Oslo - a maritime metropolis.

Well the marathon of museums has begun. Today we did 5 museums all located in the Bygdoy peninsula across the harbour from downtown. The theme of four of the museums was watercraft - from Viking ships to a huge ship called the Fram that explored both the North and South poles to a raft made of balsa wood built and manned by a Norweigan which sailed from Peru to Polynesia - that no one thought was possible. Norwegians are born explorers. I now have every confidence in Norweigan maritime expertise and will be booking a cruise with Norweigan cruise lines in the near future! The Vikings didn't understand that when you died you couldn't take any riches to your grave instead they made sure that their deceased were well equipped for the afterlife with grave gifts - like jewellery, slaughtered animals etc.

The Polar Fram museum was spectacular - imagine a 125 foot steam and sail powered ship in a museum. The ship took modern day Viking Roald Amundsen deep into the Arctic and Antarctic. It went through the northwest passage spending time in now Nunavut's Gojahaven and the crew learned how to survive in arctic weather from the Inuit.

Pic from the Kon-Tiki museum - a museum highlighting the voyage of Norweigan Thor Heyerdahl in 1947 in a balsa raft.

The Norweigan folk museum was another highlight of our day - 150 buildings brought from all corners of Norway recreating life in Norway from the 1200's (Stave Church)

Notice the intricate carvings on the old log cabins - very impressive. A few more signs -

Streetscapes on Bygdoy

And a cute coffee shop close to where we are staying and a pic of an outdoor cafe who has gone the extra mile to keep you warm with sheepskin chair cushions.

We continue the museum marathon tomorrow starting with the Oslo ski museum (yes!) Leaving the blog today with a hint of Nordic fashion - love it!