Katherine and I headed over to the elevated log for our next activity. The log was raised about 5 feet high and had wooden ladders nailed in to the 3 support beams on either side. Underneath the log were 4-5 big foam mats. Katherine and I each chose a pillowcase that had a little bit of filling on the bottom and sat on the middle of the log. We then wacked each other until Katherine fell to the ground with an undignified smack. Katherine decided that she should get the first hit, so I let her, and yet, she was still toppled from the log. Now Katherine decreed that she needed to have the first TWO hits. Katherine whapped me twice, before, with a single swing, I smacked her in the head and sent her flailing to the foam below. For the next half-hour our family swapped off, hitting each other with our pillows.
After a while, Katherine meandered off to make a leather pouch. Meanwhile my mom and I cashed in our silver coins and baked some bread by ourselves, without any instruction whatsoever.
Earlier, we had inquired what some ladies where doing and checked on them now. The ladies were heating water to 90 degrees Celsius and then using herbs to dye wool a light greenish brown color. After checking up on the wool we went on a tour of the village.
In the village we learned that the Viking age was from 793 CE to 1100 CE. We also learned that Vikings were taller than other people of that time, because they ate a lot of meat and drank a lot of milk. We left the longhouse and went over a tiny bridge to a small area with 8 wooden idols of the Norse gods. Our guide told us that each Viking would have a favorite god, and would pray to that god as their chief deity. If something happened however, the Viking was allowed to change their chief deity and renounce the old god. If something bad happened again, they could go back to their old god or just choose an entirely different god. Apparently, when the Vikings became Christians, they thought of Christ as just another god, and whenever a drought or a famine occurred, they would revert back to their heathen ways until another bad thing happened, making them switch back to Christianity.
After our tour, I took a few last hurls at the axe range, before we headed to the car for fossil hunting on the beaches of Gotland.
PICTURES: Related to the Viking theme, there are also pictures here from the Museum of Visby (Viking treasures including coins from as far away as Arabia and a silver hoard in loops, picture stones, artwork), a Viking burial site on Gotland with stones in the shape of a ship, and Viking Museum of Roskilde in Denmark (restoring 5 sunken wooden Viking ships that are 1000 years old).
Jul 28
Today my family went to a re-created Viking village!
My parents gave each child two silver coins that we could use to do paid-for activities.
We entered the village and looked around. There was a big fire on a low altar of sorts, a dozen or so shacks, a long house, and a training ground. We headed over to the training ground and I was instantly overjoyed! There were two stumps with a tug of war rope next to them, an elevated log that was five feet off the ground, an archery range, and an AXE THROWING RANGE!!!
I quickly tried archery before I moved on to the axe throwing. In the entire time we were at the Viking village, I would only be able to get eight or so solid hits, which it turns out, was a very good score. I also managed to aim for a particular stump and it hit it head-on!
Katherine and I headed over to the elevated log for our next activity. The log was raised about 5 feet high and had wooden ladders nailed in to the 3 support beams on either side. Underneath the log were 4-5 big foam mats. Katherine and I each chose a pillowcase that had a little bit of filling on the bottom and sat on the middle of the log. We then wacked each other until Katherine fell to the ground with an undignified smack. Katherine decided that she should get the first hit, so I let her, and yet, she was still toppled from the log. Now Katherine decreed that she needed to have the first TWO hits. Katherine whapped me twice, before, with a single swing, I smacked her in the head and sent her flailing to the foam below. For the next half-hour our family swapped off, hitting each other with our pillows.
After a while, Katherine meandered off to make a leather pouch. Meanwhile my mom and I cashed in our silver coins and baked some bread by ourselves, without any instruction whatsoever.
Earlier, we had inquired what some ladies where doing and checked on them now. The ladies were heating water to 90 degrees Celsius and then using herbs to dye wool a light greenish brown color. After checking up on the wool we went on a tour of the village.
In the village we learned that the Viking age was from 793 CE to 1100 CE. We also learned that Vikings were taller than other people of that time, because they ate a lot of meat and drank a lot of milk. We left the longhouse and went over a tiny bridge to a small area with 8 wooden idols of the Norse gods. Our guide told us that each Viking would have a favorite god, and would pray to that god as their chief deity. If something happened however, the Viking was allowed to change their chief deity and renounce the old god. If something bad happened again, they could go back to their old god or just choose an entirely different god. Apparently, when the Vikings became Christians, they thought of Christ as just another god, and whenever a drought or a famine occurred, they would revert back to their heathen ways until another bad thing happened, making them switch back to Christianity.
After our tour, I took a few last hurls at the axe range, before we headed to the car for fossil hunting on the beaches of Gotland.
PICTURES: Related to the Viking theme, there are also pictures here from the Museum of Visby (Viking treasures including coins from as far away as Arabia and a silver hoard in loops, picture stones, artwork), a Viking burial site on Gotland with stones in the shape of a ship, and Viking Museum of Roskilde in Denmark (restoring 5 sunken wooden Viking ships that are 1000 years old).
Katherine and I headed over to the elevated log for our next activity. The log was raised about 5 feet high and had wooden ladders nailed in to the 3 support beams on either side. Underneath the log were 4-5 big foam mats. Katherine and I each chose a pillowcase that had a little bit of filling on the bottom and sat on the middle of the log. We then wacked each other until Katherine fell to the ground with an undignified smack. Katherine decided that she should get the first hit, so I let her, and yet, she was still toppled from the log. Now Katherine decreed that she needed to have the first TWO hits. Katherine whapped me twice, before, with a single swing, I smacked her in the head and sent her flailing to the foam below. For the next half-hour our family swapped off, hitting each other with our pillows.
After a while, Katherine meandered off to make a leather pouch. Meanwhile my mom and I cashed in our silver coins and baked some bread by ourselves, without any instruction whatsoever.
Earlier, we had inquired what some ladies where doing and checked on them now. The ladies were heating water to 90 degrees Celsius and then using herbs to dye wool a light greenish brown color. After checking up on the wool we went on a tour of the village.
In the village we learned that the Viking age was from 793 CE to 1100 CE. We also learned that Vikings were taller than other people of that time, because they ate a lot of meat and drank a lot of milk. We left the longhouse and went over a tiny bridge to a small area with 8 wooden idols of the Norse gods. Our guide told us that each Viking would have a favorite god, and would pray to that god as their chief deity. If something happened however, the Viking was allowed to change their chief deity and renounce the old god. If something bad happened again, they could go back to their old god or just choose an entirely different god. Apparently, when the Vikings became Christians, they thought of Christ as just another god, and whenever a drought or a famine occurred, they would revert back to their heathen ways until another bad thing happened, making them switch back to Christianity.
After our tour, I took a few last hurls at the axe range, before we headed to the car for fossil hunting on the beaches of Gotland.
PICTURES: Related to the Viking theme, there are also pictures here from the Museum of Visby (Viking treasures including coins from as far away as Arabia and a silver hoard in loops, picture stones, artwork), a Viking burial site on Gotland with stones in the shape of a ship, and Viking Museum of Roskilde in Denmark (restoring 5 sunken wooden Viking ships that are 1000 years old).
Error thrown
Call to undefined function ereg()