A castle and the crown jewels

On Mondays and Thursdays my class schedule is set up so that i have almost a 5 hour break between my 2 classes. Usually I just go home, do some work, eat lunch and relax. But sometimes I really want to get out into the city. On Monday, Feb. 9th, my friend Eric, who has the same schedule as me those days, and I decided to got back to Rosenberg Castle and actually go inside. We had both been there before but we had only seen it from the outside.

The first thing we did was got into the Royal Treasury. It is smaller than the treasury in the Tower of London, which is what most people picture when they think of crown jewels but it is no less beautiful. There were elaborate suits of armor, intricately designed swords, beautiful porcelain, and most importantly, the crowns and jewelry. One thing that we noticed was that there were so many images of elephants throughout the items. The past monarchies most have been highly influenced by the East, as many monarchies were. There was a time when anything from Asia was highly fashionable.

The jewelry was fabulous and the crowns were gorgeous. What I think is the coolest part is that many of the pieces in the treasury are actually still used. The two crowns are taken out and used for special occasions. The Queen also frequents the treasury when she needs jewelry to match one of her gowns. I loved this when I heard. I mean, if you have it why shouldn't you use it. And this makes more sense than going out and buying new jewels or borrowing them from Harry Winston. 

After the treasury we went inside the castle and walked around. It is built in the Dutch Renaissance style and is beautiful from both the inside and outside. The castle is filled with paintings, tapestries, furniture, and many other interesting things. It was a nice way to spend my time between classes.