At long last...Castles!

Hi All,

My roommate AJ (a fellow Fulbrighter and NC State-grad) had a high-school friend named Kenny come and visit him for the past week and a half. On Monday, Kenny and I decided to take a popular Copenhagen day-trip that I hadn't gotten around to doing yet: taking the train to the Danish city of Helsingør and taking the 20 minute ferry ride across the Øresund to the Swedish city of Helsingborg. Helsingborg and Helsingør are at the top of the map below, Copenhagen (København) is at the bottom. The train ride takes about an hour.

Helsingør is most famous as the location of Kronborg Castle, the setting of Shakespeare's Hamlet. Shakespeare changed the name of the town to Elsinore. So, after five and a half months, I was about to see my first European castle. Here are some photos from the trip...

The Gates of Kronborg. To get it out of the way, this picture was taken around 11 am. The sun is pretty much a stranger in Denmark from November to April.

The castle has been rebuilt several times, and its current form is a Renaissance/Enlightenment version

The original purpose of the castle was to guard the straits between Denmark and Sweden, and to force merchants to pay dues to the Danish Crown

To enter, or not to enter, that is the question. And the answer is no. The interior is closed Mondays. Ouch.

This video will give you an idea of why mid-February is the WORST time to visit Helsingør.

It's hard to see, but that's me!

After the twenty minute ferry-ride to Sweden, we had a delicious Scandinavian lunch of roast beef, garlic potatoes and fresh tomatoes. We then went across the street to check out the ancient Church of St. Mary

Stations of the cross on a 14th century North German altar screen. Rad.

Frescoes!

What a troublemaker...

Sweden has its own castle, which is actually located smack in the middle of the city of Helsingborg. Not to be confused with the Danish city of Helsingør just across the straight.

Statue of David. A bit different take than Michelangelo...

The "Swedish" castle was actually built by the Danes, as they ruled southern Sweden for about 1000 years. Take that, Swedes!

View of Helsingborg

Helsingborg's town hall

On the ferry back to Denmark

Kronborg from the ferry

Before getting back on the train to Copenhagen, we stopped at Denmark's oldest pastry shop. I had an UNBELIEVABLE piece of cake/danish thing, and promptly forgot its name. At least I have reason to return...