Norway Day 1-2

Our first day was really a travel day, we left Catania bright and early and got into Oslo a little before dinner.  Though we had a few stops along the way, the trip was seamless.  Once we checked into our little hotel room we explored a little bit, but not much.  I was pretty tired by that time, and was ready to get to bed.

The next day we got up earlier to explore Oslo.  I had planned where we wanted to go, and had a loose idea of the days we would do things.  We found out that the National Gallery was closed on Monday (we had Sunday and Monday in Oslo), so we had to rearrange a few things.  I got to see most of what I wanted in those two days, but Patrick was a little disappointed not to have a bit more time.  We started our morning walking down Karl Johannes Gate toward the Palace.  The Palace is fairly unguarded, you are able to walk up and around the entire area.  They do have military guards walking back and forth around the perimeter, so it was fun to watch them.

Royal Palace

Palace Guard

We walked toward the National Gallery after that.  It was a very rainy day, but we enjoyed the break from the heat in Sicily.  The National Gallery was lovely.  There were many enthralling paintings, including some impressionism, which is my favorite!  They do have an Edvard Munch gallery, being that he was Norwegian.  He's most famous for 'The Scream' painting, which was on display.  After a look around and a quick stop at the gift shop we were on our way.

Old Norwegian Folk Tales

There is a small area in Oslo that has quite a few museums, including the Norsk Folk Museum, the Fram Museum, the Kon-Tiki Museum, and the Viking Ship Museum.  It's across the water from downtown Oslo, so you take a small ferry over.  I was most interested in the Norsk Folk Museum, it's Norway's largest museum of cultural history.  It's an indoor/outdoor museum, and is very interactive.  It's mostly open air and there are people all around dressed in traditional Norwegain clothes. While we were there we caught a traditional dance show (including kids ages 5-17), ate some homemade lefsa made on a stone in the fireplace (I really haven't enjoyed lefsa much until this moment, when I discovered just how delicious it could be), saw sheep getting sheered, watched a woman make homemade soap, saw a 1950's style Norwegian home, went into a Stave church, saw a troll, and we even had some sunshine.

Patrick learning to make a wool heart for me, of course!

He wanted to do it just right.

Lefse!

Lefse, which is kind of like a Norwegain tortilla,
but made out of potatoes.  It's usually eaten with
butter, sugar, and cinnamon.  This really was the best,
ever.

Kids dancing traditional Norwegian dances.

A troll.

Old Norwegian houses.

Stave Church

When Patrick discovered that the Kon-Tiki museum was also in the area he was determined to go.  However, because we had to go to the National Gallery that morning, we were on a bit of a time crunch. Patrick vowed that he would make it to the Kon-Tiki museum by 5 (when it closed) and be back in time to go to the Viking Ship museum before 6 (when it closed).  I was far more interested in the Viking Ship Museum so I told him I would wait for him, I also knew that if I went I would slow him down.  Patrick knew that I was a little bit upset that he left, so he really did his best to make it back.  Apparently the museum wasn't nearly as close as he thought, and on the way back he found a bus.  He asked the bus driver if the route went by the Viking Ship Museum and the driver assured him it did.  So when the bus started going in another direction and then stopped, Patrick asked him why.  The driver replied that they had to wait for the next route time to start on their way back, so he decided to get off the bus and run the rest of the way.  By the time he got to me at 5:15, he was a bit hot and a little flustered.  But we made it into the museum and enjoyed looking over the ancient burial ships.

Kon-Tiki Museum

Ancient Viking burial ship.

We took the ferry back to downtown Oslo and had a nice dinner in one of the oldest hotels in Oslo, the Hotel Bristol.  Patrick had Norwegian Elk, which we discovered later is actually moose.  And I had halibut.  I was so excited to get halibut, but unfortunately it was overcooked both times I had it.  It wasn't awful, but I suppose growing up in Alaska spoiled me.