For Sweyn!

Saturday we went to the Viking Ship Museum. It's been our only jaunt outside of the heart of Copenhagen (albeit a mere 30 minutes out), so it was great to see some countryside—and the boys were especially psyched to ride on the upper level of a big double-decker commuter train.  :)

The day couldn't have been more beautiful. We soaked up the sun, enjoyed views of the lovely Roskilde fjord, and learned lots.

On our walk from the train station to the museum, we obviously had to take a picture of our little Wilhelm in front of a house with his name!

At the museum, they care a great deal about authentically representing the sea-faring abilities of the Vikings. Their specialty is making replica Viking ships, using the same tools and techniques that were employed a millennium ago—right down to choosing and felling trees from surrounding forests for the lumber. A highlight of our day was going out in the Roskilde fjord in one of these ships. The boys got to hang out in the stern, but every able bodied adult had to row. It was fun—seeing as we only had to stick with it for about 20 minutes! Then we put the oars away, raised the sail, and sailed back into port again.

Another treat was when an especially enthusiastic guide, pictured above, unexpectedly recruited us to fight with our fellow Danes to take over England, c. 1010. Putting aside our usual English sympathies, and lured by the promise of all the riches and renown we could imagine, we accepted the call. So, along with two middle-aged tourists from Beijing (who were totally clutch in battle), we headed off on a grand adventure through time and place. We rallied around the cry "For Sweyn!" (....and later around the cry "for Cnut!" once Sweyn met an untimely end shortly after being crowned king of England and Denmark).

Check out those warriors!

It was pretty funny, to be honest. For about 45 minutes, we ran all around the place with (real) spears and (real) axes and heavy wooden shields, doing as we were bid, on and off of ships, crying out in battle, etc. We learned a lot along the way! Meanwhile other visitors gave us ample amused looks, and I don't really know how we got this fun opportunity seeing as I didn't observe anyone else battling the English at any point in our ~5 hours there that day. 

These pictures were taken later, inside a building where the "bones" of five ancient ships were on display. They were discovered, removed, and restored from the bottom of the fjord about 50 years ago; displaying them was the impetus for creating the museum in the first place. So cool. And obviously we made completely authentic and natural looking Vikings. I'm pretty sure those are 1000-year old earphones.

What a great day!!

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P.S. - The only quasi-blight on the day came at the very end. We'd packed a picnic lunch for midday but had decided to splurge by going out to dinner in the evening, since we knew we'd all be weary and it would be too long to wait for supper at home. We passed up restaurant after restaurant, finally settling on a little burger joint that had the lowest prices we could find in town. You know, a cheap spot, where our bill was only...over $80! That was for two little kids burgers and two regular size burgers (fries included). No drinks. No desserts. Nothing extra. They were excellent, don't get me wrong, but....yikes!