Schleswig-Holstein

Bridges.52

No shortage of bridges at Schloss Ahrensburg, given that the castle itself is an island within an island. To see what I mean, enlarge the castle photo below – if you’re on computer or full view, it’s the left photo in the circular gallery below; if on a plain phone view, it’s the next photo.

Ah, Royalty.81


Schloss Ahrensburg, which we showed you once before, shortly after I went inside the castle for the first time, back on March 1st – how time flies.

Village Views.128


Countryside.18


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Windows.37


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Urban Entrances.177


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Country Canals.117


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Islands.106


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Countryside.16


Village Views.126


Ah, Royalty.75

The castle at Ahrensburg, outside Hamburg, was completed in 1585 during the hundreds of years in which most of what’s now the German State of Schleswig-Holstein was Danish. At least one Danish king visited this place in the 1700s at some point. It was the very first rather-legitimate nobility-related castle I saw with my own eyes, back when I spent a year living nearby before college. Oddly enough, I never went inside, never even entered the gardens and grounds to explore, ’til last weekend when I was back for a longer visit than I’ve managed in recent years.
If you’re in large-screen or full-view mode, you’ll see three round photos in a row below; the one in the middle was taken from the ground-floor turret room front left in the photo above, looking inwards, and if you enlarge, you’ll see areas where recent renovations uncovered some centuries-old paining, which they’ve tried to match a bit to show what the old colors would have been when fresh.

Small Wonders.190

Red currants & cherries, two delights of summer in the north, flourishing in the garden of dear friends outside HH.

Small Wonders.70


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Small Wonders.69


Small Wonders.68