As Shakespeare said “There is something fishy in the kingdom
of Denmark” or something like that! Well I can confirm there certainly are a
lot of fish here and over the last weekend I am sure that every other person
had a fishing rod in their hand!! Having been here before I was aware that
Denmark does not have the most stunning of vistas, but there is plenty of
variety from rolling farmland to large tracts of woodland and plenty of water
either in lakes and Fiord or seascapes! History links Denmark with the UK and
of course with the Eastern areas of Yorkshire and Lincolnshire in particular
where many Danish Kings fought and won, then lost in the South, the crown of England.
Odense is the home town of Hans Christian Andersen; His
birth house has been turned into a very interesting museum. It turns out that
he was a great admirer of Shakespeare and was able to recite his works at a
very young age(you can go off people). HCA also had a friendship with Charles
Dickens, who invited HCA to stay at his home in England, HCA visited and stayed
for 6 weeks, Dickens daughters later described HCA as “a bore who would not go
away”! HCA wrote of the visit in such detail that Dickens took offence and
never spoke to HCA again(I promise not to stay long or say too much).
Roskilde, the capital of Denmark I the early 1500’s with its
Cathedral where many of the former kings are buried one notable exception is
Canute or Cnut who is buried in Winchester. For those from Goole his father was
King Sweyn I of Swinefleet fame! Roskilde is also home of a very good Viking longboat
museum. It is possible that one of the boats, built in Dublin, was used at the
battle of Hasting in 1066(how do they know that?)
Hamlets Castle is the lovely Kronborg in Helsingor (Elsingor)
Much of the interiors have been lost to a fire in the 1600’s and much of the
internal furnishings were lost to Sweden during various battles over the years.
One fine tapestry was stolen by the Swedes as a trophy of war, but due to it
being out of favor it was left wrapped up and out of sight and is now in
pristine condition and on loan to the Castle for 4 years!
Copenhagen is basically a building site at present, they are
putting in a new Metro line right through the main town area and as such many
if the squares and gardens are large holes in the ground. Fortunately Tivoli
was open and the Little Mermaid was as lovely as ever, but she was being abused
by Italian Youths as the tide was low so you could climb onto her rock
platform. Unfortunately many of the other attractions do not open for the
summer season until later in May.
