WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2008 - COPENHAGEN, DENMARK

WEDNESDAY, MAY 7, 2008 - COPENHAGEN, DENMARK:  Overnight the ship had traveled to Copenhagen and early in the morning we departed for our first walk about the city.  Most shops were not yet open, but we located a small grocery store nearby and restocked our supply of Diet Coke and returned to the ship to leave it in the refrigerator in our stateroom.

On our next trip off the ship we passed this beautiful little church,

Crossing a bridge, we noticed in a pond this duck nest.

 And the beautiful sea wall

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 Another church, Frederiks Church

 The fountain at a crossroads in the city was beautiful.

  And, we admired this fountain near Amalienborg Palace (on the left), home of the Dane royal family

This beautiful statute The Little Mermaid is a bronze statue by Edvard Eriksen, depicting a mermaid becoming a human.  The sculpture is displayed on a rock by the waterside at the Langelinie promenade in Copenhagen.  It is 4 ft. 1 in. tall and weighs 385 pounds.  Based on the fairy tale of the same name by Danish author Hans Christian Andersen, the small and unimposing statue is a Copenhagen icon and has been a major tourist attraction since its unveiling in 1913.  In recent decades it has become a popular target for defacement by vandals and political activists

There's a strange, somewhat interesting story about The Little Mermaid that involves our family.  Sylvia's mother, Mag Wright, had always loved and collected antique glassware and other antique items.  As she went about exploring the antiques offered in stores and through a publication called "Antique Trader" she became aware of a certain brand of blue & white Christmas plates, made in Denmark, with one made every year, with a picture depicting Christmas with the date it was made on it in large letters along with a describing phrase.  In approximately 1965 Mag began purchasing these plates, one each year, and had them hanging in the dining room of their home in Las Vegas..  Because a limited number of each plate was made and then the mold was destroyed, certain plates appreciated in value sometimes to even doubling the original price within a year or two  Related to the value, because The Little Mermaid statue was stolen from its place in the harbor and not recovered for an extended period of time, the 1962 Royal Copenhagen Christmas plate which showed that statue became very hard to find and when found, very expensive.  As luck would have it, Mag not only continued to purchase plates each year, 1965, 66, 67, etc. but also, as she located some earlier ones, began to "fill in" those back to as early as the 1950's.  However, because of the cost and scarcity, she had never bought the 1962 The Little Mermaid plate.  In late 1966 after recovering from our move from Springfield, MO. to Las Vegas, NV, we joined the First Presbyterian Church in Las Vegas.  The church was relatively young, probably founded in the late 1950's and the founding pastor was still in place.  Since the pastor and his wife had an apartment inside the church building, that apartment also served as a place that new members were welcomed.  The Sunday that we participated in the "joining ceremony" we were in that apartment.  On the wall was the 1962 Little Mermaid plate.  It was hanging by itself which usually indicates that the owners did not own a collection of the plates, just that one.  Sylvia couldn't wait to tell Mag about seeing it.  They discussed it and arrived at the decision that we inquire of the pastor and his wife if they would be interested in selling the plate.  We did and they replied that someone had brought it to them from Denmark, and yes they would sell it.  "Make me an offer" the pastor said.

Mag studied the publications and the market on plates and made him a generous offer that was still a "good buy" for her.  He accepted, and that plate became a valued part of her collection.  Because we had a collection of plates from another company (B&G),  from Denmark, Sylvia didn't keep it after inheriting her parent's estate, but sold the plate for a very nice profit.     

Another church

Amalienborg Park in the city.

We had heard about an amusement park called Tivoli so we took a cab to see it.  Tivoli Gardens is an amusement park and pleasure garden in Copenhagen.  The park opened on August 15, 1843 and is the second-oldest operating amusement park in the world. 

We didn't see any rides that interested us and our scheduled sailing time was soon, so we headed back to the ship and boarded for an overnight voyage to Warnemunde, Germany.