Ærø to Oslo - August 12

We awoke to skies that were starting to clear. Yesterday was cloudy and cool with some minor sprinkles. Today promised to be better. Too bad we were leaving Ærø.

We got to the bakery by opening time (7:00) to buy some Danish to take on our bus ride for mid-morning snacks. This time we got cinnamon, berry and something that looked like a bear claw. Then it was back to the B&B for a duplicate of yesterday’s breakfast. It was still good. We packed up our bags and met the bus at the ferry landing at 8:40. The ferry left at 9:00 with all of us aboard. There was no Irish band today, only tourists and some locals that had business off of Ærø.

The ferry ride was over in a little over an hour. We hopped on the bus again and took off for Copenhagen. We had one stop for gas and nature calls. We ate our yummy Danish washed down with coffee.

When we got to Copenhagen, we went directly to the National Museum. Because it was lunch time, we went directly to the cafeteria and ordered two Danish sandwiches. They were huge. Lots of veggies, meats and cheese on fucaccio bread. We could have gotten by with only one sandwich but it was too late to change our order.

We than toured the museum at our own paces. There were exhibits of Danish civilization starting with the Bronze Age up to current times. The displays of lur horns and horned helmets were not being shown, but we did see rune stones, some Iron Age relics, religious artifacts, material on the Reformation, a cylinder perspective of a noble family, a peep show and reproductions of apartments in modern times.

We got back to the bus and made a quick visit to the Little Mermaid. Then it was off to the ferry terminal to catch a boat to Oslo. Everyone in our group had an inside cabin. It was pretty small with two single beds and a combination bathroom. After dropping off our bags, we made a tour of the ship. There are several restaurants and bars along with a duty-free shop. We sat in the bow on the top deck for our departure. As soon as we left port, the price of beer dropped, so we bought some and watch the first few miles of our journey. It was pretty cold out there, so most of the passengers went inside.


The Little Mermaid

Our buffet dinner started at 8:30 - way too late for us. It was good, though. There were three different kinds of herring, dozens of salads, lots of shellfish and other fish, meatballs, pasta, mystery meats, fresh fruit and several deserts. We had to walk the decks afterwards to let our food settle.