Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Well what can one say. Slept reasonably well, room faces street with bright lights.
Breakfast spread was not as good as others we have had, I would describe this hotel as a probably ‘boutique’ one. Shower was interesting to get in and out of especially for Kelvin.
We decided to do a tour of Oslo, so opted for the hop on hop off bus to take us around. Did the first loop, took an hour and a half and then we stopped at the Viking Museum, which was most interesting. The Viking Ship Museum is located at Bygdøy in Oslo, Norway. It is part of the Museum of Cultural History of the University of Oslo, and houses archaeological finds from Tune, Gokstad (Sandefjord), Oseberg (Tønsberg) and the Borre mound cemetery. The museum is most famous for the completely whole Oseberg ship (was built around the year 820 and was used as a burial ship in 834AD), excavated from the largest known ship burial in the world. Other Viking Ships are the Gokstad ship (was built around 900 and about ten years later became a burial ship) and Tune ship (built around 900). There is also on display sledges, beds, a horse cart, wood carving, tent components, buckets and other grave goods.
After the museum we went into the main part of town and walked around the shops and buildings.
Akershus Fortress is a medieval castle that was built to protect and provide a royal residence for Oslo, the capital of Norway. The castle has also been used as a military base, and is today a museum, which is open for public.
It is not known exactly when the construction of the castle started but it is believed that it took place around the late 1290s, by King Haakon V, replacing Tønsberg as one of the two most important Norwegian castles of the period (the other being Båhus). It was constructed in response to the Norwegian nobleman, Earl Alv Erlingsson of Sarpsborg’s earlier attack on Oslo that occurred in 1287. In the aftermath of the attack, it became clear that the city’s existing defences weren’t effective and therefore, a stronger defensive centre was needed.
The castle is mentioned in written sources for the first time in 1300 in a letter from King Haakon to a church in Oslo. However, the letter does not mention how far the construction of the castle had progressed by then.
The fortress has successfully survived all sieges, primarily by Swedish forces, including those by forces led by Charles XII in 1716.
Rather cool day weather wise. We stopped off at Subway and had lunch. They are the same the world over, which is interesting. It was a very busy shop too, whilst we were there I would say about forty odd people came through from all different parts of the world.
Walked back to the hotel, packing to be done as we leave in the morning for England. Dinner and then back to our room for the final washup.
Gail
2019-04-07
Looks great.