Day 12: Copenhagen - Start of the Tour

Another slow start today as we enjoyed a sleep in. Our check out for our hotel was at 12 noon so we set off for a walk away from the city this time to see a bit more of Copenhagen. We decided to do a big circle and end up at the Tycho Brahe Planetarium. At the planetarium we watched a film on a massive 180 degree dome. The film gave us a trip through space, the solar system, the Milky Way and the broader galaxy. It followed with a film about hump back whales which was also excellent but we had to leave before it ended so we could get back to the hotel by 12. This filled in our morning and we headed back to the hotel to collect our bags and head off to our second hotel where we will meet up with our tour.

Our second hotel is the Quality Hotel Airport Dan. We grabbed a bus to get here which was the last thing we did on our 48 hour Copenhagen Card. Getting this card was a great thing and meant we didn't have to pay to visit any of the museums, attractions and activities we did and also didn't have to pay for any public transport. We certainly got our money's worth from the card. Our new hotel room is very comfortable and quite spacious and we have an excellent view of the coast and airplanes flying in to the airport.

We had a few hours to kill this afternoon so I took the opportunity to read my book for a couple of hours. I'm reading 'Age of Discovery' by Goldin and Kutarna, I heard one of the authors be interviewed by Phillip Adams a few weeks back and decided to buy the book as it sounded extremely interesting. The book explores the idea that the world is on the brink of a new Renaissance and asks how do we share more widely the benefits of unprecedented progress, how do we endure the inevitable tumult generated by accelerated change and how do we thrive through our current uncertain times. I remember reading 'Confronting the Future' by Charles Birch 20 years ago and he was advocating for a new Renaissance which appeals to me as I think we need to rethink our whole political, social and environmental paradigm. Anyway, maybe a bit more on these thoughts as I get further into this book but so far it's very thought provoking and an interesting read.

We also wandered through a couple of local supermarkets this afternoon, this is one of my favourite things to do abroad, checking out what's on their shelves. I have found out that beer is cheaper than coke here and wine is very cheap (so long as you buy it in the supermarket), we also found some Aussie wines. We enjoyed a danish with custard and icing from a local bakery which was very yummy.

Tonight we had the start of tour dinner. We have 45 people on the tour, the majority are Aussies with a couple of poms and 3 Americans. We sat with Bec and Luke from Melbourne who were very friendly and I suspect we will get to know them much better during the tour.

Tomorrow we will have a bus trip around Copenhagen, probably retracing some of our steps from the last couple of days but we will also be touring the castles of Zealand which we are looking forward to.Read more