Boats and Mermaids by Day, Fairy Lights for Night

After another fabulous breakfast at our small hotel...just one more piece of artisan bakery bread, butter and chocolate sprinkles......eggs, fruit, ham and cheese...did I mention CHOCOLATE sprinkles???.....

.....we meet our Baja beach friend, Stine, who lives in Copenhagen.  Two years ago Stine and her travel buddy, Sophia, camp near us at el Coyote.  We share our paddle boards, they offer to show us some of Copenhagen if we ever visit.  Thanks to Facebook, we reconnect and guess what?  She has today off...a Danish national holiday.  (There are a lot of those!). 

I have basically two things on my agenda: revisit the Little Mermaid (remembered from my visit here 50, gasp, years ago) and spend time in Nyhaven Harbor where classic (old) wooden boats are moored.  Make that three things, as we want to take her for tea as well!

The Little Mermaid is still there.  Today there are three tour buses there as well.  We don't stay long.

On our way to Nyhaven we drive through a royal courtyard and stop for a look at the guards.

Finally finding a parking place, we walk to Nyhaven.  Today is a special day as there is a very important soccer match about to take place and the team with a reputation for being rowdy to the point of, well, vandalism, appears to be gathering right where we are going.  To be fair, it is the fans who are the rowdy ones.  The team is preparing to play, a few miles away.  See all those yellow jerseys?

There is a lot of cheering, jeering, hollering, drinking, more cheering and chanting.  Stine tells us every time this group comes to town, it's time to stay inside and park your car elsewhere.  

Our attention goes to the boats.  Yes, wooden.  Yes, old.  Yes, big.  Yes, lots of work to keep afloat.

We have a chance to walk the harbor and then stop for tea and coffee at a sidewalk cafe.  It's so interesting to see what this young woman has been up to and hear about Sophia as well.  

She leaves us here to go on a canal boat ride and wander our way back to the hotel.  Making sure we have survival supplies, she stuffs licorice and chocolate candies in our packs.  Sweet!  In more ways than one!

Here's our ride, reminds me of a stretch limo, but on the water.

How about this for a clever use of shipping containers....student housing downtown!

Ahh, an opportunity to paddle up for a beer.

On the walk back home, I find my energy draining...so, we look no further than the small restaurant and bar at the hotel for dinner.

Time to relax on the balcony....

....

.....before heading out to Tivioli Gardens to watch as this famous park lights up the summer evening with fairy lights!

Experiencing this place as a 20 year old is very different from the eyes and ears of one who is, suddenly, 70.  Maybe there have been a lot of changes?  Truthfully, I mostly remember the beer garden...and that I think is still the same. And the lights, many, many lights.

Time to head back to the hotel.  Tomorrow we fly to Iceland!