Day 9 - Sunday 30th April 2023

Today we'd be moving to a different hotel (Radisson Blu) in Copenhagen to start our bus tour of Scandinavia with Insight Vacations. It was another cold (2C at 7am) but bright and sunny morning. The four of us had breakfast again in the hotel restaurant at 8:30.

We don't have any commitments before the start of the tour this evening and so it was up to us to find something interesting to do. The answer was to visit the Rosenborg Castle.

The check out time for our hotel was 12 noon. However, when Suzy checked with reception, she was told we wouldn't have enough time. So there was a change of plans - we would check out from this hotel and go to the new one and then head off to the castle. Suzy booked tickets online for the castle for 12:10pm.

We checked out before 10:30 and the hotel organised a taxi for us. Chris made sure the taxi would be big enough to take the four of us and all our luggage. The taxi that arrived was ideal - it was a van.

At Radisson Blu, the rooms weren't ready and so they kept our bags for us. They told us it would take more than 30 minutes to walk to the castle or we could catch the underground metro. He said the bus would be hard because you need an app or cash.

So at about 11:10, we set off on foot. Along the way, we got to see more of Copenhagen including the river, old buildings, Tivoli Gardens, statues, etc. The walk took longer than expected - partly because I'm pretty slow these days - and it was 12:15 before we reached the castle.

Starting on the ground floor, we moved from room to room admiring the exhibits such as paintings, statues, furniture, artwork, tapestries, paintings, clocks, ornaments and a gold writing desk. In one side room, we saw the king's toilet. Some rooms were bright and some were quite dark.

There was more on the second floor and then we got to the third floor which consists of a huge ballroom. At one end of the ballroom, there were two thrones guarded by three gold lions.

Next we went outside and entered a basement area known as The Treasury. The climax of this area was the two crowns presented in a glass case. The staff kept a close eye on everybody and make sure everyone kept the noise down.

We noticed that there were soldiers outside the Treasury with automatic weapons. Their weapons were very modern whereas the ones on display in the Treasury were from a very different time and included cross bows.

It was about 1:15pm by the time we'd finished. Suzy visited the shop before we left looking for somewhere for lunch. After about 300m, we found a large indoor restaurant called Cafe Vivaldi. Just what we needed.

At about 3pm, we managed to hail a taxi to take us back to the Radisson hotel. The taxi was a Tesla. This was the first time that I've been in a Tesla. I was surprised how zippy it was.

Our rooms were ready and our bags were already in our room. We were on level 19 and had a fabulous view of the river and the city.

Our room had a king bed, working desk, comfy chair  but once again no cupboard. Just like the last two hotels, the safe didn't work. The Wi-Fi speed was only about 14MB/s in both directions.

We came to the conclusion that our room had been renovated recently. It was different from the one Chris and Janet were in. Apart from anything else, theirs has a line in the bathroom for hanging clothes up to dry whereas ours doesn't.

While we had been in reception, we overheard a guide telling his busload of guests about the arrangements for this evening. We eavesdropped because we realised he would be our Insight guide for the next two weeks.

At 6pm, we went downstairs to the hotel restaurant to meet our Insight guide and the other people on our bus trip. Although the bus can take more than 40 passengers, there are only 23 people on this trip. That will make it easier on the bus.

There are two other Australian couples on the tour - cane farmers from near Townsville and butchers from country Victoria. One couple is from South Africa and there are four people from Malaysia. The remainder are from the USA.

Our guide's name is Gennady Kazhan. He has been doing tours in Scandinavia for many years but originally comes from Ukraine and Russia. He gave us an oversight of the tour and told us about the three optional tours for tomorrow and the next day. We signed up for all three.

During the meet and greet, we were provided wine or beer etc. After the talk, we had a buffet dinner with more wine etc. Then we went back to our rooms to get warm clothes for the outing that evening to the Tivoli Gardens. I wore my light jumper, heavy fleece, gloves and beanie.

The bus left at 8pm for the short trip to the Tivoli Gardens. We'd walked past it this morning on our way to Rosenborg Castle. Apparently this is the oldest amusement park in Europe and is currently celebrating 180 years since its foundation.

Our guide took us a short distance into the park and gave us an oversight of where we could go before we had to be back at the bus by 10pm. We started by walking through the amusement rides. It was like a large version of Luna Park or the Easter Show.

Some rides were placid but some were scary. One twisted and turned people upside down while they screamed. Another one lifted them up a tall tower and them dropped them. Other rides included a rollercoaster.

Suzy found a shop selling garden gnomes etc and noticed two real live ducks that decided that was an ideal home for them in among the gnomes.

In the middle of the park, there is a large lake sounded by tulip gardens and lights. Many of the buildings are brightly lit making it quite a spectacle after sunset. The girls found a gift shop with fascinating knickknacks. After leaving the park, we went to the Lego store near the entrance.

I hadn't brought my camera because I had been feeling fragile this afternoon and I thought it would be too dark for photos. That was a mistake. There were plenty of great photo opportunities. Thankfully, Suzy took photos with her iPhone.

Everyone was on time and we were back at the hotel soon after 10pm. Yet another memorable day.