On to “phase 2” of our European experience. After packing all our bags and checking out of our cool place in old town Copenhagen (the views were amazing and the location couldn’t be beat), we headed out to where Josiah has been living since August, Roskilde, the Old Capital of Denmark.
We packed light to be able to travel by foot, Metro and train – two stops on Metro, a short walk along cobblestone streets (backpacks do make traveling in Europe a bit easier than a rolling bag!), 25 minute train ride, another 20 minute walk along cobblestone streets (luckily they have a smoother section every now and then to give you a rest from the “Denmark massage”) and we made it to our new home for the next week, a fabulous apartment with a view of the Royal Cathedral and the bay, 5 houses down from where Josiah is living with a host family (2 parents and 4 kids).
I like big cities, for a short time, but I really love smaller cities that have history – and Roskilde is definitely that place. As the Old Capital, the Royal family is buried at the Roskilde Cathedral, and it started as the main Viking city under Harold Gormsson more commonly known as “Bluetooth” who united the clans together. Yes, that is the namesake for that technology. It is fun to know that Viking images still live on today, and not just in the NFL and on Halloween.
A highlight today was hearing about how they excavated five Viking ships from the local harbor in 1962 which had been buried in 1150 as a blockade. These five ships were placed in a museum built just for them and have created a whole community that builds replicas of these same ships. The Viking museum highlights this five year excavation and then the 25 year process to put these pieces together and the ongoing building process of building ships using traditional methods.
Josiah has been able to sail and row the merchant replica ship these past few months and on his blog, josiahabroad.com, he talks about taking these ships out for the winter, which is a full community event. You can see his ship below and one of the ships on the shore.
Roskilde was the de facto capital of Denmark until 1150, when Copenhagen came into power as the merchant center. We will find out more about this place over the next week.
Samara arrives tomorrow and we start to get ready to celebrate Christmas with Josiah’s host family. More to come.
Siri and David Adventures 