I woke up at about 7.30 on Sunday morning.

There was a message from the phone service provider welcoming me to Sweden…we had docked there at about 6.00am for 15 minutes - does that count as a visit?

I got up and showered - I had the lights on and wasn’t being particularly quiet but the boys were all passed out and none of them even stirred.

I ran into Karen on the deck and we had coffee and a Danish plus a banana that I had nicked from the dessert bar at dinner!

"Our cruise ship in Copenhagen harbour" (two photos)

We docked and left the ship.

We all got together again and caught taxis to the train station and put our gear in lockers and headed out to explore Copenhagen.

Heading towards the Brewery entrance

"The famous elephant gates" (two photos)-- Tanya and the group at the gates

Tanya at the Museum entrance

First stop, the Carlsberg Brewery!

Tanya makes a new friend

Tim-the-Tourman's girlfriend--- A different look at the horses

The Brewery wasn’t actually much chop…all the usual boring stuff about how they make it etc etc etc and then we went to the stables where the big horses are kept.
They were just beautiful.

The Visitors Centre - and some "nicked stuff"!!!

Matty Tanya------- Michelle Tanya Cassie

Tanya Kaz----- Tanya and the rest of the group (two photos)

We all hung around in there for a while and then hit the bar for our two free beers - a few of the boys struggled after the previous night but mine went down really well…I had a Carlsberg Pilsner which was okay and I had a Tuborg Luxury which was really really nice.

I purchased a bottle opener in the gift shop and nicked a Carlsberg glass.
I would have bought them but they only sold them in packs of six and I just wanted one.

The Opera House

We caught the bus back to town and walked down the longest pedestrianised shopping street in Europe.
Unfortunately most of it was closed as it was a Sunday which probably saved my credit card!

We walked to an ice cream shop on our way to our canal cruise - it was awesome chocolate ice cream.

"A street that had lots of coloured buildings on it" (three photos)

We went down a street that had lots of coloured buildings on it.
There were also lots of boats in the canals and I can just imagine how fantastic it would have looked in summer but the day we were there was rainy and a bit miserable - never mind.

Tanya on the boat------ "Can't see very much"

The Royal Docks------ The Mermaid (more photos below)

We jumped in the canal boat which was okay as well…we couldn’t see much though cause of the weather.
We saw the Royal Palaces and the house that Mary lived in before she got married.
We also saw the back of the mermaid which is a tourist landmark there.

Photos and a few details about the Restaurant

We then went for a late lunch (3.00pm) at an award winning vegetarian restaurant called Riz Raz.
The food was sensational…falafels and vege lasagne, and salads and pizza and dips…was so good but again I was way too full after a few visits to the buffet!

A "very cool" spire

After that everyone went their own way…we had to be back at the train station by 7.00pm.

Some people went to Christiania (an old US military base - now a hippy commune) and I wanted to go and see the mermaid properly so Kaz offered to come with me.
Most people took their time wandering back to the station and then went to the pub that was there.
Tim showed us where to catch the bus to see the mermaid and we jumped on.

The Sand Sculpture of Mary and Frederick (three photos)

We got there and saw the back of a sand sculpture that was surrounded by perspecs so the weather wouldn’t destroy it.
We went around to the front of it and found that it was a bigger than life size sculpture of Princess Mary and Prince Frederick sitting on a sofa.
It was very very well done and I got a few shots of that.

--------- Tanya with the Mermaid

We moved on to the mermaid and got some shots of that too.
If the weather had been better we may have posed like her (the same way we did in the sculpture park in Oslo) but the rocks were wet and slippery and I didn’t want to fall in!

We caught the bus back to the station and went and got some cokes at the pub.
The odd thing was that instead of giving us say nuts with our drinks we got a big basket of popcorn!
I guess it makes you thirsty so you buy more drinks but I thought it was strange!

We collect our bags from storage and then caught the train to the airport and waiting for the plane to take off.
Thankfully it wasn’t delayed as we were going to be cutting it fine for the trains back to London from Stansted as it was.
We landed in London and found that the trains from the airport were not running.
We jumped on a replacement bus to the nearest station, Bishops Stortford, and got on the train.
The train sat at the platform for about thirty minutes which was really frustrating.
We eventually got back to London Liverpool Street and ran to the underground station.
The central line and circle line had stopped running and there was one train still to go through the station - the Hammersmith and City Line!
That was our train.
We bolted through the station to Platform 2 and the digital screen said that the train was one minute away - we had made it.
It took about twenty-five minutes to get to Hammersmith instead of the one-and-half hours it would have taken on the night bus.
When I got to the bus station at Hammersmith my bus arrived as I did which was perfect timing.

I got home and was in bed by 1.15am - not much sleep for the next day but it was better than nothing.

I had a great time and was very impressed with Tim’s tour.
He isn’t the 'Nazi' tour guide that you sometimes get and he was very easy going and helpful.
I am going to be looking at more of his tours next year.

Oh, and my passport was stamped too!
That is one for everywhere I have been so far!