Bygdoy and Beyond

We get up to check out another new breakfast. This is probably the best spread we have had so far. Fried, scrambled, and hard boiled eggs, quiche, potatoes, bacon, many types of cheeses, salmon, smoked mackerel, cold cuts, different bread choices, granola, yogurt, and more. We have our fill and then head out to start our day.
We are taking a ferry to the Bygdoy Peninsula to see three museums. The first stop is the Viking Ship Museum. They have two very well preserved Viking ships from the 9th and 10th century.

Viking Ship Oseberg

The first one is the Oseberg from 834 AD, and was a luxurious pleasure boat with ornate carvings. The Gokstad from 950 AD was more heavy duty and not ornate, capable of sailing the seas.
How did these ships stay so well preserved? The answer lies in the fact that they were buried as part of a gravesite. That in itself is amazing to me because of the size of them. The clay in the soil preserved them. A farmer plowing his field discovered them and archeologists also found many well preserved items buried with them and their occupants. These items included beautifully carved carts and sleighs, as well as metal and leather goods. It is a great look into the Viking culture, how they traveled, and what they had.
From the Vikings, we walk around Bygdoy to the Fram Museum. Bygdoy has some very large homes that we gawk at along the way. The Fram museum celebrates arctic exploration and contains two ships. The Gjoa was used to discover the Northwest Passage and the Fram was used to go into the arctic and the Antarctic further than any other vessel had gone before.

The Fram

Roald Amundsen and Fridtjof Nansen, with a crew of 10 drifted, trapped in the arctic ice flow for three years. The stories are quite amazing and as an added bonus, we get to actually go on board and through the Fram. Amundsen was also involved with flying an airship over the North Pole. Pretty amazing explorer.
And now for something completely different, we cross the street to the Kon Tiki Museum. I remember something about Thor Heyerdal from my childhood. I discover that what I remember is the second crazy journey this guy did. The first was before I was born. In 1947, Thor had a theory that South Americans could have sailed to Polynesia and settled there. He built a raft called Kon Tiki out of balsa wood as the South Americans may have done and set sail with 5 other not so sane people. They survived for 101 days on fish, coconuts, and sweet potatoes and 4300 miles later landed in Polynesia.

The Ra from 1970

In 1970, the one I probably remembered, he had another theory that the similarities in Egyptian Pyramids and Incan Temples, as well as some cultural similarities meant that Africans could have settled in the Americas. He built another raft out of papyrus reeds and made a 3000 mile journey from Morocco to Barbados. Both vessels are on display here and pretty interesting to see the construction. I guess the theme of this morning has been exploration from Vikings to Polar to sailing the seas.
We take the ferry back to near Akershus Castle and take a self guided tour of it. Because Norway was fairly poor and more so because they were ruled for so long by Denmark and Sweden, the castle is nice, but not impressive.

Akershus Castle

The rulers took the Norwegian money back home to spend on their lavish palaces there. We still enjoy walking through it.
We switch gears and decide to take the metro to the Munch Museum. Edward Munch is a famous Norwegian painter known particularly for “The Scream”. It sold recently at an auction in New York for 120 Million dollars, the most ever for a single work of art. We are not sure how it is being displayed in Norway, whether he painted it more than once, but it is supposedly in the National Gallery and not in this museum. Anyway, we get off the metro, head out I the wrong direction, turn around, and find the museum. We find that there is a special exhibit, Van Gogh+Munch, so we will get to see Van Gogh’s work as well. There are no pictures allowed so close your eyes and picture a starry starry night followed by a nightmarish scream. The exhibition is very good and informative. The styles of the two artists, though parallel, are painted and interpreted very differently. Myself, I much prefer Van Gogh. Sorry, Norway.
After our art tour, we decide to travel to the reptile park, as it is included in the Oslo Pass. It has some nice snakes and lizards, but overall is small and underwhelming.

Happy Lizards

This ends our touring day and we head back to the hotel for dinner. Tonight, chicken curry and a nice salad spread and other items. It is all very good. We even get a blueberry pound cake with vanilla sauce for dessert. We saw a lot today but never felt rushed or like we were running from place to place. The pace was great and so was the day.
After dinner, we go on a scouting trip and walk to the dock where our boat leaves tomorrow. We discover a bus back to the central station and that we can take it from there to the dock tomorrow. Success in our scout and having helped our digestion of dinner with our walk, we return to the room for the night.
Expenses
Oslo Pass for Viking Ship Museum, Fram Museum, Kon Tiki Museum, Akershus Castle, Munch Museum, Reptile Museum, Ferry, Metro (2x), tram (4x) equivalent= 785 NOK, paid 470.
Clarion Hotel Folkteater. 1062 NOK includes dinner
Walked 10.3 Miles