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| Ladies who lunch - Amanda and Cate |
Cate spent the day in La Celle St Cloud today, in the company of her grand-niece, Amanda. Amanda, part of the Benton clan (Cate's mother's first marriage), came across from London where she lives especially to see her great-Aunt for her 90th. It was a hot day in Paris and Cate was feeling a little travel-weary (unsurprisingly!) and so the two of them headed to a brasserie recommended by Birgit just a few hundred metres from home. There, they had a magnificent lunch whiling away the hours in the great tradition of "ladies who lunch".
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| The estate where Vanessa's home is | Vanessa's home |
Meanwhile, over in Sweden, Vanessa announced that she had a plan for today before we retired last night. In the morning, she revealed her plan: go to Denmark! After breakfast, the crew collected small umbrellas (rain was forecast in Denmark) and headed out to the bus to go to Copenhagen. The bus took us to the train station, the train took us to Copenhagen Central station. We emerged onto street level and headed towards the old part of town, in the drizzling rain.
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| Kobenhavn Central Station |
Vanessa and Alex steered Tim around parts of the old town but as the rain got heavier, they agreed that finding a coffee shop to hang out in for a while in the hope of the rain easing/passing was worthwhile. Alex knew of a plaza that had some cafes and restaurants on it, so we headed there. We selected the backpacker's hotel because it was inside but had big open windows to look out of. We enjoyed a coffee and conversation in the bohemian atmosphere of the backpacker's hotel, and the rain did ease.
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| The library bar, near central station | The old and the new in Copenhagen |
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| The Tivoli Gardens |
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| Copenhagen Town Hall | Statue of a dragon being slain |
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| Gorgeous 'cuckoo' clock | The square where we stopped for coffee |
We walked back up to the main "walking street" which is a large pedestrian mall that runs along one of the early streets of Copenhagen and is lined with shoppers, filled with shoppers. The old-style architecture was a beautiful backdrop for all the modern, recognisable retail outlets. Copenhagen is a very international city and so all the international brands and outlets are there.
The walk took us, eventually, to the Nyhavn ("New Harbour"), where a row of colourful old houses and buildings lines a canal that empties out to the harbour. We walked along there and then over the bridge to the other side of the harbour where there was an open-air food market. We had planned to eat there, but as the rain had returned, there was insufficient under-cover seating to host us. We walked back across to the Nyhavn and picked a restaurant to sit to eat at. Tim had bought a cheap souvenir that was a replica of one of the houses in Nyhavn. The restaurant at that house was full, so we went to the one next door.
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| The main square, under renovation | Copenhagen Opera House |
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| Anchor before the canal of Nyhavn |
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| The colourful houses and canal | The Esplanade at Nyhavn |
| Portrait work (Nes and Alex, and Tim in the selfies) |
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Tim has a souvenir of this building
and lunch was eaten beside it |
We had a leisurely lunch and waited on the arrival of Antoine, Vanessa's Frenchman, who had originally been told he was not welcome on the day-trip but was then asked to attend. Antoine proved to be most-excellent company and an accomplished tour guide for the rest of our day in Copenhagen. In conversation, Antoine provided everyone with a new phrase with which to deal with the world: "Je m'en bats les couilles". (Tim will explain what it means to those who are interested in-person, rather than recite the whole story here.)
Eventually, the now-larger crew left the restaurant in Nyhavn with the intention of seeing "The little mermaid", a famous bronze statue in Copenhagen. Getting there, we went passed the Queen's palace and past more of old Copenhagen. When we eventually got to the mermaid statue (of which Tim had already acquired a souvenir), it was, frankly, underwhelming! But clearly, a very popular tourist attraction as the place was packed with tourists.
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