I have a feeling that we are going to be learning a lot about Vikings over the next few weeks and I can’t wait! Fingers crossed we get to meet “Uhtred, son of Uhtred”. IYKYK

After a walk through the fjords in Roskilde, we went to Lejre for a Viking Museum tour. The main attraction here is of the 5 Viking ships that had been submerged for almost 1000 years. Vikings were pretty clever. To protect the capital (at the time) city of Roskilde, they sunk old ships into two of the three canals entering the city. Since the canals were relatively shallow, incoming ships would get stuck, thus giving the locals time to gather for an imminent attack.

These ships were rediscovered in 1962. It took scientists, archaeologists and engineers almost 15 years to painstakingly excavate, catalog and protect each plank of wood. As each plank finished the preservation process and was therefore considered safe to face the elements, it was mounted on a steel skeleton frame.

None of these ships are entirely intact, the best one being about 50% complete. However, from these partial artifacts, boat builders have been able to work backwards to figure out what the boats likely looked like and how they were built. Over the next 25 years, each of the five ships have been recreated using authentic techniques and materials. These ships are operational and have been out to sea for weeks at a time.

The afternoon was spent at the Land of Legends park. Think Heritage Park, but way further in the past. The park is spread out over a large area with a few kilometers of walking paths to take you through the five main areas:

1. The Viking Age where Jason got to act like royalty in the Viking King’s Hall.
2. The Iron Age where we really wondered if people of this era were actually Hobbits. (Fun fact, they weren’t. In actuality, they were only 5cm shorter on average than we are today. During Medieval Times, which came after the Iron Age, their diet was poor because they had to surrender their meat and best grains to the Church and nobility so they were actually shorter! The reason for the teeny doors is because the roof needed to be at such a steep slope so the rain would slide down instead of going inside – short foundation walls means a better slope for the roof.)
3. The Stone Age
4. The 1850’s
5. The activity area where you could learn to dye fabrics, weave clothing, make pottery and other sorts of crafting items.

Overall, it was an amazing day. We are tired though – jet lag is real!