Museum Hopper

On our last day in Copenhagen before we headed onto the cruise ship, we walked over to Rosenborg Slot in downtown Copenhagen.   Compared to the other two slots/castles, this one seemed relatively diminutive in the park.  It is a beautiful brick building surrounded by beautiful gardens.  It looks out on what used to be a very structured garden.  Now, it is a barracks and has a practice grounds.  Jason really enjoyed watching the drum line.   As we were watching the drum line, I could see the line of clouds approaching.  So, we started running for the entrance to the museum.  I was surprised at how long the line was to buy tickets.  We waited in line for almost twenty minutes.  Once we finally got in, I saw why -- they had two at the most, sometimes only one, person selling tickets.  This did have one pro, it was not quite as crowded at the front of the castle as I would have potentially suspected...but still.  Thi...

On our second day of riding, we headed out to the Kronborg Slot .  Kronborg is on the coast and just about 2 miles away from Sweden.  Given its close proximity, it had strong fortifications, which grew over the centuries!  It is also a UNESCO heritage site.    As a bit of history, Kronborg slot was built in early 1400s and is immortalized in Hamlet as Elsinore, the castle within the book.  The play happened to be written 400 years ago, which has implications for our visit, which I will get to later! As I mentioned, we biked up to Kronborg along the sea.  It was a ~50 km ride.  We had a gorgeous 10-15 km stretch of a ride today.  It was along the train (which were electric so nice and quiet).  It was shaded and a little narrow.  The road also had a bit of rolling hills, so it was a great part of the ride.  We also really enjoyed biking along the water, which was really fun! Entrance to the castle gives you access to...

On our first day in Denmark without our friends, my husband and I biked to Frederiksborg Slot , which is ~42 km outside of Copenhagen.   I just want to spend a few seconds on our bicycles.  We found really good ones for this trip!  They were beautiful...and if we lost/got robbed, it was going to cost us 4000 EUR.  I need to share just one glamour shot of them...taken in the gardens with Frederiksborg Slot in the background ! The ride there was not the most scenic, but we had pulled over at one point to say we think we are almost there and went around a bend and were greeted by this: It was a beautiful grand reveal.   The slot was built in the 17th century in the elaborate baroque style.  It was inhabited during a period of time when Norway and Denmark were all under a single crown, so it counts for both a castle in both countries!  My husband was constantly amazed by the ceilings in the slot.  I tended to agree!  They were w...

On the way back from the Kronberg bike ride, I knew we had to go to the Louisiana Museum of Modern Art .  They are open late and serve dinner with a view overlooking the Baltic Sea.   The museum is under construction, but it is still pretty easy to get around.  We had a few times where we thought we would miss something, but lo and behold, we ended up seeing it everything.   My favorite part of this museum was the integration of inside and outside.  We seamlessly moved from the landscape to the galleries.  All of the glass keeps the museum feeling light and impacts how the art is viewed. Calder mobile The Picasso before Picasso exhibit was really interesting.  I had always heard that Picasso was an extremely talented realist painter, and that is what allowed him to break all the rules.  It also allowed him to evolve as a painter (e.g. his Blue period to the rose period to cubism.  If you were looking at these sketches without k...