Saturday, September 22, 2018

Last few days in Denmark

Autumn is here or for those who watch Game of thrones “Winter is Coming” The days are getting shorter and we seem to be on the receiving end of some storm activity working its way through the UK and Northern Europe. 
After we left Odense in Fyn we made our move to the largest of Denmarks land masses - Jutland. The plan had been to go to Legoland in Billund but google insisted that it was on reduced operating hours for Autumn before closing for winter so we settled on a drive in the country enroute to Århus and made a stop in Jelling to check out the Unesco listed monuments and rune stones that were raised  by king Gorm and his son Harald Bluetooth (and yes this is where Bluetooth technology takes it name - the engineer developing the technology was a fan of Harald Bluetooth and in honour of his networking and communication skills in bringing the Viking nation together named the wireless technology Bluetooth! True story! The symbol used for Bluetooth technology is derived from the ancient rune symbols for H and B overlaid). Included in our visit were the two burial mounds, one for Harold and the other for an unknown Nobel man. Both had been robbed on previous occasions but there was definitely enough left behind to help unravel the mysteries that lay beneath. King Haralds claim to fame was to unite the Vikings and bring Christianity to the Danes and the oldest rune stone raised by king Gorm bears the first reference known to the name “Denmark”. Therefore King Gorm the old’s Rune stone is referred to as Denmarks name certificate and Haralds Rune stone considered Denmarks baptism certificate and the figure of Christ inscribed on the stone is now featured in all Danish passports.
We spent over an hour at the (FREE) museum with fantastic interactive displays that were lost on the school groups. What i do know is that i am still learning so much and that i need to get out my history books and study the Viking way of life. SBS has taught me a lot but i suspect the focus here was on the raping and pillaging vs the trade and resettlement. Within the site were two burial mounds and hundreds of “newly” erected white pillars marking the approximate location of the original palisade erected from approximately 4000 oak trees. They have also marked the outline of the 350 metre ship-shape which was once marked by stones. 
Our two nights in Aarhus are going to be comfortable as our AirBnB is actually someone’s house that she lets out while she is away. We might have had to make our own bed and leave the sheets in the laundry but we have a house! Washing machine, kitchen, lounge, tv ..... I couldn’t do it with my place but it was certainly nice to be able to spread out. 
Aarhus is a lovely area. We have checked out the town and wandered through the shops in the old Latin Quarter including some beautiful jewellery and artefacts made from horn. (we might have brought a few things but it would be a shame not to!) We  did a drive through the Lakes area that was really nice except for the rain storms but still worth it. Danish roads are probably the best designed roads that you could imagine, for a population less than 6 million they have totally nailed the motorway! Top speed is 130kph albeit somewhat confusing in towns where it could be 30, 40, 50 or 80 and they don’t necessarily tell you. Last year they had a total of 160 road deaths (Norway was around 120) so what does that say to us..... in Norway the roads aren’t so great due to the mountains but the speed limit is at a maximum of 80kph. In Denmark the extraordinarily low road trauma is because they have dual lane highways nearly everywhere. 
Tonight and tomorrow night we will spend in Skagen at the tip of Jutland where we will hopefully dip our toes in the water and explore the northern beaches. 
Couldn’t possibly sign off without mention of the mighty Collingwood Football Club. When we got back to the room yesterday i had to log in and check but had already prepared myself for the inevitable result and had promised Robyn I wouldn’t be crabby for the whole night. OMG crack another can and bring on the game next Saturday. We are going to be somewhere in Sweden to and my research so far tells me that it will be 6.30 am and there are no bars that are open..... i might however be able to find a local SwedishAFL club (they actually do exist) that are hosting an event.........GO PIES!

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