Recognize the famous line in my title? "To be or not to be..." I found the Danish translation in my Danish Language binder. Sadly, I can't pronounce it very well at all. Danish vowels are impossible!
Hamlet, of course, takes place in Helsingør (or as Shakespeare writes it, "Elsinore") in the castle of Kronborg. DIS took two coach busses of us to visit it this past Saturday, and set up tours and free time to explore the city. I enjoyed a nice lunch in downtown Helsingør at an Italian restaurant with a cute old Danish waiter. He really liked speaking English to my friends and me, he wanted to know where we from and why we were here. He made us recite what Danish we'd learned (very little, but he liked that I could say "Tak for mad", 'thank you for the food').
At the castle, we toured the old chapel, which is the only authentic original design in the castle. This is because much of the castle burned in a fire in 1629. Kronborg originated in 1420, as a fortress because the Danish king of the time wanted to tax every ship that can in and out of the Baltic Sea. (Sweden is right across the sound from the castle, so I also saw a new country on this excursion!). From the mid 1500s to the mid 1700s royalty did actually stay here, but then it was used by the military until more recently it has become a world heritage site.
The top picture I uploaded is the Long Hall, or the Dance Hall. We were told it is 60 meters long, the same as the height of the Trumpeter tower. That's another story, the tower is called that because when they ate big meals, at certain points trumpeters would blow their horns and everyone would have to finish their drink quickly so that it could be refilled. I think our drinking games are a little more creative today, but whatever works!
The second picture is in the Chapel, looking back at the organ. You get an idea of the elaborate gold details that represent the design in the Chapel. And finally, me in front of Kronborg.
