Kronborg Castle at Elsinore!

That's right, the same Castle at Elsinore that is spoken of in Shakespeare's Hamlet!

And here it is!

We had the day off yesterday and decided to go see a castle...crazy to say that, isn't it! It was a wonderful adventure! I paid about 14 Euro to go in and have a tour of the castle. We got a guided tour of the Casements (the partially-underground bunker-like corridors which could house 2000 soldiers for up to four months during a time of siege.) As well as a guided tour of the Royal chambers. We also got to look at the castle chapel, and the museum of maritime development. All in all, we spent most of the afternoon exploring and learning about the castle.

We found out that one of the suspected reasons for Shakespeare choosing this castle for his Hamlet story, aside from the fact that it was the Danish royal residence at the time Hamlet was written, was that one of Shakespeare's friends was a court jester in the court at Kronborg Castle and came back home to England to tell Shakespeare of all the court customs and the layout of the castle et cetera! Based on this detailed knowledge, Shakespeare was able to craft a play about a country and even a specific castle where he himself had never set foot. One of the particular details that I found interesting was the custom of the King paying dinner guests if they were able to kill a rat if one ran across the floor during a meal. Shakespeare incorporated this in his line: "How now, a rat, dead for a ducat, dead!"

The castle has a moat! How cool is that? ;)

A little hole in the wall - quite literally!

The castle was first built in 1420 and was completely re-built, over the original structure, when, in 1570, the king at the time (see below) got married and wanted a modern castle for his new 14 year old bride (he was 38 at the time!) This is a portion of the original wall which can still be seen in a part of the casements.


Frederik II, who rebuilt the Kronborg castle for his young wife.

Holger Danske: the sleeping hero of Denmark. As the legend goes, Holger was given immortality by a fairy at birth. He went and fought in foreign lands defending Denmark for 400 years. Then he came home to Kronborg where he sat down to rest. He fell asleep, but before he did, he vowed that if ever Denmark was in serious danger again, he would wake and defend her. So, here he sits and sleeps as Denmark is still quite safe!

Also in the casements, were cells for keeping prisoners taken during a siege. They were in the corners of the casements and hence came to a point. It is believed that prisoners who were less-liked were moved further and further into the corner until they had barely enough room to turn about. All the bars are now gone, but you can still see the places where they were secured in the ceiling and floor. Here are Nichole and Amy in the furthest reaches of the cell! They fit alright :D

This is one of the the arrow slits in the casements. These had to be manned at all times, and there was a severe physical punishment for a soldier falling asleep at his watch.

This is upstairs in the royal quarters (which weren't very big for such a large castle, but with reason, as the rooms got quite cold, and smaller rooms were easier to keep warm by fire than larger ones.) The king had a lovely view of the straight between present day Denmark and Sweden (at various times during this castle's existence, the Swedish side has belonged to both countries, and, for a two year period, the castle belonged to Sweden. After those two years, a treaty was signed giving back the castle and surrounding land to Denmark, but assuring that all the land across the straight would belong to Sweden.) The king could also see ships sailing past (they were required to lower their flag half mast and also to pay a tax. If the ship failed to lower its flag, the king would shoot off a cannon and charge the ship captain not only the tax, but also the cost of the gun powder and cannon ball!)

Part of the wall near the main entrance gate which was opened recently (over 200 years ago!) Prior to the opening of the main gate, one had to enter the castle through an underground tunnel entrance.

One of the many beautiful views from the extravagant dining room. There were large fireplaces at each end of the 60M (65.5 yd) long room, but because the fireplaces let most of the heat out through the chimneys, the guests seated at the center of the table must eat their soup quite quickly in winter to be sure it didn't freeze over!

This is King Christian IV: the one responsible for much of the modernization in the castle. His father (Frederik II) built the new castle (in 1570) but only lived a few years after its completion. Christian IV was the longest reigning king of Denmark with a reign of 60 years (1588-1648.) He is pictured here near the end of his life in a silk tapestry woven with gold and silver. The tour guide pointed out how tired he looked, but also how he was quite rotund. The king and queen had 8 kilos (more than 17.5 lbs) of meat reserved for each of them at every meal! Normal meals would have 12 courses, but on special occasions, or upon the entertaining of guests, as many as 24 courses would be served. Christian was known for his extravagant spending, and would regularly serve exotic fruits at meals. The price of a lemon (were we to calculate it in today's market) would be about 5000 DKK (just over $1000!) It was also a common practice at meals to have a servant bring a silver bowl and towel to guests so they could "relieve" themselves if they felt too full to continue the meal! At the end of meals with guests, the king would often have fireworks shot off outside the dining room windows. The force of the blast would shatter the glass - again demonstrating the wealth of the kingdom, as glass was quite expensive to replace in those days!

One of the views from the queen's chambers.

After relinquishing the land across the straight, the king had to move from Kronborg castle (to Copenhagen, where the royals are still housed) as Kronborg was now directly on the boarder of Sweden. After the royal family moved out, the castle became a permanent residence for soldiers. It even housed Nazi soldiers during the German invasion of WWII. While the castle itself was not used for housing soldiers after that time, until 1991, the castle grounds buildings still housed Danish soldiers! Only recently has this castle become a memorial open to the public! We were so fortunate to have been able to see it!

The castle chapel entrance.

Well, I hope you enjoyed the pictorial look at the Kronborg Castle! "The rest is silence."

Tour To Date...Part Two

OK, so here is my continuation of Tour To Date with more pictures, as promised!

After our first week of performance in Germany we moved on to Denmark for three weeks of performances in Denmark and Sweden! Our accommodation is quite nice and is just outside of Copenhagen. We drive to our schools each morning (typically within about an hour of our accommodation.) When we arrive, we set up for the show we're going to do, which takes between half an hour and forty-five minutes, then we take about 40 minutes to load the van back up with all our stuff after the show (unless we're doing another show, in which case, we change the set and backdrop which takes about 20 minutes.) On some occasions, like today, we perform in two different locations. On days like today, we pack up as quickly as we can, drive to the second location, unload and setup as quickly as possible, then try to breathe before the second show!

This week we're doing all of our shows in Sweden, but since we're only about an hour from the boarder, we're not changing accommodations, which means we've got about an hour and a half drive each morning to be there in time to set up for the 9.30 or 10.00 shows (yes, that means that we're leaving between 7 and 7.30 which means that yours truly is getting up between 6.20 and 6.50 believe it or not!)

After our performances this week, we'll have a long weekend, then move to another part of Denmark for performances there before heading back to good ole Deutschland!

So, now for the part that you've all been waiting for: pictures...

Boat in the harbor of Hvidovre, Denmark!

Danish Kroner - interesting, eh? The exchange is about 7.40 DK to 1 Euro.


Courtyard of a cool cathedral in same town.


Window in the cathedral.


More of the same.


Proof to my FL folks, that Fall colors are not a myth... :D


Those who have seen my childhood "artwork" are aware that I have a thing for leaf-less trees! I found one!


A nearby lake.


We went to the Carlsberg factory in Copenhagen - cool museum tour! Got a photo with my buddy the manikin!


The Carlsberg factory has the World Record for the largest collection of un-opened beer bottles! They have some cool old ones!


My "artsy" pic of the large feris wheel in downtown Copenhagen.


We also went to this really cool (no pun intended) place called the Icebar.


Everything inside is made of ice, and so the room is chilled to -5C!


Even the glasses are made of ice! This is my yummy raspberry something drink!


They gave us these parkas and gloves to wear to keep ourselves from freezing, but even so, we were only allowed to stay inside for 45 minutes. (I do have a pic of me, but it's on someone else's camera, and I haven't gotten their pics yet!) L-R: Michael, Nichole, Amy.

So, I'm not exactly sure what this says, but whatever it is, dogs are not allowed to do it!


We visited a hippie commune called Christiania in the heart of Copenhagen. It is independent from the Danish government, and is not a part of the EU (European Union.) The community doesn't allow photos inside, so this is all you get! It was an interesting experience, with a fun little handicrafts shopping area!


A shoe store. Um, no thanks!


This is for my friends Allie and Jeremy - this photo was taken on 7.11 and I thought of you (then, of course, I realized that it was 11.7 there so no free slurpies, but it's the thought that counts, right?)


For Jared - this guy was playing in the central square of Copenhagen, and he was good! He was playing some really fast back beats with some pre-recorded backup music! Pretty cool! You would have liked it. :)


This yacht captain was demonstrating some Danish spirit!


The royal residence of the Queen (who was not at home.)


She has a view over the water of the Opera House (when she is at home.)


She is also protected by, you guessed it, royal guards (when they are not at home.)



The most famous sight in Copenhagen (according to some locals we talked with.) This is "The Little Mermaid." No, not Disney - google it!

More updates and pics from Sweden coming soon!

Tour To Date...Part One

OK, so, as you can imagine, I have about a billion pictures to choose between to show you what's been going on in my life for the past two weeks as we've been on tour. I'll try to keep this short (ish!) (OK, since short didn't work, I've decided to just make this a two-parter! Keep your eyes peeled for part two!)

I do have to tell you a funny story before I forget it...I went to a church across the street today. It was all in Danish, so I only understood the words that sound like German or English (about half of them.) Interesting! My favorite part of the service (apart from getting to sing worship songs and have communion, of course) was the final song of the service. We sang, as a congregation, "This Little Light of Mine," in Danish (I sang in English.) And, to top it all off, we did the motions. Everyone. Including the old couple sitting beside me, and the minister in his robe and regalia! I loved it!

So, the tour: there are four of us actors, two guys, two gals. The guys are from the US, and the gals are from Scotland. The first week of tour we were in Germany near our rehearsal base in Soest. After that week we drove up to Copenhagen, Denmark! So, here are some show pictures (from week one when our director was traveling around with us.) I'll post pictures of our week in Denmark in part two!

My character in "The Weasel in the Sack," Me as the FAT brother, Marmaduke.

The brothers after having "lost" their sister whom they were planning to kill...

The brothers - in the sack! Tied up by the princess we had treated poorly her whole life as our "sister." When the children have to "tickle the sack" they tend to hit/pinch! :(

The second level play, "Future Perfect," in which I pay the main character: Jimmy Doramus. Jimmy is quite the slacker and nerd as a kid...

He imagines himself fighting crime as James Pond, and, yup, you guessed it: SUPERMAN! Yes, this is a rip away suit under which is the Superman costume. The first time we did this show (as the final invitation dress where the other tour casts were able to watch) the rip away worked a little too well - my red plastic underwear came off as well! Thankfully, they decided to put buttons instead of snaps which works much better!

By the end of the show, Jimmy becomes a rich and famous rap musician - yes, I have to rap! I also teach the kids the coffee grinder - great fun!

Tom in The Glass Menagerie "Sometimes they would turn all the lights out except for a large glass sphere that hung from the ceiling. It would turn slowly about and filter the dusk with delicate rainbow like colors."

Tom and Amanda (my mother is played by a woman who's 6 years my junior!) "What about Laura?"

Tom and Laura (This is when I come back after getting drunk and Laura comes to check on me.) "What are you doing?" "I'm looking for a door key!"

The cast of Glass Menagerie L-R: Michael (as Jim), Amy (as Amanda), Nichole (as Laura), and Me (As Tom!)

Our Glass Menagerie Set

Our trusty touring van!

The dam near our first lodging.


Another view.


This sign made me chuckle. Notice that for the next 10 ft beyond the no diving sign is a slab of concrete - NO KIDDING NO DIVING!

Stay tuned for part two, coming soon!

Howdy!

Hi folks! I just wanted to let you know that I'm doing well! I arrived in Denmark yesterday, and we have today off. We have our first show in Denmark tomorrow morning! I've got a laptop with me now, and I've got internet at our flat here in Denmark, so I should be able to upload photos and post some updates sometime soon! Love and hugs!

VERY brief update!

Hi folks!

I don't have much time to tell you what's going on, but I thought I'd send you a few sentences about life in rehearsals. I also don't have my camera cable with me, so no photos - sorry!

I just completed my second week of rehearsals, and came home to Essen to spend the weekend with Sidonie! Our tour group is doing three shows: two original pieces for children (Weasel in the Sack, and Future Perfect) and The Glass Menagerie for young adults. In Weasel, I play one of two evil brothers to the main character. My character, Marmaduke, is a fat glutton who is selfish and prideful. It's a fun show with a fairy tale feel. We climb a mountain, cross a river, fight a dragon and find out that our Cinderella-esque sister is really a princess!

In Future Perfect, I play the lead character, a boy that we see grow from 13 to 22 (both ages that are clearly still in my playing range - right? ;) Jimmy Doramus (my character) doesn't like school, so he doesn't apply himself and doesn't do very well. He tries to find work after graduation, but ends up in the packing department for a toy company: not something he anticipated. In the end, he is discovered by a movie producer, and becomes a big rap sensation (that's right, folks, I rap throughout this piece!) The moral of this story is that while Jimmy made it big without applying himself, this type of success is not common.

In Menagerie I play Tom (for those who don't know the show, that's the narrator and male lead.) This is a role I've always wanted to play, and I'm having such fun rehearsing for it! We've set the play in its original St Louis (accents and all!) This is worth mentioning because both of the women on my tour are Scottish! They're doing quite a nice job adapting to not only a foreign accent, but a dialect of a foreign accent! The other guy on tour is also American (he's from Upstate NY.) We tech on Tuesday and have an invite dress the following day! We're all looking forward to that! We have our first public performance on the 27th of October, and we'll be performing Menagerie twice that day, once in the morning and once in the evening (a rare occurrence as most of our performances are before noon!) We perform in middle and upper level schools and typically perform between one and three shows (in any arrangement) each day. We stay in one place for at least a week (sometimes up to a month.) We're usually done with work by early afternoon each day and are free until our performance the next day. We have Saturdays and Sundays off (but we often travel to a new location on Friday evenings.) We also have nearly three weeks paid leave for Christmas and about two weeks paid leave for Easter.

Our tour is for the NW portion of Germany. We'll be staying in this area for most of the 9 month contract, but we'll also be going up to Denmark, and will be performing in N German cities like Hamburg and Flensburg. My cast mates are happy that I've lived in Deutschland for a year, so that I can help when we encounter folks who don't speak English! (The other two tours are made up of actors from Australia, America, England, Scottland, and Ireland, and none of the others speak German.)

Well, I'd better get back to life here - I've got to get things ready to head back to Soest for more rehearsals tomorrow!

Love and hugs to all! Don't forget to let me know what's up on your side of the globe :D

Changes...

Howdy folks! So, I promised to let you know what came of the auditions, and here it is :).

Drumroll, please...

I have a job! Wahoo! This has been quite a journey here in Essen. We've been here a little more than seven weeks, and I've been looking for a job since then! We really didn't want to just take any old job, but we wanted to hold out for one that I would actually enjoy. Our waiting has paid off.

I had two auditions in the past couple weeks, the one with the dinner theatre I mentioned and one with the theatre that wanted me to audition for The Glass Menagerie a few weeks ago. I know, strange story gets longer! The brief version - the rehearsals for this job began a week ago. However, the guy that they had cast in the position they originally wanted me to audition for decided one week into the rehearsal process that he didn't like the job, and he went home. I got a call yesterday from one of the two theatre directors who told me the above information and asked me to come audition (their rehearsal space is about an hour away from Essen in Soest.)

The skinny is: I have booked a British Equity educational English language theatre year-long contract. I will be playing Tom in The Glass Menagerie, and two other roles in two other shows. The other shows are original works/adaptations, and one is an ensemble piece, and I'll play the lead in the other. There are four of us who will play all the roles in the three shows (two guys - both American, and two girls - both Scottish.) We will be touring around Germany and Denmark (mostly in NRW: the German state that we live in.) The great thing about that is that I'll be able to come home to Sidonie in Essen almost EVERY WEEKEND!

Because the group is a week into the four week rehearsal process, I've got quite a job ahead of me! I'll begin at 9 AM on Monday, yes, that means three days from now! Needless to say, we've got quite a lot to do here this weekend!

Well, I'll keep this short, so I won't give all the details of the audition here, but if you want to know them, just send me an email or leave a comment.

Dinner and a Show

OK, so I know I promised to write more often and I haven't...BUT, there is a reason... I've been working feverishly to get a job, and have had some interesting things happen along the way...

I have requested a bazillion other auditions in the area, and have done a ton of research, both on foot and on the internet! Some companies have responded that they are not looking to cast until next summer, but I did hear back from a dinner theatre which invited me to audition now. I had my audition this afternoon (after a very tumultuous trip there - oh the joys of public transport) and it was great fun! I did two German monologues (one from Hexenjagd - the German version of The Crucible, and a Billy Flynn monologue from Chicago.) I also sang two songs - one in German the other in English (as is expected here.) I should hear something from them within a couple weeks, or so they said before I left. I promise to let you know what comes of it! :D I'll also let you know if I hear from any of the other companies I've written.

In other news, we have found a church here. It is a very difficult thing to find a church in Germany - it's the antithesis of the States! In the States, you can find a church with people who love God and worship Him together weekly on nearly every corner. Not so here! There are plenty of poorly-attended Catholic churches, don't get me wrong, but as for finding a Protestant church with people who actually come because they love God and each other - good luck! The people at the church we found are VERY sweet, and we've had offers for rides (the church is about a 20 min walk from our flat) invitations to lunch, and even found a guy who is interested in booking us for vocal and instrumental gigs! The pastor actually studied at Christ For The Nations International in Texas! He and his wife have two kids and are super sweet. The pastor's parents are also leaders in the church, and are dolls! The first week we were there, we inadvertently sat directly behind the pastor's mom. She greeted us warmly (not so common here) and asked us where we were from. When we told her, she said (in German, of course): "Oh no, you speak German, right?" We said yes, and she said: "Not that English is bad, just that I couldn't talk to you if you couldn't speak German because I can't speak English" - so cute!

Sorry for the lack of pictures, but I do have a couple here with updates on the flat.

Our bedroom - after painting!

My bedside table - notice the cool puzzle piece I found for a Euro fifty! Also, notice the peacock feathers from Aunt Joan's peacocks!

Sidonie's bedside table decor all for about five Euros!

The guest room - I dyed these curtains along with the pillow cases from the living room, but because they're synthetic and I dyed them after the pillow cases and didn't leave them in as long, they came out this lighter color of blue to match the other decorations in the guest room!

The other half of the guest room - notice our "bookshelf!" More furniture is still to be purchased, but this sofa does fold out into a bed (hint, hint!)

For updates on Sidonie's job, check out her blog at pleaseshinedownonme.blogspot.com!

Love and hugs to all!