Travel diaries: Copenhagen {2}

A highlight of the trip was without a doubt our visit to Rosenborg Slot, a Danish renaissance castle built in the 17th century by Christian IV and the former royal residence (and yes, in case you didn't know, Denmark is still a constitutional monarchy and therefore has a royal family).

I loved it from the outside already – surrounded by very large gardens, and looking so tall and narrow, like a fairytale castle.

The inside was just as attractive as the façades, with the ground floors consisting of more simple and austere rooms, covered either in a dark, warm wood or beautiful marble.

Something I loved was finding out the little oddities and hidden features of the castle, as the former residents seemed to have a knack for tricks and pranks. The first room, for example, may have looked pretty regular at first, but in reality there were hidden cavities under the floor from the corners of the room where music would come from. Apparently, the King loved to impress his visitors by having music play mysteriously through the floor, which he did by waving his hat, a signal that his servants could see through a peep hole in one of the paintings.

In another room there was an ornate, but seemingly innocent chair. According to the guide, the King would have his guests sit on it, only to then have a mechanism lock their arms to the armrests and then water would wet the seat.

Finally, on the top floor there was a mirror room, whose floor was a only a mirror from one side and through which the King, when standing in the room directly under, could observe up the skirts of his unaware female guests... he sure knew how to spice up his boring royal life!