Scavenging in Copenhagen ends at 11 AM Thursday. There were a few things in town that we didn't get to, so we set out to finish what we could.
We had to visit and photograph two addresses in Copenhagen where Hans Christian Anderson had lived. Most Danes we asked associate him with his birthplace and the museum in Odense, a town hours away from Copenhagen. Some offered the Copenhagen address on Nyhavn (the harbor), but our persistent challenge was to find the second, not-well-known location in Copenhagen. It was too early for the tourist office to be open, so we hung around the train station and attacked people on their way to work. Without exception, everyone stopped to listen to the question and tried to help. I seriously doubt I would be that nice if I were rushing to work and some tourist stopped me to ask a really stupid question. Finally, we got the answer from a cashier in a newsstand shop in the train station. She circled the street block on Alex's map but warned that there may not be a marker on the building. We went to the street block and loitered, asking everyone we could nab. Finally, a woman said she thought she knew, and pointed to a manhole cover on the sidewalk, decorated with Anderson's silhouette. We snapped the pic and moved on. That was a tough one! We had some fun with it because the Danes refer to him as H. C. Anderson. And the letter "H" is pronounced "ho" in Danish and the letter "C" is pronounced "say". Putting it together, the Danes pronounce the author's name so that it sounds like "Jose" - like we are looking for a Mexican guy.
We had time to do one more thing before the 11 AM deadline. Either we could tour the Carlsburg beer brewery (35 points and a free beer right after breakfast), or try again to get into a session of the Folketing (Congress) at the Christianborg Palace for 50 points. The brewery was a sure bet to get accomplished, but was probably a 30 minute trip each way and could be risky time-wise. We opted to gamble that Congress was in session, having missed it yesterday. Score! The session started at 10 AM. We passed through security screening and the cloakroom. We had to surrender everything - pocketbook and all, but NOT the camera. So, I gave up my purse to the coat check girl, who hung it on a peg with my rain jacket (rain the whole time we have been here). The guard showed us to the stairway and told us the number of steps (150, maybe?). You had to want it. Big climb up the palace stairs to the peanut gallery. At the top of the stairs was a guard desk. The guard had his eyes glued to a television monitor. Although one might assume he was watching closed circuit security cameras, he wasn't. The guard was riveted to an old rerun of an American TV show that looked like it might have been Hogan's Heroes.
We were seated in the Visitors' Gallery by 9:40 and just watched the chamber fill up with legislators, chilling out until the session started. We watched a few votes get posted on the electronic board - red or green dot, associated with the legislator's seat. We witnessed the proceedings for a little while, I snapped a few pictures, and we left with plenty of time for a leisurely stroll and an on-time arrival at our meeting.
Next stop: Iceland!