oslo

after i dropped my stuff off in my cabin, i went out on deck to take some pictures. the weather was quite nice every day i was in copenhagen & i was assuming i would be going to colder weather. then, i went down to get some norwegian crowns (really, this is rather inconvenient having to exchange money between each country; they should simplify things & all adopt the euro - that is my official opinion) & to see if i could use a phone. norwegian crowns seem to be less value than danish (though not much) & swedish crowns more than danish crowns. oli-j, my host in oslo, hadn't responded to my message & i only got voicemail when i called him from thomas' phone. it cost me 50deks to get a phone card to use the ships phone, but i wasn't going to be using them anymore, so whatever. i still couldn't get a hold of him.

now it was time to think about food. even though i still had fruit & a couple peanut butter & honey sandwiches left, i was in the mood for something warm & went to the buffet. there were a lot of starchy non-meat items (rice, pasta, & potatoes), but it was still pretty good & i ate more than my fill. i went back down to my cabin, which was on the west side of the ship & i had a great view of the coming sunset. i was tired & not feeling very well, so i decided to take a little nap, planning on getting up just before sunset so i could get some pictures. but, i didn't wake up until just after sunset & i didn't feel like getting up, so i just slept until morning. although i didn't get any reading done or played w/ my sequencer like i was hoping, getting that sleep was probably a good thing - i'll explain later. i ate breakfast, got dressed, & went up on deck to take some pictures of norway before coming back down & figuring out where i wanted & needed to go in the 9 hrs. i had in oslo....the weather was nice & sunny again & 10 degrees! hmm, warmer than copenhagen, a considerable distance south, interesting.

the tourist center was located near the central station, which wasn't all that far from the dfds terminal - still far enough that i got all hot, tired, & sore carrying my stuff. i purchased my 24hr oslo card (same deal as w/ the cph card) & verified that the charter bus terminal was located in the central station. the bus terminal was, of course, on the opposite side of the station...i found the info desk & asked if there were lockers in the bus terminal & the attendant, who was rather rude, told me where....this way i found out where i needed to be at the end of the day first, so i didn't miss my bus back to copenhagen....

i then proceeded to walk towards where i would catch a bus to get to the viking museum (one of the two places i wanted to make sure i saw in my short time there). the maps provided in the oslo tourist guide i grabbed @ the dfds terminal in copenhagen are clear enough & bus & tram lines are also included - on a separate map. so, although the bus & tram stop names are labeled on that map, & the street names are clear on the other map, there is no indication as to which streets the buses & trams run. so, i had to make some guesses. basically, i went south as far as i could, then turned west (the museum was sw of the central station, but on the other side of the bay); the bus i wanted ran on one of the streets in this area. normally, i'd just say "screw it" & walk to the museum taking in the city at the same time, but i was on a time constraint. unfortunately, i needed to figure out the transportation system immediately. thankfully, the buses passing me (going east) were #'s i recognized & i found a bus stop where my bus stopped (going in the "wrong" direction). there was a map on the side of it & i was able to discern that the bus i wanted stopped @ a street just a little farther west from where i was. when i got to that street, i guessed & went a block north (one way streets). there, at the stop, just getting ready to leave, was the bus i wanted! yay! i verified w/ the driver that he was going to the viking museum & then sat down & took out my camera. the only way i was going to get pictures of the city was from the buses & trams i took.

all four of the museums of interest to me are all on the same street & can be gotten to by the same bus (& all are open on mon.'s - a lot of museums aren't). they are walking distance from each other as well if you feel so intrepid (& i normally do). i missed the stop for the viking museum (i knew it was coming up, but i couldn't find a "stop" button & the bus was crowded w/ a bunch of kids going to the kon-tiki museum), so i ended up riding on the bus all the way to the fram & kon-tiki museums, which are right next door to each other, & then back to the viking museum. the polar ship fram is the strongest wooden ship ever built & still holds the records for sailing the farthest north & south; she was retired over 100 yrs ago. at the museum you can read about her expeditions & even board the ship. the kon-tiki museum basically houses the boats & artifacts of thor heyerdahl's expeditions including the original kon-tiki raft w/ a 30' whale shark beneath it, the papyrus boat ra ii, & statues from easter island. if i had had more time, i would have gone to both of these places as well. at a stop on the way back to the viking museum (the actual "end stop" on the bus's route 'cause we waited for 5-10 min. before proceeding), a man got on the bus, saw my camera & asked if i had taken any good pictures - in norwegian.

norway's viking ship museum has the 3 best preserved viking ships ever found along w/ the artifacts buried w/ them. the oseberg ship was built between 815 & 820 a.d. & was the best preserved since it was buried under clay & layers of turf. it was the burial ship of a high ranking woman who possibly died of cancer & her slave. from the size & build of the ship, it was probably used as a leisure cruise boat for the wealthy. the gokstad ship was built in 890 a.d. & was the burial ship for a chieftan who was killed by multiple assailants. it was most probably a sea faring war ship that could hold about 30 men & the oar holes could be closed w/ wooden flaps to prevent water leaking into the boat. the tune ship is the least well preserved. it is from around 900 a.d. & also contained the remains of a high ranking man. each deceased was placed in a burial "tent" (it's made of wood) on the ship & a bunch of possessions & animals were placed in the ship w/ them. on each side of each ship are little balconies so you can get a real good look into each ship. on the 2nd floor are the remains of the gokstad chieftan & the women from the oseberg along w/ an analysis on how they died & details of their 2nd excavation (after they were originally excavated, many people wanted to respect the dead & have them reburied whereas scientists feared decomposition. at first, those wanting them reburied won, but less than 50 years later, they were both re-excavated & although their coffins had experience decomp, the bones were still intact). before i left, i stopped by the gift shop. the merchandise was basically the same as the one in roskilde, but they had a cd of "viking tones", so i bought that.

we had passed the norsk folkemuseum on the bus & since i knew it was close, i decided to walk to it. it turned out to be just around the corner. the museum consists of an open air museum w/ 155 traditional buildings from all around norway on display (one section was "old town" where, although the buildings weren't as old as most of the others, they were arranged so that you were wandering through an 18th century-ish town) as well as some indoor exhibitions. i hadn't planned on going through the entire open air museum, but i probably did because i kept going: "ooh, what's that over there?...ooh, what's that over there?", etc., etc., etc. maybe during the summer, you are allowed entrance into these buildings, but when i was there, you were only allowed to look in through locked wire gates. between the courtyard &, oh, i don't know, let's say the "north" side of the open air museum is a small indoor exhibit of children's toys & a small exhibit on sami culture (according to this exhibit, there are more sami living in oslo than anywhere else...). in the main building, there was a huge easter egg exhibit on the main floor & a lower level (like i said before, easter is huge here). on the 2nd floor is a folk art exhibit & in another section that wasn't accessible, but viewable from a higher floor was a religious art exhibit. i then went to the gift shop where they had a selection of norwegian music (no, none of the death metal variety norway is known for) & i got a couple as well as some chocolate covered toffee (well, it was actually caramel; i know the flavor is basically the same, but "toffee" is a nice crunchy, flakey texture & "caramel" is break-your-teeth chewy or break-your-teeth hard) & vanilla fudge (made from real churned cream - or something) 'cause i was a tad bit hungry.

the next place i went was the other place i made sure i visited: vigelandsparken (the vigeland park). it is a park consisting of about 80 acres & features sculptures (more than 200 in bronze, granite, & cast iron) by gustav vigeland & one of the most visited attractions in norway. near the park is also the vigelund museum, which is oslo's only sculpture museum & was originally built as gustav's home & studio. i walked through the park taking lots of pictures, most of the sculptures depict aspects of human life. on a bridge crossing a stream, there are individual sculptures lining the "walls". at the first clearing is a large fountain w/ the center piece men holding up a large bowl. beyond that, you walk up stairs to get to what i'll call the center of the park. here, there is a very tall spire sculpture surrounded by blocks of other sculptures in groups of three "streaming" out & down (there are more stairs up to the center sculpture) from the center sculpture like rays of the sun. there is a large cast iron gate on all 4 sides of this area w/ smaller gates near them. continueing on, there's a sundial & then more steps up to the last sculpture in the park. on my way back, i was stopped by 3 irish guys who wanted me to take their picture (they were very proud of their slogan t-shirts). they wanted me to hang out w/ them for a while, but since i needed to get back to the bus station, i declined.

i arrived at the bus station w/ about 20 min. to spare. it wasn't a smooth trip back since i couldn't tell what stop i wanted from the tram & ended up getting off even farther away since the tram was so crowded, i couldn't get to the door before it closed & the tram continued on. i got my ticket & my luggage & headed down to terminal 10, which is where my ticket said the bus was going to leave. since i had all my crowns left, i purchased some food at the concession stand (including a pear & strawberry icecream treat - i thought it was just strawberry; pear is an odd flavor for icecream). since the info on the screen for the terminal where i was waiting didn't make sense, i found the monitor for all the bus lines & discovered that my bus was actually leaving from three terminals down & was already there - thank goodness i checked! my itinerary included two exchanges. the first of which was normal enough, about a 1hr wait. the second was a 2hr layover between 1:30 & 3:30am, which i thought nothing of since i assumed i'd be waiting indoors. that was not to be the case. instead, the bus stop was outside @ this particular location & the station itself was closed from 12:30-5:30am. so, i had a 2 hr. wait outside in the cold...grrrr...after sitting & reading for about an hour, i got unbearably cold & began to shadow box to warm-up. this caught the attention of the others waiting (one of whom was on my previous bus & waiting for the same bus & a group of guys who had arrived later by foot & waiting for different bus), but not drastically so. finally, the bus arrived & i got on the final leg of my trip back to copenhagen.

i don't think copenhagen wanted me to leave, 'cause i missed my flight back to helsinki. technically, i didn't miss my flight; i just got to the check-in desk about 5-10 min. after it closed (30 min. before the flight left). had i known it would do that, i wouldhave flown from oslo instead of taking the bus. (i knew i could get to the airport after my bus arrived w/ about 10-15 min. to spare & i did. normally, that isn't an issue 'cause i've never had a check-in desk close before; however, finnair only has one desk there). so why did i take the bus? i wanted to see more of norway's landscape other than oslo. and since the sun didn't set until around 9pm, i did see quite a bit of it. it kinda reminded me of hwy 101 along the oregon coast; a lot of trees, rocky cliffs, & coastline (for a while anyways). after a bunch of running around trying to figure out who to talk to, phone calls, & internet time (requiring danish crown coins, which i had to get more of), i was finally able to get a flight to helsinki that would get me there before reijo & i had planned to leave for my northern finland trip. i checked-in, went up to my terminal & waited....other than a considerably shortened time in helsinki than i was planning, nothing else went awry on this section of my scandenavian tour.

i really wish i had more time in oslo & had the opportunity to wander around the city like i have w/ helsinki, copenhagen, & stockholm. it would have been nice to see it @ night as well....oh well, se la vi....