One of the days last week I was longing for a flight, just a short one, and alone. And luckily, I could leave work earlier, there were no traffic jams, and the weather was ok. There was nobody in Holbæk flying club; I pulled my Aeroprakt out, and got airborne.
I didn’t have any particular plan, but the sun goes down at 6 p.m. I only had around 1.5 hours. So I decided to go and have a look at Kronborg. It has been a long time… I flew north, and by the northern coast of Zealand. Nykøbing Sjælland, one of the oldest market towns of Zealand:
Nykøbing Sjælland is also known for its “brainless cemetery”. In 1915 a Hospital for the Insane was opened in the town. It has been a general Psychiatric hospital, and has also included the first and to date the only one closed psychiatric ward for the criminally insane and dangerous psychotic patients in Denmark.
The name “The Brainless Cemetery” was not a name out of disrespect for the patients buried there. From 1945 till 1982 (!) an estimate of up to 2,000 brains were removed from patients prior to being buried in the cemetery. The removal was done in the hospital’s Chapel that has a room used for dissections. The removal of the brains was carried out by the nursing staff which besides their normal nursing care of psychiatric ill patients had had this additional task. After the removal, the brains were sent to Psychiatric Hospital in Risskov to be used in research. During the period that the removals were executed, relatives to the patients were not asked for permission, either were they informed. Most if not all of the patients buried at the cemetery have been buried without their brains.
I continued to Hundested and its harbour. It is a small charming town with a nice atmosphere during summer time:
And by the north coast:
Soon I reached Hensingør, a very nice city:
The narrow streets and old houses of the old town are so cute!
A closer look at Kronborg Castle:
The Kronborg Castle is called “the home of Hamlet”, but on my last trip to the island of Mors I learned that Hamlet lived on Feggeklit!
I turned back; I was going to have a headwind, and there wasn’t much time left for the sightseeing.
Hillerød on the photo above, and below 🙂 Below is my favourite castle in Denmark – Frederiksborg, and its gardens:
Frederikssund town, where one can experience The Viking Games during summer, and visit a Viking settlement museum:
I had hoped for a nice sunset, but it was clouded in the west:
When I was near Holbæk, the sun did shed a bit of its light on me. The sunsets are always spectacular…
The skies over Sejerø Bay turned subtle pink, and their colour was reflected in the waters:
The lights on the ground began to be more visible, and I went for landing:
I was a nice evening. Last week all the trees were still green. And last weekend the autumn suddenly was over us, with all its beautiful golden colours – I look so much forward to get airborne again, and to see it from air.
2 comments
Dear Natalie,
I am a private pilot based near Hamburg, flying for pure fun from the airfield of Uetersen (EDHE). Some time ago, I came across your website while I was looking for information regarding VFR flying in Denmark. Intrigued by beautiful pictures and interesting texts, I signed up for your newsletter and ever since I enjoy reading your very informative and lovely posts.
I wasn’t exactly aware of the type of aircraft you are flying, but by now, trust me, I have probably red anything available online about the A22/32 (incl. 2nd hand sales offers…). A fantastic aircraft – I have no idea, how I could have not known about it. You have inspired me so much, that I can’t stop thinking about owning an A22 or A32 now too – well, one day, still need to save some money….and waiting for the German civil aviation authority to allow counting flying hours on Microlights towards PPL license (as suggested by EASA this year). So in the meantime, I will continue to rent airplanes in Uetersen (C152 and C172).
I love Denmark, have been there many times both, for business as well as for holidays. From your blogs it seems, flying in Danish airspace is not that complicated. I flew to the island of Aero some years ago – wonderful! So hopefully next year I will get the chance to explore some more airfields in Denmark. Maybe I will even make it to some of the fly-ins you have been writing about.
As I will be using the coming winter season to study maps and regulations of VFR flying in Denmark, is there any publication/website you would particularly recommend paying attention to? Although I have found already quite some information, I would really appreciate your advice on this, it’s always good to get information first hand from people who know their stuff….
Thank you so much! Looking forward to every single of your posts,
best regards from Germany
Andreas.
Dear Andreas,
Thank you so much for your comment. I have actually been in Uetersen, in February 2019, on a 3-day trip to Hamburg with a friend. So we might walked by each other there! I wrote 3 blogposts about that tour, and in 2 of them there are pictures of Uetersen. If you want to see them, you can search my blog after “Sunny February weekend in Hamburg” and “Amazing Hamburg”.
Because of the corona pandemic, I haven’t been to Germany this year, and I miss visiting your country – warm people, great food, and charming old cities.
I had a look at your website – so many stunning photos you take! And I recognised basstölpel of Helgoland on one of them!
I’m going to answer you by e-mail regarding flying in Denmark, with links and practical info. And I hope very much we meet both in Denmark and in Germany, when this difficult time is over. At least, we can still fly!
Kind regards,
Natalie
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