Copenhagen- Day 3

We were on the bus at 8:30 Saturday morning. We were heading out of the city to visit one of the most imposing structures in Denmark – Frederiksborg Castle. On the way, we had a chance to see some of the rolling Danish countryside. I think tidy is the right adjective. We arrived at our destination in about an hour and were fortunate to have a private entry into the castle before it opened

The entrance to Frederiksborg

to the public. The castle is a splendid example of Dutch Renaissance architecture, which the Danish King, Christian IV, adopted as his style. The castle sits in magnificent parkland, which is not so surprising, since its original purpose was as a hunting lodge. Again, I wish that we had more time to explore the outdoors, but we had to leave to make our lunch date.

We left Frederiksborg and headed for the coast. We were having lunch at one of Denmark’s royally licensed inns.  A royally licensed inn was one where the king and his party could stop and eat without charge. Only inns with good reputations and good food normally received this privilege. The inn was in Humlbaek, an important seaside town on the road leading north from Copenhagen. Upon arrival, one could see immediately that the inn possessed a HQ factor: HQ= high quaint. It was picture perfect. Inside it was cozy, almost too much so. We had to ask them to open the windows.

The inn at Humlbaek

Lunch was a typical Danish spread: two kinds of herring, fried flounder to start; liver pate, roast pork, red cabbage & cucumber salad, followed by some local cheese. As always in Denmark, this comes with delicious bread. The weather turned cloudy as we headed back to Copenhagen along the “Danish Riviera”, the posh seaside towns that line the road. We arrived back at the hotel around 3:00, just as the Gay Pride Parade was stepping off.

The rest of Saturday was free. I made one more attempt to try and connect to the internet, but finally I gave and decided that I wasn’t going to waste any more time on this tour trying to fix things. Included in the tour package was an entrance ticket into Tivoli Gardens. I figured that would be a good place to escape the craziness of the parade. What a wonderful escape it was! The park was filled with people of all kinds, but especially children, enjoying all that Tivoli had to offer.

In Tivoli Gardens

 The atmosphere was wonderfully playful and joyous. I ran into several others from our tour group and even identified a good prospect for dinner – Gymuse, a restaurant with a menu based on locally grown vegetables. You are allowed to leave the park and return, so I went back to the hotel for a shower and to put my feet up for a while. I re-emerged in the early evening to the make my way back through the aftermath of the parade for a quiet dinner in the restaurant. It was a very interesting meal. Then back to the hotel with another early start ahead  of us.