Today was our last day in Scandinavia. As with the previous travel day, we weren't leaving until the afternoon, so we had a several hours in the morning to spend out and about.
In a US city, going out at 9 or 9:30 AM would be after rush hour, but in a city where it appears that most places don't open until 10, we had probably been battling the work rush all week. As it was Saturday, the usual throng of cyclists was (mostly) absent.
It was overcast and cool, but without any hint of rain, so it was suitable weather for meandering. We walked about half of a mile over to the Botanical Garden (which I just learned is affiliated with the University of Copenhagen).
Essentially, we were just going for a literal walk in a park. I can't speak for everyone, but I wasn't paying careful attention to the variety of species. I know Sabrina enjoyed all of the pollen, though.
There was an interesting "alpine rock garden" in the middle. I hadn't seen anything quite like that before, anyway.
As had become a theme throughout this trip, not everything was open. I think this giant greenhouse was also the "butterfly garden", but they weren't in season yet.
We did most of a lap around the gardens, aiming for an exit that turned out to be closed.
In reality, what we had been doing was waiting for Rosenborg Castle to open (at 10 AM), just across the street.
Unfortunately, many other people had the same idea; we had to wait in line to get tickets, even though admission was covered by our Copenhagen cards. There were several tour buses parked on the adjoining street, which I don't think we saw until we left.
In fact, there were so many people, and (apparently) limited room inside, that it was an hour-long wait to get in. The tickets were timestamped, and we wouldn't be able to get in until 11:10 AM.
Instead, we opted to browse the armory in the basement, which also houses the crown jewels. This clearly merits increased security. I recall there being a security guard pacing around inside, as well.
What treasury would be complete without a supply of Very Old wine?
I'm not sure if photography was permitted or not, but I couldn't resist a photo in the room full of items carved from ivory... it was just too on-the-nose for a country whose highest honor is the Order of the Elephant.
I'm not sure we were really supposed to get in here without having gone through the castle. More on that later, though.
Exiting the dungeon, I surfaced near the back of the castle, overlooking the gardens. They looked to be in better shape than the gardens at Frederiksborg, yesterday.
The style of this castle was remarkably similar to Frederiksborg as well, just much, much smaller. Also, not nearly as much water here, despite being half-encircled by a moat.
With bags to pack and train/plane to catch, we decided it was time to call it a day. On the way out, I found some people waiting in line to buy tickets, and gifted them our 11:10 four-person entrance. They seemed skeptical, but I explained our situation and convinced two separate couples that they could be a group of four for an hour or so.
Having seen all that we were going to see, we enjoyed a leisurely walk back to the apartment.
It was around 11 AM when the weather started to clear up, of course. This brought the Saturday crowds out of hiding.
We took a slight detour, through a new area, to find another Lagkagehuset (literally "cake house" or maybe "birthday cake house"?)
We had to get a few Danish Specialty pastries to take on the plane, you see.
It was a perfect way to end our visit, really.
I know the camera lens is mostly responsible, but some of the buildings in these cities really do lean out of plumb. Slightly.
We packed up, ran into the cleaning lady on the way out, and dragged our luggage over to the Kongens Nytorv metro station. The M2 train took us straight to airport, at the end of the line.
CPH airport has a very decent restaurant selection, so we got a decent lunch in the terminal. Our flight took off some time around 2:30 PM.
The flight was uneventful, and we had a very brief layover in Reykjavik. With the 6-hour time change, we landed at Newark around 7 PM.
Thankfully, we have the long weekend to recover.
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