OSLO CITY TOUR

There is a lot to see in Oslo and we decided that the Hop On Hop Off Bus was the most sensible solution. The circuit is a round trip from the Port, past the Opera House and through the city centre, past the Parliament buildings and the City Hall where the Nobel Peace Prizes are awarded on 10 Dec each year in the Ceremonial Hall, to Frogner Park and the Vigeland Installation of sculptures, on to the Viking Ship Museum, then to the Kon Tiki Museum, and back into the city and the Akershus Castle and Fortress located near to where Eurodam is docked. Unfortunately the organisation of this process was quite poor and a lot of time was wasted waiting for the next bus. We had been told buses come along every half hour so you could time your visits. In practice they arrived irregularly, sometimes more than an hour and on one occasion buses were already filled when it arrived and more waiting was required. Standing in the hot sun, tempers were becoming frayed and revolution was in the air. My guess is they do not have enough buses for this many people and stops. I shall be providing feedback on-line in due course.

FROGNER PARK

THE VIGELAND SCULPTURES

The Vigeland Sculptures in Frogner Park is a world class exhibit and not to be missed in any visit to Oslo. Gustav Vigeland (1869-1943) holds a special position among Norwegian sculptors both in the power of his creative imagination and in his productivity. He first sculpted his work in clay and then his attendants cast them in bronze. They are magnificent - filled with form, and motion, and strength and emotion and each has a story to tell. The Vigeland Installation features 212 bronze and granite sculptures which culminate in the famous monolith with its 121 figures trying to reach the top of the sculpture. He was also the designer of the Nobel Peace Prize Medal.

THE VIKING SHIP MUSEUM

The Viking Ship Museum exhibits the excavation of a Viking grave discovered in 1890 and from which models of Viking ships have been built. The Gokstad find from Vestfold in Norway is the largest known ship burial of the Viking era. A great deal of modern scientific technology has been involved in revealing the story of Gokstad Man and his burial. The Gokstad Man died between 895 and 903 CE and he was given a splendid funeral. A Viking ship was drawn up on land, the dead man was placed in a burial chamber on board the ship, and sacrificed animals and gifts were put in and around the chamber. Finally everything was covered by a burial mound. Such a magnificent grave indicates this man had an important role in society perhaps as a great chieftain or of royal descent. Exotic objects in the grave, including two peacocks, show that Gokstad Man had a wide international network. Perhaps the gifts were from another ruler or trophies brought home from a Viking raid.

The Vikings built outstanding ships with the ability to cross oceans and travel on rivers. From Scandinavia the Vikings sailed west across the North Sea to the British Isles and across the Atlantic to Iceland, Greenland and North America. They also sailed south into mainland Europe and into the Mediterranean Sea. They travelled east along Russian rivers to the Black and Caspian Seas. The Gokstad ship was built around 890CE almost 10 years befor Gokstad Man was interred. The ship was almost 24 metres long, more than 5 metres wide and had 16 pairs of oars. The sail area was probably more tha 100sq metres and the craft could travel at about 12 knots. Gokstad Man may have had smaller ships but this would have been his flagship.

THE KON TIKI MUSEUM

The Kon Tiki Museum houses original boats and exhibits from Thor Heyerdahl's world famous expeditions - the Kon Tiki, the Ra Expedition, Easter Island Expedition and Fatuhiva and underwater exhibition. 2015 is the 60th anniversary of his first expedition to Easter Island.

Around 3000 years ago important cultures began to emerge in Egypt and Peru. They had a number of similarities. Both cultures built pyramids, were familiar with the art of writing, worshipped the sun, and mummified their dead. But most important of all for Heyerdahl were the reed boats. While ancient Egyptians sailed boats made of bundles of papyrus on the Nile, the indigenous people of Peru sailed around Lake Titicaca using the same type of boats woven from the local Totora Reed. Heyerdahl thought there had to be a connection; that once there had been contact between the two cultures. He had proved that it was possible to cross the Pacific Ocean on a balsa raft with Kon Tiki. With Ra, he wanted to find out if it were possible to cross 6000 kms of the Atlantic Ocean with a reed boat built to ancient Egyptian design.

 

AKERSHUS CASTLE AND FORTRESS 

This castle was first constructed around 1290 to guard the settlement at Oslo.

As we leave Norway and sail towards Gothenburg and Sweden, there is a great deal more I could write that is stimulated by this brief visit to Oslo. We are reminded that Norway, though a small country, is a significant economy on the world stage. It has a rich history in its Viking past, it is a nation of boat builders that has its roots in the ancient Viking boats, it is a land of great beauty whose early pioneers were made of the stuff that cut railways through solid rock tunnels, men of adventure like Heyerdahl, scientists like Nobel, and great artists like Vigeland. And this was just a taste, a mere morsel of the story of Norway.

While taking a cruise provides moments of great pleasure, it should always be an opportunity to learn or perhaps relearn something about the lives of other nations. I read something recently that said, "When you speak you are only saying something you already know or think you know. When you listen you have an opportunity to learn something new."