Oslo, Day 3

Friday, July 18

I awoke at 4:30 a.m.  It is quiet, still light, and very warm outside so I take a short walk.  However, the hotel lobby, with its coffee machine and pastries, call me back.  I sit and try to write.  The night manager, Henrich, a student around 24 years old, is very friendly and easy to talk to so we discuss all the “hot button” issues, church attendance, education, gay rights, drug use, abortion, national leaders, taxes, and the number one issue in Norway, immigration.  The stories and the arguments are the same.  Civilization is civilization everywhere.  I had breakfast on my own at 7, then went up to the room.  I took a short nap while Barb prepared for the day. 

By 10 a.m. we are on the ferry heading toward the Fram and Kon Tiki Museums.  The Fram, built in 1893, now enshrined in its own dry dock, has now been turned into a wonderful museum, situated in a park like peninsula across the bay from Oslo harbor.  The museum detailed the many expeditions of the ship, a unique design allowing it to float out of the ice as it set in during the polar winter.  It carried Amundson, the first to the South Pole, 1911,  and made many arctic voyages and discoveries as well.  An amazing story.

Next door, Tor Heyerdahl’s Kon Tiki is housed along with his other vessel, Ra.  The Kon Tiki, 1947, proved the possibility that ancient Pacific Islanders could have made long sea voyages creating contacts between different cultures.  His Ra failed, but RA II sailed from Morocco to Barbados, again proving the possibilities of ancient African cultures visiting South America.  Two impressive stories of Norwegian seamanship and their zeal for exploration and discovery, traits exhibited so many years ago by the Vikings.

Ra

Lunch site.  Oslo harbor in background

 

Between visits to the two museums which are next door to each other, we purchased a sandwich and sat in the glow of the sun, overlooking the bay and the view back toward Oslo harbor.    We took the ferry back and arrived at the harbor by 5.  This evening, to save some money, we went into the ICA grocery store and bought some chicken and salad.  We ate our dinner on the steps overlooking the harbor – a feast in a beautiful setting.  By 8 p.m. we were back to the hotel and I fell fast asleep.



Street entertainers.  Levitation illusion.