Horses and Castles

 

Ilse and Lars at Dragsholm Castle

This morning, Ilse drove Ann and I to the Stokkebjerg Nature Riding company, about 1/2 an hour from their home.  https://stokkebjerg-naturridning.dk/ We met with 8 other people to go on a horse riding tour using Icelandic horses.  This was a much different experience from what we had during a trail ride in Hawaii.  To start off with, once they assigned us a horse and told us its name, they gave us a short rope and sent us out into a field to fetch the horse ourselves.  Most of the people on the tour had done this before and they knew the routine, but we were clueless.  Once we had our horse attached to the rope, we had to lead it to a special area and tie it to a hitching post.  We watched as other people got brushes and started brushing the horses down.  

Ann brushing her horse before putting the saddle on

Saddle on

I found my horse

Getting some rocks out of his hooves.  My horse only understood German and so I I had to say something in German to get him to let me look at his shoes.

Good to go!

Some people even had tools and were lifting the horses hooves up to clean out any rocks.  We eventually got help with that.  Then they just told us to go into a building and look for the saddle with the horse’s name next to it, and carry it out and put it on the horse.  These were European saddles, without a horn and so I wasn’t even sure exactly which way it went on, never mind knowing how to cinch and buckle it on properly.  Eventually, Ann and I got help with this and help with the reins and other equipment.   

Ann riding by the ocean

We also rode through beautiful forests

We barely got any kind of instruction and early on the trail, the leader signals and says, “ ok this is where we will run the horses a little”.  Say what?!  It took me awhile to figure out how to use my stirrups and my legs properly and it was rather scary and hard on my butt but once I figured it out, the fast parts of our tour became more fun.  Unfortunately, I don’t think Ann’s stirrups were ever adjusted properly, (too long) and so she did not have an enjoyable time.  Before hitting the trail with the horses, someone offered me a little whip for the horses and I said I didn’t want one.  I thought, “ why would I want to whip my horse?”  The leader of the troop was urging me to make my horse go faster to keep up and then offered me a small branch to use.   The idea is not to whip the horse, but to hit the side of your own thigh which the horse can feel and will get the idea to go faster.  It actually worked and was a lot of fun.

I rode a headless horse and so he couldn’t see where he was going.  It made for a challenging ride.  

  When we finished our 1 1/2 hour ride, we had to unsaddle the horses and put everything away.  It was odd in my opinion, but I actually had a good time and made good memories.  I’m just glad that Ann didn’t fall off and hurt herself.

In the evening, our hosts took us to a place called Dragsholm Castle.  https://www.dragsholm-slot.dk/  

On the drive to the Castle, we stopped at a beautiful viewpoint 

This castle is over 800 years old and is a special place for Ilse and Lars.  Lars celebrated his 50th and 80th birthdays there as well as his and Ilse’s wedding and many New Years celebrations and other events.  It’s an incredibly beautiful place.  

Dragsholm Castle

The castle grounds

A beautiful photo taken by Ilse

The chapel in the castle where they were married

To top of the day, Ilse and Lars made reservations for the 4 of us to dine at the fancy restaurant in the castle.  It was an incredibly memorable day.  

The end of a wonderful day!

Fine Dinning Day

 

Nykøbing

After a small breakfast, Ann and I went for an exploratory 6 km walk near Ilse and Lars’ home.  Today our host had two different restaurants planned for us and we feel very spoiled. We had to be back from our walk in order to make it to a reservation at “Det Vilde Køkken” restaurant for brunch.  https://m.detvildekoekken.com/ This is a special Sunday only buffet that specializes in wild ingredients that are foraged locally.  

Sunday brunch with Ilse and Lars

After brunch we visited the Martinus Center which is difficult to describe but involves a community who subscribe to certain “scientific philosophy” that started with a man named Martinus. 

After that we went to some free art galleries to pass the time. 

 For supper, our hosts took us to Restaurant ERBA. https://www.annebergkulturpark.dk/en/erba It is operated by the daughter of a local Michelin Restaurant owner.  Both of our restaurant experiences today were outstanding.  Our hosts are very fortunate to live in a small town with such fine dining.

Walking with Lars and Ilse to a restaurant for supper

Later that evening,  Ann and I went for a little stroll nearby.

We found ourselves walking on the grounds next to the Hemple Glasmuseum https://hempelglasmuseum.dk/en/. Unfortunately, the museum is closed for renovations until June, 2027 

There were bronze statues on the grounds near the museum

Nice mowed walking trails near the glass museum

  

Seaweed Safari in Nykøbing

Learning about seaweed

   This morning  Ilse and Lars shared a delightful breakfast with us at their home.  At 10:00 am  Ann and I met Craig, Nick, Michael and his daughter Martha at the Danish Seaweed company in Nykøbing to do a “Tang Safari”.  One of the owners of the company gave as and a few other people an explanation (mostly in Danish) about the company and the different types of seaweed and some information about the agricultural process concerning planting and growing seaweed.  

Different types of seaweed

Later, we were all supplied with our own hip wader boots and led out for a 15 minute walk out to the fjord where we went into the water where different types of seaweed were present.  Our guide showed them to us and we tasted them right out of the water.  He then gave us 20 minutes to harvest as much as we wanted ourselves.  

Kevin, Michael and Martha

Seaweed attaches itself to small rocks on the ocean floor.  I made myself a seaweed necklace

Eating certain kinds of seaweed right out of the water

Around 1:00 pm we all went to Ilse and Lars’ place for a wonderful lunch out on their outside deck.  

A very relaxed man at Lars and Ilse’s beautifully comfortable home

Later that afternoon, Ilse took us to the old Psychiatric hospital and showed us the room where they removed the brains of dead patients for research.  Right next to this small building is a cemetery where they buried all those brainless people.  It’s rather creepy but interesting as well. 

Walking to the chapel

(The cemetery next to the Chapel at Annebergparken-  The cemetery is situated just next to the chapel where the forest - Grannehaveskoven - surrounds the site. There is a wonderfully peaceful atmosphere with the sound of the wind in the trees, the smell of grass and ferns and the gravestones are simple and grey. Hundreds of people have found their last resting place here and the gravestones state their names and the name of their original hometowns. The chapel looks like a Greek temple with a little bell tower - very pretty.

But this fairy tale atmosphere is only part of it. The history of the place is a different story and feeling. The place was part of the former mental hospital of Nykebing Sj and when it was most busy it had up to 1,000 mental patients and approximately 700 employees.

When a patient died, the funeral service was held in the little chapel and if no relatives were involved, the deceased patient would be buried in the little cemetery next to the chapel. Some patients were buried in the cemetery of Nykebing Sj town or - if relatives were involved - the person could be buried in a cemetery near the family.

It was widely unknown that patients who died in the hospital between 1945 and 1982 had their brains removed in the small back room of the chapel. This was justified by scientific studies. The brains were sent to the mental hospital at Risskov near Aarhus to be used in research. After removing the brain of a deceased patient, newspapers were used to fill the space where the brain had been. Thereafter, the funeral took place in the front room of the chapel - a beautiful room with pretty red, blue and white walls.

Over the years 9,455 brains were taken out from all mental hospitals in Denmark, and approximately 2,000 of these were taken out in Nykebing Sj. and sent by train to Risskov and when Risskov closed in 2018 the brains were moved to Odense University Hospital.

Today the chapel and the cemetery are listed and protected by law because of their unique story.

Apart from approximately 700 deceased patients the first professor and leader of the hospital, Frode Krarup and his wife, are buried here in front of the small bronze age mound. Also a few employees chose to be buried here.)-Copied from a sign on the property

 In the old hospital, Ilse took us to see the museum that she had a big part in curating.  After this, Craig and Nick went back to Copenhagen with Michael and Martha.  We went for a little rest ( a grandfather) as the Danes call it before going out to Cafe Nokken for a fantastic supper with Ilse and Lars.

In this video, a wise man ( Lars) explains why this is his favourite beer.
  

We had some wonderful conversation with our hosts and then later at their house we were shown a big box of old letters that Ilse’s Father and Mother had written to each other during the war. 

Very precious and personal family items that we had the privilege of seeing.