Wonderful Copenhagen

My favorite kind of transit is uneventful.  I feel fortunate that this was the case these last two days.  I have only the standard complaints of sitting in an airplane seat and trying to catch some sleep.  I did manage to doze off from time to time, but it was the bobbing head snap variety, which is never pleasant.

My friend Alexis was waiting for me outside of baggage claim, which was a welcome sight.  She guided me over to some glass windows on the right where I bought a Copenhagen City card that will allow us to travel by metro, bus and train.  It also gives us access to museums.  We've already tested it and it works!

We're staying at a no-frills hotel, which suits me just fine.  Our beds are toe-to-toe, which is a little odd, and there's not way to isolate the bedside lamp from the overhead light (one switch controls the power in the room), but other than that, it's just fine.

Once I brushed that awful fuzzy feeling from my teeth, and unloaded the heavy stuff from my purse, we went off exploring.  I am absolutely amazed at how much energy I had today.  It's almost 1 a.m. local time, and I'm still up.  Ah well. 

We walked along the canals and headed for the Jewish Museum, which is located very near to the Black Diamond, Copenhagen's largest library (it also serves as the library for the University of Copenhagen).

The Jewish Museum is across the street and behind the library.  The entrance faces the Danish Parliament building.  Alexis pointed out that there is always a police presence at this museum, given violent anti-semitic incidents of recent years.  The exhibit is very well done and tells the story of Denmark's Jewish population. It reminded me of Amsterdam's Jewish museum in this respect.  The Amsterdam Jewish museum is, however, much larger.

The museum contained many useful stories about the Jewish experience in Denmark and displayed photos and artifacts.  The floor of the museum is uneven, which was a purposeful choice.  It's very lovely inside.

We got there about 45 minutes before it closed at 4 o'clock, but it was still a worthwhile visit.

The Black Diamond itself has a number of worthwhile exhibits, including a very strange room filled with Denmark's national treasures. I was thrilled to see a Gutenberg bible as well as a text from Maimonides, along with a number of other fantastic displays.

We had a little "buck-you-uppo" which included a fantastic macaroon--the Danes know their pastry.

Alexis was keen to show me Copenhagen's famous department store, Magasin du Nord.

As we walked in the front door, they were selling James Bond martinis.

A made a special purchase, and then we were on our way down Bredgade.  There were great window shopping opportunities--particularly if you are a fan of Danish Modern Furniture.  The real highlight, however, was the Alexsandr Nevskij Kirke.

The golden cupolas are magnificent, as are the gates in honor of Tsar Alexander III of Russian and Tsarina Maria Feodorovna (the former Princess Dagmar of Denmark).  Find the "A" and the "M".

Fortunately, this was very close to the Cafe Oscar where we had a delicious dinner of Salmon crepes. 

I'd say this was a great start to our adventures.