Norwegian Culture Day in Oslo

First activity of the day -- we ate at the hotel breakfast.  What a feast!  Everything from salmon lox to caviar (truly), cold meats, superb cheeses, fruit, yogurt, grains, nuts, dried fruits, eggs (both scrambled and poached), bacon, sausage, spectacular breads -- absolutely everything you can imagine.  Probably the best "free" breakfast spread any of us had ever seen at a hotel.

only one small segment of the breakfast feast

Then after a picturesque walk to the water front, we were on our way via ferry to the Bygdoy penninsula to visit two different locations.

First, we went to the Viking Ships Museum and saw the four Viking ships and memorabilia from them.  We learned about the sea faring abilities of the Vikings, the quality of the boats, as well as the fact that they used the boats to bury important people once they were no longer sea worthy.  Happily, one of the boats was used to bury two women, so women were important (at least some of them) in ancient Norse culture.

Next stop -- the Norse Folkemuseum. The place is immense with both interior museums and open-air museums.  Everyone seemed to think that the lefse-making demonstration was the best, and we all had a taste of "real" Norwegian lefse which was thick, sweet, and made from grain, thus tasting quite a bit different from the potato lefse we eat in Midwestern US.  We learned that only the peasants made lefse out of potatoes because they couldn't afford to purchase the imported grains.  Oh-oh.  Sorry, kiddos -- you must be descended from peasant-stock.

replica of a stave church at the Folk Museum

The exterior portion of the Folk Museum was immense and was set up to show the distinct character of separate areas of Norway during multiple time periods.  We took varied routes around the grounds, but all visited the Stave Church and learned that the wealthy people stood in the front of the church (closer to the light of god), with the altar always located on the east end, and the poor people stood in the back because, after all, god had ordained which social class you were born into.  Additionally, men stood on the south side, and women stood on the north side (no chairs in these churches). Thus, the poor women were in the Northwest corner where is was the coldest and draftiest.  Sigh.

After the Folk Museum, we split up and did various activities.  Julie and Harold rested and then went to Henrik Ibsen's house, where he and his wife Suzanna lived for the last 11 years of their lives, after they had become quite wealthy (having started out quite poor).  They imported everything, including their gold chairs (I kid you not).  The apartment they rented was in the exclusive part of the town, right across from the Palace, and Ibsen, who loved adoration, would sit in front of the window just so people would walk by and see him.  We learned some new things too -- like he may have been OCD because he would brush his side burns for exactly 1 1/2 hours every day, and his barber came at 1:00 every Tuesday.  One day, the barber was a few minutes late, and Ibsen wouldn't let him in the house because it "just wouldn't work to do it late."  He also cleaned the house himself, and it was spotless, despite the fact that they never entertained.  Lots of fun things to learn.

Henrik Ibsen

Randall and Olive went to the Palace and surveyed the beautiful gardens there.  Juleen and Joe ran (literally) to view the sights.  They saw the Parliament, the palace and Vigeland Sculpture Park.  Side information:  Julie's childhood dentist back in Rugy, ND was Dr. Vigeland, and he was related to the sculptor who created the sculptures in this magnificent park.

Randall and Olive taking in the sights and sounds of Oslo

The Norwegian Palace

Vigeland Sculpture Park

We met at 6:00 and shared experiences at our floor's hotel lounge, and then headed to another fabulous restaurant, this one by the water featuring seafood -- Solsiden, another great choice by Olive.

Skol!

After a great feast, we walked a bit before Harold and Julie went back to the hotel while Randall/Olive and Juleen/Joe stopped at the bar at the hotel and had a drink.

All in all, a spectacular day in Oslo.