Denmark, Copenhagen

Icelandair to Reykjavik. Long five hours - but good care in the air. Got to see the sun come up from the air, love that scene. Screaming red gives way to red-blue then blue sunny sky.

Surprise to me, Iceland looks like a little like Wyoming or North Dakota - with lava and glacier field added into the scenery. Can't wait to come back at the end of the week.
Icelandair to Copenhagen. Easy three hours in the air. Team bus to the hotel. The Copenhagen Island Hotel is on an island in Copenhagen.

Spent a lot of the day outside walking - best way to beat jet lag. Haven't figured out how to sleep while walking, so let's see the city!

Here are some shots of the day!

Nyhavn (New Harbor) build in 1621

400 year old guard house - for the army's ale and wine, this king knew how to take care of his troops!

Everyone loves to walk. I even learned that there are two kinds of walking in Denmark. "Danish walking" which is brisk and slow, drifting "American walking". By the way, who's the girl in the Gustavus Adolphus sweathirt? (yeah, it's Emily)

Ann eating a 'red hot dog' - Danish national dog. Those of you who know Ann will know what a rare sight this is! That also tells you how good the hot dogs are!

Blond hair and blue eyes - and steel drums, go figure! Good tunes and lots of heart!

City Hall - and a culture contrast, a Native American group playing their music, selling headresses and feather art in front of the 400 yr old city hall.

City Hall's clock tower and statue.

Bishop Absalon was the one who founded Copenhagen - in 1195. There is also a statue of him on a horse, swinging an axe - now that's my kind of bishop.

The Church and State are connected in Denmark. 82% of the populace is Lutheran, which is the state sponsored religion. This is the Queen's church.

During our boat tour, we got to see the city from a unique perspective, the only thing better than walking.The city uses its canals for everything. Long wide boats give tours and act as taxis.

This is Sven-Eric. His job is to help soccer teams enjoy their trips to Europe - yes, that's his real job!

The team on the boat - yeah, it's early...

Ann, Em and I on the boat

As we toured about by boat, there is a tremendous amount of art available - Copenhagen is a city of sculpture, much of it available by canal.

Statues along the shore, donated by Czech (or Hungarian) refuges as a thank you to the city and to protest the effects of repression on their lives.

The Little Mermaid, from the Hans Christian Anderson story - yes, he did it before Disney! Kind of hard to see her, she's on top of the rock. She's also been in for some hard times. In the last many years, she's had her head whacked off twice and her arms removed another time!

Two reliefs on either side of one of the bridges. The bridges are so low, you need to duck down in the boat to pass under!

Replica of Michaelangelo's David - gift from the Italian government, (I think...)

A new opera house, a gift to the city from their own Warren Buffet, the owner of Maersk shipping. A $600 million dollar gift.

The canals are so clean, they have public swimming pools in the canals - and they're heavily used. This is a cold, gray day, and a week day, so no swimmers.

More to follow... Stay tuned, thanks for looking!