I met my new friend, Julia, whom one of our common friends, Xuan You, introduced. She is a pretty interesting and tough lady. She married a Dane, so she is settling down in Denmark. We had pretty interesting conversations throughout the journey and she enlightened me to quite a number of things concerning Denmark, Danes and the culture here.... =D
From our place in Lyngby, we took the train to Hellerup (its pronounced as Hea-rod... hahhaa... i know this is kinda weird, but that's how Danish is) and changed train which will take us all the way to Helsingor. the entire journey was about 53min (minus the waiting time) Coz today was sunday, the frequency of trains were lesser.
I never thought that the weather today will be so good. Coz when we left Lyngby, the skies were cloudy.. and when i checked the weather, it did not give good weather report. So i was really surprised to see sun and blue skies in Helsingor!
Helsingor train station
When we reached Helsingor, we met my another new friend, Irika, whom I got to know last weekend at the Youth course. She is sort of having an exchange program in a boarding school in Helsingor. She is a Soka U student. She will be returning to Japan this December. Irika is also another very interesting person.... hahaha... u will never believe me if i tell u that in her short stay of 6 months, she has traveled to 12 countries!!! Amazing! she told us that she traveled to these countries within 1 month! wow i hope to be able to achieve that (meaning visit as many countries as i can in these 3 years here in Denmark. But of course I will also work hard in my studies. =D)
I guess everyone knows of the famous Little Mermaid in Denmark. But do you know that there is also a statue of Little Merman?? Hahaha... Julia & I did not know that too! Irika showed us the Little Merman statue in Helsingor. Its super shiny unlike the little mermaid statue.
Little Merman in Helsingor
That's how shiny the little merman is. we could see our reflections on it! =P
a fountain surrounded by blooming dasies
Kronborg Slot
She brought us to Kronborg castle. Kronborg castle is one of the most important Renaissance castle in Northern Europe and its been listed as a UNESCO heritage site since 2000! Its situated at the site, where when you look beyond it, you can see Helsingborg, a city in Sweden! yup! that's how near Sweden is to Denmark! Irika told me that we can just pay 70 DKK for a 2 way trip on the ferry to Helsingborg! Yeah I'll visit Helsingborg on another trip. =D
That's the city of Helsingborg, Sweden!!!
Anyway back to the castle, apparently, the castle was built in 1420s, by 1 one of the Danish kings. He built this castle/fortress there, so that he could control the payment from the ships entering and leaving the Baltic seas. So in the olden days, you can say that Helsingor was a pretty bustling and rich town! 
Entrance to the castle
As Irika has visited the castle 3 times, only me & julia paid for the entrance fee to visit the interior of the castle. it cost me 75 DKK for the entrance fee to visit the rooms, ballroom & chapel i think. The ballroom in the castle is one of the famous icon in the castle. it was a long hall with chandeliers hanging from the ceilings and the tiles were black and white. We also strolled through the rooms that were the living quarters of the king and his subjects and rooms with hanging tapestry.
one of the huge halls in the castle
The famous ballroom in Kronborg slot
Julia told me that Danish castles will always have tapestry hanging on the walls. These tapestry help to keep the warmth within the castle walls. I must say, these tapestry are pretty awesome... i mean it must have take months or even years for the ancient people to get just 1 done... coz there are lots of designs on it... and they are huge! U take a look at the picture to get a better idea of what i'm trying to say here.
One of the many tapestrys seen in the rooms. This is the most majestic one!
The castle also boast of a huge courtyard. I think this courtyard is where, the play Hamlet was being staged. Apparently the character, Hamlet, is not a true story. It just a fictional being that Shakespear concoct when he wrote the play. Shakespear had never been to Elsinore, but he used the castle and the town as the icons in his play.
That's Julia & me posing in the courtyard of the castle. Behind us is the chapel of the castle
Castle seen from the courtyard
Swans basking in the sun in front of the castle. See how blue the skies are and how green the grass is
After touring the castle, we walked through some of the streets in Helsingor. I must say the streets are very quite and no business are taking place. Coz today is Sunday! Yup! all shops are close on Sundays! This is something that I still got to get use to in Denmark! Its a nice stroll... coz i got to see some of the old Danish cottages and interesting shops. Pity that I could not enter them... coz they were closed.
A cafe/pub that had colourful mugs on display at its windows
Painting on a wall showing what Helsingor was (a rich port where ships come & go) 400yrs ago
Streets of Helsingor town
Some old Danish cottages in Helsingor
Then its time to say goodbye to Irika, while Julia and me took the train to Hellerup, where we changed to the S-train to Copenhagen. Julia wanted to show me a really nice cafe in Copenhagen that's very near to the train station. And in this shop, you can find 300 different kinds of teas! imagine that! i think its pretty similar to the TWG tea shop in s'pore. But i did not have the tea, instead I ordered Cappucino & a cranberry muffin! yup! a nice way to end off my day trip in Helsingor.
Irika & me at the train station. Took this before we board the train to Hellerup
My cranberry muffin & cappucino
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