May 22, 2012 Egeskov Castle

There are six school principals in Odense, Denmark with whom Karla and I have become close friends through our May Seminar travels.  We will be visiting all their schools but today three of them, Birgitte Andersen, Carsten Hoyer, and Johnny Rasmussen, took the day off to take us to Egeskov Castle.

A Count and his family still live in part of this castle, but they have opened the rest for the public as a museum.  His extensive car collection and motorcycle collection are also on display, and they have a maze, a "walk in the treetops", and several other attractions.

During the month of May admission is free for all grade school children, so there were quite a number of Danish classrooms on field trips while we were there.

The Danish principals treated us to a great lunch at an outdoor cafe.  It was a very fun and interesting day.

Egeskov Castle is in a lake and built on a foundation of oak beams.

Page and others climbing the spiral staircase to the walk in the treetops.

Danielle, Paige, Kairsten, Nicole, Moriah and Kristin up at the start of the treetop walk.

Carsten Hoyer and Dave in front of an old Fargo brand fire engine.

Heading into the maze.

View of the maze from an observation platform.

A few of the scores of motorcycles on display.

Carsten Hoyer, Birgitte Andersen, and Karla in the car museum.

Notice that one of the cars shown here has a license plate.  The ones with plates are still being used and driven by the Count.

This is an old Imperial Cadillac that was once owned by King Christian the Tenth of Denmark (his daughter is now the reigning monarch of Denmark).

An Old Mercedes Benz

An Old Buick

A Ferrari - he should have license plates on this one!

Danielle, Kristin, Moriah, and Paige having lunch.  The outdoor tables are separated by hedges.

Kairsten, Laura, Nicole, and Joni.

Our hosts Brigitte Andersen, Johnny Rasmussen, and Carsten Hoyer.

There were some very elaborately trimmed bushes on the castle grounds.  The odd egg-shaped figure is a a three-dimensional superellipse.  A famous Danish architect, Piet Heins, came up with this and uses it as an important design element.  If you're a math person, here are the details of this shape.

Trophy room in the castle.

Trophy room in the castle.

Trophy room in the castle.

The Count and his wife - we didn't meet them, this is a picture of a picture that was in the castle.

Suit of armor the current Count sometimes wears for publicity activities. 

A sitting room in the castle.

The drawbridge and groomed castle grounds viewed from the top floor.

Karla climbing a spiral staircase up to a display of historic dresses.

Probably their most famous dress, which belonged to and was worn by Marie Antoinette - the "Let them eat cake" French queen who was put to the guillotine during the French Revolution.

A side view of the castle.

Nicole, Joni, Kairsten, and Laura taking a break in an archway leading to the castle.

Johnny Rasmussen, Carsten Hoyer, and Birgitte Andersen also taking a break.

A walkway to another side of the castle.

Johnny Rasmussen and Karla

Nicole, Laura, Karla, Johnny  Rasmussen, Carsten Hoyer, Joni, and Kairsten posing in front of the superellipse.

A stream on the grounds.  Egeskov means oak forest (maybe oak grove).

A side path around the castle grounds.

On our way back to town from Egeskov we stopped at the boyhood home of Carl Nielsen, the famous Danish composer.

Front of an old church in downtown Odense.