Sunday, December 4, 2016

OUR EUROPEAN HOLIDAY - DAY 17 - A VISIT TO FREDERIKSBORG CASTLE

A rather bleak start to the day today as it was raining.... However it was bleak in more ways that one as today we said goodbye to Sarah, Willow, Max and Brenda as they left this beautiful country.  We were really going to miss them.  We have had such a wonderful time all together over here and the long awaited family holiday was finally coming to an end.  It seems hard that months of anticipation could be gone already. 

Steve went out to the airport with them to see them off and sort out the car.  It was after lunch by the time he returned home. 

The weather had started to clear by now so we thought it might be nice to get out of the house and do something rather than feel a little sad and miserable at home.  Peter thought it might be nice to go for a drive out into the country and visit Frederiksborg Castle.   He had never been there before so it was also a new adventure for him also.  He didn't think there would be too much to see or too much walking so we dressed pretty casually and headed off.  Oh how wrong he was....

What an IMPRESSIVE Castle.  The outside blew us away long before we got to go inside.  We spent a good hour just walking around checking out the moats, fountains, sculptures, statues,  taking lots of photos of course......

Our first glimpse of Frederiksborg Castle

 If we thought the outside of the Castle was impressive,  the inside totally blew us away.  It was breathtaking...  in fact it was literally breathtaking...   I think the biggest thrill for both Peter and I was to witness Steve's reaction.  It was his first trip over to Europe so he was not at all familiar with all the Castles and Churches, and as we walked it side this castle,  his jaw actually dropped, and all he could do was stare in awe.....  He was in awe of it all, and he really didn't know where to look.
Our first glimpses inside Frederiksborg Castle....
This chapel was unbelievable

Just when we thought nothing could equal what we had seen, we'd go into another room that was even bigger and grander  and would totally blow us away..  The photos just do not do it justice...
They are just a small glimpse of what we saw, but somehow words just can't describe the emotions and history and stories of this magnificent castle...
 I thing Steve was totally blown away by the number of man hours that was invested into building a castle like this.  The castle itself took 100 years to build.  It is hard to fathom in this day and age that someone would start a project like this and not be around to see it's completion.

We only had a couple of hours in the castle so we had to rush  it slightly but we were so glad that we got to see it, and you can be guaranteed that when next we visit Denmark, it will be on our list of places to explore and a full day will be designated to it next time.  

The Grand Ball room was amazing..... the ceiling was completely covered in the most ornate paintings and we spent a long time just looking at the detail and studying it.  The main hours that had gone into painting this ceiling alone were amazing, but the whole castle had works of art like this.
 We spent every spare moment we could inside the palace and were some of the last to leave.  Fortunately the days were long so we still had plenty of time to check out the amazing gardens at Frederiksborg Castle.  Every area of this castle was breathtaking and the gardens were as well.  We spent a couple of hours just wandering around these also. 
Frederiksborg Castle from the Gardens...

These gardens were stunning  in their own right, and even if you never got to go inside the Castle, it was worth the drive up to Hillerod just to check out these gardens...  By this stage we had been on our feet for a few hours and my back was really starting to ache, as there was no where inside the castle where you could sit down.  The cobbled stones and uneven surfaces were also playing havoc with my back so I was just keen to find somewhere to sit down for a minute or two.   Steve and Pete did a long walk up to the fountain in the gardens...

After I managed to sit for 15 minutes,  I was back on my feet.  I somehow managed to endure the pain, because I too wanted to explore some of the beautiful gardens and fountains in these grounds.  The views back over the gardens and lakes and moats to the Castle were really quite breathtaking and I am so glad that I made the effort to walk up and check them all out...
 I think the thing that stood out to us was the history,  just the organ in the church was over 400 years old.  This is almost twice the age of our whole countries history.

The walk back to the car was through a beautiful wooded forest.  Stunning would describe it,  lovely water ways, quite different also with lots of woven sides holding in the water.
By the time we got back to the car,  I was in agony, but even in this much pain, I wouldn't have missed this experience for anything...  This castle is definitely on my list of places to come back and visit....

We arrived home late, tired, sore but happy.  Very chilled out evening when we got home...
I am somehow thinking that tomorrow might need to be a chilled out day.  

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