The Rest of Oslo

I completely forgot about this post, which is why it's so late getting published, but anyhow this is a quick, pictorial run down of our three days in Oslo after Maker Fair was over. Three more days  to enjoy the cold weather and various museums etc.

We also enjoyed the fact that there was a Karaoke Taxi.

There were several large churches like this one, made of stone or brick. Very nice.

We decided to stop by a 'vintage' shop Sam and I liked the little round tinted glasses, just because they were funny.

Mittens were very popular among the people who had them. Thanks Grandma!

AKERSHUS FORTRESS

Also, Franklin D Roosevelt himself. This was just outside the Akershus Fortress. Still not sure why he was there...

Snowy roofs from the top of Akershus.This place was a fortress, castle, and prison at different points in time, it was also used as a base by the Germans during WWII.

Dad taking a look around at Akershus, most of the buildings were closed.

The Fortress is actually still a military area and as such there was a guard. I felt sorry for him, it was really cold that day!

THE NORWEGIAN FOLK MUSEUM

A mile stone, they had a couple of these, I like them :)

And look! A real Loft Hus! We all struck a pose:

 

 The stave church was the real attraction here, and it was really awesome. The rest of Europe built huge stone cathedrals, but I think I prefer stave churches.

There was also a sauna, the door and facing was covered with ornate graffiti

If I wrote like this, it would be awesome. 

There were also a bunch of farm related buildings, houses, barns etc

I believe this is a couple of houses stuck together.

 Most of the buildings were padlocked and there were chains across the stairs so we couldn't get in, but that didn't stop us from checking!

There were also a couple of Sami style buildings, like this house: 

And this elevated storehouse.

 Among the farmhouses I spotted this. a simple head gate setup perhaps?

This is one of the buildings labeled as a barn, I'm guessing it was used mostly for storing feed and implements since the byres, stables and sheep folds were all lower to the ground.

VIKING SHIP MUSEUM

One of three viking grave ships, I believe this is the one which held two women, one likely a slave and the other probably a queen or very important person. This was the best preserved of any of the ships in the museum. The other two were smaller and one was little more than a couple of pieces of wood stuck together. 

 The same ship from a different angle

 One of the carts found with the ship

The outside of the National Gallery. It was a pretty nice museum with a lot of excellent art.

The National Theatre which we didn't go into, but it looks really cool from the outside.

 The KON TIKI MUSEUM

I think this was actually the raft named RA II which was used to navigate the Atlantic from Morocco. Ra I was poorly made and sank after only a couple of days/weeks at sea. Of course nearly drowning in the Atlantic was no dissuasion to Thor Heyerdahl. He just went to someone else to get the next Ra built.

The Kon Tiki, which made the voyage from the coast of Peru all the way to Polynesia. And if you ever get the chance to read the book, pick it up. It's really good.

There were actually three rafts used by Thor Heyerdahl, but the third (the Tigris) was burned as either a protest of the war activities going on in the areas around the Red Sea or was burned by some of the people participating in the war. 

So that was the other three days of our trip to Oslo. The whole trip was fantastic. And if you're short of things to do, look up Thor Heyerdahl and the rafts, really cool story.