The GCW Tour, the Frozen Cruise: Kastellet, or Parenting Is for the Birds

This afternoon we walked through Copenhagen's Kastellet, which is a star-shaped defense grounds surrounded by a moat near the entry to their harbor that operates as this sort of park/military practice area combo (i.e., you can walk across it, but there are a lot of rules posted). It's also near the Little Mermaid statue, which is why we were there.

As we were walking over one of the bridges we noticed a family of swans, which seemed pretty appropriate given you can't go thirty minutes here without someone mentioning The Ugly Duckling. I have to saw though, the swan family seemed pretty reminiscent of a lot of folks we saw on the cruise: one adult (I assumed it was mom) kept trying to reign her offspring in, the offspring kept swimming away, and the other adult (I assumed it was dad) kept trying to commit suicide by holding his head under the water. 

Okay, maybe that wasn't what he was doing, but after twelve days on a Disney cruise you can perhaps understand the thinking...

Now about that mermaid statue. I guess Disney really did alter the story. If this statue is any indication, the original version really is not a very happy story, as this is one sad looking mermaid...

Now Gefjun, on the other hand (who sits at the other end of the park on top of a very large fountain), Gefjun is a goddess who is ready to kick ass and take names...

Not much of a mother, though. The story, as we were told it, was that in the guise of a mortal woman she was promised ownership of as much land as she could plow in a day, so she turned her four sons into bulls and used them to drag the plow. 

And that, plus some military buildings and a church, is pretty much what there is to see at Kastellet.