Viking drakkar in the Viking museum in Oslo, Norway
Oslo Opera House shine at dusk, morning twilight, Norway
MARITIME HISTORY Back on shore it was time to explore the city’s maritime history. Our first port of call was the Viking museum. Here old Viking ships and relics are housed in a great souring building with stark white walls which highlight the giant wooden boats. At times, the inner space is transformed with dancing northern lights and awesome scenes telling the story of the majestic vessels and those who sailed in them. Next was the Kon-Tiki Museum, which houses the original rafts and artefacts from Thor Heyerdahl’s world famous expeditions, which crossed the Pacific Ocean in 1947. Then on to explore Roald Amundsen’s boat, which was the first to reach the South Pole. Here we sat on the deck of the Fram and rolled with the heave of the Artic swell. Below deck we wondered at the creaking of the hull compacted in the ice and froze as we experienced the re-creation of the ice cold conditions.
MUSEUM HEAVEN With so many great museums, it was difficult to decide which we should visit next. We chose the National Museum. After all, no visit would be complete without seeing Edvard’s The Scream . We made just a token visit to the medieval Akershus Fortress, famous for its ghosts — more to soak up the external architecture than wander through its vast interior, as it involved a lot of uneven walking. Although Oslo’s famous ski jump disappeared into the fog, the museum was illuminating. HOT DOGS AND OPERA We also payed a visit to the city’s famous hotdog stand — more like a hot dog with pickle and mashed potato in a pancake! No visit would be complete either without a visit to see the Opera House. We were lucky enough to see performances on two consecutive nights. It is quite an outstanding building and well worth a visit
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