Pooping in Kronborg

"We're going to Hamlet's Castle, guys! YEAHHHHHHHHHHHHH!"

Nick here.

Helsingor lies forty five minutes of graffiti-laden train stations North of Uli's place in Holte. After a great night with him, cooking "improvised" seafood pasta and having plenty to drink, we parted ways while he went to work.

Grad students in Denmark get paid substantially for their work, similar to how some grad students can get work offers as well but with much better pay and no "slave" status.

A short bus ride took us to Vedbæk station. There we stopped at a French cafe and a supermarket nearby the train, while we waited for the next one. Such sweet relief coming from that cafe latte. While I drank, and we ate, Wyatt noticed that this cafe was the third or forth he'd seen with free-to-use blankets outside.

What a nice idea.

And then we discovered one of the least pleasant sounds in creation, as we tried to figure out the "check in" card Uli let us borrow...

"Extra large, orange, burger,
flag. AMERICA!" Found in
Helsingor's shopping center.

But we figured it out after a good few tries. And we rode the train up to Helsingor. On the way, Wyatt mentioned a special plan of his: pooping in Hamlet's Castle, Kronborg. Apparently he's done this already in Alexander the Great's castle, and needed to add another notch to his belt.

Aryan also thought it was a great idea.

And I had no control over the plan.

So it became the plan.

My plan was to compose a poem in Hamlet's Castle, but poop is also good I guess.

Helsingor, like all of Denmark, allows
open alcohol anywhere. This Danish
fellow was not impressed.

Aryan was very happy about Denmark's
presence of trees that aren't palm
trees.

Helsingor had plenty to offer. Two beautiful churches, plenty of pedestrian streets with shops and cafes, and a little shopping mall.

We did some exploring.

This small town really gave us a truer "Danish" experience, compared to a fairly cosmopolitan city like Copenhagen. Good beer, small shops, lots of people, including plenty who spoke no English.

Fantastic.


Once we made our way to the castle, I was overwhelmed. Children playing on cannons, a young boy fishing for flounder off the channel's rock wall, the serene weather and gentle breeze, Sweden not two miles away, and the castle. Aryan wandered off to meditate, Wyatt and I ate some Danish Pringle-style chips, and we took it in.

Some things work better explained by images...

BLAST THE INTRUDERS! The Danish King's royal defense cannons.

Dedicated to Chris and Kenny.

Kronborg was designed to be a fortress capable of defending the channel, so the King could charge a toll to any
boats wishing to pass for trade.

These children kept us company as we strolled around the grounds.

Really statuesque.

The courtyard was being renovated. Since, you know, the castle was made
in the late 1500s.

Tour guide taking us through the chapel.

No comment.

As we entered the underground casmates of Kronborg, darkness overtook.
Aryan took the chance to give his best Igor / Smeagol impression. The group
of tourists had a raucous laugh.

"Come, come!"

Sitting with the sleeping legend, Ogier the Dane

Wyatt employs his greatest stealth techniques...

And again. Flash was used of course.

Jumping through the hole.

I AM Holger Danske!

The hall where Hamlet's monologue takes place.

One of the many tapestry-decorated walls.

Our return back to the train station.

Catrine. You can't see her dog in his picture, but he was a
cute little fur ball.

On our way back, we had a nice surprise: a healer lady! Her name was Catrine, and she spoke with us for most of the train ride back. She even gave Aryan a free healing session, on which Aryan did not comment about the efficacy. What a nice lady!

She was much more willing to teach us how to say smørrebrød than some other Danish folks, who seem to already have given up on trying to teach foreigners the proper Scandinavian pronunciation.

After that, we met up with Uli (after making him wait for a long time!) and went out to meet his friend, Marta. We had dinner with Marta, and went to a "beer geek" bar. We spent the next few hours talking about movies, TV shows, school, and a slew of other topics. Picture below.

Us with Marta, right after dinner. Marta is Uli's colleague
at university. She's from Estonia.

After the beer, we went our separate ways, and back to Uli's place, for a bit of sleep. It was our last night there, and we were ready to meet our new host in the morning, Rikke...