Longfield Gospel and Christmas market at the Belvedere

Vienna has so many Christmas markets that we did not have a clue about the Christmas market in front of the Belvedere. Tourists probably prefer the markets downtown and Austrians do not know - but I guess this will change soon because it is beautiful!

Yesterday Longfield Gospel hosted a Christmas concert there, and it was the perfect surrounding and the perfect atmosphere.

The stage was right in front of the Upper Belvedere, but there were so many people there that I did not see anything at all!! Grrr, old friend Sigi and new friend Riki are members of the choir (and rumor has it I might be too soon) and I would have loved to see them in action, but even though I am so terribly tall it was impossible.

So we sneaked behind the market booths and got glimpses from there. The Longfield project basically started as a choir of amateurs who simply wanted to have fun with singing, but meanwhile they have accomplished a very high level of expertise and perform in many concerts each year. The music yesterday was a mixture of thriving African rythms and well-know Christmas songs, and everybody loved it. Come see them yourself nexttime!

And afterwards it is a good opportunity to do a little bit of Christmas shopping. The booths offer traditional goods, and the atmosphere is more christmassy than you find it e.g. at the Market before Schönbrunn Castle.

 And the setting, no doubt, is wonderful. They even have lights on the lake.....

It was quite cold yesterday, so we all came with lots of layers. And I was wearing my conelike arctic coat, in which I need to be helped back up to my feet again when dropping to the side like a bowling pin. But it is cosy and warm. Sigi obviously was freezing when she got home, but due to Doctor´s orders she is fine today, her voice has not suffered and she will continue to be one of the stars of Longfield!

What a great evening just before Christmas! Thank you, Longfield, and thank you, friends! See you at the next concert - or hopefully much earlier!

Kronborg Slot

As much as I liked everything we saw or did in Denmark - today I want to show you the - in my opinion - best part of our visit: Kronborg Slot. It is one of the most important Northern Renaissance castles and is situated in Helsingor, guarding the Oresund Sound, built in a time when Denmark was a grand nation, a powerful force of the seas, with the King demanding all the ships travelling through the Oresund Sound to pay dues to be allowed to pass. (Some of the dues were used to fight the pirates that were a real pest at that time to guarantee save travels in the waters of Denmark. This is the official version, and it seems that it is actually true!)

Kronborg Slot is also known as the "Hamlet castle", the castle that inspired Shakespeare to write his Hamlet, and if you read it carefully all of the numbers and descriptions about the castle that Hamlet, prince of Denmark, resides in, are mirrowing Kronborg Castle. It is not sure if Shakespeare has actually been to the castle himself, but at least two of his closest friends have been, so they easily can have informed him about the dimensions, looks and the importance of Kronborg. We were told that Copenhagen was a "pitiful, dirty shack" at that time (the guide there told us), and the castle in fact was the favourite place of residence for many of the kings. I so loved it!!!!!!!

You can travel to Helsingor by ferry or by train, coming from Copenhagen, getting off at Helsingor Station. It takes you about an hour from Copenhagen.

Walking up to the castle will take you another 15-20 minutes, they have fireplaces on the way up so you can warm your hands and enjoy the view of the castle while you walk there. Another time that we were happy to have come in Winter! In Summer it is the No.1 tourist spot in Denmark, with more than 200.000 visitors per year, but when we were there it was almost just us, the mercury sea, the quietness of a Winter´s day, the snow and the castle.... It was so quiet that one seemed to be experiencing this very special "Denish" atmosphere, everything seemed so unreal, and we did not even hear the sound of the waves as the sound seemed to be completely still.

It is so huge that it is hard to take a photo of it in one piece, but here you see a model of it that you will find approaching the main gate.

This day I was in a constant high, and it was one of the best trips we ever made. Everything was perfect, the journey there, the eery atmosphere.... And when we bought tickets to enter the castle one of the tourguides was hanging out there, being obviously bored, who took a liking in us and asked us if we wanted to go on a private tour with her. We did not have to pay anything extra, but obviously she liked our "aahs" and "oohs" so that instead of a 20 minute tour (that was scheduled hours later, they don´t do many in Winter time) she showed us around the castle for more than two hours!

(Later I found out that she had studied Philology, and after my surprised "Me too!" she seemed to like us even more. How are the odds meeting a fellow philologist in a castle in Denmark???)

First Natalia showed us the famous casemates - a word that means "home in the darkness". In these areas thousands of soldiers stayed for weeks in wars and sieges, and it must have been extremely demanding to live, sleep, cook aso there in these dark, damp place. They also kept the weapons and horses there, they even had something like a huge kitchen, and as people were afraid of diseases the soldiers were not allowed to drink water, only BEER was allowed, 8 litres a day. I cannot imagine to go into a battle with just 1 litre. But maybe it makes you die happy? Well, I doubt it.

We also met Holger Danske (Holger the Dane), who is residing at the entry to the casemates. I love the legend that surrounds this friendly giant. After fighting for Denmark in foreign places he came back to his home country, felt awfully tired, sat down and turned into stone. But when the Kingdom will be threatened by a foreign enemy Holger Danske will turn into flesh and blood again and he will rise and defend his country. So far he is still sleeping, so everything must be good for Denmark. I would feel extremely comfortable with such a strong ally watching over me...

The King´s and Queen´s appartement were something completely different. Besides: The inside of the castle burned almost completely down in 16something, and then the King decided to decorate everything completely new to the modern fashion. This is the King´s appartement with a rather Baroque looking ceiling. They tore down the wonderful wooden ceiling - even were it was not burnt - and put this up. I would have preferred the wooden works.

The ballroom. (We were told that the Christmas tree usually is not there - we said, "Yes, yes, we thought so".)

A view out into the Oresund sound. Don´t you just love the little flags??

The Castle Courtyard. At weekends there is a Christmas market there before Christmas, but during the week the yard is left to itself. Much better....

The sound of silence. Coming out of the main gate you can walk a view steps to the beach, there was nobody there except us and this one person, and I guess he also wanted to be kept alone, because he quickly walked away when we came down. Thanks, man...

What a brilliant day! Do go when you are in the area, you will love it! And I envy you that your first time at Kronborg Slot is still ahead.....