Queen Mary said goodbye to Elsinore

Queen Mary 2 and her over 2000 passengers left Helsingør (Elsinore) tonight, hopefully after an interesting day exploring Hamlet´s Kronborg castle and other interesting attractions in the vicinity. The ship will return to Helsingør once more this summer. She certainly is one of the most good looking modern cruise ships!

Queen Mary meets Hamlet in Elsinore

Cunard´s flagship, the mighty Queen Mary 2 this morning anchored in front of  Hamlet´s castle in Elsinore (Helsingør). The ship measuring 345x41 m. takes 2620 passengers and has a crew of  1254. This evening the Queen will continue its cruise to Hamburg.

The Queen Mary 2, the Pearl Seaways and the Helsingør-Helsingborg ferry in front of the castle



The Queen Mary 2 in its full elegance

 PS
While enjoying the sight of the beautiful ship and the castle, this thought came into my mind: The Danes should perhaps present a posthumous Danish Tourism Award to William Shakespeare as a recognition for his great contribition in making Elsinore and Denmark famous all over the world!

If you do not remember the Hamlet story, here is an excellent summary.

(Click for larger images)

The beauty and the beast meet in Øresund

The Norwegian Sun (259 m.) and the European Highway (180 m.) met in Øresund, close to Helsingør/Helsingborg on Thursday evening, this week.

Claudio Villa and Sergio Bruni - two great Italian popular singers

There was a time when other than British and American recordings were widely listened to in Europe. Particularly, fine Italian singers, like Claudio Villa and Sergio Bruni were immensely popular - and not undeservedly. These are two of my own favourite songs:

Simple pleasures nr 14: A nostalgic walk in your neighbourhood

The other day I discovered that there is some really nice oldfashioned countryside quite close to where I  now live. I almost felt like walking in a time-machine, nostalgically recalling fond childhood memories, not from here, but from an environment that was not unlike this one:


Just enjoying a beautiful summer´s day

This old horse-chestnut tree in full bloom is a mighty sight

Sheep grazing contribute to a feeling of  less stress

This kind of wind power I like

During my walk this beautiful song by Schumann came into my mind, here performed by the unforgettable Fritz Wunderlich:

Sofiero castle park - full of rhododendrons

My morning walk today brought me to the Sofiero castle, just a few kilometers north of the city of  Helsingborg on the Swedish side of the Sound. The castle, which used to be the summer residence of  the Swedish kings Oscar II (1829-1907) and Gustaf Adolf (1882-1973), is famous for its park - last year it was chosen as the most beautiful park in Europe. The castle park is at its best this time of the year, when the more than 10.000 rhododendrons are blooming.

Crown Prince Gustaf Adolf and Crown Princess Margareta (the UK  princess  Margaret of Connaught) received Sofiero as a wedding gift. They took both a great interest in gardening. The gardens of the estate were redesigned in an English style. As Crown Princess Margaret published two books, Vår trädgård på Sofiero ("Our Garden at Sofiero) and Från blomstergården , illustrated with her own drawings and photographs, which were sold for the benefit of household schools. 

Gustaf Adolf, then Crown Prince, planted his first rhododendron in Sofiero already in 1907. Later on he became an avid collector of rhdodendrons. When he died, there were already 5000 of them.

Here are a some of today´s rhodies:

More information about Sofiero here, and here

Breakfast on the lawn

                This lady blackbird seemed to enjoy her breakfast on the lawn this morning.