Roskilde

What a day! I was in the Viking ship museum. It started with a trip out on a real Viking ship this ship was not like other "Viking ships". A lot of people build a boat and put a square sail on it and call it Viking, but the ship I sailed with was a recreation of the remains found on the bottom of Roskilde fjord. Since the trip after ours was cancelled, but the conditions were perfect, the skipper didn't want to go in, so instead he took us on a double trip. That was so cool!!! The waves were huge, and the wind was perfect, only one problem came up. It was the fact that there was a long-distance swim race going on in the fjord, and the finish line was right was the swimmer was coming to the finish line. This was hard, but we found a break where we pushed off. We had to row out of the harbor. Sometimes the skipper would shout at us oars up, and a head would pass by us (with a draft of less than a 2 meters, we sat very close to the water and the heads were very close). I don't know if the swimmer liked coming in while a Viking ship was going out, but I know I would have. We then took up the sail, and raced through the wind (blowing at close to 20 mph) we then turned around, and went back to the museum, and then turned around again! We all got super wet. I got splashed, a lot. When finally we had to go back, we sailed all the way into the harbor. That is a rare experience. Then we went on to see a smith working on some things for another recreation. We continued to play in the Sea Stallion (a recreation of a Viking longboat that took up to 60 people to Ireland in 2008. This was cool to look in, and experience how these people lived. Then we went on a boring tour for kids 4 years old, and finally went into the museum. The museum was built because 5 ships had been found in the fjord. The story goes... The fjord into the city is hard to pass because it's max 5 meters deep. There are only 3 places a ship can pass. One of these is so weird, and twisty that boats can't really pass without knowledge about how it works. The two others were blocked with the Viking ships so that enemy would have to go through ships to get the city. This was smart. Therefore, they had 5 ships sitting there. When the government moved from Roskilde, there was no longer a need for the protection. Therefore these ships were left to entropy in nature. In other words, they sank. Then some divers found them, and they were excavated, dried plastic coated, and built into a ships shape. This was super cool. That is what the museum has in it. That was what I did today :) So fun to sail    

National Museum

Today I went to the National Museum of Denmark. But first, I met my uncle and cousin, and went to my uncle’s girlfriends, office. She works for the postal service as a promotional worker. This was cool, because we kind of got a private tour of the highest post office in Denmark. The woodwork on one of the staircases is incredibly beautiful. Otherwise, it was just cubicles... We then went to the museum. We had pre-ordered a tour of the Viking exhibit. We had time before the tour to see some of the normal museum. Here there are some of the national symbols. In the old days, before Christianity came to Denmark (officially) people sacrificed objects of wealth to the gods, by throwing them in the lakes. This was 1000 years before our time, minimum. The two most famous symbols are the gold horns. These horns are more then a foot long made of pure gold. There were originally two horns, but know there are four, this is because people have been reading about them, and trying to recreate them. They are trying to fill the hole in the museum caused by the fact that the original Golden horns were stolen and melted, and then sold in 1802. Sad story. Another national symbol was the sun wagon. It is part of the earliest religion in one of the oldest surviving cultures (that being Denmark. Americans got it wrong, size isn't important, rather the idea of age is wisdom is better.) Apparently, a horse pulled the sun across the skies (like Egypt, and Greek and Roman religions...) there is a depiction found of it. That was cool to see.

This museum has stuff that is dated back to the year 5500 BC. HOW DOES THAT FEEL AMERICA???? 

Then we went to the Viking exhibit. Here we saw and heard many cool things. For instance, did you know, Normandy is named because of the Vikings. (nor is north in Danish, so Norman is North man.) This is also true with Russia, as Ru means to row. I got to see replicas of what they wore, and other stuff. We say many Thor’s hammers (which don't look like the hammer in the movie Thor.) We also say the remnants of a ship. This ship was 37 meters long...  SO COOL! We also got to lift the recreation of a Viking sword (which was heavy) and wear a chain coat (which was super heavy). Then we went on a train to Roskilde, and we will go see another Viking museum tomorrow. 

Helsingør

Today we took a train to Helsingør. Here, we saw the domkirke (with the altar piece that was 12 meters high and covered in gold) This was impressive... We then went over to the abbey church, were there was an organ concert. The organ sounded wonderful. The church wasn't much to look at, but the organ was amazing. Then my brother got to go up and try the organ, and impress yet another full-time organist with his skills. Pretty cool stuff. Then we went and got ice cream. While eating ice cream, we hopped on a train and drove to Hillorød. This is where Frediriksborg is; a small castle with a crazy big garden. The garden starts with a small hedge work with the monograms of four royals. Then as you move up (there are little hills you have to walk up, so it is up) Here there are a bunch of hedges and a "river" in the middle. As you move up, there are 3 ponds and more hedges. Then there is a big forest. It's big, big enough for me to run a 5k in, which is what I did. Then we went to the castles church (which we could only view from above...) There was so much gold! So much gold! There were also all the plagues for the two highest orders hanging in the church, the elephant order, and the Dannebrog (Danish flag's name) order. This was a weird place to have those hanging. Then we went and saw parts of the castle, which was composed of a lot of paintings. Here I was with my grandparents, which was nice. We then went and got more ice cream. After dinner we got more ice cream, yet again. Then we took a train back to Copenhagen. Here is where I came to the realization that I am losing my English-ness, and gaining Danish. That's not good.....

Copenhagen

Today I spent wondering Copenhagen. I rode on a wide array of S-trains, buses, and a harbor bus, just because I can. We first went to the Domkirke in Copenhagen. This Domkirke was super boring, and kinda ugly (just kidding very ugly). There are many (14 specifically) marble statues, that are larger then life. They were cool, but the problem was they were still very boring. We didn't even get to go up in the tower (the domkirke has the shortest tower, yet it is the head church in Copenhagen. How does that happen???) Then we went to the church my mom attended when she was in Copenhagen. This was a beautiful church. Simple stunning (though kind of small...). Then we walked to the round tower (it used to be an observatory, but there is too much light pollution for it to be used) Attached, there is a small church. This was also an amazing church, though small. Then we went to Rosenberg castle, which is where the crown jewels are kept. We say the castle, as well as the jewels. Those jewels were ridicules. So much shininess!!!!!! There were sword and guns that were bejeweled, and of course, the three crowns. There were so many jewels in those crowns.... Then we wet and say other unimportant parts of Denmark. Including the little mermaid. Near the little mermaid, there is the dock were the royal family boards the small ship that takes them to the royal ship named after our flag. We saw the ship sitting there (which is incredible rare) and then the Secretary of Defense, plus other members of the government bored the small ship and looked at the other ships. This is an incredibly rare event to witness, but we did it, which was cool.