Copenhagen - First Day

I am staying at the Scandic Hotel in Sydhaven, Copenhagen. This is the largest most modern hotel I have stayed in on this trip. It has the largest room I have stayed in and is also the most expensive hotel I have stayed in. 

On check-in I was told breakfast would be served from 6:30 to 10:00 am. I've been waking without an alarm between 4:30 and 5:30 most of the recent days. I meditate every morning using the Transcendental Meditation technique I learned while attending the University of Illinois in 1972. It has proved of great value over the years.

I made my way to the hotel's dining room for breakfast at around 6:45. I was surprised to see the room almost filled with close to 250 hungry hotel guests already eating. There were some empty tables but not many. 

The buffet was a cornucopia of breakfast choices. Of the breakfast buffets I have eaten from on this trip this buffet surpassed them all. I stopped going back for a second helping after about the first 3 days of breakfast on this trip. Even with all the walking I was doing I felt like I was eating too much food. The hotel's breakfast buffet was well prepared and high quality. It was delicious. 

I went back to my room to prepare for the days adventures. However the weather forecast was rain until lessening to showers around 11am. Hmmmm....  I wanted to shop at a grocery store to pick up some large bottles of water and some snacks to have on hand in the room.  I could see the small grocery store from my hotels room window and decided to brave the walk in the rain knowing I would be able to dry off after I returned. 

The hotel is two stops by subway from Copenhagen Central train station which is a good thing. However I am a bit travel weary today even though I slept well last night. I suspect my travel enthusiasm is waning a bit. Learning a new city, a new subway system, a new bus system, downloading the necessary apps and sensing cardinal directions is weighing on me. 

Perhaps it's my mood. But I am not getting a warm connection with Copenhagen. I am seeing more graffiti than I did in Stockholm. People look more tentative while crossing the street. The approaching cars come closer to the pedestrians in the crosswalks than in Sweden. I've been hearing more car horns, sirens and seeing more police presence. 

I may be over sensitive presently but people don't seem to be as polite or cheerful as they were in Stockholm. The graffiti is political and damning of the status quo. You see it on the passing trains, inside the trains, on the walls in the train stations. There is unrest in Copenhagen.  

I set off from the hotel with one item on my agenda; to find the port where the emigrant ships departed Copenhagen for America during the late 1800's. When Hulda emigrated in 1880, the most likely port she would have departed from would have been Larsens Plads. 

I walked the waterfront to Amerikakaj another possible port Hulda may have left from. Presently used by DFDS as a cruise ship port. 

I walked to the nearest subway station and rode it four stops to Copenhagen Central. I got a bite to eat at the food court across the street from the train station. I liked the open faced salmon salad sandwich and decided to order a pork sandwich to go for dinner in my room. I just didn't feel the energy to extend my day out and about.

While walking up the stairs to the subway I noticed the convenient bike rail along the stairs. This bit of engineering makes it easier to carry your bike up to the subway platform. Nice.

I got back to the train station near my hotel around 2:30. I got a cup of coffee at a local cafe and walked the few minutes back to the hotel. The rest of the day I'll spend in my room reading my novel and making a few changes to my blog entries.