THE FOUR MUSEUMS.

Frigsdag 1/12/2017.

OSLO.

Sunrise 8.52am. Sunset 3.15pm -4C.

This is my second go at typing this. My first blog disappeared mysteriously into the Ethernet, never to be seen again. So, this second attempt will be much shorter and much less detailed, as it’s 9.30 pm and I’m tired and want to go to bed.

We woke to a freezing morning, with blue skies. The weather gods have ben extremely kind to us, and all we’re asking for is another blue skied day tomorrow! After a sustaining breakfast we hit the road, first to the Information Centre to buy two Oslo Pass tickets which, as well as providing us with free transport for 48 hours, will also get us into the museums free.

Today we visited the four famous museums at Bygdoy. After a 20 minute ride on the No. 30 bus we arrived at the first museum, the Fram Museum which houses Norway’s most famous polar exploration vessels, the Fram, and the Gjoa. These vessels have voyaged to the coldest and most dangerous places on Earth, the North and South poles. We were able to go aboard both vessels and had a very interesting walk around. Space was very cramped, the ships aren’t very big, and they had no engines, only sails. All those ropes going up and down from the masts! The people who manned these expeditions were true heroes, no windstop or 300 weight Helly Hansen polar fleeces for them, only tweed jackets and hand knitted socks. Later they hunted and killed polar bears and sewed their hides into warm clothing, and although to us that’s an awful thing to do, who can blame them?

Our next port of call (pun intended) was the Kon-Tiki Museum, where Thor Heyerdahl’s boats, the Kon-Tiki and the Ra are housed. The Ra is an interesting vessel as it is made entirely of Egyptian papyrus reed. Heyerdahl copied the design directly from ancient Egypian hieroglyphs. During one of his voyages he’d been to the Easter Islands, where he’d pillaged a vast number of that island’s stone carvings and artefacts, which were on display. Not impressed with his looting, they belong back on Easter Island!

Then on to the Norwegian Maritime Museum, which displays modern Norway’s naval history. Pete found it far more interesting than I did, but we wandered around nevertheless, and were happy to find an excellent vantage point to photograph Oslo from a second storey window.

Then on to the last and most interesting (for me), the Viking Ship Museum. We spent lots of time in there, learning about the ancient Vikings. This building houses the world’s best preserved Viking ships, Osberg, Gokstad, Tune and Borre, and their unique artefacts. All these boats first served time as ocean going vessels, and were re-purposed as burial ships once they were decommissioned. The burial ships, which housed Viking Queens as well as Viking Kings, were adorned with untold riches, and ample supplies of food and drink, dogs and domestic animals, all to be taken by the departed on his/her voyage into the next world, as they believed in after-life. All the ships are over 1,000 years old.

Tomorrow it’s Pete’s turn. Good night. I’m off to have a shower and bed.

Ilze xo