What Not to Do on a Rainy Day in Copenhagen

After spending four days in Copenhagen I’ve finally had some time to gather my thoughts and jot down some notes (which may or may not have been left on a train…) What keeps coming to mind is our run in with some angry weather gods. A theme I’m realizing more and more is a frequent topic on this blog. Let me start by saying that we had great weather for the majority of our stay in Copenhagen. The day that it ended up raining is, of course, the day we decided to take a boat tour of the canals.

To be fair we did select a boat whose departure and return time was supposed to be before the afternoon deluge.

I really hate that word “supposed”.

It did not depart before the deluge. In fact, the nice ticket booth man walked around to each of the waiting passengers to inform us that the boat was delayed by about 35 minutes. Just long enough to ensure we had a proper Danish drenching.

We held out hope that we would make it out and back before the rain.

The tour guide, on the other hand, handed out ponchos.

About 10 minutes in we feel the first droplets.

We’ve made it past the main harbor, taking in the Opera House, Nyhavn Canal from a distance…

The guide kept suggesting that we put our ponchos on as we passed the old boat houses for the navy…

I stubbornly sat with my sunglasses on and camera out, poncho firmly shoved into my purse out of sight. But as the rain continued to fall our tour guide went full captain on us and insisted we all put our ponchos on as “it was about to get bumpy and wet”.

Definitely the words you want to hear on a boat tour.

I never realized how difficult ponchos are. Theoretically they should be easy – three holes meant for your arms and head. I’m going to go ahead and put the emphasis on the word “theoretically”.

Adam had some initial difficulties that he eventually worked through. Me on the other hand…

Let’s just say I carried on in this manner for longer than I care to admit before finally figuring out the simple poncho design.

We bravely continued (our tour guides words) and we tried our best to take in the sights while not getting completely soaked. In all the guide was fantastic and cheerful and it is a great way to see the city from a different perspective. The microscopic tunnels we navigated through were so impressive – a strict “no standing” policy is enforced for each bridge making me wonder how many tourists they’ve lost to head bumps over the years…

I would do this tour again in a minute…just maybe not in the rain.