Trelleborg

Thursday was a rainy day in Copenhagen. That made it very hard to get myself out of my hotel room. I finally put on my raincoat and ventured out. First stop was the Nationalmuseet. My main interest in this museum were the artifacts from the Viking Age. Some of the displays were incomplete because they are going into the special exhibit opening on June 22nd.  One of those missing was the newly discovered golden Valkyrie. Bummer. I am truly hoping she will be in the special exhibit. Was very good in the gift store and only bought two books.

The next stop was the Ny Carlsberg Glyptotek. I was interested in their large college of Gauguin paintings. Alas they were all put away for the special Degas exhibit.

Off to Marimekko! Oh what wonderful things were they going to have that weren't in the US? Walked out with a case of sticker shock and 4 pairs of socks.

Today started my adventures in public transportation. The easy part was taking the train from Copenhagen to Slagese. Then had to wait 45 minutes for the bus to Trelleborg. Asked the bus driver the fare to Trelleborg and he just waved me on. Joy!

Trelleborg is a Viking age fort constructed around 980 AD. It was part of a larger military system consisting of other ring fortresses. About 500 people lived there, but it had lost its importance by 990 and was abandoned shortly thereafter.

The site was excavated and restored by the National Museum between 1934 and 1942.  Although the wooden buildings have disappeared with time, the earthen walls of the fort have not. Cement marks where wooden posts of houses once were.

                                  Two outbuildings in forefront and entrance in the background.

                             Here are a couple of overviews of the site from the top of the walls.

       There were two roads that ran perpendicular to each other through the fort (those are not the original planks)

                                    With this photo I tried to capture where the two roads met.

Along with the fort are some reconstructions of Viking age buildings. The longhouse was first and was built in 1941.  Then they constructed the village of Slaglose.

I checked the fence and didn't see any nails.

Spending the night in Korsor. Heading to Odense tomorrow.