Wonderful wonderful Copenhagen

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We docked at breakfast time - moored just up the road from the little princess. After brekky we went ashore for our Fairytale Castles and Countryside shore excursion. We had a beautiful drive up the coast to Kronborg Castle. This is the castle used as a setting by Shakespeare in Hamlet. From the ramparts we could see Sweden, and all of the shipping traffic. We were only able to walk around the outside of this castle, but it was beautiful - they have an annual Shakespear festival.

After that visit we drove on to Frederiksborg Castle which was made into a Museum of National History In 1878. It included Mary’s wedding dress from when she and crown Prince Frederick were married. When the tour guide asked where we were from and we said Australia, he said in his opinion Mary saved their monarchy. The queen‘s husband was French. He sent his children to French schools, only spoke French in the palaces, never learnt Danish and was miffed that he could not be called king. Mary came over and embraced the nationality, learning Danish before her marriage. This castle was amazing, As was the huge chapel, with separate prayer rooms for the king and queen.

During winter, Copenhagen (pronounced Coppenhargen) only gets 6 hours of daylight. Their government has spent a fortune on wind farms but the guide says they’ve got the highest energy charges in the world!

After the second castle we made our way back to the ship, via the Little Mermaid which luckily we saw 11 years ago, so we stayed on the coach as it was rainIng by then.

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