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We began the day with the Train to Hillerød to visit Frederiksborg Slot (Castle or Palace for our American friends). The oldest parts of the castle are from the era of Frederik the II in and around 1560, but it is best known for the additions / new construction done by Christian IV in the early 17th century. I hope to do a DotW on Christian IV this week. He is, perhaps, the best known of all Danish Monarchs if not certainly one of the most interesting.
So the palace. It is situated on on small island - which I'm assuming was constructed for the castle - in the middle of lake, with acres of carefully planned garden behind.
Apologies to the Facebook-ers that have already seen these pictures. Here we go.
These pictures are as you enter the main courtyard - it was a great day for taking pictures. This fountain is fairly surreal, we'll see more of it in a bit. The tour of the interior is self guided and - thanks to Michael's student discount card - was only 60 kroner. I'm fairly impressed with the relative cheapness of museums / landmarks as compared to everything else in Denmark. The palace also houses a museum of Danish National History.
One of the oldest sections of the palace that still survives - a massive fire in 1859 destroyed much of the interior - is the The Castle Chapel. It exists today pretty much as it would have from the period of Christian IV.
For some reason, I always take pictures of ceilings. It's just my thing. Here we go.
The top floor of the museum is a modern art collection. It included this picture of Danish national treasure Kim Larsen!
Kim was in the super-famous-in-Denmark 1970's band Gasolin'. I challenge you to not get this stuck in your head. It's Jutlandia.
There was also this look at modern day København.
If you look closely at the bottom of the picture, you'll see these!
Every pizza place in København uses these boxes. When making pizza in Denmark, it is important not to wear pants. You should probably also yell mamma mia in your best Mario voice. Especially if you're the hungriest.
The gardens are pretty amazing.
We walked through the gardens for a bit and then had a nice lunch at a small cafe in the garden.
As we made our way back through the castle to get to the train station, I took some more pictures in the courtyard.
I am childish and this amused me endlessly. Even Michael looks worried.
Next, it was on to Helsingør to Kronborg Slot - the castle of Hamlet. Stay tuned.
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