Baltic Cruise: Oslo

JUNE 2016

Our first port of call was Oslo, and our day in Norway started a few hours before our actual arrival. On the route the ship took into port, we passed through beautiful Norwegian fjords. For three hours, our big boat navigated the tiny islands until we made it to the industrial city. We took advantage of the scenery by getting in a early morning workout, followed by breakfast in our room, so we could admire the scenery from our balcony.

Our estimated arrival time was 10:00, but luckily we were half an hour early! The dock was right in the heart of the city, so we were able to exit the ship and get right to sightseeing. We found an ATM and pulled out a few Norwegian Krons for the day, as well as for B’s growing “foreign money” collection. Next, we boarded the museum ferry near city hall and enjoyed a scenic route to the Bogdoy peninsula.

Bogdoy is home to some of the most popular museums in Oslo, so it seemed like a good place to start so we didn’t run out of time. We walked from the first ferry stop to the Viking Ship Museum, and the homes along the way were beautiful! They were more modern than what I saw a few weeks ago in Stavanger, Norway, but most were still made of white siding and lush greenery. 

The Viking Ship Museum is home to three Viking ships, and lots of Viking artifacts. Two of the ships were very well preserved, and were GINORMOUS. The ships we saw were burial ships, and were the final resting place for three rich and famous citizens of the Viking community. Of course, each person had their own ship! Their belief system was that the boats were vessels for the dead on their journey to the afterlife. Because of their impending "journey," the ships were stocked with food, animals, clothing, and other items people needed in their daily lives.

After the Viking museum, we made our way to the Norwegian Heritage Museum. It was quite a walk, but again, walking through the town was so fun! We grabbed a bite to eat at Café Antika outside of the museum entrance, bought our tickets, and headed inside.

The Norwegian Heritage Museum is an outdoor museum consisting of 150 historical buildings. These homes, farmhouses, storehouses, and churches are from all around Norway, and were desconstructed and carefully rebuilt in this museum. There were museum actor/workers stationed at key buildings and areas throughout the park to provide extra insight to the different buildings.

I loved the grass roofed homes! These roofs provided extra insulation during the cold winter months, plus they were super cute. I’m sure that’s not part of their reasoning, though! There were SO many buildings. We came to find that sometimes families would have multiple structures on their property: one for sleeping, a storehouse, an outhouse, a farm house, and a guest house. We figured this was due to the fact that all of the homes were made of wood, and if they lost one to a wild fire, at least the family wouldn’t lose everything. Also, the planks of wood were almost always laid horizontally. This was because when the wood would begin to rot, it was easier for them to replace the planks at the bottom, instead of rebuilding the entire wall.

Our favorite building was the stave church. The inside of the church was tiny, but had beautiful murals on the inside. We loved this building because it has a special meaning for us. Our last duty station in Minot, North Dakota, is home to lots of Scandanavians, and in fact hosts the largest Scandanavian heritage festival (Norsk Hostfest) in North America. As a tribute to their Norsk heritage, there is a park in Minot that has its own stave church. We reminisced about our last home, and it reminded us of how much can change in a year!

Stave Church in Norway

Stave Church in Minot

After spending a few hours at the museum, we wandered to the second ferry stop on the island, and caught the boat back to city hall. Normally, we wouldn't visit a city hall when we're exploring a new city, but because Norwegians aren't very religious, they put all of their creative energy into designing their city halls. We weren't disappointed, because Oslo's city hall was beautiful!

City Hall

The hall's main area was covered in murals and mosaic tiles. The murals on the entrance wall and the wall across from it represented Norway’s values and ancient history, while the mural on the longer wall represented Norway’s experience in WWII. This large area in Oslo’s city hall is also the site of the annual Nobel Peace Prize ceremony.

After wrapping up at city hall (and enjoying its bell tower symphony), we bought our necessary souvenir magnet and made our way back to the ship. We still had a little while before we actually needed to be onboard, so we enjoyed a beer at an outdoor restaurant. Our experience at this restaurant made us grateful that we were visiting Oslo via cruise ship… it’s a very expensive city, and as B pointed out, the beer was more expensive on land than it was on the ship! Yikes! Still, it was delicious, and it was a perfect finale for our time in Oslo.