The Vikings!

      Last Wednesday, Laila and Tine and I went to the Viking Museum in Roskilde. It was really cool, and I understand why the danes admire the Vikings so much. They built some of the most capable and fastest ships of their time, adn really of all sialing ships throughout history. Five of their boats were recovered in teh Roskilde fjord, where they had been sunk to block on of the channels into Roskilde as a defence. This left only the channel most complicated to navigate available. The museum recovered these ships in the 60's and the wood was still preserved, probably thanks to the freezing water, after over 1000 years. The ships were reconstructed, and we got to see them with the original wood! The Danes also spent the last 40 years reconstructing each boat with new materials with new wood so they could sail them around Denmark. They used the same types of wood and the same tools the Vikings would have used. It was amazing to see, and their largest and most spectacular shipa actually took a trip, with 70 people all the way to England and Ireland and back. This is remarkable considerign that these ships offered no cover or shelter from the stormy ocean environment.