Ice Bear

I return past the yachts and come to a rest area. Here I buy an ice-cream; sit and look at the sculpture of a polar bear on an iceflow with two cubs. This monument, made by Holger Wederkinck and erected in 1937 represents Greenland.

It is time to visit the row of shops that run along the landward side of the pier. They are mainly clothes and souvenir shops. By UK standards the clothing is quite expensive, but one shop has a reasonable deal on offer and I buy three tee-shirts. I also purchase ten postcards and a very nice 'fridge magnet.

When packing for the holiday, Christine forgot her scissors. I find some in one of the shops and although I'm a few kroner short of the asking price, the shopkeeper lets me have them without needing to break into a banknote. When my bag goes through the scanner on my return to the ship, the scissors show up. The security people say I cannot bring them on board. They want to keep hold of them until we disembark. I explain that we won't want them when we get home — my wife forgot to pack her own and she needs them to cut up some material she is working with. With some obvious reluctance they agree to let me bring them on board.

With temperatures in the high 20s, it has been an enjoyable but exhausting day, so we order a pot of tea and some cakes from room service. I realise later that it is only a short walk past the Little Mermaid to the Gefion Fountain and the Eastern end of the city. In hindsight, I'd have done better to miss walking to the seaward end of the pier and gone to take a closer look at the fountain. I could then have returned via the Kasellet or Citadel which stands on a grassy island. I'd seen this as we'd gone around it in the bus but hadn't known just how accessible it is.

But, no matter, I won't loose sleep regretting the sites I didn't see; rather enjoy the many I did.