Thursday 5th July

After breakfast we cycled with Janice out to see the famous Little Mermaid statue at the entrance to Copenhagen. There were bus loads of tourists all taking photos of the little statue in the water.
We meandered back through the city and came back along the side of the canal we had cycled around yesterday.
We walked in towards the city and had lunch at a cafe. The hotel is very close to the centre of the city. After lunch we walked through the main shopping mall amidst the other thousands of tourists, and past the new library - the Black Diamond - and on to the Palace. At 3pm there was a tour in English which we joined, and it w interesting to hear the history of the Palace. This is the third Palace, the first was destroyed by fire in 1794, the second in 1884. The kings have always alternately been called Christian or Frederick. In the Great Hall are many large tapestries made for the Queen's 60th birthday in 2000, very brightly colored works which depict the history of Denmark over a thousand years.
From there we headed back to the hotel. We went for dinner in the evening to a Thai restaurant around the corner from the hotel. There were 12 of us at dinner, as most of the tour group have now arrived in Copenhagen.

Impressions of Copenhagen - a large number of pregnant women and women pushing prams, food and housing are expensive, shop assistants are very helpful, most people speak English very well.