Jelling

This morning we were a bit stunned when we woke up, despite having a very quiet and abstemious evening the preceding night. We went down the road for breakfast, then in search of a satisfactory coffee - a cafe latte with a double shot seems to do the trick. A beautiful quiet Sunday morning to be out and about.

Anne explored a couple of the nearby shops while I went for a walk down by the Domkirke and surrounding streets.

Jeppe and Maia picked us up at 12, and we drove to Jelling, to see in situ the Jelling stone. We have seen copies, in Lisbon and York, of this stone, which has been described - because the Runes refer to the country of Denmark and because of the image of Christ on one side - as Denmark's birth certificate.

When we first viewed the stone, the sunlight was bright and the sun was high, which made the carving difficult to make out. When we returned later in the day, the lower angle of the sun made the carving stand out in sharp relief.

After visiting the mound which stands in the exact centre of the site, and admiring the outline of the massive stone ship that must have predated the mounds, we visited the nearby museum. While the collection of artefacts is much smaller than Moesgaard it did a good job of conveying something of the context and history of the site. As well as having some very engaging interactive displays. Our favourite was an exhibit designed to convey the time it would take a Viking warrior to die from a variety of wounds - 10 minutes for an arrow to the neck, 30 minutes for a spear to a vital organ, 3 hours for an axe wound. The display emitted an appropriately gruesome noise and lots of simulated blood when you touched any one of the numerous weapons which were stuck into the unfortunate Viking warrior.

After the museum we visited the church, nestled between the two burial mounds, in the very centre of what was a pagan Viking site, then drove to Jeppe and Maia's new house. They don't get to move in till August, but it was good to see the house and location so we can imagine them in there. It is in a beautiful location.

We drove back to Aarhus and lounged around, enjoying their lovely apartment and admiring the great Danish design evident in the furniture and fittings.

It was good to be in a home setting - not a hotel or a restaurant, and we felt more relaxed than we have for a while. It made us extra glad we are heading back to our home soon. After a delicious dinner and interesting conversation, we walked with Jeppe to retrieve his car, getting a glimpse of Aarhus suburbia. Jeppe kindly dropped us off at the hotel.

A really lovely day, and although tired we feel sort of exhilarated, with lots of ideas for things we want to try when we get home.