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Published: June 12th 2010
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Viking Center
Large wood statues at entrance. We are now in Denmark. We drove from Bremen, Germany to Ribe, Denmark - rain all the way until about an hour out of Ribe. Ribe is the oldest town in Denmark, founded in the 800's, on the western coast of Denmark. Population now is about 8000 and it is preserved as a historic site. They have several historic sites here and this year are celebrating their 1300th birthday. Cloudy, but no rain imminent so walked into the town to look around. Primary focal point is the cathedral which is the oldest in Denmark. Got into own around 5:30 and almost everything closed for the night. We've discovered that June is still the “off” season in this area with most things closed on the weekends so will try to see as much as we can tomorrow, Friday.
Friday morning was very cloudy, looking like rain, so decided to drive to the Viking Center rather than bike there. Good thing we did because it started to rain almost immediately after we left the campground and continued all day. The Viking Center is a re-creation of a Viking village in the 9th-11th century. Included several building including a longhouse, stable, forge, inn
The Forge
These two individuals were making a wedge to hold an ax head onto the handle. and craftsmen's tents. People dressed in traditional clothing available to explain things. Very interesting. Many of the individuals working here are students at a “production” school. This is a school for students who have not done well in a traditional high school or vocational school, i.e. dropouts. This is an alternative to leaving school and finding a job. They receive a small stipend for attending. All the young people at the center were very polite and helpful.
Since it was still raining when we finished our tour, we drove about 40 miles to Bilund, the home of Legos, to Legoland. This is a theme park smaller, but similar to Disneyland with a fantasy, western, and pirate section with rides. All the characters identifying the sections were lifesoze or larger and made from legos. Also had a huge section, with various cityscapes made completely from legos. Amazing to see. The legoscapes included landscaping which was all live plants to scale with the scene. The landscaping and plant life in the park itself was interesting. All the areas separated by trees, flowers and ground cover. With the rain they get, you can see how this is possible. Still raining as we
Denmark's Royal Palace
Made completely from Legos the palace contains 900,000 Legos and 40,000 Lego windows. headed back to the campground. Although it rained all day, it wasn't unpleasant walking outside most of the day. It wasn't cold and the rain was a liight rain with no wind most of the time. Legoland was certainly not at capacity, but plenty of people there in ponchos having a great time. Clearly the weather was not unexpected for them. While at the Viking Center I asked if this was typical weather. The young gentleman I asked said it was typical for most of the year. Will stay here another day if weather in the morning looks good for biking. Otherwise we will move east to the island of Funen and Odense, the town where Hans Christian Anderson was born.
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