Oslo Museums

First thing in the morning we took the bus to City Hall to get an Oslo pass which would provide us with public transportation and admittance into over 30 museums and attractions in the Oslo area. We were anticipating rain all weekend according to recent weather updates, but we happily woke up to sunny blue skies. After taking the bus which cost an arm and a leg to ride less than 15 minutes, we got off at the Royal Theater stop and wandered towards City Hall.

If traveling to Oslo and wanting to be a tourist for the day, I would highly recommend the Oslo pass. With the student discount we probably paid a little less than $80 for three days. If we ride the bus 8 times we will have paid off our pass simply in transportation costs, not to mention free admittance into enough museums to keep you busy for well over 72 hours.

After making a game plan, we took the ferry across the water to Norsk Folkemuseum. Norsk Folkemuseum contains exhibits showing life in Norway from 1500 until today. The exhibits show folk dress, folk art, and Sami culture. We started in the exhibit Where is Mr. Saboni? displaying artifacts from the upper class in the 1700 and 1800s. Most Norwegian towns are located on the coast where the population has been oriented towards the sea. Towns provided a financial foundation for important luxury goods, new ideas, and continental culture. Through artifacts we are able to to connect physically to the past. They show how different the past was, but how recognizable it still is.

 

We walked through several rooms that were designed as a mock up church. Some of the furniture, sculptures of Jesus and angels, and the organ were all predicted, but I was surprised to see miniature wooden ships hanging from the ceiling. I soon learned that church ships were sea men's memorials or votive gifts to God for aid at times of emergency at sea. The ship can also be seen as a symbol of the church community itself. The congregation sails on the sea of life on its way to its heavenly destination with Christ at the helm. 

Another interesting exhibition showed some features of daily life in Sami communities at the end of the 19th and the beginning of the 20th centuries with an emphasis on hunting, fishing, farming, and reindeer pastoralism. The exhibit doesn't seek to tell the history of the Sami; however, some important historical events are included, such as the carving up of Samiland between the states or the devastations of World War II. Today the Sami live quite differently from what is shown in the exhibit; therefore, a new part was added in 2007 describing recent developments in politics, culture, and society.

We then moved on to the outside portion of the museum starting with a beautiful walk to the Stave Church from Gol. The Stave Church was built in Gol around year 1200 and relocated to its present site in 1884. This church was our last stop at the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History. It was incredible walking through the church knowing there was so much history behind the walls. The inside was relatively small compared to the grand exterior. Because it looked so tall, I asked the woman working at the museum if there was a second floor where people used to sit while attending the church. The response I received was no, they probably built the church as high as possible to reach up to the heavens. This museum had many more exhibits, but we decided to pick and choose what to see before moving to the next museum just down the road.

The next stop on our journey was to Vikingskipshuset, the Viking Ship Museum. The museum has on display the best preserved Viking Ships ever found. The ships were found in three royal burial mounds by the Oslo fjord. The ships were buried more than 1100 years ago to carry their royal owners to "the other side." The museum also displays unique artifacts found in the graves. 

Of the Viking Ships, my favorite was the Oseberg Ship. This ship was built around 820 AD, used as a burial ship for a powerful woman and her maidservants in 834 AD. The ship is made from oak timbers and is 21.5 meters long and 5 meters wide with elaborate carvings were visible along the edges. Other ships on display included the Gokstad Ship build as the burial ship for a chieftain around 900 AD and the Tune Ship, a fast, ocean-going vessel.

Our next stop was the Norwegian Maritime Museum. The Maritime Museum depicts Norway as a coastal nation. We learned about the Norwegian shipping industry and maritime culture. In "The Ship" exhibition we experienced a hands-on approach to the inner workings of a ship. We felt the heaviness of each material used to build ships like wood, steel, aluminum and fiberglass. The wood, aluminum, and fiberglass were relatively easy to pick up, and I could generally move the blocks with one hand. Once I went to pick up the steel block, I almost fell over. I had to use both hands and really put my back into the lift to even get the block up half an inch. In another part of the exhibit I was able to start up different types of engines on display to see how they operated.

Our fourth and final museum of the day was Frammuseet, The Polar Ship Fram. The Fram Museum is dedicated to the story of Norwegian polar expeditions with the Fram ship. The Fram was the first ship specifically built in Norway for polar research. It was used on three important expeditions with Fridtjof Nansen over the Arctic Ocean 1893-96, with Otto Sverdrup to the arctic archipelago west of Greenland 1898-1902, and with Roald Amundsen to Antarctica for his South Pole expedition 1910-12. After walking around the ship to read about the various voyages, we walked on the deck and down through many rooms and chambers of the ship. Before leaving the museum, we sat on the deck and watched the Northern Lights show that was displayed on the ceiling throughout the building.

By the end of the day we had our fill of museums and were ready for a break. We just missed the ferry as we were exiting the museum, so we decided to go sit by the water and wait instead of standing on the cramped dock. Lindsay and Natalie were going up to the picnic tables to sit, and I decided to be adventurous and walked along the water and out to some rocks. Realizing I couldn't reach the far out rocks without getting in the water, I quickly took off my socks and shoes and jumped right in. Stephen was hesitant before joining me. He thought I was going to get wet, but a little water never hurt anyone. I finally made it out to the far rocks, and Stephen, Lindsay, and Natalie were not far behind. Soon we were all out on the rocks and playing in the water. We smiled and waved at passing ships, kayaks, and motorboats. Of course we got a little wet, but it all dried up as we laid out on the rocks looking for cloud animals.

After an eventful day of touring four museums, we headed back to the hostel to make dinner before hitting the town. Once again, we finished every bite, I was completely full, and we all needed to recover from that delicious meal. We made salmon, peppers, broccoli, and rice.

After my hour and a half power nap it was painful to wake up, but it was about time we experienced the Oslo nightlife. Between the four of us we managed to finish over half the liter of Jäger, a few beers, and some hard cider. At this point we were ready to hit the town, so we went exploring only to find that most bars were 22 or 23 and older. Although the drinking age is much younger in the European and Scandinavian countries, we are beginning to find that a lot of the Scandinavian bars still have an age limit. After meeting a group of very nice men, they managed to sweet talk us into one of the bars by pleading with the security guard saying that it was our only night out in Oslo and they just wanted to show us a good time. We certainly had a good time, and by 4am the sun had barely gone down only to come right back up and we were headed home.