Out + About: Viking Ship Museum in Roskilde

You can’t think of Denmark and not think of Vikings.  Forests and the sea have always factored heavily into providing for needs here, and when there wasn’t enough, well, they just popped on a ship and sailed away to get some more.  And there’s still a fair amount of viking culture here – hearty, pull yourself up by your bootstraps but mind the collective type stuff…. Maybe that’s part of the reason why forest schools are so popular here.

It’s been on our list get a little more into this Viking business while we’re here in Denmark and a couple of weeks ago, we finally made it out to Roskilde for the Viking Ship Museum.  The full write-up is on the other blog, but in summary, the museum is dedicated to the reconstitution of 5 Viking vessels scuttled in the Roskilde fjord.  But from a children’s adventure perspective? This is pretty much your chance to imagine yourself a Viking.

At the end of the Viking Ship hall are two viking ship replicas, for kids to jump on and jump off, and commandeer, and pretend.  Best part of all? There is a full closet of Viking costumery that you can don (and your parents can too), to include faux fur-lined pelts, shields that only the heartiest forest school soul could actually lift, and linen under-layers which made this particular mother think that Vikings probably weren’t the cleanest seamen across the ages. In the background are Viking re-enactments projected onto the wall with ocean waves crashing for that full adventure feeling.

The result though was one very happy, imaginative toddler.  Whatever energy we didn’t use up in the costume room, she killed off with a long walk on the Roskilde harbor.  A boardwalk lines the water with lovely views over the boats (and not just viking ones), and a nature float lets kids examine all sorts of sea critters in the little watering holes if they flow in.  And yes, ice cream is definitely the perfect end to the day.