Copenhagen, Denmark Next cruise starts today

While all of you were fast asleep and cozy in your beds, we were like Dora the Explorer and left the safety, warmth and comfort of our ship to find our way to Roskilde, Denmark.

You see we feel compelled to see those “1000 Places to see before you die” places if we are in that country. We have seen almost all of the other important “must see” here but this was one place we hadn’t gotten to.

Rick Steves had given us a little direction but not much. We were on our own today. We left the ship and the skies were dark and dreary. Since half of the ship was going home today the Taxi line was long. Jim walked a bit and saw the train terminal in the distance and thought we could make it to the train station in the same amount of time as a cab would take.

So we bravely walked by all the people waiting for a nice warm cab and took off. We had to wind our way through parking lots and back streets just to find the main street (we are docked on a large port to the north of Copenhagen and it is a very industrial area). Within minutes of leaving the comfort of our cab line the heavens opened and it started to rain.

We finally found our way to the Nordhaven Station where we knew we could find a train to take us to Copenhagen Central where we could then find another train that would take us the 30 miles to Roskilde, Denmark.

Once we found out how to purchase the train ticket we were on our way. We arrived in Roskilde about an hour later. We then asked directions on how to get to the cathedral and headed out on foot.

Of course within minutes of reaching the Cathedral the heavens opened again and started pouring. We sought shelter in the Cathedral.

Roskilde is important because it was the capital of Denmark up until 1455 (Denmark had a lot of history before that!). Ever since the early Middle Ages, Roskilde Cathedral has been one of Denmark’s most outstanding churches. The Cathedral is from the 12th century and houses the tombs of 38 Danish kings and queens. It is absolutely beautiful. In 1995 Roskilde Cathedral was admitted to UNESCO’s World Heritage List.

Buried in the Cathedral is King Harald Bluetooth a.940-986 to Frederik IX 1947-1972. In between you will find the beautiful tombs of Margrete I, all the Christian’s I-X, all the Frederik’s II-IX, and their queens. These tombs are every bit as beautiful as you would see in Rome, or Florence or Paris.

Upon leaving the Cathedral the skies were dry and we headed downhill for about a mile to the Roskilde Fjord. This is where the Viking Museum is located. www.Vikingshipmueseum.dk

Of course within 5 minutes of leaving the church the heavens opened again and started pouring on us. We found our way through a beautiful park that somewhat keep the rain off of us. We got to the Viking Museum and it was raining pretty hard by then.

This Museum is incredible but would have been 100% better had we had our 5 grandsons with us. It is a very “hands on” museum.

Five original Viking ships from the 11th century were pulled from the sea. How they got there is no mystery. They were sunk to keep the Norwegian Vikings out. They would sink the ship and pile rocks and boulders on the sunken ship to form a barrier to the other Viking ships.

Once you visit the ships (which were really bits and pieces) they had many areas around where you could watch ship builders building, Viking clothes you could put on, Viking ships kids could climb in, etc. It looked like a great place for kids to go.

The sun was shining now so we took off to walk the long distance back uphill to the church. We made it all the way there and found a little café for lunch and no sooner had we sat down when the heavens opened up again and it started pouring.

We took advantage of the dry café and ordered a lunch of salmon wrap and cold gazpacho soup. The salmon wrap was delicious but the cold gazpacho needed some help. Once we put about 2 tsp of salt in it the taste improved considerably.

We found our way back to the train station, and hopped on the next train. I started to panic a bit because our ship leaves at 5:00 and it was now 2:00PM. We made it back to the ship in plenty of time and never took a cab once! Print this post