Europe 2019: Heading to the NCL Getaway

Europe 2019

Heading to the NCL Getaway

I should have just included this in the last post, but I forgot. On a Monday morning we packed up and headed to the port in Copenhagen to board our ship - the Norwegian Getaway. Rather than hire a car, we decided to go the public transportation route...along with just about everyone else heading to the ship it seemed.

It really wasn't that bad, mostly because there's no hurry. The ship leaves around 5pm but we were heading there about noon so it was a leisurely morning that included Samantha and Nana playing WAR.

Breakfast of Champions (that's a marshmellow).

There's a Sammy under there somewhere.

Branelle just had to hit up this Christmas shop but since we had already lugged our gear down the five flights of stairs from our apartment Sam and I volunteered to hang out at a cafe while Nel and Nana walked to the shop. 

Once they got back we turned into pack mules and hiked to our bus stop.

There are three ports in Copenhagen, but the bus dropped us at the correct one. Sammy was VERY excited when she could actually see the ship.

At this point we had to part ways with Nana for a bit because our cabin was on a different level than hers and we had a separate check-in location.

Embarkation was pretty painless. We had no lines in our check-in location so we got our cards and zipped right through.

I'm not sure if the ship was what Samantha was expecting or not but she was very excited to get on and explore.

Samantha meeting "Sparkles".

The first thing we did once on board was check Samantha into Splash Academy. I'll probably do a whole post on Splash Academy later, but the Cliff's Notes version is that she LOVED it!

Then we ate. Samantha also became a big fan of eating on a cruise ship. 

The muster drill was kind of a disaster on this one. It took 45 minutes and our location had nowhere to sit and was really hot for some reason. Samantha just took a power nap.

For the rest of the day we just kind of explored the ship and played around. I made everyone go to an art thing (they need culture). This was our first time on NCL and we had a good time. I'll review the ship in later posts.

Europe 2019: Goodbye Copenhagen

Europe 2019

Goodbye Copenhagen

We left Copenhagen on a Monday morning, but before I get to the next part of our trip I wanted to just touch on a few things about this very popular city. 

I would put Copenhagen in the category of places that are fantastic to visit, but I would NEVER want to live there (think like Barcelona or San Francisco). It's kind of pretty and has a real charm to it. There are lots of things to do, at least for a tourist, and it's fairly clean as well - although not nearly as clean as I think most Danes think it is. We also felt safe walking around while we were there, but to be fair we were in the very central "upscale" part of the city.

One thing I was quite surprised by, and have mentioned already, was the quality of the food. We really enjoyed just about every meal here, and that's rarely the case in Europe. It bears mentioning that we came here straight from Germany and German food is just awful (sorry Germany - you've got a lot of things going for you, but flavor isn't one of them).  

Something I wasn't surprised by was how expensive everything is in Denmark, and all of Scandinavia really. You don't realize it so much because everything is in Danish Krone so you kind of get numb to dinner being 1200 DK until you do the math and realize that's about $180 and you had soup. So it's not a budget vacation local, but it's not impossible to get by on the cheap...I assume. The Scandinavian model is really a lesson in the pros and cons of a modern day welfare state (Don't call Denmark socialist - it's not at all). People in Denmark don't seem to mind paying exorbitant taxes because they see it as paying into the quality of societal life. That model would never work in America, nor should it as it drives counter to everything the US was built on. That said, Danes seem to like living there, so more power to them.

Alright, political ideologies aside, it really is a nice place to visit. I would recommend trying to stay in the center of town as much as your budget allows. Our apartment couldn't have been more centered and we loved it. 

We had great weather when we were there in September, but I'm not sure how it is year round. I've never been disappointed traveling to Europe in the fall. I feel it's the sweet spot between weather and crowds.

There's lots of shopping to be done in Copenhagen, and Branelle didn't miss any of it. I think the city has a good mix of tourist shopping and local shopping - they do a good job of embracing the tourist destination stuff without losing their charm.

It was also a very good place for children. Everything seemed to be child friendly and Samantha was free most places as well. There are the occasional random parks to play on, but central Copenhagen doesn't have a lot of green space.

Would I go back? I wouldn't mind it, but I think we've pretty much seen everything there is to see so no need really.


   

Europe 2019: FC Copenhagen

Europe 2019

FC Copenhagen V Midtjylland

Copenhagen, Denmark

I always try to hit up a game when we travel for whatever is popular wherever we are. For most places that's soccer, and Denmark is no exception. They had a home game against their league rivals Midtjylland so I ordered tickets before we left for our trip. 

This was about the only time we used public transportation to get around Copenhagen. We could have walked to the stadium, but it was a little far. Our night almost ended before it began because I left the tickets in our apartment. We were at the bus stop when I realized it and the bus was coming in 10 minutes. I had to run 500 meters (or about .31 miles) to the apartment, up 5 flights of stairs, back down 5 flights of stairs, and then another 500 meters. I made it with time to spare - so Branelle's running club can suck it! It's not that I can't run, it's that I choose not to.

Samantha is still a fan of public transportation....

...and of Daddy transportation, no matter how sweaty I am.

The stadium itself is alright. It's not spectacular, but it was a nice place to watch a game. They made me buy five seats even though there were only four of us because they didn't want a single seat left over. They weren't particularly expensive so no big deal.

 Samantha had just started playing soccer when we left for our trip so she was initially sort of interested....

...and then not so much. She slept through the second half of what was a somewhat exciting but ultimately disappointing 0-0 draw. 

I believe this was Nana's first professional soccer game. 

All in all it was a good outing. We caught the bus back and had dinner outside (as usual) before heading back to the apartment. It got kind of chilly in the evenings but restaurants usually have heaters everywhere and blankets over the backs of every chair outside. It's kind of fun.

Europe 2019: Amalienborg Palace

Europe 2019

Amalienborg Palace

Copenhagen, Denmark

As I pointed out previously, there is no shortage of royal dwellings to visit in Denmark. Amalienborg Palace was probably the least interesting of the ones we toured but still quite pleasant. 

The outside is really like four identical structures that form a courtyard. There are guards, but it's open to walk through. It's pretty, and it's on the waterfront, but it lacks any kind of vegetation so it feels kind of sparse.  

Nana has been working on her selfie skills.

The inside is also kind of plain, by palace standards anyway. I believe this was originally built as four houses and later converted to a royal residence. We just walked through rather quickly and went on our way.

This was a picture on one of the walls and I just had to put it in here. This is SPECTACULAR! If anyone is looking for a Christmas present for me....Greenlandic national dress please.

Like most places, they have a neat little gift shop.

Europe 2019: Nyhavn

Europe 2019

Nyhavn

Copenhagen, Denmark

Nyhavn is probably what most people picture when they imagine Copenhagen - the "postcard" if you will. In reality it's nothing more than an inlet (I believe Nyhavn means "new harbour") from the main waterway that's lined by brightly colored buildings. 

It's bustling with tourists and people eating or just taking a stroll up and down the channel. We walked here to have lunch. There are a ton of options so we just picked one that had something on the menu other than fish and had a bite.

Samantha had conned us into some handmade bear from a lady in Kongens Nytorv (King's Square).

Showing her my magical detachable finger.

Trying to teach her, but she still can't get it.

I don't know why why I put this picture in here, but I wish I could figure out which one of our phones took it and how to do it again.

There's not really anything to do in Nyhavn, but you should certainly go and see it and take some pictures at least.