Day 5 - Aarhus
The second port stop was Aarhus in northeast Denmark. I didn't expect much here - from my pre-planning it seemed pretty lame, but I was wrong. This city is very cute and has a lot to offer.
We were split on visiting the open air museum, Den Gamle By, but I later found out that it wasn't just a re-creation of old Denmark, but had sections for modern Danish life as well as how Danes lived in the 1970's. I would like to see this if we go back.
Our first stop was the Salling department store rooftop, which also sounds lame, but it is very cool. At the top there are a couple of restaurants and one of the biggest decks you will ever see with 360 degree views of the city. This deck was amazing, with a couple of glass floors, several levels and quiet spaces. Free to visit and not far from the ship.
Then we went to where we saw the most tourists walking - down by the canals. Aarhus has a nice network of canals, which I am a sucker for. We found a place to stop and have a Danish beer and watch people and dogs.
We didn't spend a lot of time in Aarhus, but the city exceeded all of my expectations.
Day 6 - Copenhagen, Denmark and Malmö and Lund, Sweden
Today, we took our first official NCL excursion - a six or seven hour tour around Copenhagen, Denmark, then across the Öresund Bridge to Sweden.
Our guide told us all about Copenhagen as we drove the city looking at sculptures and buildings. We stopped at the Little Mermaid statue (very small heavily touristed). The statue is a tribute to author
Hans Christian Anderson who is famous for writing many fables including
The Little Mermaid, The Ugly Duckling, The Princess and the Pea, and
The Little Match Girl.
From there, we crossed the five-mile-long Öresund Bridge into Sweden. The bridge was created in 2000 and is a beautiful cable-stayed bridge which seems to disappear into the ocean on the Danish side as it goes into a long, underwater tunnel.
Our first stop was to the Lund Cathedral. Lund is a small town outside of Malmö. The cathedral was consecrated in 1145, so almost 1000 years old. The bottom floor is a large crypt with a couple dozen people buried in tombs. The church also houses the largest organ in Sweden.
Then we drove in to Malmö and took a quick look at the "Turning Torso" a unique, tall apartment building. At the base of the tower there is stone eye sculpture that occasionally blinks at you.
We stopped near the City Hall and wandered around on our free time. We chose to eat at Drumbar and had the best Swedish Meatballs with a whisky cream sauce.
The ride back to Copenhagen was relaxing and exciting as we dropped off the bridge into the sea.
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