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           [log in to unmask] "Lydia Johnson" writes:
 
> Hi!  I am planning a trip to Denmark this summer, and wonder if
> anyone knows anything about the Lejre Historical-Archaeological
> Research Centre?  I read about it in Dec. 1992 Traveller magazine,
> and am quite intrigued.  It says the centre has farmhouses from the
> 1850s, workshops carrying on the old crafts, and a reimagined Iron
> Age village where Danish families can come to live
> for a week or more in crude huts, wearing animal skins and cooking
> over open fires.  I'm taking my two sons (10 & 12), and think this
> might be an interesting side-trip.  I don't even know where it is,
> though.  Any more info out there?  I've already done a Lycos search
> and found nothing...
>
Lejre is west of Copenhagen: follow the A1 past Roskilde (great
Viking Ships Museum there).  Further west still is Trelleborg (at Slagelse).
 
I visited these places over ten years ago, so my memories are a bit
dim.  Lejre is fun.  You can - and are - encouraged to help the
families out, especially with the back-breaking grinding of wheat
on a quorn.  Trelleborg is impressive - but your sons might not want
to spend a long time there.  I have since seen an interactive computer
display based on Trelleborg, which they might enjoy exploring.  The
Viking Ships museum uses a lot of approaches, and hands-on exhibits
(I can only remember the one where the use of the rudder was
demonstrated).  All three museums sign/interpret in English as
well as Danish, if that is a consideration.
 
North of Copenhagen is an outpost of the National Museum at Sorgenfri,
which is an open-air museum (i.e. a collection of buildings), but has,
according to my out-of-date travel guide, demonstrations and dancing.
I'm afraid I didn't get there on my trip.
 
--
Patricia Reynolds
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