Had a bit of spare time before I head off to meet my Topdeck tour so thought I'd take advantage of the wifi at my hotel while I had the chance.
Today I went and had breakfast with dad while listening to the footy. We said our good byes as we now split up for 12 days. Dad is off by himself and I'm on a tour. It was sad to see him go! I had fun the past two days with him. Then Collingwood lost to the bulldogs. The day was not off to a great start!
But it improved. For starters, the weather today is incredible again. 23 and sunny. When I told people I was coming to Scandinavia they quite often queried why I would choose here in summer when the weather wouldn't be very warm. But today I'm wearing a sundress and loving the sunshine. Again it's not too warm, just perfect!
Started my day off by going to the town hall again. Today the German president was not there and I was able to join the 10am tour - which was free! Something free in Oslo?!? Wow! It was really good as well. Our guide, Kari, was really informative. The Nobel peace prize is awarded every December 10 in here. The town hall's exterior was completed in 1939 but due to WWII starting, the interiors weren't completed until 1950. The Germans used the town hall as living quarters during the war. There were murals in the main foyer and one of them represented the war. We saw lots of different halls with lovely murals and paintings. I also learned that Denmark and Norway were one country until 1814 when Norway wrote their own constitution. However when they supported Napoleon and he lost, Sweden took them over. In 1905 they became independent. They asked Sweden if they had a 'spare prince', but they obviously weren't willing to provide one! So Denmark 'gave' them one who became king of Norway; Håkon VII.
Next I decided to catch a ferry to Bygdøy - the museum island. My Topdeck tour goes here tomorrow but I'm assuming we won't get much time. There are three museums I wanted to see here; the Viking a Ship Museum, the Kontiki Museum and the Fram Museum. I went to the Kontiki and Fram and decided to save the Viking Ship one for tomorrow as that's the main one so I think they'll take us there.
I caught a ferry in the sunshine and started with the Kontiki museum and didn't really know what to expect. But it was so interesting! A man called Thor Heyerdahl crossed the oceans of the world in simple boats made of reeds as he believed that if he could do this, then it would prove that ancient civilisations could have travelled to communicate with each other (eg those in South America and Polynesia). His most famous trip was on the Kontiki he hip. He wanted to sail in a simple reed boat from Peru to Polynesia. Everyone thought he was mad and said it was a suicide mission, especially considering he had minimal swimming skills, no sailing experience and hydrophobia! But finally he convinced the Peruvian president to fund part of his trip as he believed it in the interest of the Peruvian people to see if their ancestors had travelled to Polynesia. So in April 1947 six men set out on this crazy journey. In August of the same year they made it to Polynesia ! They had only the wind and currents to send them where they had to go, so a reef stopped them in Polynesia when they crashed into it. It wasn't easy going, the seas were rough and one of the men fell in st one stage. Thor jumped in and saved him! And on another occasion a 9m whale shark circled their boat - yikes! I had a look at the boat and I don't know how they made it! Amazing.
Next up was the Fram Museum. Again didn't know what to expect at all here. Started off by watching a 15 minute movie and then walked around. This museum houses the Fram Polar Ship and you can actually walk on the deck and down inside! It was very hot in there though and strangely I got a bit claustrophobic. Was glad to get out and don't know how people lived on board for three years! Broadened my general knowledge here as well. Did you know the arctic circle takes up 15% of the Earth's surface, but only 0.6% of the world's population live there?
I learned about two famous Norwegian explorers as well. Nansen sailed the Fram through the arctic oceans. He let it freeze in the ice as he had instructed it to be built to withstand the pressure of the ice. It did. From here he hiked and sledges across Greenland and lived with the Inuits in the winter. In later life he worked with the UN and won a Nobel peace prize. Amundsen was the first to travel through the northwest passage and the first to reach the South Pole. He also used a boat plane to travel to the North Pole. Here he landed and his plane got stuck, he spent four weeks with other men moving ice and snow to make a runway to get back. He died when he went on a mission to save an Italian explorer and his plane crashed somewhere in the arctic circle. Thanks to both of these guys' work, Norway is the only country with territory in both the arctic and Antarctic. This museum was really interesting too and I loved being able to walk on the boat and see all the artefacts.
After this I walked around a little in the sun. It seems that the minute the sun comes out here, whether it's 13 or 30 degrees or somewhere in between, everyone takes off their clothes and sunbathes! People EVERYWHERE were sunbathing haha. I caught the ferry back and guess what I had for lunch? Three points if you guessed a three scoop ice cream. Couldn't help myself, the weather is amazing. I sat and people watched while eating and now I'm back at the hotel.
In about 20 minutes I'm off to the station to meet a girl from my tour. Her name is Libby and she's from Sydney! We have been talking on the Topdeck tour app on our phones for a few weeks. Our tour is one part of three of a big tour, and I don't think many people are joining just for this part. But both of us are, so we have decided to stick together and try and find the campsite together via public transport (it's 8km out of the city centre).
I'll post when I can :) and chin up regarding the pies I suppose, we usually play better with our backs to the wall as the underdog. And that we will be against hawthorn now.
Love to all
Claire
Xoxox
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