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Today was another beautiful day in Copenhagen. I started the day by going to a laundromat across the street from my hotel and doing a load of laundry. First time I have ever done laundry in Europe. Figuring out how the washing machine and dryer worked was far more challenging than you might have thought (some people might not be surprised). All the instructions are in Dutch, what is that about. A friendly guy by the name of Michael showed me how the machines worked and how to get laundry detergent from the dispenser. It cost me 38 Kroner ($5.22) to do one load of laundry and if you put 40 Kroner in the machine, it does not give you change. Trust me on that. The detergent is 6 Kroner ($0.82) and the dryer cost 40 Kroner ($5.50). One load of laundry cost me 84 Kroner ($11.54). I thought that was kinda expensive to wash and dry one load.

Once the laundry was done, I walked over to the train station to fix my train ticket to Aarhus. DSB train line had modified the train schedule a few weeks ago, so I wanted to make sure the train tomorrow has room for me. This has been a challenging trip for trains and planes.

After a successful visit to the train station, I walked about 2 km to the Danish National Gallery, the largest art gallery in Denmark. I spent about 90 minutes looking at some nice old Dutch art and early French art. The museum has the largest collection of Matisse outside of France. However, while the museum is nice, I enjoyed the Glyptoteket art museum more.

The Round Tower, which is 115 feet tall, was built in 1642, by King Christian IV. The king hired one of the top astronomers at the time to explore the universe and to teach astronomy. BTW that telescope does not look original to me and I think it is pointing at the window of the building next door. I think King Christian 1V was a peeping tom.

An interesting factoid, there was a toilet built near the very top for the workers. It consisted of a large shaft that went all the way to the bottom and there was no way to empty or remove the waste.

Christiansborg Palace was built in the 12th century as a fort but has gone through many updates and renovations since then. It is good to be king.

I think it is time for me to add a few travel tips I have picked up on this trip.

Travel Tips

• Tipping in Sweden and Denmark is not expected. I kinda knew that, but I was told when the service is good at a nice restaurant, adding a little extra is a nice compliment. So on my birthday I treated myself to a very nice lunch and when I went to give the waitress a 10% tip, she was very surprised and her reaction told me this does not happen often.
• When you have a beer in a bar they will charge you more if you drink inside versus if you leave with the beer and sit outside in a park. I went to a bar near the water and the bar wanted to charge me 70 kroner for a beer. When I asked if I could leave with the beer, they charged me 50 kroner. That was a little trick I learned from Rick Steves.
• In Denmark, when you are buying a bottle of water, you will be charged an extra 1,50 kroner ($0.21) extra for every plastic bottle. On the receipt it will say “pant” which is Danish means recycle. When you return the plastic bottle(s) you will get your 1,50 kroner back. I do not want to go through the hassle of returning my plastic bottles. So do not discard them in a trash can. Lay them near the trash or in special receptacles throughout the city because the homeless collect them for money for food.
• Buy a small cloth bag or bring one with you. Every time you go to a store the establishment will always charge you for every bag you need. It does not matter if it is a grocery store, clothing store or a museum store.
• Always double check your travel arrangements before you depart. This year especially, Europe, like the United States, has been struggling with many travel issues. My plane reservations changed twice before I left the United States and all my train reservations have changed or were canceled so far.