Ribe, VikingeCenter, Sankt Hans (Tuesday)

It's light before 5 am, and by 7:30 I've probably been in and out of dozing for a while, so despite my brain fog, I get up. Pam is, of course, already awake, as are Rowan and Griffin. I am up before Berit, but only because she won't wake up until I wake her up.

Last night we met Karsten's father, Gunner, and his sister, Lena, who brought the car, a Citroen Berlingo, to us in Middelfart (where they both live). And yes, there was some snickering over the town's name, for sure.

We get to the house hungry, and since the kids were probably not going to love the herring and liverwurst our hosts left for us, we chowed down on some sausages, cheese and bread. This, of course, after assessing our digs, divvying up the rooms, and feeding the turtles. 

Yes, they have two turtles, Tanja (Tanya) and Pedersen, which is simply the best name for a turtle and one I can't stop saying or even singing (to the tune of "Terrapin Station," and they needed to be fed. You have to feed them on either side of the tank, however, or else when you drop the frozen turtle food blocks into the water, Tanja will eat them both and Pedersen (I can't figure out ... if it's the end or beginning...) will go hungry. Which is exactly what happened last night.

But back to this morning.

I made eggs, we fed the kids, and then some time around 10:30 we were off to Ribe, Denmark's oldest city/town/village - established in the year 700 by Vikings. The drive was a little over an hour at highway speeds of 130 kph and we proceeded directly to Ribe's VikingeCenter, an open air museum much like Old Sturbridge Village, except with Vikings. Because everything's better with Vikings.

This was a lot of fun, and we learned things. For instance, those helmets with the horns - that's not a real Viking thing. Perhaps, our man tells us, some Vikings or Viking antecedents had helmets with horns for ceremonial uses, but they weren't used by real Vikings. It would be impractical. The great thing about the smoothly-domed Viking helmet is the way the sword slides right off it. Horns might grab the sword, causing the impact to be directed into the skull, resulting in death. Not good.

We spent quite some time with the Viking woman who was showing us Viking games, one of which involved using sticks that looked like slingshots without the sling, to toss a bull's testicles back and forth. This was great fun, especially as she explained the game to us. I responded in kind, explaining to her that in Colorado, bison testicles are considered a delicacy.

There was also a game in which two people tried to knock each other off a log by swinging large pillows at each other. In light of the fact that she had called the first game "Balls," Griffin and I dubbed this one, "Sack." No end of amusement there. Griiffin and I spent some time knocking each other off of the log, while the girls built flower crowns with our Viking host.

In the afternoon, there was an excellent falconry show with three birds - an owl, a Harris hawk, and a falcon. Really cool. The falconers explained everything in both Danish and English, and Griffin got to wear the glove and have the owl fly to him.

After the Viking Center, we headed over to Ribe proper where the architectural centerpiece is the cathedral (domkirke) that was built between 1150 and 1250. Beautiful stonework with the exception of the brick tower that replaced one of the spires that collapsed on Christmas night in 1333, killing many of the parishioners in the process. Climbing the brick tower is 10 kroner well-spent, as you can see all of Ribe and the surrounding area from there.

We promenaded around the lovely streets of Ribe - eating ice creams and holding the parrots that we found within the shops there. You know, like you do.

Tonight was Sankt Hans Eve - one of those combination Christian and Pagan holidays celebrating both the eve of Saint John's birth and the Summer Solstice. And what do we do during the Summer Solstice? We burn huge bonfires all over the country to ward off the evil Germanic witches. That's what we do

So this evening we took the Berlingo over to the nearest beach - about 15 minutes from home - and hung out with a bunch of Danes getting their bonfire on, with appropriate choral accompaniment.  There were huge bonfires up and down the beach, so prior to ours being lit, Pam and I strolled down to the next one over which was already aflame. By the time we returned, ours had been lit and burned down to the ground. Phooto courtesy of Rowan.