6-15-14

6-15-14 - Copenhagen

When we departed the Norwegian Star, we took a taxi to the Avis car rental office.  The cab driver acted as a tour guide along the way.  He told us a very interesting story about the origin of the “blue tooth”.  It was the actual name of a previous King of Denmark.  The man who invented the blue tooth was from Denmark and named the new communications device in honor of the king.

Roger had originally booked a Ford Focus for our two day rental.  But the Avis agent suggested we upgrade our vehicle when she saw how much luggage we had.  We ended up getting a Nissan hatch-back.  But we still had to remove the back cover to get all of the luggage to fit.  Before we left the office, we had the young male attendant program the car’s GPS to our first destination.  Marc drove out of town (while the rest of us acted like “back seat drivers”) until we all got our bearings and got oriented with this new and different GPS system.  It was about 9 am, when we left Copenhagen.

It did feel so lovely to get out of the big city and into the countryside.  There were several areas that had fields of wild flowers with numerous bright red poppies.  Our first stop was the town of Roskilde.  We parked the car just outside the Cathedral and walked around to the city park. There was a lovely tree covered pathway that leads to the Viking Museum, one of the top ten attractions in Denmark. 

The exhibition at the museum notes that the first know written accounts of sea travel in this part of the world were from the 9^th century.  One speaks of a Captain Abhara, (who was originally a shepherd from the Russian highlands) who began long distance trade with the countries of India and China.  Between 840-842, Theodosius, a distinguished Byzantine diplomat, traveled as far as the Aegean and Adriatic Seas, from Constantinople to Venice, Italy.

The Viking Age begins in the 8^th century and ends in the 11^th century.  Vikings were warriors of the sea, only ending their naval sieges after conversion to Christianity.  During this time period, their sailing ships allowed the Vikings to travel and expand trade all over the European Continent.    

It was during the period between 1000 AD and 1050 AD, that the Roskilde Fjord was blocked to protect the important town from attach by enemy fleets.  The five Viking ships used to form the blockage were old, used vessels that were scuttled in order to construct a barrier into the harbor.  First, three of the ships were sunk and boulders were heaped on top of them.  Later, the blockade was strengthened by sinking two more old ships on the same spot.  (However, tradition notes that this was done at the command of Queen Margrithe around 1412).

The inhabitants of Roskilde developed a very successful warning system.  When enemy ships were first spotted on the horizon, a bonfire was set up upon the nearest hill.  Then similar fires were set from hill to hill until the town was made aware of the threat.  Then the blockade would be set up.

It was not until underwater excavation between 1957 and 1959, that the ships were discovered.  Yet it took 25 years to preserve and rebuild the ships.  Each small strip of wood was painstakingly removed by 5-8 men.  They were each studied in great detail and replicas were designed in order to learn exactly how the ships were originally built.

It was learned that two of the ships were war ships, with one carrying a crew of about 30 men and the second larger ship, about 80 men.  This larger vessel was built in Dublin, Ireland.  The other ships were supply ships.  They normally traveled at a speed of 4 knots, while the large war ship could sail as fast as 15 knots. At this speed, a voyage to England would take three days.

The Viking ship’s sails were made either from linen or wool.  They were often treated with a sealing agent to keep the air from passing through the fabric.  A docet was sitting in the corner of the museum weaving.  I asked her what the material was, because it did not look like wool.  She told me that it was hemp, made from the flax plant and it is known that this was the fabric of sailing vessels much older than the Vikings used by the Chinese.  Flax was used for early clothing, as well as medicine.  The English Queen Victoria used it for medicine, herself.  In the time of King Henry VIII, people were fined if they did not grow flax, because it was needed for making rope for the English ships.

Another section of the museum complex is an outdoor area where replicas of Viking ships are recreated using the same methods and tools as their predecessors.  There was a man hewing a huge tree trunk with an axe.  It certainly looked like very hard work.  Another area showed how different sections of a trees trunk and branches were used in different parts of the ship’s construction.  

After leaving the Viking Museum, we drove north to the village of Gilleleje.  It is the northernmost town on the Zealand Peninsula, as well as being the largest fishing port.  After checking out one hotel on the outskirts of town,(which we learned was a very expensive spa), their desk clerk actually called the downtown hotel and made reservations for us there.  Though an older building, it seemed neat and clean and was right in the heart of the charming seaside town. 

After taking our luggage up to our rooms, we walked the two blocks to the port.  Mary Jo was hungry, so Roger bought a unique chicken salad, which was served in a huge wheat bread “bowl”, lined with shredded lettuce and cut up cumbers (which we gave to Betty, as none of the rest of us like them).  Roger bought Mary Jo a glass of wine with her meal, while Betty and Marc each had beer.

Then we walked along the waterfront filled with fishing boats both great and small.  We stopped and talked to a lady who has an old pleasure boat moored at the end of the pier.  We asked her about the strange roller presses that are attached on each fishing boat.  She said they are used to pull in the lines which are attached to the nets.  She noted that it saves fisherman a lot of sore arm muscles from the previous manual method of retrieving the nets.

 

By the time we finished out walk, Betty and Marc were hungry and Roger wanted to try so local fish, so they bought two plates of fish and chips from an outdoor vendor.  We sat under an awning along the waterfront and ate.   The French fries were so good that we all ate way too many of them. The fish looked like a type of flounder, but did not have much flavor. 

We walked back to the hotel, arriving about 7 p.m.  Roger was so tired that he laid down on the bed and was asleep in less than 5 minutes.  I worked on cutting pictures out of the various brochures I had collected today, to put in the diary when we get home (because I ran out of tape in the dispenser, yesterday.)