Day 10 - Monday 1st May 2023

Today is the first full day of our bus tour of Scandinavia with Insight Travel. The tour uses Copenhagen as a base for all of today's outings and we will be back at the Radisson hotel again tonight.

We set our alarms for 6am and went down to breakfast in the hotel restaurant at 7pm. Chris and Janet were still feeling unwell and decided to stay at the hotel rather than going on any of the outings.

The bus left on the first outing at 8am and took us through the streets of Copenhagen. Our guide was a lady called Benedicta who is a local Copenhagen resident who speaks excellent English. She is very easy to understand.

We managed to get the front seat behind the driver so I could take photos from the bus as we travelled through the city. Gennady, our guide, told us that there is Wi-Fi on the bus and so everyone connected.

Along the way, Benedicta pointed out sites of interest. She was very good. She explained what was special, distinctive or different about each building etc. and often gave a history too. Many of the buildings are 400 years old. She said there is a maximum height of five stories with a few exceptions such as our hotel which is outside where the ramparts were in the old town.

Our first stop was to walk to the plaza where the royal palaces are. This is where many of the various members of the royal family live including the queen. It was still quite chilly. Even though I was wearing a jumper, puffer jacket, gloves and beanie, I wished that I'd brought an extra layer.

The next stop was at St Albans Church which is the only Anglican church in Denmark. In the grounds, it has a bust of Churchill and a memorial to Australian troops who had helped defend Denmark in WWI and WWII.

Next we drove to see the little mermaid. Luckily it wasn't too crowded and we managed to get lots of photos.

Then we drove to the centre of town and visited a Lutheran church. Apparently, Denmark used to be a Catholic country and converted to Lutheran protestant.

After leaving the church, we walked through the plazas looking at buildings and statues. At 10:40, Benedicta left us so we could explore the town on our own. Some people went back to the hotel if they weren't going on the optional afternoon trip.

We had a look at some of the shops, including Lego, and then found a cafe to have a morning tea break and watch the world go by. It was too early for lunch and so we bought some sandwiches at the 7 Eleven so we could have lunch on the bus later.

We met the bus again for the trip to North Zealand. Denmark consists of a group of islands, one of which is called Zealand. Initially we drove along the coast. Benedicta continued her excellent commentary. Many of the houses along the coast are very expensive and so are owned by rich people.

Eventually we headed inland towards the castles we were going to visit. The first castle was the Queen's favourite castle (Fredensborg Palace) - her summer palace. We didn't go inside. We just took photos from the gateway entrance. It was an attractive castle and was being protected by armed guards in fancy uniforms.

The next castle, Frederiksborg Castle, was the highlight of this afternoon's excursion. It had some similarities to Rosenberg Castle that we'd gone to yesterday, This castle was bigger but the grounds might have been smaller.

Just like Rosenberg, it had three levels with the large ballroom on the top level. Whereas Rosenberg had been cluttered and decadent, this castle was well presented and tasteful. It helped to have commentary from our guide as we moved from room to room.

One of the paintings showed three generations of the royal family: the Queen, Crown Prince Frederik (who is married to Mary) and his son, Christian. Apparently the men in the royal family are called Frederik then Christian and then Frederik again, etc.

On our way back to the bus, there was an unfortunate incident. One of the guests, Heather, injured her knee and was unable to walk any further. Our guide organised for a wheelchair to be waiting for her when we got back to the hotel.

It would be easy for anyone to injure themselves on the many cobblestone paths we were walking on everywhere in Europe so far. It's just another obstacle - like the cyclists.

Gennad explained why things are so expensive in Copenhagen. There is a 25% tax on everything (like a VAT or GST except they call it Moms). On cars the tax is 150%. Income tax is 50% of your salary and can be 65% or more. He said Sweden is more expensive and Norway is even worse.

We were back at the hotel before 4:30pm and set off again at 5:45pm for our optional evening tour. Our tour guide was called Lena. Guides keep on telling us how lucky we have been with the weather because spring has been cold and wet. It has still been cold but it hasn't been raining.

The first destination was the new incinerator, Coppinhill, which the people of Denmark are very proud of. Our guide explained the Danes sort their rubbish into ten bins. Nine of the bins can be recycles but the contents of the tenth bin go to the incinerator.

The elevator takes you to a viewing platform near the top of the building where you get great views of the city and the sea.

However, it's more than just an incinerator because they've included a ski slope. One side of the building is sloped like a ski slope. People ski down this slope which is lined with artificial grass.

Next the bus took us to Reffen which used to be an abandoned industrial area and has been converted into an eating area. It still looked like a dump to me. There are numerous small food outlets with a very wide range of options. All the food they sell is required to be organic and sustainable.

Gennady gave each of us a voucher for 250 krona and it was up to us to walk past all the stalls to decide what we wanted to eat and drink. Suzy enjoyed chicken ribs with a drink of limoncello spritz - she loves limoncello and this was a drink with a difference.

On our way back to the bus, we bought churros covered in chocolate. I was covered in chocolate by then.

Our guide told us that yesterday all of Copenhagen's electricity had come from renewables - either from the incinerator or from the offshore wind turbines. They build their wind turbines out to sea to avoid noise in residential areas.

We were back at our hotel at 8:15pm.