Second day in Oslo a.k.a. the museum day

Monday, August 05, 2013
Oslo, Oslo, Norway
Oslo's most interesting museums are all clustered in Bygdøy neighbourhood, which is connected to the city centre with fast little ferry boats. We bought a city pass that gave us unlimited use of public transport (including the ferries) and unlimited access to museums for 24 hours, which was quite useful next day, when we took a train to the airport.
First, we visited Kon-Tiki museum. As a kid I read a lot of books about nature and exploration, and one of them was written by Thor Heyerdahl, a crazy Norwegian explorer, who crossed the Pacific ocean on a raft named Kon-Tiki. So, in Oslo I finally got a chance to see the actual raft as well as Ra II, a reed boat that crossed Atlantic. The exhibit had a lot of information about the expedition, the science behind it and the team of explorers. They were also showing the award-winning documentary about the expedition.
The next was Fram museum, that holds the ship Fram that was used by Fridtjof NansenOtto SverdrupOscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen to explore both Arctic and Antarctic. The exhibit is fascinating, depicting the heroic age of arctic exploration.
Then we checked out the Viking Ship museum, that preserves the remains of 3 majestic viking ships from 9th and 10th centuries. There is also a number of interesting artifacts such as sledges, beds, a horse cart, wood carving, tent components, buckets, etc.
Finally, we walked to Norwegian Folk Museum, which is an open-air museum just like Skansen in Stockholm. Unfortunately, it was getting late and most buildings were closing, so we only managed to see an interesting exhibit about Sami people (indigenous Finno-Ugric people inhabiting Arctic areas), a majestic black Gol stave church (a fine example of unique Norwegian architecture) and some apartments demonstrating the life of Norwegians from different times.
In the evening, after a quick dinner we also went to explore some non-touristy parts of Olso, like Akers river and Grünerløkka district, which looks like a normal residential area, not too exciting or colourful.
Other Entries

Photos & Videos

Comments

2025-02-08

Comment code: Ask author if the code is blank