Oslo, Ho!

Next stop: Oslo!

Our impressions of Oslo were actually not that favorable. It seems as though the Norwegians are not particularly proud of their national cuisine, since Jeremy and I hunted high and low for a restaurant in which we could get their version of meatballs, reindeer stew, and the like. Nary a one. We were referred to a French restaurant by the hotel... Did manage to score some salmon and a half lobster (Jeremy's first lobster!), but meatballs? Nary a one. Very disappointing.

Jeremy's first (rather small) lobster

We arrived in the evening, so really had time last night only to get dinner and hop in bed. Today, we planned to spend the day in Oslo (we wanted to see the Viking ship!), and then take the afternoon/evening train to Stockholm.

View from hotel window

Parliament building, I think

The architecture is an eclectic mix

I thought this light bulb was groovy

They did little tours in this ship.
Jeremy was incensed at their use of a motor rather than sails, though.

We had to take the ferry to the Viking Ship Museum

Inside the open air museum

These grass houses have been around hundreds of years.
They start with an underlayment of birch, then soil.
When done well, they can last 2-3 generations.

Granary. Notice the pilings to deter animals.

Before we even made it to the Viking Ship Museum, though (having arrived on the peninsula via ferry), we stumbled across the Crafts Museum. Now, I assumed this meant a little building with some textiles, and of course this would be a winner for me. The entry fee felt a bit steep, but hey: supporting the arts, right? Well, it turned out to be an open air museum. A completely different animal. It was great, but honestly, Jeremy and I weren't really intending to spend more than, say, 45 minutes at this particular location that we were visiting on a whim. We ended up staying for more than 2 hours, and had we been geared up for it, we could easily have stayed longer. It had a variety of structures from different periods that were really interesting. The textile exhibit was small but nice. In the weapons section, they mentioned that farmers were legally required to have guns during "the period" because Norway had no army, and the farmers were expected to report as soldiers in times of war, complete with their own weapons. I asked the docent when that law had changed, and he said it was in the late 1800s that this had been actually turned around 180 degrees; nowadays, guns are highly regulated and restricted.

Granary...and, again,
 the steps are not connected. Have to hop!

Guest house, completely painted in a lavish style to impress

The guest house bed!

The Viking Ship Museum was next. Silly me, I hadn't realized that there were actually THREE ships, not just the main one. The most famous one was actually a royal pleasure ship, never destined for open seas. There were two others, as well, less ornate and designed for real travel. All three were found in burial mounds in varying condition. These ships are over 1100 years old! Amazing. They also had artifacts from the burial mound, including carts, "tents" (more like a cabin), textiles, cooking supplies, and more. We found the whole thing most fascinating.

Loved the detailing!

This thing is HUGE!

Oar blade

Jeremy checking out the rudder

This ship was destined for the open seas. Less ornate, but still large!

A "tent" used in the burial mound, and probably used in travels

Three smaller boats in the burial mound, smashed as part of
the burial ritual most likely. Luckily, the pieces were easy to rejoin!

I was amazed at how thin the boards were...less than an inch.
Imagine hewing these boards with hand tools! Of course,
the thinness provided the required flexibility for the curve of the ship.

The textiles were in terrible condition, but it's amazing that
they'd survived at all! They were buried around 800 CE!

Viking cart!

Interior of pleasure boat showing deck planking.

Detail of deck planking

Fortress, now a WWII museum. We didn't visit the museum
because it reputedly takes hours to visit properly.

A walk back to the ferry, and off to lunch! Struggling again to find my meatballs, we ended up in a Thai hole-in-the-wall (which nonetheless ran us about $45 for lunch, splitting an appetizer and drinking only tap water). I'd been enchanted by the description of a "Tiny Bottle Museum" in Atlas Obscura and had my heart set on visiting. Sadly, it turned out to be open only on weekends! Gah!

Time to get off to the station and to move over to Stockholm.

Love,

Alexandra