Day 8: Last day in Copenhagen (Sunday, August 28th)

We are both out of bed around 07:30. Lana had another good sleep and my sleep was decent although I woke up around 4:30. I needed to finish our blog for yesterday's fun and talked about our condo sale although again not official until Monday. Overcast start to the day. The usual fruit bowl and I finished the last pastry. We finished watching a Danish Netflix 2022 movie "Loving Adults" which is a suspense mystery genre. Lots of twists and turns in the plot with Lana saying "OK--did not see THAT coming" a lot. Worth watching. The title is an example of sarcasm. 

Map of M3 subway system (circle line in red). Such a great way to get around Copenhagen and connects to other train systems. It reminds us of the Tokyo Yamanote Circle line. 

A couple of observations:

1. you can drink your beer in the street or basically anywhere in public it seems

2. Lana's nephew is learning Danish and mentioned that speaking Danish is very hard for an english speaker and there are some vowels you need to "swallow" to emit the correct pronunciation. Our english language doesn't use those throat muscles. Some of Danish words are very guttural much like some German words. 

The weather forecast is for overcast skies for most of the day and perhaps some rain later. Also, not as warm as the previous week. We decide to head into the M3 subway to venture south and grab some lunch and then attend the Nationalmuseet (Danish National Museum) which was recommended by soccer teammates. When we depart the subway at ground level we see a crowd around a competition so we stop to watch. It is the UCI Trials World Cup which neither of us know anything about. Very interesting and what they do on their seatless small bikes is amazing as they navigate onto the top of obstacles and need to be on their back wheel when they jump off through "gates" to score points. They are incredible athletes and pretty brave given the potential danger from falling from height. We find a vantage point from the fence and watch for a while until we decide it is indeed time to find lunch.

                    These star European riders may it look easy. 

We found great seats to watch the competition after we had our lunch and visited the Museum. High up and nobody in front of us. The crowd cheers on all the riders regardless of their national affiliation. The commentator gets everyone keen on cheering. The woman riders are supported as well. I am cheering on Nina from Deutschland. Vera wins the competition easily and is the current world champion. We hand around for the Men's 26" Finals which also involve a current world champion. While it is not sunny and not warm it is easily a good day to sit and relax. We even learned many of the rules and scoring system. 

                      Yup, great seating and Lana holding her treasured Chai Latte from Starbucks!

Lana's iPhone video of one of the competitors who just happens to be the World Champion. Super impressive technique and athleticism. Check it out using the link to YouTube. 

Lana has done her research as she is keen on eating Danish meatballs. She finds a small place called Restaurant Carla located very close to the Rãdhuspladsen subway station. We ask for a seat inside given it is not warm outside and still cloudy. They provide English menus. We learn the Danish word for lunch is Frokost. Also, Vin means wine. This place was rated 4.5 stars out of 5 which is decent. Overall, our lunch was pretty good and we would recommend the place. 

Lana's orders the Frikadeller consisting of Danish meatballs served with creamy potatoes, salad, pickled cucumber and rye bread for 138 Kroner. Meatballs were delicious. Crispy on the outside and tender and juicy on the inside. Potato salad great and good complement to the meatballs. She loved the rye bread; dense and grainy. 

Randy's order of a Danish Smorrebred (Danish style open-faced sandwich). Specifically, I ordered a Regetål Med Røraeg which is smoked eel served with scrambled eggs and some lettuce on top of rye bread. Wow, damn good as I love eel although the majority of eel I eat is in Japanese restaurants. Like Lana I love their rye bread as it is thin, dense and flavourful. 

After lunch it is a short walk to the Danish National Museum. I am very interested in the Viking exhibit. I am pretty sure neither of us has seen an authentic Viking exhibit. A huge difference here with storing your backpack is they have free lockers and it is easy as closing the door and then entering your own 4 digit code to lock it. No getting in a lineup or spending money. Three story building with a courtyard in the middle so you basically navigate around the courtyard. The building is an old rectangular Palace. No audio guides. Great news that in each room and with all information there is an english version. 

                                             Map of the Museum and its exhibits--they were out of paper copies so told people to take a picture of the ones on the walls.

Runestone which was created pre-Viking by the clans in memory of their dead around 970 AD. We think a runestone is an early rendition of a "tomb stone". 

Recreated clothes worn by wealthy Viking persons. In that age if you were dressed very well you were obviously wealthy and accepted into the world of the rich. 

Ancient Nordic wind instruments found in the bogs from the Bronze Age. Lana thinks they look like Dr. Seuss musical instruments. 

We started on the ground floor and covered the Stone Age, Bronze Age and then Iron Age exhibits and learned a lot. We spent quite a lot of time there and then is was up one floor to the "Viking World". This is a huge dark room with very little light. Lots to learn. In the middle of the room was a recreation of a super long Viking wooden ship used to transport settlers across the world and for warfare. I discovered a tour led by a Danish guy speaking English so tagged along to learn more. He ended his talk with the usual maxim that history is written by the winners. This is so true in regards to the history of the Vikings who are generally represented as crude warriors eager to loot and pillage. This is partly true of some Vikings, but mostly they were exploring the world as farmers and looking for a better life. 

I joined up with a twenty minute film experience called "Join the Raid". Basically, you are shown five segments of a film chronicling a Viking leader trying to conquer his way using ships to get to Rome. It was pretty corny and probably not true. Even the tour guide was not very complimentary about the movie and he works there! 

Basically, the Vikings ruled large parts of northern Europe, but once they became Christians and stopped raiding history wrote them off. The word "raid" in Danish is Togtet. 

While we were in the exhibit hall Lana indicated she could not continue in the dark room as it made her sleepy so she went downstairs to relax in the couch and hit the Museum shop. She bought a XMas tree ornament of a Danish hot dog wagon. She is super excited that with our new half-duplex we can have a real Christmas tree again! Our condo did not allow real Christmas trees like most condos in Vancouver. 

As stated earlier, once we finished the Museum tour we returned to the UCI biking competition and spent quite a long time watching the riders and being part of the crowd cheering on the riders. We even stayed around for the first round of the Men's competition and then it was time to leave and find a pizza joint for our dinner tonight. Lana did find a Starbucks so got to indulge in drinking her usual Chai Latte.  We looked for a highly rated pizza joint somewhere near where we were watching the competition and then it was off for a long walk. Good day to walk and get some steps in. I will probably finish today with around 8500 steps which would be my lowest day in more than a week. 

Walked through some areas we have never been to before inclusive of a park with a large pond/lake. Our pizza joint for pickup was Da Aldo Pizzeria. They had an english language menu. Small place with some outdoor seating although we are buying pizza to go. We bought a Ortolana pizza comprised of tomato, ham and bacon with cheese of course. In the usual square cardboard box and we ate it as soon as we arrived home. Pretty decent pizza being thin crust and some good ingredients. Probably rate it as average compared to other pizzas.  

                   Our dinner of pizza and finishing the bottle of Argentine Rosé eaten in our apartment. 

 

I have an opportunity to complete the blog for today's adventures while Lana is busy watching Netflix. It has been a good day with no rush to get anywhere. Weather was decent as it did not rain on us. Lana is already packed. My next priority is to repack my carryon suitcase to be ready for our Lufthansa flight to Frankfurt am Main. Scheduled to leave at 11:55 am and a short flight from Copenhagen. 

While we have loved being in Copenhagen for the land, people and experiences it is time to begin our Deutschland vacation. Our Airbnb has been comfortable. We are doing our last load of laundry. Not a lot of packing given we are not checking our luggage and we booked cheap economy tickets. Any stuff we have left over in the fridge like some cold cuts and cheese we will carry with us to Deutschland. 

Finally the dryer has finished its work. Lana is fast asleep on the couch while watching a Korean Netflix series and it is around 21:00. We don't have to leave our apartment until 09:30 as it is about a 30 minute subway/train ride to the airport.