Time with Kyle

We drove Kyle to the airport this morning for an early flight to Paris and then on to Salt Lake City. I can hardly believe this moment finally came! I miss him already. He's been a fun part of our getting settled into Denmark. He's been eager for every new "foreign" experience, and really made the most of his few weeks here. He's been to the Temple twice, explored multiple running trails around our house, gotten involved with the young single adult group from church, gone to mutual activities, explored Copenhagen, played some soccer with the locals, and probably learned more Danish than the rest of us put together! I'm sure he will just as eagerly grab onto his BYU experience. I'm thrilled for him to be going and can't wait to exchange adventure stories with him. But he will be missed here in Denmark.

Roskilde Domkirke

Kyle has also been a really fun traveling buddy for me when Trav and the other kids have been busy at work and school. Last week he and I went to the nearby city, Roskilde, which was once the capital of Denmark and a huge Viking city before that. We went to the Roskilde Domkirke, which is an enormous brick church built around 1250. It was impressive for its size and gothic architecture. I'm not sure if it's still used as a church or not, though, as it has now been turned into a museum of the ornate coffins of 38 monarchs. (Thought we were visitng a church, not a morgue, so not exactly what we expected.) Interesting to note that one section was blocked off for construction--they are building the coffin room for the current queen of Denmark.

Streets of Roskilde

Outside the bakery

After touring the Domkirke, Kyle and I lightened the mood with a walk through a charming street of shops...and a treat from the local bakery. (The street signs that have the symbol of a pretzel with a crown on top--meaning 'bakery'--have become a bit of a beacon to me.)







The highlight of Roskilde was our visit to the Viking Ship Museum and our walk around the nearby park. It was really interesting to learn some of the local history about the vikings. I realized that I had known very little about them and the era of the vikings in general. The museum houses remains of five actual viking ships. They were discovered at the bottom of the sea in the 1950s. They date back to around 800-1000 a.d. Experts figure the ships were filled with rocks and intentionally sunk at the mouth of the bay into Roskilde. It must have been an attempt to defend against viking attacks from more northern tribes.

A reconstructed viking ship complete with comfy benches. This was a battle ship for the vikings and used to pillage ports throughout the North Sea. The Vikings were known as the pirates of their time.

This ship is the real deal. Pretty good condition for being under water for 900 years! This is a smaller ship than those used as a model for the reconstruction in the above photo.

By the end of our day, we had walked a lot and read a lot of plaques. We were tired. A history buff and a goof, however, Kyle turned proved to keep things exciting.

Like a cherry on top of our fun day, Trav, Kyle, and I went to the Copenhagen Temple together. It was wonderful! The session was in English, so it felt like home in more ways than one. It was such a blessing to be there together! Maurie, Kyle, and Jared were also able to go the previous week for their first mutual activity. It's so great to have the Temple only 25 minutes from our house!