A Visit to Roskilde and a lovely evening

 I was excited about my visit to Roskilde. It’s about a half an hour train ride from central Copenhagen. It was for several centuries the capital of Denmark. The red brick cathedral is one of the most important buildings in all of Denmark. It is the final resting place of many of the kings and queens of this monarchy. I arrived at the station and purchased my ticket. The train was right on time and there were plenty of passengers. I have to admit, the ride out was not the most scenic. Seems as if the train travels along an industrial corridor. We arrived in Roskilde and it was sunny and breezy. I followed the signs towards the cathedral – the town was very well marked.

 

Town square - Roskilde

It was Saturday morning and I was walking along the main shopping street. Many stores had wares out on the sidewalk and the locals were out in force shopping. It was fun to be out of the city and see people in a small town setting. Saturday was also the farmer’s market day, so I also enjoyed seeing the local produce, which I must admit was rather limited compared to New Jersey at this time of year. Roskilde was definitely a quaint town.

As I neared the cathedral, I could see a rather large group of well-dressed people coming my way and one of them was carrying a baby. “A christening” I thought. “How nice . . .at least it’s over”. When I got to the door, my heart sank. “Cathedral closed for religious services”. I made my way back to the Tourist Office where the very nice woman there explained to me quite apologetically that the

Roskilde Cathedral

cathedral would be closed the whole day for christening and weddings. Of all the bum luck! I had even checked a website on the train that gave no indication that the cathedral was closed. Obviously, the woman could see my disappointment and began ticking off all the other sights in Roskilde that I might want to see. Well, there was the Viking ship museum and I was in Roskilde, so I thought, why not. I was in no hurry, so I continued walking down the main drag, stopping every now and then to look at this shirt or jacket only to see the two most dreaded words in the English language – slim fit. Oh well, it didn’t hurt to look.

The museum sits right on the edge of a bay. By now, the sky had clouded over and the wind had  

Viking ship replicas tied up

stiffened. There were sailboats out on the water moving at a brisk clip. You could take a sail on a Viking ship replica here. I looked at the chop and thought to myself “No way.” I headed to the ticket window and paid the fairly hefty entrance fee. The nice young woman informed that an English language tour was starting in 10 minutes, so I decided to go along. That was a good move. The tour was extremely informative and I learned so much more about Viking ships than I did in Oslo. The museum houses the remains of five ships, some in better shape than others. We learned about the different types of ships the Vikings built; and, how they were different from each other. It was also interesting to discover that from dating the wood, we learned that the Vikings recycled parts of their ships. They were part of the sustainability movement back in the 10th century! Way to go, Vikings!

Inside the museum

I had lunch at the museum’s café and it was quite good and very reasonable. I had taken a table outside. I figured if the Danes were tough enough to eat outside in 55º weather, so could I. Of course, it started to rain lightly before I finished, so I just pulled my table under the roof of the little shelter. After lunch, I walked back towards the center of town through a lovely city park. It was after 3 by now and most of the merchants had taken there things inside. The weekend was upon us. I caught the train and was back in the hotel by 4:30.

Ham and cheese sandwich and a local brew

My plan was to attend Mass at Copenhagen’s Catholic Cathedral on Sunday morning. According to Google, it was a 10-minute walk from my hotel. I decided to try it out on my way to dinner. Google was right! It was almost exactly 10 minutes. Mass was at 10:00 and I needed to leave for the airport by noon, so I knew this was doable. My dinner spot that night was a place called Vinvaert – it’s a kind of wine bar with a twist (pun intended!). The only food is a charcuterie platter. The server asks you what kind of wine you are interested in, then, after the conversation he goes off in search of wine. In my casee, he came back with two bottles; one a Valpolicella the other a Chianti. I opted for the Valpolicella. The twist is, he opens the bottle and leaves it on your table, but you only pay for what you drink – one glass, ½ a bottle, the whole thing. The charcuterie was very high quality; the Valpolicella was just OK. So, when he came back, I asked him what his second choice was and he told me a little more about the Chianti. It was from 2003 and should have been past its prime, but it wasn’t. He let me taste, and it was sublime. When he left me with the bottle, the couple that had taken the table next to me struck up a conversation. They were Danish and that conversation lasted well over an hour and was extremely interesting. Moments like these remind me why I enjoy traveling so much. It was a great evening.