On Wednesday Mark had the afternoon off from the conference, so we took the ferry out to the nearby Bygdoy peninsula to visit the museums. This area had beautiful large residential houses and quiet streets (with strangely overgrown hedges intruding on the sidewalks). Our first stop was the Viking Ships museum, where three Viking ships that had been found, buried and preserved in mud, are on display. They were beautiful: tall curving prows, intricate carving, heavy wooden planks shaped into smooth, curving shapes. Two of them are in astonishingly good condition, and the third is a very incomplete version of the others (sort of a Salvador Dali melting ship of warped planks).
We then went to the Folk History Museum, which was something like a pioneer village. There were examples of buildings from various eras, the most interesting of which were the wooden houses and barns with their sod roofs, and the stave church, which was a towering wooden structure with interesting carving. There were recreations of herbal gardens and farm fields (we were tempted to steal some kale, although we did help ourselves to the currants). There was also an extensive exhibition on the Sami, who are the indigenous people of northern Scandanavia.
Our last stop was the museum of an astonishing ship that sailed through brutal conditions at both Arctic and Antarctic: the Fram. It is said to be the strongest wooden ship ever built, and it must have been to withstand being trapped in ice for months and even years at a time. The tour of the ship included many artifacts from the original sailors, laid out in their individual rooms, which gave it a very personal and poignant history - life was not easy under those conditions.
That night we went out for dinner for our first time since arriving - I'd essentially been eating ham and cheese sandwiches at breakfast, lunch and supper for three days, and was starting to tire of it (although I did enjoy thwarting the high cost of eating out). We found a Greek restaurant with decent prices and massive portions of food. It was pretty exciting to eat something different.
Photos: a Viking ship, historic buildings with sod roofs, wooden stave church, the Fram, Viking ship prow
2 comments:
This may be dorky of me but I would love to hear more about the polar ship. I have a weird interest in artic exporation.
Was Amundsen from Norway?
I also have a weird interest in polar exploration: last year I was reading an account of the Shackleton expedition to the Antarctic, and I've been taking watercolour courses from the artist David McEown who has gone on numerous painting trips in the Arctic and Antarctic. That's why I was so keen to go see the Fram.
Yes, Amundsen was from Norway. Actually, I've had a weird interest in Norway for a while too; a few years ago I read a fictional book about a woman's life in medieval Norway: "Kristin Lavransdatter" by Sigrid Undset. So I was thrilled when the opportunity to travel to Norway came up.
Post a Comment