Vikings and the Olympics

Kristen, Stephanie, Henrry and I decided to put on a Olympics Opening Ceremony party tonight. We would put dinner together and afterwards, everyone would watch the opening ceremony. This wouldn’t be until about 19:00, so we had some time to kill.

The pod decided to go to the Lindholm Høje Viking Museum in the early afternoon. First we walked around the burial site, near where the wedding ceremony was held. Then we went to the museum. It was very hot inside (no air conditioning), so we were all sweating a bit. But it’s a nice little museum displaying some of the stuff they excavated at Lindolm Høje. After walking through the exhibit, we watched a video about the viking settlement at Ribe (in the southern portion of Jylland) and then tried some mead. An afternoon well spent.

View from back of museum

Then it was time to put together dinner for the “party”. Our idea was simple: five pizzas decorated with the colors of the Olympic rings. These would be placed on the table in the same arrangement as the Olympic logo. We went to Kwickly (a supermarket/department store) to buy what we needed and a few things to bring home (salty licorice for me, mainly). After we got back, I ordered the pizzas. Guests were due to arrive at 18:30. Henrry and I went to pick up the pizzas while Stephie and Kristen prepared the colored garnish and made a salad.

There was a bit of a snafu with the pizza order because they were all small. The guy on the phone had misunderstood me. So we ordered two more just to make sure there was enough food for everyone. Then we rushed back with the pizzas so they could be decorated:

Red = tomatoes
Green = green peppers
Black = black olives
Gold = pineapple
Blue = blue cheese

In addition to this bit of “festivity”, I printed out some “tickets” for the party. On the front was the Olympic logo and on the back was an Olympic sport. Everyone had to pick a ticket out of a hat and that sport was the one that they should follow in particular. This little game seems to have fizzled, though. Only a few of us were truly interested in the Olympics. Oh well, it was just for fun anyway.

Everyone enjoyed the dinner and the presentation. We were all quite stuffed by the time the Opening Ceremony started. It was particularly spectacular this year, though a bit long-winded. We all cheered at the arrival of each country that the family collectively represents: Denmark, Sweden, USA, and Cuba (plus Belgium and the UK for good measure).

After the ceremony, some of us were pumped up to watch the Olympics, others just went on with their lives. To each his/her own! Personally, I'm looking forward to it. Has been a long time since I was able to watch it and it will be fun to see it from the European perspective (i.e.- not only events with US involvement).