We went to the tourist information center to line up for the Hans Christian Anderson walking tour of the city only to be told that it would not occur until June. When we asked why the guide book said it happened now, the lady said that it usually happened now but the man who gives the tours spends his winters in America and decided to come back late this year. Then she said there was just a normal walking tour of Copenhagen about to start, just go outside and meet the woman in red. There was no woman in red outside and when we went back in for better description/directions to find her we were told “Oh well, she doesn’t work for the tourist office so we can’t help you.” Really helpful tourist office. We decided to take a hop on and off bus tour to make sure we saw the Little Mermaid and because it was raining. We stopped and got off for pictures. She must be a hot head, they told us that she has lost her head two times. She also has had her arm broken off but has always been repaired. She is the symbol of Copenhagen. After we left the Mermaid, we went to the Queens castle. Unfortunately, our driver did not stop. When we finally asked him when to stop, he said that no one had told him to stop. That’s funny, no one told him to stop at the Rosenborg castle or the Little Mermaid but he stopped there. Oh well. We stayed on the bus and went around again. We got off at the Rosenborg castle, toured the castle and saw the Crown Jewels. The jewels are kept in a room that is a huge vault. The exit was out the back of the safe but they made us check our umbrella at the entrance. When we walked back to the entrance in the rain from the vault and asked why the exit was not where our umbrella was the receptionist simply smiled. Bad Form!

Back on the bus to see the Mermaid again and then on to the Queens castle (Amalienborg). In the old days there was a lion head statue that the Queen would turn facing inward to let her lovers know that the King was not at home. The King was no great guy either. He had 23 children, 11 from his mistress. We got to the Queens Castle right when the guided tour started; at least that’s what the tour book said. When we asked, we were told that there was no tour, only a museum. We saw the museum and went back to get the bus to go back. The buses run every 30 minutes. Unfortunately, this one took 45 minutes and it was pouring rain. When we finally got back to the starting point and City Hall, we had a burger at Burger King and decided to see a movie. We were the only “drowned rats” at MI III. In the middle of MI III, Cindy says “those are the canals an hour outside of Shanghai that we visited.” She was right.