Oslo Highlights in 7 1/2 hours

Wow, I just finished the best day trip tour that I believe I have ever been on.

 

So much of it is still circling around my hear and with so much stuff learned it would take me at least 14 hours to detail it all in enough detail to do it even a slight bit of justice. It was the first time that I have ever been in so many museums in one day and felt rushed in all of them, often I feel we are being left too long.

 

Instead I will post here links to the various parts so that you can read them later if you so chose.

 

7,5-hour guided tour by sailing ship and coach visiting the fjord, on board we will serve you a buffet of shrimps for lunch, then we visit the Polarship Fram, the Maritime Museum and the panoramic movie, the Kon-Tiki Raft, the Norwegian Folk Museum, the Vikingships, the Holmenkollen Ski Jump with Museum and the Vigeland Sculpture Park.

Oslo Fjord Boat Sight Seeing - this is a link to the original sightseeing tour operator

Norwegian Maritime Museum - this is a link to the Norwegian Maritime Museum

Kon-Tiki Museum - this is a link to the Kon-Tiki Museum where you can find all about Thor Heyerdahl and his various expeditions. This wild haired excentric not only dared to challenge the established archaeological and historical fraternities but had the courage to put his theories to the test, with spectacular and successful results.

Polar Ship Fram Museum - this is a link to the Fram Museum where you can find all about Roald Amundsens and his various polar expeditions, as well as actually step onboard the very ship that they used and has travelled to both furthest north and furthest south. Also read how Amundsen beat Scott to the Antarctic but lost his own life a many years later in the North Pole while mounting a rescue mission for his lost airship crew.

Viking Ship Museum - this is a link to the Viking Ship Museum, and here you have three actual wooden viking ships that were found in burial mounds. The vikings believed in very similar after-life beliefs to the Egyptians and so they too buried their rulers with ship, servants, furniture and provisions for their journey and new life.

Norwegian Folk Museum - this is a link to the Norwegian Folk Museum. Plenty of great examples of ancient and medieval buildings.

Holmenkollen Ski Jump - this is a link to the Holmenkollen Ski Jump & Ski Museum.

Vigeland Sculpture Park - this is a link to the Vigeland Sculpture Park, where his "circle of life" theme runs throughout.

I am so glad now that I remained in Oslo to take this tour and did not go over to Bergen as then I would have missed out on a wonderful and truly educational tour.

From the tour I also learned that Oslo is the second largest European city by land mass, behind Moscow, although it only has a population of 1/2 a million people.

It has more boats per-capita than any other country on the planet ( no wonder that harbours / docks that I mentioned earlier were so full ).

Norway was also under viking Rule until the bubonic plague wiped out 70% of the countries population, and then was owned / occupied by Danish and then Swedish rule before once again regaining its Independence barely 100 years ago.