Denmark and Sweden Situation

Well... we survived the hurricane... woke up to a wet yet beautiful morning in Denmark.  Our neighbors (Bent and Mona) from across the way had Heather and I in for coffee... super nice Danish couple currently living in Norway.  Apparently the pay in Norway is crazy high!  Maybe I'll move there.. not.  Anyway, after chilling a bit in South Zealand we made our way across Odense and towards Copenhagen and ultimately Sweden.  On our way across the central part of Denmark, we happened to see a sign for the Trelleborg Viking Site.  This is a site similar to Stonehenge which has been occupied for thousands of years.  Complete with an inner and outer protection ring.  The Vikings inhabited the site with about 30 longhouses and a contingent of approximately 500 warriors, women and children around 980 AD.  They were likely the personal guard of King Harold Bluetooth who was in the midst of a war with his son who had rallied a bunch of local Chieftains against his father.  Apparently Mr. Bluetooth was bringing Christianity to a bunch of Danish pagans.. some who didn't appreciate it.  Anyway... here are some pics... very cool site...

 

Heather and I at a recreated longhouse on the site.  

Here is a picture inside the inner protection ring... complete with Viking longhouse foundations and sheep.

And... a sheep's butt... courtesy of Heather.

Here is another angle on the site with the inner ring visible in the mid distance.

Here's Harmo at a recreated little viking hut... very similar to the Karuk houses at Patrick's point.. dug into the ground.

After Trelleborg, we made our way through the Danish countryside... beautiful... until we came to a dicey situation!

Slowly made our way through this baby... technically, our ride is 3,1 m, so we had some to spare... but a little scary.  Lucky thing I've got multiple navigators.

We then continued on our way across Denmark and finally into Copenhagen across some monumental bridges and tunnels (~20 km)... crazy windy.

Here is the bridge that connects Copenhagen, Denmark to Malmo, Sweden.  Very long... very windy.

Coming into Sweden, we were getting a little tired, so we decided to go grocery shopping and find a place to crash.  We found this awesome place which is apparently a kite-surfing mecca.  So pretty with all of the kites.  The Baltic Sea was very shallow for hundreds of meters out.  We walked out on this long pier and then waded a bit.  Sweet end to the day.  Here are some pictures.

Kite surfers on the Baltic Sea.

The fam... taking it in.

Beautiful Swedish sky.

When we woke up this morning, we decided to make our way to Stockholm... crossing beautiful landscape everywhere.

As we were driving... we noted some strange looking mounds at the side of the road... then a sign that pointed to the attraction... it was exactly the same phenomenon that is seen in Olympia, Washington.. MIMA MOUNDS!!!  These are small (very small) hill type ground features, theorized to have been caused as glaciers receded from the area... strange to see them way over here in Sweden, what is so familiar at Grandma Beverlee's house!

The kiddies at Swedish Mima mounds.

So... we did finally make it to Stockholm this afternoon.  We drove through some torrential rain, etc. so we're a bit cooked.  Harmony is trying to hook up with her friend that she spent time in Russia with who lives here.  Hopefully we'll get that together.  Then... off to Leksand, Sweden where Heather has loads of family history to check out in a local museum.