Day 2 in Oslo
First and foremost, we have our luggage!
Today we went back to the castle and saw the interior. It’s interesting that the decoration of the Norwegian castle was so much simpler than the decoration of English, French, or Italian castles I’ve seen. Ornately carved wood and tapestries decorates much of the living and dining quarters, but there isn’t painting after painting or hundreds of statues throughout the place. They did have a dungeon, though, which I think is a must-have for every castle! And a beautiful stone-and-brick courtyard in the middle. This castle was also smaller than any other I’ve seen. It was roomy, but basic and functional. I liked that aspect of it because I think it says something about the rulers who once lived there and it also seems to capture the lifestyle of the people here to this day. It also meant that we didn’t spend too long walking around, which can get boring and tiring. After our exploration of the castle, we walked over to the dock and took a ferry across the harbor to the museums. Before we boarded, we walked through a little park with fountains and statues, and Debbie waded into one of the fountains to save a precious pinecone (she is an avid collector!)
When we arrived across the harbor we saw the Fram, which is a small museum containing the strongest wooden ship ever built. It didn’t look like a Viking ship; it was more like a large sailboat…We didn’t go in because we could see the whole thing from standing in the lobby (haha!) We weren’t planning on going in anyway—we went to the Kon-Tiki Museum, Thor Heyerdahl’s research foundation. Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) is one of history’s most famous scientists, adventurers and environmentalists. The museum displays real artifacts from Heyerdahl’s expeditions such as Ra, Tigris, Fatu-Hiva, Kon-Tiki, and Easter Island, and the famous papyrus and wooden vessels from these famous expeditions. Heyerdahl’s original purpose when planning these missions was to prove that travel and migration was possible in the ancient times, i.e. from Egypt to Indonesia, Morocco to Barbados, etc. He created vessels from ancient materials and sailed them across parts of the Atlantic and Pacific to see if they could stand the test of travel. His work was very successful. The tests revealed that this type of travel and migration was quite possible in ancient times! His work didn’t stop there—he excavated ancient cultures in South America and lived for quite some time on an uninhabited island with his wife. His Kon-Tiki expedition was video recorded and later awarded an Oscar Award for Best Documentary in 1951! I never knew of Heyerdahl or his explorations before, and it was so incredible to learn about his adventures and discoveries. Picked up some postcards for friends and family back home, and headed to our next destination…
The Viking ship museum! The one from the Master Card commercial. The Viking ships were huge, made with a very dark wood and long and thin with curly ends! (Hard to describe…see picture.) The ships in the museum were likely used for pleasure in calm water, because they were ornately decorated, shallow in height and only held a crew of 30. I can imagine that the larger, war-waging ships of the Vikings were much larger than that. When they died, prominent men and women were buried in these incredible ships much like the Egyptian pharaohs were buried in the pyramids—save for the embalming and preservation process—they were buried with household items, food and other things that they would “need” in the next life, including their slaves! In the late 1800’s-early 1900’s these ships were found near the Oslo Fjord. Some ships in the museum had been reconstructed, but others were left the way they had been found and moved into the museum. There are real ancient artifacts on display such as sleighs, fabric from clothing, buckets, dishes and tableware, boots, bed frames, chairs, tables, and much more. It’s amazing to see these things from thousands of years ago.
We walked back to the ferry instead of taking the bus and walked through what seemed to be a pretty high-end neighborhood, with big, gorgeous houses and nice cars parked in the street! We detoured when we saw the sign for the Folk Museum—it sounded like something to see. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t at all what any of us expected. Instead of an indoor exhibit, which they also had, there were acres and acres of sights to see—churches, houses dating way back to when people lived in sod-roof houses, an entire small town with houses and stores you could walk into, and an old farm with a pony living there that we fed and goo-and-gaa’d over, and whom we named Gretchen. I came up with the name, which I thought sounded Norwegian and which my dad reminded me was in fact German. Whatever, she looked like a Gretchen and she was blonde-colored and adorable!
By this time we were all pretty tired from walking and weak from hunger, so we finally headed down to the dock to catch the ferry back. We had a drink there at the water’s edge while we waited for the boat to bring us back to town. The evenings (and the mornings) are chilly, and I was getting pretty cold. As soon as we got back, we picked a restaurant to eat at. We all got our first Norwegian dinners (the meals up until this point have been Thai food, gyros from a Greek restaurant near our hotel, or continental breakfast food.) Everything was DELICIOUS!!!! We all ordered some variation of seafood, which is your best shot here, and good thing we’re all big fans. It was excellent! On our way back, Cheryl and I gave into the temptation of gelato from a little stand near the dock. We walked back to the hotel and saw tons of fun stuff we have yet to do along the way. Cheryl and I have yet to be offered a pick-up line on this trip or even a head nod, but tonight we got our first “F--- you!” from two guys! One guy was taking a picture of his friend, and Cheryl said, “nice picture!” as we walked by, and they shouted “F--- you!” at us! We were like OMG! and kept walking! Then they shouted back, “yeah, it is a good picture,” then turned to us and took our picture as we were walking away. Odd, you might say, and I would agree.
We got back to the hotel and, like the faithful MMA trainers we are, we hit the mitts a few times and did our strength training before playing a board game Cheryl picked up today and a few games of Gin. Then Cheryl passed out and has been out cold, laying in the same position for over an hour now! I’m just starting to get drowsy now, and it’s 2:30 a.m. (8:30 p.m. EST). I guess it’s about time to hit that comfy bed.
Tomorrow is our last day in Oslo until the very end of our trip. We’re going to see the big ski jump! Of course it won’t have snow on it but we’ll get an idea of what it’d be like. We’ll also go to the Munch Museum and see The Scream, which was just recently returned to the proper authorities after it’d been stolen 5 years before. I love art, and if this museum is anything like the museums we’ve visited so far on this trip, it will be the perfect balance of interesting-ness and straight-and-to-the-point-ness. I’ve had a great stay here in Olso, and have yet to experience the nightlife which I’m excited to do tomorrow night, but I’m also very excited to go see the giant cliffs of the fjords in the countryside and explore the town where my ancestors came from!
Pictures
Today we went back to the castle and saw the interior. It’s interesting that the decoration of the Norwegian castle was so much simpler than the decoration of English, French, or Italian castles I’ve seen. Ornately carved wood and tapestries decorates much of the living and dining quarters, but there isn’t painting after painting or hundreds of statues throughout the place. They did have a dungeon, though, which I think is a must-have for every castle! And a beautiful stone-and-brick courtyard in the middle. This castle was also smaller than any other I’ve seen. It was roomy, but basic and functional. I liked that aspect of it because I think it says something about the rulers who once lived there and it also seems to capture the lifestyle of the people here to this day. It also meant that we didn’t spend too long walking around, which can get boring and tiring. After our exploration of the castle, we walked over to the dock and took a ferry across the harbor to the museums. Before we boarded, we walked through a little park with fountains and statues, and Debbie waded into one of the fountains to save a precious pinecone (she is an avid collector!)
When we arrived across the harbor we saw the Fram, which is a small museum containing the strongest wooden ship ever built. It didn’t look like a Viking ship; it was more like a large sailboat…We didn’t go in because we could see the whole thing from standing in the lobby (haha!) We weren’t planning on going in anyway—we went to the Kon-Tiki Museum, Thor Heyerdahl’s research foundation. Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002) is one of history’s most famous scientists, adventurers and environmentalists. The museum displays real artifacts from Heyerdahl’s expeditions such as Ra, Tigris, Fatu-Hiva, Kon-Tiki, and Easter Island, and the famous papyrus and wooden vessels from these famous expeditions. Heyerdahl’s original purpose when planning these missions was to prove that travel and migration was possible in the ancient times, i.e. from Egypt to Indonesia, Morocco to Barbados, etc. He created vessels from ancient materials and sailed them across parts of the Atlantic and Pacific to see if they could stand the test of travel. His work was very successful. The tests revealed that this type of travel and migration was quite possible in ancient times! His work didn’t stop there—he excavated ancient cultures in South America and lived for quite some time on an uninhabited island with his wife. His Kon-Tiki expedition was video recorded and later awarded an Oscar Award for Best Documentary in 1951! I never knew of Heyerdahl or his explorations before, and it was so incredible to learn about his adventures and discoveries. Picked up some postcards for friends and family back home, and headed to our next destination…
The Viking ship museum! The one from the Master Card commercial. The Viking ships were huge, made with a very dark wood and long and thin with curly ends! (Hard to describe…see picture.) The ships in the museum were likely used for pleasure in calm water, because they were ornately decorated, shallow in height and only held a crew of 30. I can imagine that the larger, war-waging ships of the Vikings were much larger than that. When they died, prominent men and women were buried in these incredible ships much like the Egyptian pharaohs were buried in the pyramids—save for the embalming and preservation process—they were buried with household items, food and other things that they would “need” in the next life, including their slaves! In the late 1800’s-early 1900’s these ships were found near the Oslo Fjord. Some ships in the museum had been reconstructed, but others were left the way they had been found and moved into the museum. There are real ancient artifacts on display such as sleighs, fabric from clothing, buckets, dishes and tableware, boots, bed frames, chairs, tables, and much more. It’s amazing to see these things from thousands of years ago.
We walked back to the ferry instead of taking the bus and walked through what seemed to be a pretty high-end neighborhood, with big, gorgeous houses and nice cars parked in the street! We detoured when we saw the sign for the Folk Museum—it sounded like something to see. We were pleasantly surprised to find that it wasn’t at all what any of us expected. Instead of an indoor exhibit, which they also had, there were acres and acres of sights to see—churches, houses dating way back to when people lived in sod-roof houses, an entire small town with houses and stores you could walk into, and an old farm with a pony living there that we fed and goo-and-gaa’d over, and whom we named Gretchen. I came up with the name, which I thought sounded Norwegian and which my dad reminded me was in fact German. Whatever, she looked like a Gretchen and she was blonde-colored and adorable!
By this time we were all pretty tired from walking and weak from hunger, so we finally headed down to the dock to catch the ferry back. We had a drink there at the water’s edge while we waited for the boat to bring us back to town. The evenings (and the mornings) are chilly, and I was getting pretty cold. As soon as we got back, we picked a restaurant to eat at. We all got our first Norwegian dinners (the meals up until this point have been Thai food, gyros from a Greek restaurant near our hotel, or continental breakfast food.) Everything was DELICIOUS!!!! We all ordered some variation of seafood, which is your best shot here, and good thing we’re all big fans. It was excellent! On our way back, Cheryl and I gave into the temptation of gelato from a little stand near the dock. We walked back to the hotel and saw tons of fun stuff we have yet to do along the way. Cheryl and I have yet to be offered a pick-up line on this trip or even a head nod, but tonight we got our first “F--- you!” from two guys! One guy was taking a picture of his friend, and Cheryl said, “nice picture!” as we walked by, and they shouted “F--- you!” at us! We were like OMG! and kept walking! Then they shouted back, “yeah, it is a good picture,” then turned to us and took our picture as we were walking away. Odd, you might say, and I would agree.
We got back to the hotel and, like the faithful MMA trainers we are, we hit the mitts a few times and did our strength training before playing a board game Cheryl picked up today and a few games of Gin. Then Cheryl passed out and has been out cold, laying in the same position for over an hour now! I’m just starting to get drowsy now, and it’s 2:30 a.m. (8:30 p.m. EST). I guess it’s about time to hit that comfy bed.
Tomorrow is our last day in Oslo until the very end of our trip. We’re going to see the big ski jump! Of course it won’t have snow on it but we’ll get an idea of what it’d be like. We’ll also go to the Munch Museum and see The Scream, which was just recently returned to the proper authorities after it’d been stolen 5 years before. I love art, and if this museum is anything like the museums we’ve visited so far on this trip, it will be the perfect balance of interesting-ness and straight-and-to-the-point-ness. I’ve had a great stay here in Olso, and have yet to experience the nightlife which I’m excited to do tomorrow night, but I’m also very excited to go see the giant cliffs of the fjords in the countryside and explore the town where my ancestors came from!
Pictures
1. Karl Johan’s Gate (aka awesome shopping street) after 10:00 p.m.--look how light it is outside!
2. Akershus (the castle’s courtyard)
3. Cheryl doing a bad ass jumping sidekick in front of the Military Tattoo. (Photography skills by Jackie.)
4. Cheryl and I in one of the castle rooms, overlooking the Oslo Fjord
5, Photo of a Viking ship that doesn’t do it justice!
6. Gretchen!
7. Cheryl, Erika and I bundled up in front of a fountain. The nights are COLD!
Note: We’re taking tons of pictures but it takes forever to upload them onto Blogger. For those of you with Facebook, we are going to try and upload them there. Check out Cheryl’s, Jackie’s, or Erika’s Facebook albums in a few days.
posted by J's Travel Blog | 19:55
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