Outside Copenhagen, Karen Blixen Museum and Helsingor Castle

August 2, 2008


Our last full day in Denmark we took trains north to the Karen Blixen Museum and Kronborg Slot, the Hamlet castle. Museum: fantastic. Castle: disappointing.

On the steps of the Karen Blixen Museum. The staff looked at me a bit crazy when I wanted my book stamped. They didn't even notice my Nairobi stamp. They keep her house full of fresh flowers from her garden, and her study is just as she left it--full of her mementos and books from Kenya. Another literary pilgrimage fulfilled.

Karen Blixen's grave. You walk a short way into the gardens and forest behind her house and find her under this quiet tree. It makes me think of the beautiful resting place she gave Denis Fynch-Hatton in Kenya and how hers is so far from him. Yet, here she rests in the place where she was born and died. Such an interesting life.

The Hamlet castle. I took lots of photos of the architecture of the castle because I just couldn't find much inspiration elsewhere. Here are two:

I really like taking photographs of nature seeping through buildings, especially old ones like castles. I think it's rooted in my love for the poem "Ozymandias" by Shelley. Or I just like evidence of mother nature taking back her land.

Hi, Claire! We almost walked right past the Shakespeare tablet. The only darn Hamlet thing in the castle (except for one room with placards telling us who Shakespeare was). I really am feeling snarky about this castle...

If we hadn't gone out the side entrance, we might have missed a chance to stand with Hamlet and Ophelia. Perhaps not the most cheerful statues (they both look suitably crazy), but we had our small Shakespeare fix.