Oslo, Norway

Oslo, Norway Monday, May 16, 2022

Very early this morning was the partial eclipse of the moon. Jerry was awake at about 3:45, so he went up and found ten or so fellow passengers hunkering down in one corner on the tenth floor outdoor walking/running track trying to avoid the wind. It was pretty dull as the shadow was mostly across the moon and the difference between full light and shadow light was not that great. Who knows if it actually changed color later. Not me. I went back to bed. Not a really big event on this side of the globe; the Americas were supposed to have a great view.

So, by 7:30am, we were in port, moored in a very cultural and artistic place that made it really easy for us to get on and off the ship and to the places we wanted to see. Right across the small bay was the fairly new glass wedge of the Opera House. Next to the Opera House was the tall thin dark and fairly newly moved Munch Museum. On another arm of the bay were the three maritime museums.

Opera House - remember they are a thing?

We had found the Oslo Pass online about three weeks ago and tried to secure it online but had no luck with the credit card. Jerry went down to the reception desk and used their phone to contact the card company, but no luck. Again. Tried our other credit card. Nope. No choice but to get off the ship as soon as possible and get to a nearby info center. This proved to be good luck for us as one of the info center women was just outside our ship as we disembarked and told us where to go, how to wait in the train station area until it opened in 20 minutes, and voila! It worked! The station was modern, clean, streamlined, and filled with restaurants and bistros that were already disseminating coffees and hand-held snacks to the commuters. We watched in wonder as the tall glass front panels of the info center were unlocked and slid one by one to the end of the track and then pushed at a 90 degree angle onto a second track to stack together at the edge of the kiosk. There were six large panels. Then we were first in a line that lengthened as the doors were being opened?

The Oslo Pass allowed us to use any form of transportation and enter just about any museum we wished for 24 hours. Most areas we wished to see were near our ship, so we got busy since the ship was scheduled to leave at 5 pm.

Because we had already read about Thor Heyerdahl in Polynesia and hope to go to Easter Island in October this year, we went to the Thor Heyerdahl Museum first where the Kon Tiki is on display.

Kon Tiki

Actually we learned that there are TWO boats on display. Kon Tiki which worked and a less famous attempt to get from Egypt to South America in a slightly different reed boat. It is probably less famous because it didn’t work and the boat sank. It was easy to spend over an hour there as the walls were filled with photos and placards that detailed the reason for the voyages, selection of the crew, the provisions, the 101 days of not really knowing where they were at all times, the little known fact that T. H was hydrophobic and didn’t know how to swim!, and a whole lot of info about how his ideas were dismissed, and other fascinating details. We purchased matching t-shirts that have a quote about borders being more a state of mind than a reality…

We moved across the street to the Fram Museum where the ship, its details of innovative construction and its journey were presented in many forms of media. If you’ve not heard of it, be sure to Google it https://frammuseum.no. It was the first ship to be frozen in ice—on purpose.

Fram model in ice

Fram

Until this successful mission everyone thought freezing a boat into the ice was a death trap in action with the ice eventually crushing the boat. The purpose of the mission was to prove there was a current moving the ice (now the boat) from West to East. With luck, and detailed planning the trip was successful, and it only took three years. Take the time to study it. It ought to be in every child’s science class.

Next stop was the nearby Maritime Ship Museum, which wasn’t quite so enthralling. Mostly model ships and some naval findings. Tried to see the Nobel Peace Prize Museum, but the young woman told us it was closed as she closed the door. Sign affirmed that it is closed on Mondays. Drat.

Nobel Peace Prize Museum

Tried to find the Fine Arts gallery and walked to the “tip” of the wharf area through a major shopping mall in sections with lots of restaurants and people enjoying the fine weather. Finally found the Fine Arts but were disappointed to see it was a museum and not a store and that it had only a lower floor of large photographs or paintings—mostly picturing American actors.

Decided it was faster to walk to the Munch Museum rather than trying to catch a ferry or the tram, so hiked across and behind the Opera House. Ran into Paul and Carolyn enroute. We seem to run into them often!

Munch Museum

View of the ship from the front of the Much Museum

The Munch Museum was moved a few years ago and majorly updated from when Mae and I went about 35 years ago. There are at least 8 floors—some more than a floor apart to allow for the size of his pieces. The 4^th floor was our starting point and had large rooms with various themes and info to help piece it together. He is best known for “The Scream” but has a wide variety of genre, using some models or themes in similar poses for different purposes, retaining each of the canvases when many other artists simply threw away the unwanted samples.

By 3, we were exhausted with the running and the looking and the absorbing, so we went back to the ship and took naps. Ahhh.

Oslo is worth another visit.