Tag: Egeskov Castle

Completed Travel Journal

Dear Liza,

Now that I’m back home in Portland, I can sit down and do the finishing touches on my Danish travel journal.

I had fun drawing, painting, and inking scenes from our trip. I know photographs are more accurate, but I like being able to give my own take on things.

There are lots of flowers, of course. Denmark in summer is glorious with wild flowers!

There are maps, too, like this one of our three day road trip around the Southern Archipelago.

And this one, of the ferry service in and out of Svenborg, copied from a board by the ferry landing. There are also drawings of the wonderful play area by the Egeskov Castle. I love my bouncing stick people!

The sewing project for Liza that was on my mind and in my hands found its way into the journal.

And you can tell I am getting braver with my drawing when I make an attempt at Liza. I certainly don’t want to botch the picture. But a photo from Elbaek Skov inspired me.

I can’t yet do justice to the beauty of the place or the girl, but I can stretch my limits and get better.

And that closes the book, so to speak, on my Denmark travel journal. Where will I go next? Stay tuned!

Love,

Grandma Judy

Across the Lillebro

Dear Jasper and Kestrel,

We have started our three day road trip across Denmark! There is so much to see.

We started our drive in the pouring rain, heading south from Horsens. We crossed over from the peninsula of Jylland to the island of Fyn over the Lillebro, or Little Bridge. As you can see, it is only little compared to the Storbro, or Big Bridge, which we will see later on our journey.

The weather went from rainy to blustery, with amazing clouds and a good stiff breeze.

We found the castle of Egeskov, which Auntie Olga calls “The Castle-iest Castle in Denmark.” She is so right! Surrounded by a lake-like moat, lovely gardens, a maze, and lots of land, it has been named Europe’s best preserved Renaissance water castle. It has stood here since 1554 and is currently owned by the latest in a long line of sons, Michael Ahlefeldt-Laurvig-Bille, but operated by the Danish government as a historic landmark.

Inside are generations of historic dresses, furnishings, weapons, and portraits. There are toys and kitchen tools displayed in the attic. It is a huge amount of stuff. Imagine if your house still had your great great grandma’s dishes, and all the rest of her stuff. Plus your stuff. Oy.

There is also a said-to-be- haunted doll in the attic which no one moved for a few hundred years, for fear the castle will fall down if they did. They all seem to be over it now, but the doll is still there.

Out in the grounds, we wandered the rose garden, maze, and water garden.

Everything was a photo opportunity! So I took lots. I love watching Uncle David explain things to Liza. Most of what I learned about the mechanical world came from my dad, so I value this sort of learning.

But there is MORE to Egeskov, and that will need to wait for tomorrow.

zlove,

Grandma Judy