Down A Hole

Mårhøj Jættestuen is a communal tomb from the Peasant Stone Age
(I so did not google that)

A few days ago I visited a "tourist attraction" which hardly even the locals know about! In the middle of no-where in particular, surrounded by Danish fields, a strange hill can be seen. It hides a dark and ancient secret... a 5000 year-old burial tomb!!

 

You can just imagine how difficult it was for a tall stick insect like me to get in there!



The passage grave was made between 3200-2800BC so it was a looong time ago- before the vikings were here in Denmark! Of course I had to get a closer look so I entered the spooky grave- alone...



The entrance tunnel was so small that it was a real challenge to get my 185cm-tall body into it. It was also pitch black so I took plenty of photos with my camera simply to use the flash as a momentary torchlight! The tomb is shaped like a T, where it branches off into two burial chambers. Here I could almost stand up straight. Because there was absolutely no light, I pointed the camera in all directions and in that way I could see what was right in front of me.

When this was first discovered around 200 years ago, there were skeletons, bones, urns and some amber pearls. Unfortunately they have been removed so now there was nothing left but the massive stones- and me. I really enjoyed visiting this almost completely unknown piece of Danish history. There are in fact many of these prehistoric stone thingies around Denmark- there's actually one about 200m from where I live but no one I know has actually gone and visited it. Most Danes don't find them interesting because it's just something that has always been there and they couldn't care less how old and historic they are. Either that or they're all just claustrophobic.

Finally Some Vitamin D!

Overcast weather is the norm in Denmark- except last weekend!!

It's now been over 40 days since I left Australia and now I am finally starting to acclimatise to the cold weather, or am I? It could be the warmer weather that is simply making me feel more comfortable...

After being icy, overcast and taking the definition of the word cool to a whole new level for the majority of March, Denmark got treated to cloudless warm(er) weather for over 4 hours! The photo above was taken the same day (Saturday) as the one below, and within 2 hours of each other too. I think the temperature reached as high as 16 degrees at one point! Of course, all good things must come to an end and sure enough, the clouds and strong winds reappeared. But we had a good 4-5 hours of decent weather! It was amazing to see the whole neighbourhood basking in the sun in their garden and trying to enjoy the "warmth" while it lasted. My family that I'm staying with even cooked dinner on the barbeque (but ate the food inside)!! It felt like the whole of Denmark came out of their shelters that afternoon and went for a walk or sat in their South-facing gardens! They haven't felt the sun's "warmth" (I wouldn't exactly call it warmth) since around September, those poor souls. 

I felt like a scientist observing the behavioural effects that sunlight has on a different species! I was in a sense fascinated by how people were craving some Vitamin D after the long winter they have just had and they took every opportunity they could to be in the sunlight for as long as it lasted! I remember my German teacher in Australia telling me and Kenny about how when the sun comes out in Europe people start stripping their clothes off just to get a bit of sun on their skin. We laughed our heads off because it sounded like a huge exaggeration. However it is more or less true haha :D

Look! Blue Sky!!!! Notice I am also only wearing two layers of shirts :)

Although I've been called in to work 17 out of 19 possible days (which is so unbelievably great!), I seem to have this week free (because the school is having an excursion and special activities week) which is nice so I get to relax a bit :) I've got so many people that I want to write to which I now have a bit of time to do, and I also need to plan where and when I'm going to do a bit of traveling this summer... Norway (Heia Kristine!!), Sweden, Germany, England... It's all so exciting and I can't believe that over a month has already gone by!

Also, I'd like to apologise about the last post I did and how depressing I was. It was really just a bad day I had had and I felt good the next day. I'm thankful for the fact that I'm rarely in a depressing mood, perhaps thanks to my iTunes track which is called Kenny's Hyena Laugh ;)