Vikingen in Wijnegem

 During the weekend of the 9th and 10th of may, a Viking settlement was erected in the Wijnegem Park area.

 

In this, re-enactors would give a glimpse in the life of the fearsome raiders from the north.

 

Terrorising our shores for about 200 years, they where in essence farmers and traders looking for new lands, and as such spoils, to gain reputation and prestige, but as history learned, settled in in the end.  The Viking legacy as such is strive through our western history, but it never became a real nation, instead slowly absorbing into western region cultures.  You can say they where the spicy flavour on an at that moment stale dish.

 

About a dozen tents had been set up in the field, where you could try out amusement games of the era, see how they made rope and clothing, and what sort of food they prepared. 

 

And of course, also how they fought on the fields of battle, the thing they got known most for.

 

A nice little event that was fun a walk around and have a look, helped largely by the excellent weather.  So a fresh fruit beer afterwards was more then called for!

 

Intresting for certain! 

Vikings season 5 part 2

Right on time for the (final apparently) 6th season, season 5 was, like it's predecessor, split into 2 semi-seasons of 10 episodes each.

And in this second part, it is all about returning home.

After being expelled by Ivar from Kattegat, the other sons of Ragnar together with Lagertha are looking for ways to retake their home, all through different means.

While Ubbe finally claims the lands Ragnar was promised in England, thanks to the wise ruling of the current king (the son of Athelstan) and settles it together with Dane vikings, Bjorn convinces King Harald to sail with him and attack Ivar.  Hvitserk in the meantime allies with a swedish King to also lay siege to Kattegat, now ruled by a tyrant Ivar, believing himself to be an actual god...

And Floki... he and his settlers set upon hard times in the far away country, still looking for the Norse Gods...

A strong second part of the season, and my biggest grief is the demise of Bishop Heahmund, fantastically set down by Jonathan Rhys Meyers (of Tudors fame).

The Burning Land - Bernard Cornwell

The fifth book in the history of (fictional) Uther of Bebbanburg, published in 2009, is part of the Making of England series.

I just advise NOT to read the part about the Making series at the end, because it tells how the story ends after the series...

In this fifth book, Uther retells the story of how he defeated a viking warlord called Harald, and then fell enchanted by his sorceress Skade.  In his ever driving force to retake his ancestral fortress of Bebbanburg, he listens to Skade and leaves the care of Alfred of Wessex to sail for the Frisian islands. 
Here he raids the stronghold of her ex-husband, in order to get silver and raise an army, but this turns out far less then he expected.  He then hooks up with his youth friend Ragnar, and together they plan an invasion of Wessex.
However, Alfred lures Uthred back in his service by way of his daughter, and now he faces the same invaders he planned the actual invasion with...

It`s a lovely book which details events in a way you can see it played out in your minds eye.  Of course, the The Last Kingdom series, based on these novels, helps visualising the antagonists. 

This book takes place right after the second series of that, as they both bundled the stories of respectively novels 1 and 2, and then 3 and 4, into their storylines.

Classic Lego Build: 7015 The Fenris Wolf

If there is one theme I really regret having missed due to my `Dark Ages`, it must be the Viking range.

This 7 set range consisted of brave Norse fighting off all kinds of mythical beasts, so when I got my hands on the smallest of the range well under BrickLink price, I was really thrilled.

Containing 69 pieces, the set also comes with a mighty Viking warrior that will be facing off the legendary wolf Fenrir.

In order to aid him with this task, he also comes with a spear and shield pavise to keep the beast at bay.

The wolf is made of mainly Technic pieces, granting it great poseability.

Based around a brown two hinge piece, the backside and the front leg supports are added.

The legs themselves are made up of T-junctions and droid arms to connect them, while the clawed feet are made of connecting pieces.

These are then added to the body of the wolf.

The backplate and tail are added before we start working on the head of the beast.

Build around a headmold, teeth peices are added as ears while a small red Technic pin is slid through to give it it`s red eyes.

The teeth are added and the head is then connected to body to complete the monster.

And the full set completed:

Now keep watching this blog the coming weeks, as I`ve been including the set in my Project Merak lay-out, but I still need to make pictures of that display piece first :-)