First things first...the most incredible breakfast bar ever!
Finally, my quest for vegetables has been satisfied!
This is the first time in my life I’ve had seaweed for breakfast! And...we get this tomorrow, too! Life is GOOD!
After this, we all head over to the Viking museum. Another, I ask? Like all things RS, it turns out to be well worth our time. The 3 boats are the world’s best preserved Viking ships! They’re stunning!
Ulf wanted to go sailing! This one will do!
The carvings are quite ornate, with lots of dragons. Dragons were thought of as protectors.
These ships had been used as burial tombs. Since they were buried in clay, everything is perfectly preserved!
These ships had been used as burial tombs. Since they were buried in clay, everything is perfectly preserved!
They were built between 820 AD and 900AD. Even though the contents had been plundered back in Vicking days, there was still plenty to see.
We also learned more about the Vikings. For example...”The Vikings” doesn’t describe a separate people. When we refer to them, we’re talking about Scandinavians. The term ‘Viking’ is a verb, it means ‘to go’ ...be that for trade, for adventure, for conquest. Also, they were quite egalitarian. There were definitely female Vikings. It was the Vikings that invented Parlimentary communities, based on equality.
In the same neighborhood there are two more museums dedicated to Norwegian explorers. In fact, these early exlporers have contributed so much to today’s knowledge of the world!
First was the Kon-Tiki museum. It highlights the ventures of Thor Heyerdahl (1914-2002), who believed South Americans could have crossed the Pacific and settled Polynesia. He and 5 crewmates constructed a huge raft of balsawood and set sail...complete with a rudimentary film camera. The result...a very wonderfully documented film (it won an academy award) about the 100 day crossing!
Next we went to the Fram museum, which tells the completely impossible (but absolutely true) tale of Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen and their ship ‘Fram’. It was a 125 foot steam and sail powered ship that traveled further North into the Arctic, and further South into the Antarctic than any vessel had gone before. Truly sturdy people, these Viking descendents! They built the hull kind of egg shaped so the ice wouldn’t crush it...instead, they froze in and drifted along with the polar ice for 2 years! There’s much, MUCH more to the story...google it for one of the most fantastic ventures you’ll ever learn about!
The last museum I didn’t get any pictures of, it was more of a modern day Maritime museum. By that point we were museum’d out! It did have a wonderful short movie showing the entire Norway coastline...so beautiful!
The day is beautiful...once more our luck holds! I alternate between a 3/4 length top in the sun to my new jacket when the sun hides. The temp difference is quite extreme between the two!
The building in the front...the one that looks like a sail, is the museum of modern art. The area to the right is Oslo’s version of The Pearl. Quite trendy! We were there last night...it’s hopping! Note the 7 building cranes in the background. Oslo is BOOMING!
Here, again, is that self driving transport. Just afrer I took this, someone got in, and it simply drove away...no driver!
And now, we’re back to our hotel for a bit of a breather and some jagermeister to fuel up for a bit of an evening walkabout.
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