The little mermaid-our meeting place. About a 10 minute walk from the ship. My apology for the quality of the photo. There were several tour buses and I had to push my camera through the crowd almost directly into the sun. Will show you a photo of her big sister later.

Meet the brothers Karlton sometimes Anglo Saxonized to Carlton. Simon left and Albert right. Simon carries the same name as one of the apostles and Albert is Prince Albert, I declare. Growing up we would telephone a tobacco store and ask do you have Prince Albert in a can? If they said yes we said would you please let him out? RJ Reynolds put the Prince on a can to sell tobacco. Moving on. Yep, another Church, Saint Albans Angelican Church a short distance from the little mermaid.

In English.

Impressive, no?

We missed the servic. Awe inspiring.

Look up. I’m thinking the 12 apostles but Carol says something along the lines of we have miles to go shake a leg. So much for my appreciation of the apostles.

So, as we were leaving the church I turned and saw this. My goodness! In church?

We meandered to this lovely place. One of these people is 19% Norwegian. Two are nearly 100% Swedish. Which one has Norwegian genes? Ok, they are actually Calvin Cline.

Isn’t this a beautiful view?

We are searching for a place to have a authentic Danish beer. Albert asks Carol to pick one.

Carol says let’s go to that one on the horizon......ok, let’s go

Good choice Carol. And so we shared memories about Albert’s 9 months with us in Alamogordo as a Rotary exchange student. Let us begin: Albert programmed our answering machine with this message, Hello this is Albert. We aren’t home now. If this is Jennifer please please call back. Over time he changed the girls name. Simon story later.

In the day: if this is you April..I mean Judy..no...Connie..please please call back.

We walked past the church of our savior with the serpentine stairways built in 1752. 400 stairs to the top where you get a panoramic view of the city. Our Savior stands watch over you and, of course, the city. Carol limited me to 50 steps. I declined.

Carol, we can take you to Christiania but I’m a little concerned you may see....er, unusual things. The art work is very interesting but they sell drugs and because it is known as the free city, which I might add they have unsuccessfully tried to close down, you may ...er witness other behaviors. Simon and I are fearful Bill may want to stay.

The back doorway to Christiania.

This looks pretty normal to me said Bill. A slideshow of some of the art along our way. So far no unusual behavior, sights, sounds, etc.

This is where things get a little dicey. Lots of open air stalls selling marijuana, hashish, and a lot of other things that look like, oh boy. No photographs allowed. Darn! Time to go eat at an upscale restaurant recommended by Simon-a former Chef who knows about these places.

Here we are across the street from the canal.

Aquavit Albert? New to me. Let’s try some. Incidentally, they leave the bottle but as i learned later they weigh it. Before and after.

Ok, let’s take a short trip in the time machine to 1993. Remarkable similarity, yes?

Hmmmm...do I drink the Aquavit and then the beer or the other way around? Oh boy, Bill is on his second Aquavit.....

He reaches for my Aquavit and we start the game of sibling rivalry. I never loose....sober.

The menu in English. Imagine that. This is a little like tapas. We ordered a few because one wasn’t enough. What did I order you say? Well I once wanted to be a veterinarian.

This is my plate. The Vet special. Won’t show the other plates but believe me there was enough to go around. HC Anderson would have been proud.

What a coincidence...

We went to one of the shopping areas and I thought this was a man wearing a sandwich board. I was surprise to find out it was half a sandwich. He was looking for his other half.

OMG! They were decapitated. I wonder If that hurts or helps sales?

So, here Carol is asking about the day he sunk the bed into the Alamogordo desert. The mattress fell on the floor and the bed listed to port. Upon investigation we found a few of the wooden bed slates had been splintered in half. When asked Albert said, “We were going to tell you...Christian did it.” I Albert proofed the bed by getting steel slates. In the picture above Albert doesn’t remember this episode of the Albert Chronicles.

Ok, Simon story-actually a Bill story. When Simon came to visit his brother in Alamogordo and stay with us for a bit we went to the airport to pick him up. Before me in the distance was a young man with brightly colored hair. I said, XN, is that your brother? Poor Albert didn’t know if I was serious or joking. Me either. Ok, for the record I was Joking. I know, dumb joke.

But then, on the other hand...the time machine is pretty neat, no?

Albert and Carol are standing in front of the opera house. He vows to take in an opera one of these days. Great idea Albert!

Time to head back to the ship. Simon shared his knowledge with us about Copenhagen history past and present. He is a caring thoughtful gentle person whose caring shines through when he knows you. He would make a great tour guide! We were totally impressed and thankful for the many iconic places and stories he shared with us on our 9 mile walk about the city. He talks lovingly about his family and the pictures he has of them and others are professional quality. He was a chef but now has a part time job that allows him to spend more quality time with his children. He is the kind of person you would want to have in your life.

Oh boy! Photo by Simon Karlton.

Albert on the cusp of a great story showing the enthusiasm he carries with him wherever he goes. He and Simon put together our city tour planning to introduce us to Aquavit. Mission accomplished by the inch. You know what I mean. If you got a chance to pick your uncle, you would pick Albert. If we could pick an exchange student we would pick Albert and Simon every time. Albert is very Knowledgable about computers. He found some interesting internet sites that I didn’t know existed until I took the computer in for tweaking two years after Albert escaped to Sweden. Freed up a lot of memory Albert..Albert put sparkle in our lives and taught us the value of curiosity and exploration. We can no longer climb every mountain or swim every sea but like Albert we like to see what is around the next corner.

Pretty neat, no? The ugly duckling grew into a beautiful bird...a fairy tale with a great ending.

We bid them a fond adieu walking through the colorful flowers that is a perfect match to our colorful day.

This is the little mermaid’s big sister, right? Legendary sea creatures that have never been found but they are firmly lodged in our collective unconscious. The one in mine looks more like a Dugong.

Ship ahoy! What a wonderful day. Thanks Albert and Simon.