Jelling and Copenhagen

We've been exploring Denmark's cultural side! After our fun at Legoland, we went to Jelling, considered to be the birthplace of Danish nationalism.  We climbed the highest viking-age burial mound I have ever seen up a set of stone stairs so old that the surfaces were polished from all the use.  Apparently this mound was actually built on top of an even older one from the bronze age.  Between this mound and another to the south we explored the church originally built by Harald Bluetooth (one of Denmark's most famous ancient kings), but twice replaced on account of fire, and saw two incredible runestones. One was raised by Harald's father, Gorm the Old, in honour of his late wife, Thyre.  She was considered to be quite the amazing lady and is credited with the building of some of Denmark's best early defenses. The other stone was raised by Harald in honour of his parents, but on it he also proclaimed himself king of all Denmark and Norway, and responsible for the official conversion of the Danish state to Christianity. The museum explaining all of this was quite impressive!

Yesterday, we returned to Copenhagen by train, experienced the horror of Copenhagen public transport at rush-hour, traversed more elaborately cobblestoned streets to our accommodation, and gratefully retired at our very friendly B&B, the Arctic Janus (which has the marvelous distinction of being a ship moored here in the harbour).

After a fabulous scandinavian "Frokost" (breakfast), we set out across Copenhagen to explore museums and cultural sites. We'll let you know what we find!