Norway: Day 3: Oslo: Bygdøy (Bygdoy)

I spent this day across the water from Oslo, exploring the suburban hamlet of Bygdøy (Bygdoy) and its many museums. I took many pictures

After an early start, I caught the first ferry (8:45am) to Bygdøy.

Once in Bygdøy, I walked first to the museum which opened earliest, the Vikingskipshuset (Viking Ship Museum). It's a simple little museum of three ships and the objects found on board. The Viking ships are the best-preserved ones ever found. I spent thirty minutes here, and probably wouldn't spent the entrance fee had I known what my interest level was. I did learn one interesting fact: there's no evidence that Vikings cooked on the ships--they probably only ate dried foods.

Next up was the Norsk Folkemuseum (Norwegian Cultural History / Folk Museum). This complex, in addition to a few traditional museum buildings, had a large estate with many wooden buildings in various designs (storehouses, farmhouses, bakeries, barns, kilns, guesthouses) from various eras, most open so people could look inside and see how they appeared at the time (objects, decoration, architecture). In addition to the buildings, there was an indoor museum which had:

• an exhibit on Norwegian folk art and how it evolved over the last 500 years
• a large exhibit on traditional Norwegian folk dress for all occasions
• an exhibit on the Norwegian clergy
• an exhibit on Norwegian church art
• an exhibit on the Sami, Scandinavia's native people, their way of life, and much about their relationship to reindeer
• a special exhibit on the 1980s covering fashion, film, furniture, food, politics, music, etc., all with a Norwegian tilt. (Did you know Chernobyl fallout rained in Norway?)
• a small exhibit on old toys (dolls, blocks, etc.)

I spent most of my time in the outdoor areas. Though the most expensive museum I visited in Oslo, it was well worth it--I spent five hours wandering the grounds.

The Frammuseet (Fram Museum) came next. It's a museum mainly to show and allow touring of the famous arctic ship, the Fram. I didn't find the ship interesting, but the museum wasn't an entire waste of time. I enjoyed reading the museum's many documents from the explorer Roald Amundsen's trip sailing the northwest passage and trip reaching the south pole first. The documents come from Amundsen's lectures, and he can tell a good story, and, importantly, has a story to tell. I also enjoyed reading the brief history of Fridtjof Nansen's life; he's a previous winner of the peace prize. I spent an hour in total in the museum.

Finally, I went to the Kon-Tiki Museum, which covers the experiments (mostly ship-faring) of Thor Heyerdahl. I completed this interesting, though small, museum in thirty minutes. For details on the museum's contents, see the picture captions.

I skipped the maritime museum because I'd seen enough boats for one day, instead grabbing the ferry back to Oslo proper. Once there, I decided to use the opportunity (it was open late) to visit the National Museum of Architecture. Its main current exhibit was principally devoted to Snøhetta, an international Oslo-based architecture firm. One large room showed models of some designs as they progressed; another presented detailed information about some of their major projects (such as the Oslo opera house and the new World Trade Center buildings). In the back of one room were several large multi-touch screens with software that helps you design a building. I began designing a cafe, choosing its outline, roof slope/appearance, and more, before I accidentally leaned on the part of the screen with the reset button. In all, I spent thirty minutes in the museum.

The day's last museum was the Astrup Fearnley Museum of Modern Art, also open late. I only managed to see its strange exhibit, Indian Highway, presented in a mixture of media by multiple artists, before it closed. I had thirty minutes in the museum.

Finally, I took a bus to the vicinity of Grünerløkka (Grunerlokka), a more happening (lots of alcohol) part of town. While on the short ride, I saw another cafe-lined street (more densely packed than Karl Johans Gates) and a big shopping mall. From where the bus let me off, I detoured to see Oslo's oldest church (built 1150), which I didn't deem worthy of photographing (though the green graveyard tempted me). En route, I saw some everyday apartment buildings and an average park, complete with less-well-off people. Once in Grünerløkka, I found a row of restaurants and bars facing Olaf Ryes Plass (a park), half of which were tapas places. I took this as a sign and picked one. Indeed, as I realized later, the preponderance of the restaurants in this part of town are Spanish.

I walked around Grünerløkka, picking up a ice cream on the way. The ice cream (gelato?) was lighter and more enjoyable than regular ice cream. Then, a quick bus ride home concluded this 13.5 hour day.