A visit to the queen's place

A week filled with curry, boeuf bourgignon, barbecues, and beers zipped past. Before we knew it, my parents' last day in Aarhus had arrived. And what better way to spend it than with a visit to the beach and a local palace? We kicked things off with a visit to Bellevue Beach. Because yes, I may have made the inexplicable decision to live in Scandinavia, but it comes with proper sandy beaches, so ha!

Bellevue Beach

And then we swung by Marselisborg Palace, Queen Margrethe's summer residence. 

A tour through Marselisborg Palace grounds

As the queen wasn't in residence, we had the opportunity to spend the afternoon wandering the grounds. And, as you can see from the bottom right corner of the above collage, security at this royal residence wasn't exactly White House style. 

The grounds of the Marselisborg Palace haven't always been the territory of the royal family, but they did have some history as royal grounds in the 17th century. Then, in 1661, the seriously indebted King Frederik III of Denmark was forced to surrender this palace, among other properties, to his Dutch creditor, a certain Gabriel Marselis. Marselis's sons managed to upgrade the grounds from a manor to a barony, but the family couldn't keep their hands on the land. The last private owner was Hans Peter Ingerslev, who decided to offer his lands for sale to the city council of Aarhus, and then suddenly died two days later. (Not at all fishy...) The town council decided to build the palace, which was completed in 1902. The palace and its surrounding property was returned to royal hands as a wedding gift for Prince Christian and Princess Alexandrine, Queen Margrethe's grandparents. The palace has since been a secondary royal residence.

We were surprised by how freely we were allowed to wander around, touch the sculptures, picnic on the lawns, play in the guard stands, hike through the woods, or even take a nap in the gardens should the mood strike. It was definitely a memorable way to spend our last afternoon of a visit together.