more castles

this weekend has been nice and just about my speed. on saturday I spent the bulk of the day—from 10:30 to 3:30—executing a “teach yourself copenhagen history” tour for my history of copenhagen class. I was pleasantly surprised to find that I had been to most of the places before, so it was nice to be able to get around without getting lost and learn more about their significance. I went with two classmates of mine, alex and kristy, who are both just lovely. I was thinking about doing the tour on my own but I’m so glad I went with them! we stopped for lunch at a Mediterranean restaurant called rizraz, which I’d heard was a must-do for vegetarians in copenhagen. their all-you-can-eat lunch buffet was only 79 kroner (about $13.50), which is a really great deal for this expensive city! other memorable moments included trying to go into a church on the list but running into a funeral procession leaving it at the exact same moment and recognizing some other classmates at various locations throughout the city.

last night I made my weekly meal for the host family—tacos—which turned out better than I expected. I learned that in order to cook beans you have to soak them for a few hours first…we ended up blending the shriveled, hard kidney beans into the salsa and it wasn’t too bad.

today I bared the snow (!) and made it to frederiksborg castle, in the nearby town of hillerod. a spectacular dutch renaissance-style palace that has been reconstructed due to a fire that wiped out the original, frederiksborg didn’t disappoint. it was massive and completely filled with all kinds of treasures. the chapel there (which was not destroyed in the fire, luckily) was incredibly ornate. surrounding the walls were the coat of arms of everyone that has been knighted in the order of the elephant, including Eisenhower, nelson mandela, and denmark’s current queen. our tour guide anders was fantastic and full of random facts. besides the frigid weather, an awesome time has had by all!