Five ships (and more)

For a long while I have wanted to go to Roskilde. Listening to Max Adams talk about the finding of the five Viking ships, reading his and other books about how Vikings built their boats and then following a course that has gone into detail about how the Vikings used these ships. I wanted to go and see.

And it didn’t disappoint. What a great place. A short train journey from Copenhagen (fast, efficient, stylish trains). And a place where you could spend all day - we nearly did. A brilliant museum which houses the remains of the ships, the pieces painstakingly put together to show how they would probably have been. Then outside in the water, the reconstructions (Extra 1). I like the emphasis of the whole enterprise - not taking visitors back to the past, but bringing the past into the present. So, no dressing up as Vikings, but lots of opportunities to learn, and try, shipbuilding skills and the skills required in reconstruction (Extra 2)

(Extra 3) - the wonder of it all.

We had a great time there and then returned to Roskilde and visited the amazing Roskilde Cathedral. A World Heritage Site because of its unique architecture - millions of bricks in a gothic style.

I think we would have done more, but the overbearing heat defeated us. We were happy to get the return train and sit in the shade with a cold beer.