Sightseeing in Oslo
Trip Start
Jun 30, 2008
1
3
21
Trip End
Jul 21, 2008
Oslo,
Norway
Wednesday, July 2, 2008
I was pretty tired when I got up. I got up at 5:00am because I could no longer sleep. I went through some pictures, wrote in my journal, and read. I am glad that we toughed it out yesterday and didn't sleep very much during the day. It makes acclimating much easier, even though I was tired. Before we headed out, we had breakfast at the hotel. The offerings consisted of cold meats, cheeses, tomatoes, cucumbers, fruits, juices, fresh breads, crackers, jams, waffles, cereal, muesili, eggs, and coffee. I filled up and was glad I did because we never stopped for lunch.
The Fram Museum houses the ship "Fram" (literally, the building is built around the ship). The Fram was a ship used in an experiment to see if the ice floes through the Northern ice cap could bring a ship close to the North Pole. It didn't get all that close, but it is a neat story. You can walk through the ship. They had the crew cabins and other areas open for display. It was wild to think that the 12 or so crew members lived on the ship for 3 years while it drifted along with the ice.
The Norwegian Ship Museum told the story of Norwegian shipping.
Fishing boat selling freshly caught fish
There were many models of ships from small fishing vessels to large cruise ships. We saw a movie that showcased flight over much of the Norwegian coastline. It was filmed from a helicopter that had 5 movie cameras mounted on it. The result was a unique movie with 5 screen arranged in a semi-circle.The Kon-Tiki museum displayed the history of papyrus, reed, and balsa wood boats. Several of these types of craft have been constructed since the 1960s. They were used to prove that ancient people could have used that type of technology to cross oceans. The Kon-Tiki itself was built of balsa wood and sailed from the coast of Ecuador to Tahiti. It was on display in the museum.
The Viking Museum was my favorite. The building was set up with a few wings. Each wing housed a different ship or other artifacts recovered from burial sites. It housed the impressive Viking longship that you often see on the History Channel. There was another smaller ship, just the keel and a few ribs of a third ship, and a collection of artifacts (including 3 sledges) that were buried with the ships. There was fantastic wood carving to be found on all the wooden objects.
The last museum we went to was the Norwegian Folk Museum. The musuem was unique because it had several small groups of buildings that represented traditional buildings. There were houses roofed with turf and made from huge logs. They had a stave church, too. The stave church was very impressive. It was exteremely tall and was covered with ornate carvings.
The Fram Museum
There were dragon heads coming off of the peaks of some of the roofs. We also saw a display on the Sami, one of the indigenous people of the northern parts of the country.After the museums, we took a bus to the Vigeland Sculpture Park. The park was quite impressive. There was a bridge that had many bronze statues of men, women, and children in various poses and temperaments. Further down the promenade, there was flower beds and a huge fountain. There were still more statues of people surrounding and making up the fountain. At the top of a stone structure was a tall stone pillar. The pillar was also made up of carvings of people. Surrounding the pillar were many statues of people, as well. Madison and I wandered around together. We had fun taking our time photographing each other with the statues. There were some Euro-skateboarders doing ollies off a small wall running around the fountain area. Some of the girls got catcalls and talked to them.
We took the trolley back to the hotel area. Most of us decided to go to a restaurant that was nearby. There were quite a few of us, but the staff didn't seem to want to deal with us (Amerikana). The food was good, nonetheless. I had curry chicken with rice and a Carlsberg beer. The beer was delicious after an arduous day of sightseeing. It was fun to get to know everyone. It is a little weird because I am the only guy (other than the professors). I am trying and so are the girls, so I feel that it is working out.
After dinner, we went back to the hotel. I went back up to my room and tried to stay awake. I couldn't fight off sleep and was out by 7:30pm. There was a knock on my door and it was Angel asking if I wanted to go out. I declined, but several others did. Apparently they saw music at the waterfront and some went on to a bar. At the bar, one of the girls got into a friendly argument about global warming with some Norwegians. Somewhere along the way, the girls ran into the Euro-skateboarders. They also met some Norwegians who were moving up to Tromso. They got the Norwegians' numbers and hopefully we will find some places to check out while we are there.
In ended up being a gorgeous day. It was very sunny and in the mid 70s. There was a light breeze to keep you cool. I wore shorts and a t-shirt was comfortable. It as a little chilly in the morning, but nothing that a light jacket couldn't fix.
