Frederiksborg Slot

Yesterday I went to my first of hopefully many European castles (unless you count the Louvre). It's called Frederiksborg Slot and it's in a town called Hillerød. Christian IV (just checked Wikipedia) built it to replace a smaller one built by his father Frederik II. Wikipedia also tells me it's the largest Renaissance castle in Scandinavia. It's really hard to remember which king built what because every king is named either Frederik or Christian. Then it's not even *really* a castle because although that was its original purpose, the Danish are really good at burning down their castles. The Copenhagen Castle in the city burned down twice and this one went down too. They rebuilt Frederiksborg with the intention of it being a museum though, so there was a lot of art. A couple rooms were recreated as they would have looked when Christian IV lived there which were (obviously) my favorites. Some of the art was interesting, but everyone looked the same because that was the thing to do back then. After our tour guide walked us around the unheated castle, we were given time to wander around and explore. My friend Kristie and I went to take pictures with the lion statues and find the cellar/dungeons. Despite being freezing the whole time, it was really awesome and I'm looking forward to seeing Elsinore and the Hamlet castle this Saturday.

Today is going to be a bit of an adventure though because I forgot my keys and my ID at home. The ID is a problem because I can't get into the school buildings without it. The keys are a problem because I don't know when Sascha and Allan get home and my phone won't let me send texts or make phone calls so I can't ask. Hopefully I'll be able to borrow someone's phone and ask them. Also hopefully this cell phone issue gets fixed soon because it's getting ridiculous. I emailed the company (it was either that or call them....and I don't speak Danish) so fingers crossed they get back to me soon.

Want some castle pictures? Of course you do: