Our last castle of the day was Frederiksborg.
Frederiksborg Castle was the royal residence of King Christian IV of Denmark in the early 17th century. It is built across three islands and has a large garden surrounding it.
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| First sight of the castle over the trees |
We had free parking (it was a Sunday) so no chance of a parking ticket here, though we did check four or five times to make sure. Then after a final check to make sure we didn't need to pay for parking we walked down the tree lined path toward the castle:
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| Towards the castle |
There were some fairly extensive repairs going on, so the castle itself was covered in scaffolding, but it still showed some signs of what it would look like:
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| The entry |
Looking right from the entry we could see that the castle went straight down into the water:
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| Looking to the right |
As we got closer to the archway we could see a lot more details (although they were slightly ruined by the power cords running over them...):
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| The archway |
Through the archway we passed into the castle gardens, crossing the bridge from the main island.
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| The waters behind the castle |
Looking back at the castle was quite an impressive site as it rose from the water:
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| The castle overlooking the gardens (the slight bend in the tower is due to the panoramic shot setting) |
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| The castle |
First we came across the Barokhaven (Baroque Gardens). The gardens were formally a herb garden that was converted in 1996 into a baroque garden with hedges forming the royal monograms
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| The Slotshave (Castle Gardens) Map - The Baroque garden in the small rectangle surrounded by red in the middle (you can click on the picture to open and zoom in to read it) |
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| Map of the Baroque Garden |
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| Looking into the Baroque Gardens lower level |
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| The royal monogram hedges with the castle in the background |
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| Looking over the monogram hedge towards the castle |
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| The same with Kristine's better zoom |
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| Looking across the bottom terrace towards the lower fountain and statues |
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| Upper level fountain |
The Baroque gardens were in three levels with a fountain running between them (dry for winter). The top level consisted of a large lake surrounded by trees, running down a waterfall to the upper level and then along to the lower level past more statues and eventually into the waters surrounding the castle.
From the top of the gardens we could see the Badstueslottet (Bath Palace)an external 'pleasure pavilion' outside the main castle
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| Badstueslotte |
and an area called the small deer farm (we didn't see any deer, but our children aren't exactly quiet enough to get near any)..
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| Small Deer Farm buildings |
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| The lake at the top of the Baroque Gardens |
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| Looking through the trees |
We then headed down and walked through the deer park - again we didn't see any deer but it was a nice walk.
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| Stream in the Deer Park |
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| Tree in the Deer Park |
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| Looking towards the Badstueslottet across the lakes |
The kids were starting to complain that their legs were tired (we had walked about 15km so far in total that day) so we had a break at a pavilion overlooking the lakes.
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| Alana used the time to scratch "Alana Was Here" in the dirt |
After everyone had rested we headed down around the lake (heading to the right on the picture of the lake above). They must have had some nasty winds over the last few days as there were many trees down in the back areas of the gardens:
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| Fallen tree |
We headed back around the lake past the Badstueslotte:
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| Island in the centre of the lake |
After making friends with a small English Bulldog that was walking with his owners, Cameron was quite impressed by a bird. As it swam its head bobbed back and forth "That bird has some cool moves Dad!"
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| The bird with the cool moves |
I was more excited by watching the ducks ice-skate and get stuck between ice floes as they tried to get back into the water:
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| Come on in, the water's.... solid |
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| More ducks |
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| Having a break watching the ducks |
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| Looking back at the castle and the bridge we came across at the start when we entered the gardens |
We then planned to head back to the car as it had started to rain, but the kids needed to go to the toilets. The map showed that there was one set all the way back at the top of the Baroque Gardens but that was a long walk and I was sure we could find some in the castle, so we went for a walk, eventually coming to the main castle courtyard:
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| Castle Courtyard |
The fountain and the facades of the buildings were quite ornate:
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| Facade |
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| The fountain |
Of course, the most immature of us had a good giggle when they saw that one of the guys was sitting on a fish. Eventually Kris had to tell me I was setting a bad example so we moved on.
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| Poor fish |
We headed into the inner courtyard where the kids found a toilet and we found more interesting walls:
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| The inner courtyard |
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| The clock tower |
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| Panoramic shot of the corner of the two pictures above |
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| Fountain |
The last thing I saw as we were about to leave was this door. Of all the things I'd seen I think I found this the most impressive:
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| The door |
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| The Door and Frame (and Tomas) |
Kris tried to take a photo of us all in front of the door, but unfortunately these are the best we managed (due to wiggly kids and bad light):
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| Take 1 |
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| Take 2 |
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| Take 3.. ah stuff it that will do even if Tomas looks like he is high... |
By now it was starting to get dark so we headed back to Malmö.
