Bob and Ann in Scandinavia 2007

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Waiting for the Ferry


Viking Ship


Kon Tiki

This morning was a boat morning. First, we took a ferry to see the Oslo Viking Museum. Then we strolled through a delightful residential neighborhood to three other maritime museums. The Kon Tiki Museum contained both the Kon Tiki and Ra II rafts that Thor Heyerdahl used in his expeditions to prove that ancient civilizations could float with the ocean current to inhabit Polynesia and Barbados. In the Norwegian Maritime Museum, we saw a film that took us on a helicopter ride along the coast of Norway. The movie was on a 180 degree screen and made you feel like you were in the helicopter. The Fram Museum contained a ship that had gone to both poles with famous Norwegian explorers.

For lunch, we had Norway’s version of a hot dog - a sausage wrapped in a potato pancake. Ugh!

We hopped on the ferry back to the city center, got onto the subway and rode out to the Munch Museum. There was lots of security at the entrance most likely because someone had stolen “The Scream” several years ago. It was recovered but it was damaged and is still being restored. The museum displays works by Edvard Munch during different periods of his artistic life. There were some really powerful paintings.

We took the subway back to the city center and breezed through the National Gallery where we saw paintings and sculptures by many Norwegian artists.

When we got back to the hotel it was early enough for Ann to put her bathing suit under her clothes and take the subway to Vigeland Park to swim in its Olympic size pool. There were too many people using the lap lanes so she swam in another part of the pool where the kids were jumping in and splashing. She said the pool was big enough so that it didn’t bother her.

Dinner tonight was in Kaffistova where Ann had salmon with potatoes and cabbage. I had meatballs with gravy, potatoes and mushy beans. It was very bland food but it was filling. The cost was around $50 - not bad if we were eating at a decent restaurant in Berkeley like Rick and Ann‘s with wine and dessert. We haven’t been going to better restaurants because of the cost. We were told that Oslo is the most expensive city in the world - the land of $10 beers and $15 Big Macs!

We picked up some chocolate on the way back to the hotel and shared it and conversation with some of our group who were using the breakfast room for their take-out dinner.

The weather today was mixed. It was sunny with light clouds in the morning. In the direct sun, it was pretty warm. We got caught in a shower in the afternoon while we were leaving the National Gallery. We took shelter in Bit where I had a snack of a good raisin bun with cardamom.