It is hard to believe that when we first visited Copenhage in 2003, we only spent about 3 days here. No wonder I hardly remembered it! We am slowly learning that there are unlimited amounts of worthwhile sites here. We are approaching our one-year-anniversary of living in Denmark and last week we saw parts of Copenhagen we had never seen before. We had a wonderful week hosting Brett’s parents. We posted a few pictures from early in their visit here. We managed to pack the following days full of activity. A highlight of the week (besides seeing the girls giddy with the excitement of spending an entire week with Grammy and Grandpa) was touring Frederiksborg Slot for the first time.
We took the train to Hillerød. This charming, medieval town’s first mention was in 1275, of a manor house, Hillerødsholm, built on an islet in a marshy area surrounded by forests. In 1560 King Frederick II acquired Hillerødsholm and converted it into a royal residence, renaming it Frederiksborg. In the 1859, when King Frederick VII resided there, a fire destroyed a large part of the main palace’s interior. Reconstruction was funded by public subscription, with large contributions from the king and state, as well as the prominent philanthropist J. C. Jacobsen of the Carlsberg Brewery. Jacobsen also funded the museum of national history that now occupies Frederiksborg.
I had a feeling it would be grand, but I was not prepared for quite that level of grandiose décor! Once again, the girls surprised me by, not only walking patiently through the castle with us, but seeming to truly enjoy the experience. For much of the time, our 6-year-old kept saying we were going too fast and she didn’t have time to look at all the paintings. When we reached the Great Hall, we waltzed along the marble floor and imagined we were the Kings of Queens of the past.
I had too many photos from this week to post just a few, so here is a gallery of highlights from our week – including quite a few from Frederiksberg Slot. Click on any image to enlarge and click through a slideshow.
