Day 13: Oslo - a tourist's view

Staying in the middle of Oslo at the Grand Hotel, the group is witness to a busy street life outside the front doors. Directly across Karl Johan street is the Storting, Norway's national parliament. The main train station is a 15-minute walk away, while the Royal Palace (Slottet) is about 5 minutes from the hotel entrance. Restaurants, museums, and several major galleries, are within a 5-10 minute walk. Oslo is a small big city.

Fountains and reflecting pool in Studenterlunden, across the street directly in front of the hotel

A park with reflecting pool, fountains, statues and a lively mix of people speaking a babel of languages runs alongside Karl Johan Street from the Parliament buildings to the National Theater.











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William Burlingame in front of Vigeland's iconic monolith, "Struggle for Survival."



A visit to Frogner Park to view the bronze and granite statues of Gustav Vigeland was followed by a drive out to Bygdøy to see the Viking Ship Museum and the three 9th century Viking ships (Tune, Oseberg and Gokstad). The Oseberg, with its ornately carved prow and stern, was most likely a ceremonial ship with its somewhat shoddy construction but richly furnished as a burial ship for two women. The Gokstad ship, on the other hand, is a sleek, symmetrically built war ship buried with a single male, probably a chieftan.



The Oseberg ship (left) had two women buried on it along with farm animals, tools, household items and food. All that might be necessary in the next life.






The sleek Gokstad ship was most likely a war ship with its sleek lines and streamlined construction. It served as the burial tomb of a 60-year old male chieftan around the middle of the 9th century.

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From the Viking ship museum, the group visited the Norwegian Folk Museum with its late 12th century stave church "kidnapped" from Gol, Norway, by King Oscar II in the late 19th century, then placed in the middle of Oslo as an homage to the country's national romantic culture and rural past. Built around 1200, the Gol Stave Church is one of approximately 25 left in Norway that date back to the early Christian period of the 12th and 13th centuries. Next to the stave charch was an eighteenth century farm house, furnished with the finest goods available in Norway around 1738.




In front of the Gol Stave Church











Eighteenth century painting (ca. 1718) of a Norwegian farmer in the field with his rake, axe, scythe and shovel. Painting hangs in the early 18th century house in the Oslo Folk Museum.




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