. . . and deliver us from the Vikings.

I'm a little late getting the word out, but you can still follow the voyage of the latter day Vikings from Roskilde to Dublin. The Sea Stallion is a replica built based on the original ship recovered from Roskilde Fjord and preserved at the Viking Ship Museum. Sixty men and women are serving as the crew. The website has lots of links to historical information, crew diaries, and other scholarly input (armchair diaries). The ship left on July 1 and is scheduled to arrive in Dublin before the middle of August.

The Swedish Interlude

We enjoyed a weekend of (mostly) sun by taking in the last days of the Jazz Festival, watching Italiensk for Begyndere, and taking the train to Sweden to explore Lund.

Friday evening we saw the end of a jazz performance by a good group at the Østerbro stage, only a 10 minute walk from our apartment. Saturday had some promising weather, so we went down to the harbor and saw another band featuring a xylophone. It was enjoyable - modern, but not too "out there." Afterwards we took a walk down Strøget before heading home. On the way we picked up Italiensk for Begyndere which is a Danish film from 2002 that won some awards, see here for reviews. We both enjoyed the film - it developed slowly but really drew us in.

Finally, we took the train to Lund. Lund is a university town in Skåne (southern Sweden). Lund was founded by one of the early Danish kings (Knut the Great?) in 990. It remained part of Denmark until 1658 when it was ceded to Sweden, thus beginning "The Swedish Interlude," as described in the museum we visited. The Swedish Interlude continues to this day. Danish flags flew alongside Swedish flags, demonstrating the divided loyalties of the region (it's a long way to Stockholm). We spent most of our time at Kulturen, an open-air museum with about 40 homes mostly from the Skåne region. Like the other museums of this type in Scandinavia, we enjoyed the insight into the history of the region. Since most monuments preserved for posterity were built by the military, the church, or the aristocracy, these museums are a rare chance to see another side and get a feel for how people lived then. You can see a picture of me crawling out of a Småland farmhouse that was home to a family of 9 until the father ran off to America, not to be heard from again. Unfortunately Kulturen didn't have the reenactors like the denizens of Den Gamle By or Skansen, but it did have good written descriptions about the people who inhabited the buildings preserved on the site.

After Kulturen we visited the cathedral. It was compact, as cathedrals go, but impressive and solid. We were treated to a half-hour choir concert by a touring group from Bowling Green University (Ohio). They did several African-American spirituals and some other favorites we knew from our choir days. It was a nice reminder of our own European choir tour 12 summers ago.

Radishes and all that jazz

We're learning this summer why all of our Danish friends were excited by the beautiful weather we had last summer. After record amounts of rain this June and a cool (not yet above 20C/68F) July, this may be a "year without a summer" we've heard about. Things are looking up for the weekend, so we're hoping to get out and explore.

We've discovered another fun way to learn Danish. There are Danish-dubbed Peanuts cartoons broadcast on Saturday and Sunday. It turns out that the Danish word for the Charles M. Schulz creation is "Radiserne," Danish for "The Radishes." I'm not sure why they're not called Jordnødder (peanuts; lit. "earth nuts"). I haven't seen these episodes because they're not the holiday-themed shows that I'm used to seeing in the U.S. All the names have been changed somewhat and we haven't yet deciphered most of them. Charlie Brown is Søren Brun, Peppermint Patty is Rikke Rask (Rask is "healthy" in Danish), and Snoopy is Nuser.

If Schroeder were here, he would be out enjoying the Copenhagen Jazz Festival (rain or shine). We saw a the Anders Larsen quintet on Saturday, and we'll try to catch some more music this weekend. I'm not enough of a Jazz connoisseur to pay for tickets, but there are tons of free performances at indoor and outdoor venues all around town. It is interesting that there are certain parts of US culture that are nearly gone in the States, but have been preserved in Scandinavia in a kind of deep-freeze. Jazz, heavy metal music, and a continued fascination with Cowboys and Indians of the American West come to mind (see this or this).

Bonfires and bridges (Båle og broer)

The last two weekends have had us traveling across Denmark. It's funny - one year here (after 9 years living in Texas) and we think a three-and-a-half hour drive is a long trip. We drove to Århus for a midsummer party held on Sankt Hans Aften. We met some new friends and got re-acquainted with people we met when we attended a wedding here two years ago. We warmed up with snacks out in the garden and a game of croquet followed by a BBQ meal. We noticed from two parties this summer that grilling here is very democratic. Everyone brings their meat (and/or veggies) and finds a place for it over the coals. This contrasts with the typical American approach of having the grillmaster with all his tools at the ready serving up the food of his choice. It all worked out. The weather held, with only a few sprinkles during the afternoon before it cleared up and gave us a beautiful evening for the bonfire. Afterwards the party continued. We lasted until 1am, but most carried on later into the night.

This trip was our first experience with the Great Belt Bridge which connects the islands Sjælland (where Copenhagen is located) and Fyn. This was for a short time after it was completed in 1998 the longest bridge in the world, surpassed by a bridge completed shortly after in Japan. It was a bit unnerving, but we enjoyed the experience. It was also the largest toll I've paid (DKK205 each way, approx. $35), though I understand that the bridge to Sweden costs more than twice as much. One of our favorite songs that the choir sang in the spring was "God Morgen Lille Land," which was written for the dedication of Storbæltsbroen (Danish for The Great Belt Bridge). We sang the song in the car on the way up the long span of the bridge.

Last weekend found us on Fyn again for a four-day mini-vacation. We went camping in Bogense, located on the north coast of the island. The campsite was in a good location close to the beach and marina and an easy walk into town. There was also a supermarket close by and nice paths for walking and biking along the coast. The weather did not cooperate so well (as can be seen in the photos), but we brought our rain clothes and the tent held up, so it didn't turn out too bad. An Irish friend at work says there's no such thing as bad weather, only bad clothes. On Saturday we went to a old-time street market fair in Bogense followed by a Celtic folk music festival during which the weather gradually improved to the point where I picked up a little sunburn from sitting out at 7:30 listening to the music. We also took a 10km bike ride Saturday afternoon in the rain along the coast and then back to town on some country roads. Bogense features the world's oldest windmill built solely for electric power generation (see picture). It was built in 1942 but taken out of service in 1953 after the town switched from DC to AC power.

On Sunday we visited Harridslevgaard Slot located 3km outside of Bogense. This is a privately-owned castle from 1606 which hosts weddings and is open for visitors. The funniest part of the tour was when we walked up to the great room and saw in the middle of the floor two miniature greyhounds curled up together. I guess it is their house too.