When we finally got up this morning around 9 we said to each other, “I can’t wait to go home. Maybe we should have skipped our day in Oslo.” But of course we didn’t just mope around the hotel all day. Despite the late start we managed to pack in a pretty good last day of our trip.
We bought two Oslo Passes, 24-hour Senior edition, which gave us access to about 30 museums and other attractions around town plus unlimited use of public transportation. Furthermore, a bunch of museums are located in a small area. All we had to do was to walk 15 minutes from our hotel, flub around trying to figure out which of six bus stops at the intersection we should use, hop on the 30 bus and 20 minutes later we were at our first stop, the Kon-Tiki museum.
Let’s face it: Thor Heyerdahlwascrazy. He lashed together a bunch of balsa logs to form a raft and, with no previous sailing experience; he and five other guys floated the contraption to Tahiti. His objective was to demonstrate that Peruvians could have sailed to the South Pacific islands. “Everyone” said he couldn’t do it; he and his crew were doomed. But he did it and of course he’s a Norwegian hero.
Later he sailed the Ra I (which sank) and Ra II from Africa to Barbados to prove that ancient Egyptians might have populated South America 3,000 years ago. The Ras were made of reeds bound together like Egyptian vessels of the time. And still later he developed another reed craft, the Tigris, that could be steered rather than rely on wind and air currents as did Kon-Tiki and the Ras. He sailed that one around the Mesopotamian and Indus regions to demonstrate that trade could have occurred. When he was denied access to the Red Sea due to wars waging in the region he deliberately burned the ship. He did lots of research in the Easter Islands too.
Both the Kon-Tiki and the Ra II are on display – unbelievable!
We didn’t realize it beforehand but the Maritime Museum was right across the street and so was the Fram Museum. A banner out front of the Fram museum said, “Best Museum in Norway – TripAdvisor 2015.” So what the heck, let’s give that one a try.
But wait, what’s with the kids’ marching bands parading down the street to where the buses usually park? I mean little kids, not highs schoolers; these were middle schoolers. They stood around the edge of the big open expanse of the parking lot. When our backs were turned a precision drill team and band paraded into that open area and put on a close-order drill like I’ve never seen before. I’ll include a picture or two but you really need to watch the video when Judy gets it put together. The band was top notch and the marchers, well I don’t know how they did it.
Then the Fram museum. What is/was a Fram? Turns out it’s a ship designed by the Norwegian explorer and scientist Fridtjof Nansenwho was the first to cross Greenland on skis. He built the Fram for Arctic exploration, designing it so that it could be deliberately encased in winter ice and then, in the spring, break free and continue on. He made two such voyages with varying degrees of success.
The Fram was used by Roald Amundsenfor his trip to the South Pole – the first ever, beating Robert Scott by a month. Amundsen started out for Nome, Alaska where he intended to launch his North Pole attempt. On the way he learned that Cook and Peary had made it to the North Pole ahead of him. He called an audible: he told the crew and wired the king of Norway that he was making a slight detour on the way to the North Pole: He would do the South Pole on the way to Alaska.
The Fram is on display in the museum and visitors are free to go on board and below decks to see how the ship was configured and learn what life on board was like.
Now the question: do the Marine museum or go up the road a few bus stops to the Norwegian Cultural museum. We’d had enough maritime stuff here and elsewhere on our trip so Culture museum won out.
The Culture museum is like Sturbridge Village and Dearborn Village but without as many live demonstrations. There were a few folks dressed in period costumes and they could answer questions but there were few actual demonstrations.
Actually there was one: two gals making lefsa, just like our friends back in Minnesota make. Too bad, we were fresh out of Kroners so we could only whiff the odor and pick up a recipe.
Someone (the Norwegian government) has moved old buildings from their original site to the museum, which is largely outdoors (a real plus on a beautiful sunny day like today). They range from a 13thcentury stave church (where a wedding was underway when we arrived) to farm and village dwellings from the 16ththrough 20thcenturies. We wandered from one to the next, entering some and observing others from outside. They are constructed of amazingly large pine and spruce logs, cut by waterwheel driven saws and constructed several feet off the ground to promote air circulation, especially for barns where grain was stored.
We talked for a while with one docent dressed in period garments. We regaled him with life in Minnesota with the Lutheran Norwegians, Swedes and Finns, how one pastor of our Lutheran church was Swedish and the other Norwegian and how they would banter back an forth from the pulpit.
Judy even started to tell him an Ole and Lena joke. I took over midstream for fear that she’d get herself in trouble: the one that goes, “Ole went with Lena to see the doctor, after the exam the doctor sent Ole to the waiting room and spoke with Lena. ‘Lena, Ole is very ill. The only thing that can save him is if you cook him three home-cooked meals and iron his sheets every day . . . and some other things we won’t mention in this family blog . . .’ Lena went back to Ole and Ole said, ‘What did the doctor say?’ ‘Oh Ole,’ Lena said, ‘you’re going to die.’”
After an ice cream bar about 5 PM we decided we were fading; we’d have to bypass the Vigeland sculpture garden. So back on the 30 bus and off to our hotel, seven stops away. At Stop 3 I suddenly realized that the reason I felt a weight lifted from my shoulders was not because we were on our way home but because I left my backpack at the museum coffee shop where we had the ice cream. So off the bus to a 30 in the opposite direction, back on yet another 30 bus, crammed like a Japanese bullet train, and back to our hacienda.
No, we didn’t see the Royal Palace, the National Gallery, City Hall, Parliament or the Oslo Cathedral. We’ll have to come back another day and do them and the 27 museums we have left to go.
Now it’s off to dinner down the street.
The dinner was great. Judy had lamb with white asparagus and a nice sauce and I had turbot, a light fish the Norwegians call the King of the Ocean. But even better was the conversation we had with a couple seated at the next table. They are from Stravanger where we visited early in our Viking trip. He’s an engineer by training and she’s a nurse working in dementia. We talked about business and nursing, and about grandparentng and travel. What a perfect way to end a great trip!
So that’s it: tomorrow we’re on the 2:30 PM flight to Iceland and then on to Boston for a 6:55 PM arrival. Then we can stop being Jon and Judy and revert to Nana and Grampa, Mom and Dad. Can’t wait!
