July 30

July 30th (rainy with sunny breaks)
Today, after another wonderful breakfast, we drove to the Viking Museum in Schleswig. This museum is located on the site where Northern Europe’s largest town Hedeby, (now Schleswig), stood more than one thousand years ago. It was amazing to see how advanced the Viking society was at that time. Their craftsmanship for seafaring and landlocked items was superb. The excavation is still in progress and unearthing many items including two large Viking vessels. It was absolutely pouring with rain so this was a great way to spend a couple of hours.
We ate our packed lunch out of the car because of the weather before going on to see the Schleswig-Holstein’s Open Air Museum. The weather broke a little allowing us to view farmhouses, cottages, barns and village workshops from all over Schleswig-Holstein. All these structures and land upon which they now stand were donated by people. The buildings were removed, piece-by-piece, labeled, transported and reconstructed on the new 60-acre site outfitted with period pieces of that era. We thoroughly enjoyed the animals, especially the family of pigs that were slopping around in the mud.
We were all quite exhausted from all the walking and sightseeing and after a couple of drinks, dinner and good conversation, we collapsed into bed. It was another great day with a very hospitable couple.