As I confessed from the outset, I have a thing for the distant, distant past – further back, even, than Will Shakespeare who was writing his plays a mere 425 years ago. In my quest for people and places somewhat older, I will soon be winging across the Atlantic and into Europe’s early medieval past.
First stop…..
…Copenhagen. Well, Roskilde, actually. About a 30 minute train ride outside of Copenhagen, Roskilde is perched at the edge of a lovely fjord. In the 10^th and 11^th centuries, back in the stretch of time when the Danes were ruled by Harald Bluetooth followed by Swein Forkbeard and then by Cnut the Great, Roskilde was the center of the Danish Viking world. In those days Copenhagen was just a little fishing village called Havn, and it would not become Denmark’s capital until the 15^th century. Meantime, Roskilde was the happening place.  For me the central draw in Roskilde will be the Viking Ship Museum (Vikingeskibsmuseet) and the 5 longships on display there, pulled up from the bottom of the fjord and restored. There are numerous replica ships there, as well, plus a boatyard, a research station and exhibits on life in the Viking age.
But wait. Let’s go back to Harald Bluetooth for a moment. Does that name, Bluetooth, sound familiar? Here’s why. That modern device that you wear on your ear was named after the 10^th century king, Harald Bluetooth (more politely referred to as Harald I), who united the separate tribes in Denmark and some of the best bits of Norway and Sweden into one realm. Today’s Bluetooth does the same thing with communications protocols, uniting them into one universal standard….and that’s why some bright, no doubt Viking-loving chap, decided to call it a Bluetooth. Betcha didn’t know that.