Copenhagen, Denmark, Day 2

 Saturday, April 23rd was a day that many people got off the ship and others joined us, including Melanie and Kevin Cox. They had flown into Copenhagen the day before and stayed in a hotel.  Don and Ada set out in the morning to meet up with them.  Ken and I went on an excursion to see three castles in the Copenhagen area.  It was a very nice excursion with an excellent guide.

The first stop was Kronborg Castle.  We could only view it from a distance.

It is prominent and visible from the sea.  We saw it the next day as we sailed away.

The next stop was Fredensborg Palace, the residence of the Crown Prince and family.

We had a remarkable experience there as we actually saw the Crown Prince (they call both the husband and wife Prince, not princess) there.  She is driving that car.  I will tell the story in detail in the next post.  It's a great story.  You won't want to miss it!

Our guide showing us a picture of the Crown Princes and Queen who live here.

The third castle palace we visited was Frederiksborg Castle.  We got to go inside this one.  It was amazing!  I can't wait to show you.

A beautiful pond as you approach the castle

As we walked up to the beautiful castle

Fountain inside the courtyard

Our guide took us inside the castle and up well-worn, slanting steps to view inside.  The beautiful chapel is connected to the castle.  

The chapel

So ornate and incredibly beautiful

I like this picture as it kind of shows our guide's beautiful handknit sweater.  I  was fascinated with its beauty and fit.  It was gorgeous.  She said she had a lady in northern England custom make these beautiful sweaters for her.

She talked to us about the significance of these family plaques

, but I don't remember the details.

Two people were required to pull these ropes to pump air into the organ while it played.

The Compenius Organ- one of the oldest playable organs.  There was a poster advertising an upcoming organ concert- so it was still playable.

Another picture of the side of the organ and the ropes and pulls

The stained glass windows were incredibly beautiful

Frescos and paintings adorned the walls

 

There were many beautiful and sacred paintings

In the main hall upstairs, there was a museum of sorts with many beautiful things belonging to the queen and the Crown  Princes.  This is a painting of the very popular Crown Prince Mary.

She and her husband have four children, including twins.  They are wildly popular in Denmark, much like William and Kate in England.

Some dresses that have been worn by Crown Prince Mary.

Wedding day attire

A view of the castle from the back.  The grounds were gorgeous.

One more picture of that gorgeous fountain and courtyard, taken as I rested on a bench before returning to the bus.

Back on the bus, our guide explained that the man that invented blue tooth was from Copenhagen and he combined two Danish letters to form the symbol for bluetooth:

There's those statues again.

Our last stop on this amazing tour was to see the iconic Mermaid statue. When we got down the hill near to her, there was a group of young men- a Norwegian football team- singing a patriotic song.  It was awesome.  They were really good and sang with gusto.  That was an unexpected bonus to our tour.

There were a lot of cherry trees in the area and we hit the peak of the blossoms.  They were gorgeous!

They invoked memories of Japan.

It was such a great day in Copenhagen, Denmark. 

We enjoyed dinner that evening with Melanie and Kevin added to our group.