This trip was taken between May 22, 2014 to June 10, 2014.

Our last full day on this adventure, Monday June 9.

Well again it was not a rush to get up and we again enjoy the last of our pastries for breakfast. As it has become a wonderful habit, we jump on the S-Train to the Main Copenhagen Station.

Today we are heading to Christianborg Slot, a palace built between 1907 and 1928. This was the third palace built on this site, the first being built by Absalon in 1167. The Neo-baroque tower is 106 meters tall and is still the tallest in Copenhagen. This building now the Seat of the Danish Parliament, houses the Prime Ministers Office, and also The Supreme Court; this being the only building in the world to house all 3 branches of government (executive, legislature and judicial) and the reception rooms are still in use today by the Danish Royal Family. This building must have a lot of secrets it could tell if only the walls could speak.

Visiting another magnificent castle is still breathtaking to us, even after all we have visited. These are types of buildings we have not been exposed to during our youth and even though I have studied architectural history, seeing photos of these opulent buildings and rooms; in real life they are magnificent.

Leaving the palace we head down to the basement to see the ruins of the first two castles on this site. These were discovered in 1902 and in 1908 during the construction of the current Palace it had been decided to build a reinforced concrete structure to preserve the ruins for posterity, which opened to the public in 1924.

We now walk toward Nyhavn to see the 17th and 18th century townhouses, entertainment district, restaurants and the waterfront area. What a wonderful area even with all of the construction going on, Kongens Nytorv (Kings New Square) was surrounded by construction walls as it was getting a refurbishment. The harbor area was wall-to-wall people probably as the open space square was closed. We started to wade in but it was so crowded with shoulder-to-shoulder people we turned around and decide to go to our final canal tour.

Stromma Tours were offering a 60 minute “Grand Canal Tour” that was also on the Copenhagen Card we purchased. This tour took us over some familiar canals from our tour yesterday but went further out into the harbor to see “The Masting Crane” an 18th century building designed and built for the Royal Navel Shipyard from1748 to 1751 to install masts in sailing vessels, the Royal Yacht anchored in the harbor, then sailed on to see “Den Lille Havfue” (The Little Mermaid). This statue was installed in 1913 and hosts over 1,000,000 visitors a year. It has quite a storied history so please follow the link if you would like to find out more.

Finally on our return the final new site for us was Frederik VIII Palace, which consist of 4 identical palatial buildings with Rococo interiors that is now the private residence of the Danish Royal Family. Built for Baron Joachim Brockdorff from 1750 to 1760 the Baron only lived in it for 3 years before he died. It was then occupied by the Army Cadet Academy until 1837 when Frederik VI took possession. The octigonical courtyard leads to the Frderick Kircke (Church).

We continue the tour on the main canal back to Gammel Strand. Upon disembarking from our relaxing covered boat tour we were hungry and decided to go to a restaurant Jodi found called “Cocks and Cows” just down from the boat dock. Just the name intrigued us, what could their menu be. Well inside we go and it is a bar/café that has pub grub, excellent. After deciding on our burgers we await our meal only to find out how large the burgers were. Very nice food, but nothing special, but again excellent company from our waitress as she had a lot of questions for us and we of her, although I think she got into trouble as she was not paying enough attention to her other guests.

After long late lunch we walk Komagesgade pedestrian street to Frederiksborgade to the S-Train station for the ride back to our room.

Arriving at the room in the late afternoon we are invited to a birthday party for one the owner’s in the backyard. We have a few things to do first to get ready for our flight home but stopped long enough when the party started to go wish her a Happy Birthday and be introduced to the family and friends that have come to celebrate. After a short visit we excuse ourselves, as we must get ready for our mid-morning departure from the airport.

We awake Tuesday morning finish packing and await our taxi to the airport. We have had a wonderful time but as always there is so much to see we feel we have missed a lot of sites in the cities we visited. The City Tourist Cards in Stockholm, Oslo and Copenhagen have been a great purchase as they include transportation, admissions to sites and discounts at eating establishments, we have got more than our monies worth and the cruise was the only way, in our time constraints, to see the fjords.

The flight home was uneventful but we had a very bad flight as they substituted a smaller plane from another airline for the return trip. Although the flight to Stockholm was great the return flight was probably the worst flight we have ever been on, terrible food and a lack of staff (they were in the back sitting and talking 98% of the time) ignoring the passengers.

Arriving at LAX we trudged through customs after our long flight and was greeted by our daughter and grandchildren. Our granddaughter ran to Jodi and almost knocked her off her feet as she flew into hug her Grandee and our grandson was almost smothered by Jodi’s arms, such a wonderful welcome home.

We have since taken a weeklong trip to Walt Disney World Florida with the grandchildren; have another planned to Walt Disney World Florida for just Jodi and I to enjoy early next year and we would both love to get back and revisit Belgium, and Normandy and to finally visit Brittney in late 2016 for another 2-3 week adventure if possible.

Thanks for following along.