Abby had class Thursday morning and after some debate we decided to use the time to see the last of the big castles -- Christiansborg Palace, which is the castle currently in use for government functions. We were all glad we did because it was really neat and so different from the other castles. We started in the reception rooms, which were definitely the best part:
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| Tapestries throughout were so intricate |
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This tapestry is one of two (fall and spring) woven in France in 1888 as a present for Christian IX and his queen on their golden wedding anniversary
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| The great hall had a whole series of these colorful tapestries telling the history of Denmark. They are callled the Queen's tapestries and were gifted to Queen Margrethe from the Danish Business Guild on her 50th birthday in 1990 (Queen Margrethe did abdicate last year and now her son is on the throne) |
One of the most interesting parts of the Palace were places where pictures showed the castle in use in the exact place you stood:
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| Current thrones |
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| Balcony where the current king was announced, right outside the throne room |
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| Great Hall |
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| The chandeliers throughout were exquisite |
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| This painting takes up a full wall. It shows Christian IX, who was called the father-in-law of Europe. Among his children, four sat on thrones (of Denmark, the UK, Greece and Russia) |
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| This table was made from wood from the staircase of the second Christiansborg Palace which burned down in 1884 |
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| The library was my favorite room |
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| Look at this ceiling! |
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| This is the royal china (the flora danica). It was originally commissioned as a gift for Catherine the Great, but it took so long to paint that the Danish kept it for themselves and began using it for events like weddings and royal birthdays in 1803 |
Under the castle are the ruins, which are actually ruins of several different castles that burned down or were destroyed:
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| You can see that one of the castles was made with stone blocks and the other was made with boulders at the foundation |
We finished with Christiansborg just in time to retrieve our luggage from the hotel and head to the airport to meet Abby for our flight to Amsterdam. Our plan was to check-in, have a nice dinner for Thanksgiving, and then take a canal cruise to see the Amsterdam Light Festival, which had just opened. Our dinner plans got derailed by lost luggage (and all the forms we had to fill out), but we made it to the cruise, which was fun:
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| This heron was just hanging out on the dock |
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| The fish was the first light installation (pictures were hard on the boat, though) |
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| Meteors |
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| Polaris |
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| More boat photos |
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| Walking back after the cruise -- not as elegant as Copenhagen, but the decorations were still very pretty |
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