulled out at 5:00, steamed north back into Kattegat Bay to get around the island of Zealand, then continued south through the Samso Belt and the Great Belt waterways to enter the Baltic Sea.

    

Had a couple of slices of pizza and ice cream for a late lunch, then back to the cabin for a little R&R before dinner. Dinner at 8:30 was casual dress and the stuffed flounder was excellent.

At around 10:30 p.m., the Celebrity Constellation passed us on the open sea and shortly after that we passed under the Great Belt Bridge. Built between 1991 and 1998, it's a road/railroad suspension bridge that connects the islands of Zealand and Funen. At 6,790 metres (22,277 ft) long with a free span of 1,624 metres (5,328 ft), it is the world's second largest suspension bridge, surpassed only by the Akashi-Kaikyo Bridge in Japan. By comparison, the Golden Gate bridge free span is 1,280 metres (4,200 ft.) or only 4/5th the length.

At midnight, both Lee and I went down to the casino for another try. Won a few bucks, so we shut it down after about 45 minutes or so. Back to our room and off to bed by 1 a.m.