More fun in Copenhagen

This week's excitement came in the form of a new cycling route to and from work. Since September, I've been going by the most direct route, along one of the main streets out of the city center. It was nice enough, but I had to wait at lights at two major intersections along with breathing car exhaust which in my mind counteracts some of the health benefits of riding in the first place. The new route follows the harbor front in front of Kastellet and past the Little Mermaid before crossing over the railroad tracks and heading into Østerbro where we live. Although it is a little farther, there are no lights, almost no traffic, and what might be called a hill which gives me a bit more exercise for my trouble.

Today we took a walking tour, following the new cycle route into town (past the Little Mermaid and Kastellet) then to the palace where we arrived there just in time for the noon-time changing of the guard and military band concert. The funniest thing was that the band marched out onto the square to the tune of Sousa's Liberty Bell March, better known as the theme to "Monty Python's Flying Circus." I like to think that they had a hard time keeping a straight face through the whole thing, but of course they did. After continuing to Nyhavn and along Strøget we walked past Rosenborg Slot where the crocuses were blooming as they were in April when I visited Copenhagen for my interview. It was a long winter last year, so the crocuses bloomed month later than this year. After the crocuses we stopped into the art museum (Statens Museum for Kunst) for lunch and a view of some of the Danish artwork we enjoyed a couple of years ago during our visit to Skagen. As I've mentioned before, museum cafes in Denmark are very nice with good food at reasonable (for Denmark) prices.