Viking Market

I went to the National Museum with my family to see the Viking exhibit! It was loads of fun. We went through the market, went inside, got warrior training (yea, that's right. You should be afraid 'cause when I come back, you're going down Viking style... ;-) ), made a Viking necklace with the sign of Odin's hammer, watched a Viking play, went on 2 Viking ships (see more information on one of the ships "Havhingsten / Sea Stallion" below) and then went home.

On the way over to the museum, through the Viking market, we saw many cool and interesting things that you probably wouldn't see in America. There were handmade Viking pins and clasps, hand carved chairs and benches (made with Viking tools), and many different kinds of furs. They had a Viking tattoo parlor (don't worry, I was gross out and completely not interested), and Viking hotdogs (that was something I was interested in...), and owls and falcons that you could hold. The Viking ships were a ways away, but we did go to them and got to take some pictures. It started to rain, so we went back inside where we then began Warrior training.

Warrior Training:
Two words... Oh yea!
Difficult, but fun we went through the long and harsh years on the battle field waiting for our own moment of bravery and heroicness to come... Not! Lucky me, I got the biggest, safest, most heaviest shield they had. AND at the final battle, a little boy stuck me in the incorrect spot, but I was still considered "dead". Gurrr! Other than that, I had a great time. Beat my sister twice, and saw my evil opponent (the kid who "killed" me) "die" in battle. Good times!

Later that day we went into the main hall to see a "Viking" play. the play part of it was that they faked dying, otherwise it was a bunch of tough looking grownups fighting.

I enjoyed the last part of the day the best! We went into the Viking exhibit in the National Museum. They had thing that were so old that they looked so delicate that a single touch could destroy them. There were swords and helmets and jewelry and even some of the tools they used. While we went through the exhibit, Stella and I played a game on their computers if we were a Viking or not. Surprise! We are Vikings!
Right in the middle of the exhibit, their was a huge Viking ship over 65 of my paises long!

We left after a great day!
Link to Picasa web.

Information on "Havhingsten / Sea Stallion":

Havhingsten fra Glendalough (Sea Stallion from Glendalough) is a Danish reconstruction of Skuldelev 2. The original ship was build around 1042 near Dublin. The original ship was build with oak from Glendalough, Ireland, therefor the ship's name. The reconstruction was built at the Viking Museum in Denmark from 2000 to 2004. It is a reconstruction of the second longest Viking ship that currently is found. It is used for research.
A return journey to Dublin took place over the Summer of 2007. The ship left Roskilde Harbor, Denmark, on July 1 and arrived in Dublin on August 14.

THE SEA STALLION FROM GLENDALOUGH   1. The crew of 65 men and women slept on the open deck, as the Vikings did, and took turn keeping watch 2. Satellite navigation equipment made sure the ship stayed on course. Vikings had to rely on the position of the sun and stars, the color and movement of the sea and wind direction 3. Oak planks were cut radially for maximum strength, overlapped and nailed together. Axes and other tools used to make the planks were replicas of those used by the Vikings 4. The sail, mast, rigging and rudder on the original were missing so these have been copied from other finds 5. Shields, vital in battle, were tied over the oar ports when the ship was in port