To be or not to be? That is the question. Whether it is nobler in the mind to suffer the slings and arrows of outrageous fortunes............... Blah blah blah doth me thinks you needith to read more.

Hamlet's Castle, Kronborg in Helsingor, Denmark. This was one off my bucket list. And it was worth it. Even UNESCO agrees with me.

Helsingor is actually about 40 mins by train north of Copenhagen. In fact we ended up closer to Sweden by the time we got there. When the castle was built, Denmark controlled Sweden, so the King could look out the windows across the sound to his Kingdom, which is now not his, or more correctly, her Kingdom anymore.

The train ride was uneventful and there was a pleasant walk around the harbour front to the castle. Past a library, this meant another chance to down load more photos onto this blog. Another 200, enjoy

So we strolled along though the village after crossing the drawbridge into the castle proper. Also after an underwear change from the galloping ghost horses we all heard but could not see and they scared the be Jesus out of us.

We followed around the moat side of the castle which was worth it. We found the actual stone mason workshop and got a close up look at the true Gargoyles being repaired from the turrets. There was a bit of cleaning of the stone walls on the inner moat so some amount of scaffolding was on that side of the castle. No worries, plenty more Kodak moments.

Earlier around the path was a picture frame with a skull attached. Of course we all became Sir Lawrence Olivier and did 'our Hamlet' season at Kronborg and joined the ranks of Michael Cane, Vivian Leigh, Jude Law and Richard Burton. Of course Vivian Leigh did not play Hamlet. But we all did a brilliant Hamlet and shall be auditioning with Bell Shakespeare upon our return to Australia.

Back to reality, eventually we made our way to the inside of the castle and the interior rooms and exhibitions. This was for a long time a working, living castle. Shakespeare did use it as 'Ellsinore' in Hamlet, but the King did reside here during the 15th and 16th centuries before the capital was moved to Copenhagen.

The tourist path moves easily through the castle directing you between the different rooms with ease and no feeling of be pushed. The first rooms were the King and Queen's chambers. During this period men and women lived separately so there were double lots of sleeping areas. There is original furniture from the period along with tapestries and curtains. There are modern copies of some of the fabrics so that you can touch and look closely without damaging the originals. Rooms had fake fires going to give just enough ambiances to the room so it did not have the stark museum feel about it.

The ballroom was phenomenal. Marble tiles layer across the floor in multi coloured checked pattern with the walls adorned with paintings. The windows were covered with sheer curtains as the sun light would be damaging to the paints. So there was some artificial lighting in the chandeliers. But even this was done tastefully so as not to impede on the historical nature of the castle.

Down another spiral staircase and into rooms dedicated to performances of Hamlet that have taken place at Kronborg over the years. Some of the photos dated back to a 1916 performance but went through to Jude Law as Hamlet. Thank heavens they left out the performance of Mel Gibson.

We followed the path down another spiral stone staircase directly, as all good attractions do, right into the souvenir shop. It worked too, we bought some souvenirs.

Back on the train and a brief relax at the hostel to consider dinner.

Written by Rod