A 10:30am arrival meant a much needed sleep in and late breakfast, before disembarking at our final port, Oslo.  My main mission here was to visit the Vigeland sculpture park in dry weather, as last time it poured rain.  We were in luck – the sun was out and I uttered words I never thought I would say in Oslo – “I need my sunglasses”.

The great thing about Oslo was that we were docked right in town for a change, and we could walk everywhere, making it one of the better port visits.  We also had 12 hours so there was no rush.  We headed to Frogner Park, about 30 minutes walk away, via Drottningholm Palace, then through a very upmarket part of town (not that we ever saw a downmarket part of town).  The streets were quiet with very few people, cars or bikes.  Everything was very neat and clean and orderly.

Gustav Vigeland was a highly prolific sculptor, and he also designed the park where over 200 of his works reside.  He donated the sculptures to the city in return for a free house.  They represent “the human condition” and you can pretty much make of them what you will.  All the tourists were here; it was the only crowded place we came across all day.  It stayed dry although the clouds started to gather.

We meandered back towards the city centre.  From the pier, we took a small ferry across the harbour to Bygdoy, where there are several museums.  The heavens opened as we got off the boat; we had to make a quick choice, as we only had time for one of them.  We were swayed by the “No 1 museum in Norway as voted on Trip Advisor” banner hanging up on the Fram Museum so we dived inside that one.  It turned out to be a good choice.

The Fram is the strongest wooden ship ever built, a polar icebreaker used by Fridtjof Nansens in his expedition to the North Pole, and by Roald Amundsen to the South Pole. It is now housed inside the building, along with another ship, the Gjoa, on which Roald Amundsen was the first to navigate the North West Passage.  The museum told stories of other famous polar expeditions, including those by Scott and Shackleton.  The best part was that you could walk onto the Fram and explore the deck and quarters below.  It was surprisingly cosy, but then it was home to the small expedition teams for 3 years at a time.

Amundsen was of course the first person to reach both Poles, and succeeded largely through his choice to use dogs rather than ponies.  Nansens was a very astute man who spent time learning survival skills from the Inuit people, who he greatly respected.  He put these skills to good use during his polar expeditions. After retiring from exploration, he became a strong advocate for refugees.

After dinner on board ship, we had time for an evening walk in light rain to the new Opera House.  This is cleverly designed to allow people to walk all over the marble exterior, which resembles a glistening ski slope. Very cool! Ian has now experienced a typical “summer” evening in Oslo as rain looks to have set in for the night.