Copenhagen is a regal city. The architecture much from the 1600's and 1700's is well preserved and beautiful. In its contemporary form the city has done a really nice job of combining new design to meet the needs of it's youthful, fast-paced society with the artistic grand style of the past.

We walked today following the walking tour around the city as illustrated in the City Map of Copenhagen. We veered off the path now and then because admittedly, the map is small and hard for our eyes to read and the words are strange, just strange. For example here are a few street names: Storget-- it contains the Scandinavian alphabet "o with the forward slash through it", pronounced oo-ah - and since we've seen this street name in Oslo, and in Tromso, we have come to think it means Big Shopping Street. It's where all the best shops are found. Other streets we walked were ones like Amaliegade, St. Kirestraede, Tojuhsgade, Hambrosgade, and Vinderbrogade, etc. On the map these street names are in mice-type and in the bright sunlight, in the middle of heavy sidewalk traffic, all begin to run-together and look alike. But Stan is a champion navigator and when day was done we had seen most of what we sought to see and much more.

I cannot relate a perspective on history or culture yet because that is yet to come. But I can say that the people here surely love a nice sunny, warm day. They were out in full force this Sunday afternoon- all walking, biking, eating and drinking at outdoor bistros and restaurants, boating and much more. It was hard to tell the locals from the tourists.

The first thing we saw after leaving the train station was the magnificent city hall, Kobenhavns Radjus. Then we past the world famous Tivoli Gardens, the second oldest amusement park in the world and Denmark's most popular visitor attraction. Unfortunately it won't open this year until April 6. We depart April 5. Second oldest, you ask, what's the first oldest amusement park? It's also in Denmark, just north of Copenhagen and it is called Dyrehavsbakken, translation: The Animal Park's Hill. This park now commonly referred to as The Hill has roots from 1583 but still operates today. It has over 2.5 million visitors a year. We are going to try to see it.

As we made our way to the walking tour path we did some fantastic window shopping. They Danes really know something about appealing merchandising techniques here. We toured the Christiansborg Palace which is the seat of Danish Parliament, the Danish Prime Minister's Office and the Supreme Court of Denmark. It is the only building in the world that houses three branches of government. The first castle on this site was built in 1167. On special occasions, it also the residence of Denmark's royal family. From the tower there we got a 360-degree view of the city (the city is big). Next we visited the Holmens Kirke (church), where huge daffodils were blooming outside. We took photos of the beautiful altar, the baptismal font and also visited the crypt. All the tributes to the important persons entombed there were in Dansk so we don't know whose burial sites we paid tribute.

Lunch was at one of the outdoor restaurants in the famous Nyhavn (New Harbor) area on the canal—this is the street where all the pictures you might see from Copenhagen take place. We learned that the canal was hand-dug . . . by Swedish prisoners in 1670-1673. Hans Christian Andersen lived on this street. The oldest building on the street was built in 1681.

Let's talk about food. Take a look at the plate we shared for lunch . . . salmon with capers and red onion, slice of roast beef, special chicken salad, brie, pickled herring, shrimps and like Oprah says, brrrr-red! It was fantastic . . . we are beginning to really enjoy the herring. I don't think we will try it at home but it is really nice here. The rustic bread they make here and the Danish butter is amazing though.

Among the most beautiful sites we passed today were the Amalienborg Museum and the Marble Church.

We intend to take the Hop On and Hop Off Bus tomorrow and plan to learn a bit more about some of the sites we saw today and also see things we didn't have time to see today, like the Rosenborg Castle and the Statue of the Little Mermaid. Tuesday we hope to take the train north to see the ancient Norrebro Cemetery where Hans Christian Anderson is buried and go on further to city of Helsinger and the Kronborg Castle, the setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet. If we have time, we will take a train to the west, too to see what we can find there as well.