We decided to take a visit to the wonderful district of Helsingør in the greater Copenhagen area. Helsingør is home to the very old and very famous Kronborg Castle. Kronborg Castle served as the inspiration for the setting of Elsinore in William Shakespeare’s Hamlet. Hamlet is certainly one of my favorite Shakespearean plays, one that we often discussed outside of class when we were reading it in high school. The castle was gigantic and beautiful. It was on a tiny little peninsula surrounded by water on almost every side. The spiral staircases going up and down inside the castle were simply extraordinary. We got to get a glimpse of what life was like for royalty in 16th century Scandinavia. Just a little, tiny bit of me was hoping that Mel Gibson or someone posing as Hamlet (or, maybe even his ghost?) was going to swing down from the rafters and deliver a booming soliloquy, but unfortunately that did not happen. The magnificent walking tour of the castle ended (in typical fashion) in the most wonderful gift shop. It takes a lot for me to break down and buy the over-priced souvenirs in gift shops wherever I happen to be, but something about this gift store one me over. My only anxiety was deciding exactly what to get. Should I go for the iconic skull (that would be tough to get home in the carry on?), or should I go for a copy of Hamlet with the Kronborg insignia stitched into the fine cover? Naturally, I opted to go for the t-shirt with the famous line from Act III, Scene 1, “To be, or not to be” written on the front with the castle on the back. Now, I just have to decide if the shirt winds up being a keepsake for myself or a souvenir for one of my five siblings. That is the question.