Do Mermaids really exist?

Day 44 - July 7th

It was a slow start for our second day in Copenhagen as we were nursing a couple of sore heads and the rain was pouring, so not really giving us any incentive to climb out of bed.

Our first stop for the day was the National Museum in Copenhagen, which housed some really good displays on the Stone, Bronze & Iron Age as well as the Viking Era. 

As museums go, this was probably one of the best with extremely interesting artifacts and straightforward, succinct descriptions of what you were looking at. Some examples of the things we saw in the 3 hours we were in the museum were –

1. 1. An original Viking Ship that had been recovered from a peat bog and built back to it’s original form.
2. 2. A vast number of well preserved human bodies (from peat bogs) that dated back thousands of years ago. Many still had clothing and jewels on their bodies. Some were even buried with small children.
3. 3. Original Viking Helmets with the horns still intact.
4. 4. The skeletal remains of a Mermaid…Mermaid…Mermaid. 

The Danish (and Swedish and Norwegians) call these Elk, but they're actually Moose. This one was pulled out of a peat bog and a few thousand years old. 

This was quite possibly the most mind-boggling thing I have seen and am still unsure whether it is a hoax by the Danish or the real deal. Below is the description found next to the body.

Haraldskaer Mermaid

She was young, perhaps 18 years old, approximately 180cm from head to tail, and had thick, long hair. The woman’s skull suggests that she belongs to the Asian branch of the Mermaid family, but there have been no previous discoveries of Asian Mermaids in Europe. The skeleton appears unusually intact; all teeth remain preserved, with the canines appearing particularly long and sharp, showing no sign of wear. In spite of this, she is missing one hand, which is thought that the dog consumed it before the farm owner (Klaus Kristianson) left his tractor and reached the body. A purse was discovered by the skeleton and contained a shark tooth, a snail tail, mussel shell and a flower thought to be a Yarrow; at the discovery of the Egtved Girl, flowering Yarrow suggests the sacrifice occurred during the early summer months. With the exception of the amulet purse, the only object discovered was a bone comb, which had secured the woman’s hair.

Photographic evidence of the Haraldskaer Mermaid

So by the sound of it, she was the Dawn Fraser of Mermaids being an Asian Mermaid found in Europe – that’s a bloody long swim! To be honest I find this quite implausible as most Asians that I’ve met struggle to do one lap of an Olympic sized pool. 

Secondly, what an odd bunch of things to be carrying in a purse? And where exactly does a Mermaid carry a purse? 

After our groundbreaking experience with dead bodies and mermaids, we decided it was a fitting time to go see Copenhagen’s most famous (and overrated) attraction – ‘The Little Mermaid’. Considering it is one of the most photographed objects in Copenhagen I was actually expecting it to be more central and for anyone without their own transport, it’s a bit of a hike out to see. 

It was quite amusing watching the truckloads of tourist’s rush of their tour buses, whip out the camera and scream ‘Is that it’?

Luke with the very overrated Little Mermaid.

After our 2 minutes at The Little Mermaid we then headed back into town to take a look at the Rossenborg Castle. Again we were lucky with our timing and location as we stumbled upon a bit more jazz in the park. Armed with a couple of Danish treats and coffee already, we took up a seat on the grass and enjoyed the music and atmosphere for the next hour or so. 

The castle was closed by the time we got there, but judging by the exterior we made a good call in staying to watch Mr. Trumpet do his thing. 

By this stage it was getting late in the day so we headed back to the van to have dinner and figure out what to do for the rest of the evening. By the time we got back to the van though, we had both agreed that there wasn’t much more we wanted to see so decided to head towards Sweden. I guess that is the beauty and flexibility of having a home on wheels. If you don’t like the scenery, you just start the ignition and change your view.

To get from Denmark to Sweden you can take a ferry or go over the Oresund Bridge, which is about the 20^th longest bridge (China has most of them) in the world and probably the most expensive. 

After stocking up on food and booze (we were told both were far more expensive in Sweden), we made our way towards the bridge, however, again a heavy fog had made it’s way into the Copenhagen area and we decided to find a camp for the night as we wanted to see the bridge as we went over it (given it cost 80 Euro to cross).

We ended up near a nature reserve about 5km from the bridge and tired from the days events had a quick meal and hit the sack, ready to enter Sweden the following day.