Vikings, etc

So today we visited the area where Daddy use to work (Scatter Site).   We were going to go all the way up to the satellite golf balls, but Annika was freaking out on the drive, so we turned around instead.  Daddy's building is gone!  Mjorkadal is the country's jail now!

Then we drove to Vestmanna to see the viking museum, SagaMuseum.  It was so cool.  It is essentially a wax museum audio tour.  We were able to listen to it in English.  They told the story of Sigmundur Bresteson and Trondur i Gotu, Annika av Stora Dimun, and the Sharp Stone (used for non-death penalty punishments).  The wax forms were in 11 stations:

1. The first human inhabitants, were irish monks.  They arrived in round skin boats and lived peacefully for a time.
2. Brestir and Beinir fought Hafgrimur on Stora Dimun, and were killed.   The winning side wanted to kill their two sons Sigmundur and Torur, but Trondur i Gotu agrees to raise them.  
3. Sigmundur, on behalf of King Olaf of Norway, threatens Trondur i Gotu with death if they do not accept Christianity.
4. The decapitated Sigmundur tells Trondur i Gotu who killed him.  His daughter will not marry Trondur's nephew unless his death is avenged.  So the men that killed him, a farmer and his son, were hung.
5. The fight over whether the cathedral in Kirkebo should be completed.  The grass where this battle was waged is grows red grass to this day, in deference to how bloody the battle was.
6. The effect of the Black Plague on the Faroes.
7. Pirates in the Faroes.
8. The richest landowner in Faroese history: The Lady of Husavik.   Apparently, she owned several islands in the Faroes and several farms in Norway and Scotland.
9. Annika av Stora Dimon. Apparently, her dad lost her to the owner of Stora Dimun while gambling.  She was forced to marry him, but fell in love with one of his ranch hands.  The conspired to kill the farmer.  Three years later, her lover turned her in, in exchange for amnesty.  She was tried and sentenced to drowning (women were drowned, and men were hung), but she would not sink.  It was decided that her hair kept her afloat, so they cut it off and threw her back in.  Then, finally, she drowned.
10. Patur. He is sentenced to hanging for stealing food.  It is one of the worst offenses there is.
11. The Sharp Stone.  If your crime is not a killing offense, you are sentenced to a number of days sitting astride a sharp rock with your hands tied behind your back and your legs weighed down with heavy stones.  Apparently, it is excruciating.  Plus you are in a dark and dank cellar.

Finally, we drove to Hvivik to view the ruins of a Viking long house and barn, along side a viking burial mound.  It was a little anticlimactic, but worth the stop.

The plan was to go to Thorshavn this evening.  Tyr is in concert, along with about 10 other Faroese bands, leading up to a Danish headliner.  The kids don't really want to go.  It's cold and the concert is long, Tyr is playing for 30 minutes or less.  So we might end up watching Harry Potter 3 and 4.  We watched 1 and 2 last night.