Started with the Vigeland outdoor museum of sculptures. Though the spelling is slightly different, we expect that there might be some relation to the Vigland in the Frankfort/Benzie area as we know he is Norwegian. Amazingly, this guy sculpted from granite and bronze. He had the idea for this park, which took 10 years to complete between 1939 and 1949. Unfortunately he died in 1943, and didn't get to see the results of his park design. He sculpted all nudes and they represented phases of life of all ages, sex and families.
It is the only park in Oslo open 24 hours. The first pics below are of his sculptures.
Next we went to the Viking Museum. Mostly it contained Viking ships and what had been found with them. When the Vikings died they were buried with their ships along with provisions as it was believed they would return and would need materials to live. Dead animals were included. In one finding, only bodies of women were discovered. Two of the ships were reconstructed and placed in this museum. The ships all dated to the 900s. The first one was discovered in 1904 by a farmer digging in his field. Also contained in the burial were wagons and sleds. The Vikings sailed long distances carrying all they needed including tents for use on the boat, as half of the crew slept, while half rowed.
I expect my sailing friends know all about the source of the terms starboard and port. It was derived from the position of the rudder as it was placed on one side of the rear of the boat; therefore making it impossible to dock on that side.
Some pics follow the sculptures of the Viking stuff.
Next we went to the Norway Holocaust Museum. Many Norwegian and Russian Jews were arrested and sent to camps. One boat load of women and children were gassed as they reached Auschwitz. One third of the Jews in Norway were lost.
The German's wasted know time in invading and occupying Norway, especially because Hitler thought the west was going to come through Norway. He assigned way too many of his troops there, which contributed to the Normandy and overall success of the opposition.
The Norway front was headed by a Norwegian Natzi leader. The house he commandeered and used as his during the war now houses the Holocaust museum. The pic following the Vikings is of the Holocaust Museum.
The last museum was the Kon-Tiki museum. Until we heard the story, was hard to figure it out. A Norwegian, Thor Heyerdahl, believed that inhabitants of the Polynesian Islands could have come from South America. He set out to prove this by building a balsa wood raft and sailing with a crew from South America. He believed he could do it in 100 days-it took 101. Many skeptics existed. He had bound the huge balsa trunks with rope and the skeptics told him the rope would only last 14 days. All ropes made it all the way. An Oscar winning documentary was made about the voyage as well as the making of the raft. Though they took along enough provisions to last, they arrived with a lot of the food as they were able to catch lots of fish.
The pics are obvious of this.
After finishing a bit of an extended drive back to our hotel, Nan and I set out to explore on our own. Unfortunately, we were only able to see the Resistance Museum in the time we had. The museum dwelled on the resistance movement in Norway against the Germans. In the beginning, Great Britain had a great deal to do with supplying them with munitions. The English also allowed the King and other government people to come to England and run the country from there.
Didn't take any pics of this, but did catch some of the free electric parking with chargers and rental bike racks that were located throughout the city. We saw many of the bikes being used on the street day and night.
Tonight is our last night on the trip. We have a long trip home tomorrow through London. Hopefully, flying on 9/11 will be peaceful and uneventful.
Sorry about dup pics. Software not friendly enough to delete.
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