Hi Everyone!
Today I took a train to Roskilde, to the Viking Ship museum.
In the 1000's 5 viking ships were sunk as a blockade, then were found in the 1960's and preserved. The ships are on display in metal frames, that allow you to see what the complete ship would have looked like.
Using those 5 ships as a guide, the Viking ship museum has recreated all five ships using Viking techniques.
The side planks that make up a viking ship are only an inch thick which makes the boats rather flexible.
Vikings were intelligent boat builders, and used the natural shape of the wood from different parts of a tree to build different parts of the boat. Already curved branches were used for corner pieces, and by maintaining the natural shape of the wood, they had a stronger vessel. It is possible to take a sailing expedition on one of the recreated viking ships, but unfortunately all the sailing trips were cancelled due to weather. Harold was very disappointed, but I cheered him up by dressing in some Viking clothes, and letting him play in the Viking ships in the "climb aboard" section of the museum.
It's a good thing the trips were cancelled, because while I was outside taking photos in a ship, it suddenly started pouring rain!
From there I walked to the Roskilde cathedral. It started hailing, so I walked to the cathedral being pelted by hail! I'm really grateful I bought a new jacket for this trip, because it kept me dry and warm in the wind, rain, and hail.
Roskilde Cathedral is a medieval style cathedral, where many Danish Kings and Queens are interred. I liked the contrast of the brick against the plaster ceiling, with simple rosettes.
The cathedral is also famous for its clock, it dates from the 1400's, and on the hour the statues move-St. George kills the dragon which makes a sound like a dying horn, then the clock chimes the time.
Also, these statues, titled Remembrance, Grief, and Love, are carved by same sculptor who made the famous little mermaid statue.
I took the train back to Copenhagen, and had just enough time for a quick tour of the Carlsberg Glyptotek art museum. Harold wanted to see all the hippo statues in the museum, we found three. Two are Egyptian, and one is Roman and was originally part of a fountain.
I think my favorite is the first one pictured, he's supposed to be roaring, but instead he looks like he's laughing. It poured rain again while I was in the museum. You could hear the rain thundering on the roof of the winter garden inside the museum.
Because of the weather, I decided to call it an early night. I'm going to try and get up a bit earlier tomorrow to see if I can fit in one of the things I wasn't able to do tonight because of the weather.
Some final thoughts on Copenhagen: Yes the city really is the most bicycle friendly city I've ever seen. The bike lanes are as wide as a regular street lane built for cars, and people really do park their bikes everywhere. The Danes are masters of the open face sandwich, I have eaten a lot of them, always on rye bread which has a sweeter, nuttier flavor than any rye bread I've eaten at home. Denmark is starting to really think about sustainability, they have a building to incinerate trash, that generates electricity, and also doubles as a year round ski slope. It's covered in a special plastic that allows the residents of Copenhagen to go skiing in the summer without snow.
Today I took a train to Roskilde, to the Viking Ship museum.
In the 1000's 5 viking ships were sunk as a blockade, then were found in the 1960's and preserved. The ships are on display in metal frames, that allow you to see what the complete ship would have looked like.
Using those 5 ships as a guide, the Viking ship museum has recreated all five ships using Viking techniques.
The side planks that make up a viking ship are only an inch thick which makes the boats rather flexible.
Vikings were intelligent boat builders, and used the natural shape of the wood from different parts of a tree to build different parts of the boat. Already curved branches were used for corner pieces, and by maintaining the natural shape of the wood, they had a stronger vessel. It is possible to take a sailing expedition on one of the recreated viking ships, but unfortunately all the sailing trips were cancelled due to weather. Harold was very disappointed, but I cheered him up by dressing in some Viking clothes, and letting him play in the Viking ships in the "climb aboard" section of the museum.
It's a good thing the trips were cancelled, because while I was outside taking photos in a ship, it suddenly started pouring rain!
From there I walked to the Roskilde cathedral. It started hailing, so I walked to the cathedral being pelted by hail! I'm really grateful I bought a new jacket for this trip, because it kept me dry and warm in the wind, rain, and hail.
Roskilde Cathedral is a medieval style cathedral, where many Danish Kings and Queens are interred. I liked the contrast of the brick against the plaster ceiling, with simple rosettes.
The cathedral is also famous for its clock, it dates from the 1400's, and on the hour the statues move-St. George kills the dragon which makes a sound like a dying horn, then the clock chimes the time.
I took the train back to Copenhagen, and had just enough time for a quick tour of the Carlsberg Glyptotek art museum. Harold wanted to see all the hippo statues in the museum, we found three. Two are Egyptian, and one is Roman and was originally part of a fountain.
I think my favorite is the first one pictured, he's supposed to be roaring, but instead he looks like he's laughing. It poured rain again while I was in the museum. You could hear the rain thundering on the roof of the winter garden inside the museum.
Because of the weather, I decided to call it an early night. I'm going to try and get up a bit earlier tomorrow to see if I can fit in one of the things I wasn't able to do tonight because of the weather.
Some final thoughts on Copenhagen: Yes the city really is the most bicycle friendly city I've ever seen. The bike lanes are as wide as a regular street lane built for cars, and people really do park their bikes everywhere. The Danes are masters of the open face sandwich, I have eaten a lot of them, always on rye bread which has a sweeter, nuttier flavor than any rye bread I've eaten at home. Denmark is starting to really think about sustainability, they have a building to incinerate trash, that generates electricity, and also doubles as a year round ski slope. It's covered in a special plastic that allows the residents of Copenhagen to go skiing in the summer without snow.
Comments
Post a Comment