I'm off this week and at the last minute we decided to take a drive to see the new painting of Crown Prince Frederik which was revealed just a few days ago at Fredriksborg Castle. The painting is part of the Crown Prince's 50th birthday celebration.
Painted by Australian, Ralph Heimans, whom has garnered quite a reputation for painting portraits of royalty. You can read a bit more about the artist and the painting at the link. Above is an on-line photo as my photos below, were just so-so.
We found the composition to be rather interesting but we thought something was wrong with the eyes and that he looked 10 years older.
- Everyone's a critic.
We paid the entrance fee but before we even got in a full viewing of the painting, Jens needed to sit down and take a break. The distance from the street to the ticket office, (350 meters or 1 quarter mile), sucked up the energy that Jens had. It's a bit sad, but that is just the way it goes and we have to be happy that we could do this much.
Here are a few pix from the 350 meter walk from curb to castle entrance.
Jens and Jørn
On the way out, I offered to get the car and bring Jens back to the street and then onto our next stop which was a lunch restaurant. He insisted to try to walk back. He did it but it really wiped him out.
Luckily our lunch restaurant and rest stop was right next door.
The plan was to head off to the outdoor sculptor Rudolph Tegner museum. It didn't happen. Jens was in dire need of his afternoon nap. So we drove directly to our hotel in Helsingør. We checked in, tucked Jens nitie-nite and then Jørn and I went off to venture the village.
Google dictionary has this to say about the word venture:
verb
- 1.undertake a risky or daring journey or course of action.
"she ventured out into the blizzard"
There was always the possibility that we could have stubbed a toe on the uneven cobble stones, causing an orange bone spur which would prevent us from going to war - yet at the same time develop a marvelous golf swing.
Speaking of uneven cobble stones......, here are a few pix from the village of Helsingør.
Then later on, we came across this cute old fashioned English car called Morris 1000.
For those of you on facebook, this is why I call myself Eddie Wonare - because my last name has only 1 'R' or won are.
All that photo snapping left us dry and in need of a sugar rush.
THE NEXT DAY we were up early and had a very delicious hotel breakfast. Then as usual a smoke afterwards (as well as before). After breakfast, we checked out and headed to the maritime museum but then changed our minds and went to see the Cathedral first, since there was still some time before the museum would open for the day.
Our room was just above the wing-wong restaurant and all the way to the left of the building. A hotel just one block up, was fully booked. The place I wanted to say at, about ½ a mile north of the castle, was over 3000,- a night. I almost had a heart attack when I read that. So we got this little 3* dump for a 120 bucks. Not bad really.
We have been to this village and this area a number of times, but this is the first time I really walked deep into the village to see all of the side streets. Basically it's only one or 2 blocks near the station that I have seen before. We normally go to see Kronborg Castle aka Hamlet's Castle. But the reason we are here this time and why we are staying in a hotel is because just a few hours is not enough time and it would be too much for a couple of old souls like us to try and do it all in one day and then drive back home in the dark. AND this time I wanted to see the Maritime Museum and I made sure that this time we would do just that !
Across the street from our hotel is the train station and in front of the train station is this castle: Kronborg Castle. The history of the castle is long and wide; much wider than the 2½ mile wide sound between Denmark and now Sweden, which the kings controlled over the years to collect tax from ships sailing to and from the Baltic. Click the link and read the first 10 sentences on Wikipedia to get the jest of this amazing structure.
You can also click onto my blog from last year to see more pix from the inside of the castle when we brought Tami and her daughter, Clarke, here for a quick tour. Scroll down the blog almost half way.
And just off to the side of this castle is a horrible junky shipyard that has been left in despair during the last half of the 1900's. One of the dry docks has been permanently sealed, dried out and turned into a wonderful museum. The shipyard has been (and is still in the process) turned into something amazingly beautiful. There is a wharf museum, cultural & library building as well as the underground maritime museum.
Walking from the cathedral, in less than 3 minutes, we come to the wharf and shipyard area.
This is the entrance to the museum. Can you see that it is a ramp going down-hill? No? Well, it does. I had to keep Jens from rolling away from me several times. LOL. One time I was too slow to catch him and he just slightly banged his knee as I just grabbed out for the chair.
In the background is Hamlet's Castle.
This pix from the net might give you a better idea.
Here now is a video from the inside of the museum.
Like everything else, all good things must come to an end. No, wait ! All good things end with ice-cream. The very first time Jens brought me to Helsingør was about 26 years ago and we came here to this ice-cream shop that was established in 1922. And here we are again.
Helsingør is a great place. Come on down and I'll show you.
Click the link to see several more pix here on my Shutterfly site.
