If you don’t like travelogues, don’t read further. Of course, since it was my life, I think it’s interesting!
Those of you familiar with Oslo already know its charms–its waterfront setting, numerous parks, ease of getting around, etc. Our second day was devoted to seeing the sights of the past–via museums. I was most interested in the Viking Ships museum and the Kon Tiki museum, and we set off to the little peninsula that contains both of those, riding the bus! (Yes, I like to attempt EVERY type of public transport a town has to offer!) After a good free breakfast in the hotel, Chris and I set off with a plan to avoid eating until dinner to save some kroners (note: Norway is extremely expensive!) The bus stopped at the Viking ships museum, and we stopped and had a Coke Zero and a coffee before proceeding into the museum, enjoying some of the sunny weather as we enjoyed our respective caffeines of choice.
The Vikings were ship building, ocean-going explorers and conquerors. The Viking Ships museum has three ships and their contents, all recovered from burial mounds where fancy folks were buried, goods and food and other items along with them, in these ships! The clay preserved the wood and many of the items that had not been removed by grave robbers, giving us the chance to know their craft beyond legend. Reminded me a bit of the Cadillac Ranch idea, or those guys who want to be buried in their cars….but on a bigger scale! The Vikings were slave holders, so they probably didn’t care much how many person-hours it would take to bury the rich and all their stuff.
Next on the itinerary was the Kon Tiki museet, which should really be called the Thor Heyerdahl museum. I knew a tiny bit about Kon Tiki, having ready some story of it during childhood, probably in a Reader’s Digest condensed book! But I really didn’t know how interesting this anthropologist turned activist and peace crusader was, and the result of the museum was my purchase of two of his books and a newly lit desire to learn more (surely the mark of a successful museum!)
After Kon Tiki we chose to take the ferry back to the city center, but had a little time to wait and watch some swimmers and enjoy sitting on the shore. We walked by the Fram, apparently the first ship to conquer the northern passage, several hundred years ago! (These Norwegians were/are hardy people!)
The ferry ride was comfortable and got us back quickly and we then chose to go to a more traditional museum–the Munch museet. Hilariously, Chris thought I was saying Monk Museum, and he couldn’t imagine what would be interesting….but we arrived quite late and did not get to spend enough time here. Edvard Munch is of course the painter of the iconic Scream, (its Norse title looks more like Shriek) which I didn’t know was part of a series. That painting is newly on display again after its recovery following the 2004 robbery.
The museum has incredible visible security, and one can only imagine all of the other security behind the scenes. But back to the artist– He was much affected by love and loss over a 15 year period and the series, the Frieze of Life, depicts all of the stages–early attraction, sexual obsession and satisfaction, disaffection and heartbreak, and attempts at reclaiming one’s life without the loved one. All of the final paintings in this series are displayed in a large rectangular room, behind walls of glass. Subsequent rooms display a number of versions and sketches on the pivotal series, as well as other subjects. He had a long career and the museum should be savored–unfortunately, we were only in room 3 when a dominatrix of a docent shooed us out, scolding us that we had to be OUT of the museum by 6—-sigh. We attempted to walk out SLOWLY while she herded us from the rear.
At that point, we were hungry, but decided first to visit a large botanical garden directly adjacent to the Munch Museet, but had a hard time finding our way IN—there is only one main entrance/exit and the rest of the park is surrounded by wrought iron tall walls including some areas with barbed wire! (What could they be growin’ in there?) After finding our way in, we meandered among the tree-lined path up then descended the zones of the Earth and looked at the different species from Asia, Africa, the Americas, Europe, etc., all arranged into related zones through a dramatic rock garden with streams and waterfalls. It looks like they are digging a new section, adding new boulders that will probably host further diverse examples. This was a lovely spot and again we wished we’d gotten there a bit earlier, if only to take better photos and linger longer.
Chris had read that the new ethnically diverse hip youthful area was Grunland, which turned out to be just a bit down the main street out of the botanical gardens. We walked down and finally heard the clamor of life among peoples who are not the tall White Norwegians. There we found a bounty of all kinds of food, from Italian to Greek to African etc., and walked in and among the restaurants, checking menus and noting that some places seemed not to serve food but drinks only—the previous night, we thought we were too late. This night, were we too early? Finally we decided on the hilariously named Ali Baba joint, where we had delicious Italian style pizza.
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