heir and a half

I bet you're wondering about Kathy and her heritage. Well, here's what we found out. This took trips to multiple palaces and the questioning of many very nice Danish people. Denmark is the oldest kingdom in the world...so there were places aplenty to continue our search. We were thwarted, twice, by none other than her majesty Queen Margrethe of Denmark herself!

Our journey began at Christiansborg Palace, known for its colorful tapestries. We figured this would be a good place to start, as Kathy is supposed to be related to Christian VIII. A lady there knew a ton about the Danish crown, so we told her our story. She was confused at first, because Christian VIII did not have any heirs- his cousin took the throne next.

Our next stop was Amalienborg Palace, the apparent residence of Christian VIII. Yet again...the queen was there! She was visiting a new exhibit that we wanted to see in the museum. So we staked it out and snuck a glimpse of her in her limo. We waited around and saw the changing of the guard, complete with ceremony. Then we finally got to see the museum, which had a tiara exhibit and rooms that Christian VIII inhabited. Here, we discovered that our friend the past king allegedly had an affair with his maid, possibly producing children. Could this be the link?

We decided to confirm the heritage. So we visited Kathy's Danish relatives. They were soo nice, and we went to church with them on Sunday morning. The verdict?? YES. Christian VIII had a relationship with his maid. Kathy is the illegitimate heir to the Danish throne!!

On the metro back to our hotel, we met yet another person...I swear the Wilsons make friends wherever they go. He was Danish, and working on his MD. Ironically he told us he was about to go study a rare muscle disease, in Dallas!

The journey ended with a visit to the treasury of Rosenborg Palace, which houses the crown jewels. It was pretty cool.

Thus ends our saga...I have a semi-royal friend! :)

hamlet's castle

We headed to Kronborg Castle (Hamlet's castle) on Saturday morning. The train station in Helsingor, the city where it's located, is literally right on the coast- it has both trains and boats- so cool! Anyway, the castle overlooks the coast too.

I should explain. Kronborg Castle is where Shakespeare set the tragedy of Hamlet. It's known as Elsinore Castle in English. But, there never was a real Prince Hamlet.

The castle is known for its famous ballroom. If you have seen Kenneth Branagh's version of Hamlet, you will recognize it! It was smaller than I expected.



I should warn you that the next two images are rather disturbing...but they were in the castle for some horrible reason.

Birds...do not belong in a pie. Or on a table. That's all I have to say about that.

Apparently the skin of ugly cherubs is a delicacy in Denmark. KIDDING...but seriously what is up with this painting? It was on the ceiling where the bird pie feast was.

As we left the castle, we were attacked by a swan!! Okay, not attacked. But it did stretch its wing out menacingly. We also recited part of the "to be or not to be" soliloquy outside the castle, just for kicks!

Since we could see it from the castle, we decided to take a trip to Sweden for lunch and quick exploration. More on that in another post!

Later on, we decided to try and find a castle, Frederiksborg. Unfortunately, it was growing dark and we basically knew nothing about it. So we arrived in the town and walked through the shopping area. It was supposed to be at the end of the area, but we were tired and didn't see it yet. We came across this pregnant lady and her husband, who offered to show us where to go. They took us back up the shopping street and all the way around to a residential area, then left us to go bowling. This was a terrifying window along the street...creeper!

It was pitch black. And, the castle wasn't lit up, to save energy. We basically walked down a creepy road not knowing if we were even seeing the castle. Finally, we reached it, took some failed pictures, and realized that we were almost where we had first been walking in the shopping area. The crazy lady had taken us 20 minutes around the castle! Here's the best picture I was able to get. It was sitting on a lake but still we couldn't see anything.

A nice lady helped us get back to our hotel by Metro when we got back in Copenhagen. We cheated the system and didn't buy a ticket...oops! ;) In some places you can get away with it. Just not Budapest, that's for sure.

i <3 cph

One of my favorite places in Copenhagen was Churchill Park. It wasn't in the tour books but I would absolutely recommend a peaceful walk through this beautiful park.

This is my favorite church in Europe so far- St. Alban's.


It was quite cold when we walked along the smooth transition from coast to hills to city buildings. I can only imagine how lovely it is in warm weather! Kastellet is an old fortification in the park area- that's where the cannon and windmill were. We met and chatted with an American Air Force officer stationed in Copenhagen- he said that it was usually gray and drizzly, but also warmer.

At the end of Churchill Park, along the coast, is the famous Little Mermaid statue.

Kathy and I treated the other tourists to a rendition of "Part of Your World" from the movie...we actually got a little applause! :)


Naturally, another favorite place was the recognizable Nyhavn area. This is a street that actually is built around a strip of seawater. It is full of restaurants, boats, and colorful buildings.

We ate dinner in Nyhavn our second night, hoping to try some open-faced sandwiches. Confession: I was too chicken to try pickled herring so I went for a salad instead. Anyways, our waiter told us that no tips are necessary in restaurants because waiters have a large salary and actually have to study for 3 years for that job! Wow.


These are just some of the lovely sights in Copenhagen. It was an amazingly beautiful city!

pickled herring and other things

This past weekend, I traveled to Denmark with Kathy and her parents. Why so cold? Well, let me give you a little background. Kathy is related to one of the past kings of Denmark- as far back as Christian VIII. And when we were first contemplating even signing up for the Maastricht trip, Kathy agreed to go on the condition that she would be able to take a trip to Denmark...to reclaim the throne. It would be a perilous journey. There would be enemies. There would be friends. This is that story.

Somehow, I slept pretty well in the couchette on the way there. We were interrupted about four times by various train personnel even though they took our passes when we first got on board. Anyway, we arrived in drizzly grey weather. Thankfully our hotel was really close to the train station.

It was also really close....to magical Tivoli Gardens! If you didn't know, Tivoli is the original theme park. Go wikipedia it. Tragically, it is still winter here and the park does not open until April. Nevertheless we tried to see it from the outside. Turns out Tivoli is different from Six Flags. That thing is barricaded like an FBI secret. We tried our best to take pictures through the few open holes but this is the best I could do. Our first shenanigan was when we went through the only door and it turned out to be a casino. We ran to the windows to see as much of the theme park as possible and forgot that casinos aren't fans of cameras or videorecorders...we got kicked out.

Hans Christian Andersen

So much for that. We wandered the city along Hans Christian Andersen Boulevard and came across the WEIRDEST statue I have ever seen. I know I keep revising that statement many times this semester but really, it's a bull trampling a lizard-dragon in the throat. It took a few minutes to realize there were two creatures there.

We decided to eat lunch at a buffet place, Butterfly Cafe, where we could sample 'authentic' Danish cuisine...good stuff! Unfortunately for me much of the food is seafood and thus risky for me to eat because I am allergic to shellfish. So far, we've been lucky and every menu has been in English. And actually, everyone we have met here speaks excellent English. The people in Copenhagen are sooo nice! Rather than just answer your question and leave you to it, every person we met (and we met a lot of people) continued a conversation and often accompanied us to our destination.