Roskilde & The Vikings

Taking advantage of the monthly free-train-day, Kyle, Ann, and myself journeyed to Roskilde, 40 km west Copenhagen.  This old city is, in modern times, famous for a weeklong music festival drawing over 100,000 people ever June/July.  I am already regretting not being here for it, but my adventures here must come to an end eventually. However, this didn’t stop us from exploring the quaint little town, most notably it’s Viking museum.  

Taking the S-Tog there.  Sweet bike racks.

A model of the ancient city. 

Outside the Viking Museum.

In the 60’s researchers discovered 6 Viking boats that had been scuttled in an attempt to block a passage into the Roskilde Fjord around the year 1070 - apparently they were having issues with those pesky Norwegians.  The boats were excavated, and a lot of modern research on Viking ships is based on these findings.  Sea-worthy replicas were made based off these designs, and the remains are on display at the museum we decided to visit on this day.

A ship used for cargo.

A smaller war ship.

Shields were hung on this rail to create the well known image.

Construction using historically accurate materials and techniques.

This ship, a replica, was sailed to Ireland by a a crew of 42 over the course of a few months in 2007.

Of course, the Vikings are an integral part of Scandinavian heritage. Despite their barbarous tendencies, they were still pretty badass.  It seems, to this casual observer, that they were essentially an early version of Hoofers.  Extensive historical research has yielded this image as a view into what these peoples may have looked like:

Scouring the seas for trouble.

 Or maybe this:

Continuing to explore the town, we stumbled across some of these sights –

I'll let you decide.