Day 11: Oslo in one day!

It's the last day of our trip and we have about one day to see Oslo. Jeff leaves in the morning and I leave a few hours later, so this is about all we have.

Here's how the day went down:

Left the hotel around 8AM. Found breakfast at the little local chain coffee shop. Then, eventually found our way to somewhere that was selling the Oslo Pass. Bought those. Boarded the 8:55AM ferry to the island across the way that had 4 museums we wanted to see. Great little ferry ride.

We started w/ the Viking Ship Museum. Compared to the Vasa Museum this is a bore. But, these ships are crazy older (from the 800-900s) and that made it interesting. And some of the stories about how they found this stuff and how they are preserving it are fascinating. There was one story about how they had to decide if they wanted to keep the colors of the painted carvings or preserve the carvings so they'd be around for much longer. They chose to preserve the carvings which washed away all the paint. But, interesting stuff. We were there for about 45 minutes.

Then, we went to the Norwegian Folk Museum. Like a tiny Skansen. Less cool. But, they did have a stave church and that was incredible. If you don't know about these little churches, Google them. There are only a couple dozen or so left and it was really neat to see inside of one. We also saw some folk dancing and heard some folk music. Checked out a few of the different buildings and were done. Maybe an hour or so.

We took the bus over to the Kon-Tiki museum. This was one I was excited about because a few months ago my running buddies, Michael and Nancy, had a whole conversation about the academy award winning documentary based on this voyage. I still need to see the documentary and more so now, but it was sweet seeing these boats in person. The main idea is there was this explorer who wanted to show that French Polynesia could have been settled by people from South America. So, he built a boat in the style of how it would have been built back in the day (papyrus or reed) and set out to sail the route he believed they could have taken. He did a similar deal w/ the Ra II (another boat) that sailed from Africa to Barbados.

After Kon-Tiki, it was the Fram museum. This is a giant polar ship that sailed in both the Arctic and Antarctic. Early 20th century. We even got to go inside of this one. Fun!

Then, it was time to go back to the mainland in time for discount lunch at city hall. The city hall workers have a cafeteria and after 12:30 they open it to the public and you can get a whole meal for under $10, which is crazy cheap here in Norway. We had a huge chicken, fries and a salad. Thanks to Rick Steves for that one.

Then, we did the tour of city hall. This is where they do the Nobel Peace Prize ceremony, so that's cool. Fascinating paintings/murals in this place.

Next up was the National Gallery so I could see Munch's Scream painting. Awesome. I hung out in the Munch room for a while. Great stuff in there. No pics allowed in that room though.

After that, we took a long metro ride out to the big ski jump. It was first built in the 1890s and has seen a few improvements over the years (obviously). Great views of the city from the top. I thought this would be cooler than it was, but oh well.

Back on the train to dinner. Jeff wanted to try some local seafood that I don't approve of, so we found this great seafood restaurant that served all kinds of fish and other sea creatures. They even had a huge poster they brought to the table w/ pics and descriptions of each type of fish. I had a yummy cod in red wine sauce. Jeff had whale and seal. :(

After dinner we explored Vigeland Sculpture Park. This is Norway's famous sculptor. Fascinating stuff. This place was also gorgeous. The roses smelled amazing. I would hang out there always if I lived in Oslo.

The day is almost over, but we read about a bar called Colonel Mustard that had board games you could play, so we couldn't pass that up. A bus ride and short walk later we arrived at the bar. Had some drinks and Professor Plum pudding. We tried a few games. Some were in Norwegian. Those were out. Others had no instructions. Out. Others were for 3+ players. Nope. Finally, we found King of Tokyo which Jeff had played, so we did that one. It was dumb w/ 2 players. But, whatever. I was also now exhausted and ready to go home.

That's it. A crazy long day in Oslo. My legs are so tired. I thought about walking around the city a bit this AM, but I'm not sure how much more walking I can do! Between the runs and that crazy hike and the city walking...poor legs!

The trip is Finnished. There's Norway we can do more. Thanks for joining us. :) Until next time...

Day 10: Relaxing in Flaam and train trips

After our yummy tea by the water, we had about 4 hours to kill in Flaam before our train left for the rest of our Norway in a Nutshell tour. We went to the grocery store and bought some bread and got to use the cool bread slicer. Then, we took that and our leftover groceries from yesterday down to the beach and had a picnic lunch while we watched the latest cruise ship arrive.

Then, we walked around the shops a bit more making sure we went into all of them. We sat by the water for a while and just enjoyed the scenery. Then, I was thirsty and so we went up to this little cafe on the hill and had some local apple juice. I'd heard all about it, so I wanted to try it out. Jeff and I each got different ones to try a couple. Mine was definitely better (half filtered, Jeff's was not filtered). He would claim his was better. So, looks like the server chose well.

After that it was a bit more sitting by the water on the marina. Jeff retrieved our bags and it was off to ride the Flamsbana train. This is a short little 1 hour train ride up the mountain to Mydral. Crazy scenery. And, it included a stop at this giant waterfall where this lady came out of the mountain and was dancing to some music. According to legend, she lures men into the mountain. Crazy stuff.

In Mydral, we changed to our 5 hour train to Oslo. Again, amazing scenery. Especially the first hour or so. It was nice to just sit and do nothing. We ate the rest of our groceries, read about things to do in Oslo, and took little naps (after the scenery was less amazing). We arrived in Oslo around 10:30PM. Made our way to the hotel and crashed in our tiny room. Pretty much the width of a hallway.

Response to comments

Thanks to all for your awesome comments. I wasn't sure the best way to reply to your various questions, so I just decided to type a quick post to respond to your questions. :)

Melanie--Yes. I think the king forced her to wear the creepy ring.

Cathy--Not quite sure about the stilts, but from what I could gather it was an activity for children. Play time?

Donna--The clock is a popular meeting spot. So, I was just pretending to wait for someone. :) Jeff's beard is growing as the trip goes along. No razor for him on this trip. He was packing lightly. Jeff also does not have meltdowns, so we're good there. :) Just me. And while I was dancing/chatting with the Finnish guy, Jeff was chatting/dancing with his sister.

Hope that answers all the questions! :)

Day 9: Norway in a Nutshell Part 1 and a stroll through Flaam

Yesterday we left Bergen at 8:30AM after picking up some groceries for the day's breakfast and lunch. We started out on a train from Bergen to Voss. The scenery here was okay. There were lots of tunnels, so the scenery was only in between the tunnels and it was hard to get pictures. I took a little nap.

Next up was the bus from Voss to Gudvangen. This was awesome. Waterfalls. Hairpin turns. And we ended up in this tiny village w/ grass covered roofs.

Then, it was off on our fjord cruise to Flaam. Again. Gorgeous! We chose to sit in one spot and take in the views and I think that was nicer than hopping all over the boat trying to get pics.

We arrived in Flaam around 2PM. Checked into our hotel ON THE WATER and took a nap. Then, it was off to explore Flaam. Not much here in this town of like 400 people, but it was fun to be in a tiny town and relax. We stopped in the Viking bar and had a drink. Then, had dinner in the cafe shaped like a train. I bought some of the special brown goat cheese made in the area. That is some STRONG cheese. Then, it was back to our hotel balcony to soak in the scenery. We watched the seals swim in the water and played some games.

The view from our balcony!

There is so a seal in the water.

Peach cider! And a Black Russian for Jeff.

Today, we're taking it easy. Check out was at noon and we took advantage of that. Did a little 4 mile run in the cool temps. Made breakfast in our little kitchen and enjoyed the views from our balcony until it was time to go. Now, we're having tea along the water and then we'll explore the town a bit more before we head out on a train to Myrdal.

Jeff loved this sign with its graffiti.

And look at this cute school we saw during our run.