roskilde! march 7th

Read some of The Lake House. It's a really good book about children who can fly.
Went for a run down Nordre and Sondre Fasanvej. It goes along a fairly developed area with shops.
Went into the main Copenhagen train station. Took the train to Roskilde. We went to a cathedral. It was built by Bishop Absalon. We had a great guide who was very enthusiastic about the place. There was an organist playing. Roskilde used to be the main capital and center of Copenhagen. There were some coffins of the Royal Family that we saw. The cathedral looks different than it used to apparently (fewer frescoes and no stained glass because of the reformation). There are many side rooms that were designed by different kings and thus have different styles. There was a king of Denmark during WW2 who surrendered to Germany but went out riding around the city as soon as he did to keep up the tradition and connect with the people. There was another king who became king at 15 and was schitzophrenic. The cathedral is still in use. The latest royalty don't want to be put up for display and thus are buried outside the cathedral in a graveyard. Sometimes the coffins must be fixed up. If the inner coffin has been damaged then they have to call the queen and ask her permission to open it up.
We also went to the Viking Museum. We saw a movie about the 5 ships they have reconstructed. There were 3 channels in the fjord that were meant to protect Roskilde. They had to drain the fjord and keep the wood in water and then slowly add glycen or something like that because it will keep the wood from deteriorating and rotting.
There were two major types of Viking boats: merchant ones and war ships. The merchant ones were wide and stable and smaller. The boats were very technically advanced and fast. The war ships were long and narrow and could move very fast. The merchant ships fit about 30 people and the war ships fit about 80. War ships could be rowed or sailed. The vikings explored all over. Mediterranean took about 2 weeks unless they got sidetracked. Greenland took about a week and England took 3 days. Different types of wood were used to build different parts of the boats due to the function of that part.
I did a bit of homework.
Ida, Karen, and I drove to a Walmartish store that sells groceries, clothes, appliances etc. We also went to visit Jette (who is Ida's age) and Sarah (Karen's age). When Karen and Sarah were little they were neighbors and best friends. It was nice to meet them. Interestingly they didn't seem phased by having me there and didn't ask me any questions at all. I wasn't offended but I was very surprised that they didn't try to include me in the conversation more. They both spoke English. Oh well. I followed bits of the conversation. We stopped by Karen's gymnasium to pick up her bike with a flat tire. It was late so we got a pizza to have for dinner.