Our last full day in Oslo and
the sun has shone all day, the first full day of sun for two and a half weeks.
Today was our “messing about in
boats day” we caught an early ferry to Bygdoy and walked to the Viking Ship
Museum, hoping to beat the influx of tour buses, there were only three there
when we arrived.
The museum contains three Viking
boats from around 820 AD. They had all
been used as burial ships so the owners must have been rich to be able to use a
boat as a burial chamber, many of the valuable treasures buried with them have
been looted over the centuries but many household items including a horse drawn
wagon and sledges survived but like the boats needed restoring.
We then walked to a series of
three museums all involving boats. The
first the Kon-Tiki museum which contains the Kon-Tiki, Ra II and a model of the
Tigris, three boats used by Thor Heyerdahl in his voyages, where he set out to
prove theories how people travelled from South America and other places thousands
of years before to settle in new areas.
The display provides information about Heyerdahl’s life and work both
before and after his voyages and a large display about Easter Island and the
inhabitants, together with details about the statues.
The display also included
details of the crews on the voyages and the building of the boats using ancient
techniques. Also an interesting display
about one of the crew, a Russian doctor, who developed a technique for healing broken
bones which wouldn’t mend and also a way of lengthening bones.
Continuing our boat theme, we
entered the Fram museum to be greeted by the Fram the strongest wooden ship
ever built and provided a safe haven in Arctic and Antarctic waters for the
most famous polar explorers of all times.
The ship was mostly constructed
of oak and the bow is 1.25 m thick and the sides from between 60 – 80cm. It was designed to spend years in the ice and
the construction of smooth rounded sides meant that it popped up out of the ice
when squeezed instead of being crushed.
It spent many years as a base ship enclosed by ice while explorers
carried out research or for explorers heading to the Poles. Roald Amundsen used it in his conquest of the
South Pole.
There are three levels of
displays with photos, artefacts, equipment, diaries and other items from many
polar expeditions, including Amundsen and also Scott’s South Pole expeditions
together with many other trips through the Arctic region. It is possible to go on board and visit the
various decks and cabins that housed these explorers. It may have been a history lesson but a very
interesting one.
Our next visit was to the
Norwegian Maritime Museum which traces the development of boats from a 2000
year old oak dugout boat to modern day super ships of all types, cargo, survey,
passenger, liquid gas and many others.
In the entrance hall, displayed are many examples of small Norwegian
wooden open boats which have evolved in different regions.
The displays of the development
of boats are all models which are built at the museum, the attention to detail
of the models couldn’t be faulted and many of the super cargo ships, bulk
carriers and large ferry ships, together with bulk gas carriers also had cut-aways
showing cargo storage or ferry car decks, I wonder how many hours it took to
build these models.
Near the gift shop a super
tanker model is displayed, nearly a metre in length but different to the other
displays, it is made from match sticks.
Having reached a boat overload
we had one more boat fix, the ferry ride back to the wharf opposite the City
Hall and walked around to the Nobel Peace Centre which has an interactive
display providing information about all the Peace Prize Laureates together with
details about Alfred Nobel and his family and the development of dynamite.
There are many other
photographic displays, the major one at the moment on Afghanistan women and
another on the troops serving there.
Other displays feature people in developing countries working towards
improving the life of their people.
Our next visit was back to the
City Hall to photograph some of the wooden sculptures before boarding a tram to
Central station and walking around to the Oslo Opera House. The opera house and surrounds appears to be
constructed of white marble and glass and opened in 2008 it has a gross area of
49,000 m2 and the outside surrounds slope upwards allowing the
public to walk up onto the roof, providing a good view over part of the harbour
and town.
Now to sort out our luggage
before we leave tomorrow for home.
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