As I was the thousandth passenger that day I won the prize of driver of the day. After two minutes training we were off! It was a great pity that I couldn't carry on all day as we had things to do besides looking at railway tracks. So, with some regret we set off on foot for the Rosenborg Castle. This is a view of the castle from the King's Gardens.
Rosenborg Castle was built as a pleasure palace by Christian IV at the start of the C17. It quickly became his favourite residence. From the start of the C18 it became more of a showcase for the monarchy's oldest, richest and rarest treasures. Guests were entertained and no doubt suitabley impressed. The castle opened to the public as a museum in 1838 when the absolute monarcy was dissolved and a constitutional monarchy replaced it.
Have a look at some of the treasures.
Most of the stuff of course comes from the late C17 and through the C18 when Denmark or rather the King and a few merchants became extremely rich through the importation of sugar and the forced migration of slaves. To be fair Denmark was the first country in the world to abolish slavery but only after 100 years of the profits. The whole museum was quite fascinating if a little dusty.
We headed into town for some lunch and enjoyed a lasagne with gorgonzola melted on the top. Delicious.
The Round Tower is another must see. Architectural interesting with a kind of indoor helter skelter ramp running up the inside giving access to first the church then the large hall (once the university library) above and finally the bell loft, before curling on up to the top. This is a view inside the Round Tower.
This is the Trinity Church. No doubt it is the protestant religion that gives rise to the restrained nature of the Rococo decoration.
Next some sites we encountered walking through the smart shopping district. This is of course the Danish open foam tennis championships (seriously).
This is a cheerful demonstration against the civil war in Ethiopia. We questioned the participants who told us, somewhat naively, that the war was bad because people died. They seem to support the incumbent government against the opposition, who I think are being murdered by the said government. The Ethiopian and Danish flags were much in evidence.
We headed back to the railway station where I was most disappointed not to be allowed to drive the train back. Apparently they thought my metro training was inadequate. Ridiculous!
For those of you who don't think I would tell you a barefaced lie on this blog, think again. No, I didn't drive the train. It was in fact driverless but had a dummy set of controls in front of the front seat.
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