Mark's room at the Palace Hotel was in the back, overlooking the small courtyard and underlooking the tower. He took this picture just before leaving the room for the last time.

Not wanting to do Strøget again, we looked at the map and found a park just a few blocks away to the NW. Walked to Ørsted Park, and found ourselves in a quiet, wooded park with lots of statues, flowers, birds, and an oblong lake in the middle. Walked around the lake, stopping occasionally, enjoying the quiet in the middle of the city. Back to the hotel, where we relaxed for the remaining 30 minutes. Checked out, then found a table in the bar to wait for the bus (all the outside seats were occupied by people who didn't trust the HA reps to inform them when to board). We were on bus #2, which arrived third, but left first. The drive to the cruise terminal was about 30 minutes, through all sorts of contstruction. The terminals themselves, I was told, were brand new, bringing Copenhagen's capacity to 9 cruise ships at any given time. The Eurodam was the only ship at the new terminals.

Up the street from the hotel was Ørsted Park, a quiet, green sanctuary from the noise and chaos of the city (and cruise crowd).

Flowers and statues adorned the broad, grassy areas between the walking paths.

Walking downhill found us at the footbridge that crossed the lake. From here we can see the other side of the park and the buildings of Copenhagen beyond.

Walking along the path on the far side of the park found us a bench to rest on, and a nice view of the small lake that meanders through the park.

Check in went quickly, mainly due to the special line for suite passengers, where no one was in line ahead of us. Then on board. Found our stateroom without any help, dropped the carry-on luggage, and then headed down to the dining room for the Mariner Lunch, figuring it would be much less crowded than the Lido. Enjoyed lunch, especially since (for Mark anyway) it was the first iced tea he'd had since Friday morning. After lunch, we headed forward to attend the champage reception, which was really a spiel for the various beverage packages. But the champagne was free. Didn't win the raffle, though.

Next up, the boat drill. We don't have to wear life vests to the drill, like we used to, which is nice. They just call roll, although the crewman had checked us off when we arrived at our muster station. No rest for us passengers: immediately after that was the sail-away party on the aft Lido. Hoofed it up 7 flights of stairs to snag an empty table in the shade near the sea-view pool. The sail-away special was not the shaken mojito, as advertised, but a tequila sangria. Had one of those in the souvenir glasses, plus a square of pizza, and listened to the HALcats play a few familiar songs, until the sun moved (or the ship turned) and we lost our shade. Headed back to the room and unpacked, which took a while.

Jill stayed in the room, while Lauri headed to the spa and Mark went up to the Cafe to establish an Internet account for the trip. M&L also did some exploring, as this is the first HA ship of this class we have been on, and some things are a little bit different. Jill popped over to the Neptune Lounge, where L&M found her a short while later. Then back to the room to shower and change for the suite receiption at the Silk Den on the observation deck amidships.

On our veranda, Lauri watches as we sail by long rows of windmills that dot the shallow waters of the sund.

Just south and east of Copenhagen, the Øresundsbroen tunnel-bridge connects Denmark and Sweden. The Eurodam headed south after leaving port, passing over the tunnel section on the western end. The longer bridge section is seen here as it winds toward Malmö.

Mark thought the reception started at 7 instead of 7:30, so arriving a bit early to get good seats meant arriving really early. To our rescue: Charles, the hotel manager, who pulled back the velvet rope and let us in. They plied us with champagne, and even the captain came over to our table to shake hands before the reception line officially started. We did eventually get up and go through the line like normal passengers, which allowed us to meet the rest of the staff. Our cruise director, JT, made sure our glasses were never empty. Feeling much more relaxed, we left the reception at dinner time and headed down to the dining room. Found ourselves at table 301, with 5 other experienced cruisers who all had interesting stories to tell, many of them about places that we have also visited.

At the table: Bill and Karen from Minneapolis, Harry and Jane from Maryland traveling with family friend Marie. We had a fun and lively discussion, and the food was very good. We lingered at the table talking, so by the time we found the Piano Bar, the guy (Jimmy) was just about to take a break, so we only heard about two songs. He's energetic and humorous, and apparently has a camp following. Jill hit the wall and headed to bed, while I decided to get a breath of fresh air and Lauri opted for a walk. I opened the doors on the Observation deck and found it was raining. Phooey on that idea, so went back to the room. Lauri came in a good while later, as "walk" had turned in to "walk plus an hour in the casino."