Today is our last day on the trip. Tomorrow we land in Copenhagen in the morning, have a city bus tour and head for the airport.

The entrance to Oslo reminded us of Stockholm and Helsinki with the same large bay dotted with islands similar to what we see in Muskoka. We could have spent at least one more day in each of Reykjavik, Bergen and Oslo, there was much more we would have liked to see. Oslo’s fiord has 40 islands, only three are inhabited year round the rest have summer homes on them, most only accessible by private boat.

In Oslo Gary and I took a walking tour that included a tour of the Noel Peace Prize Museum and a tour of the three marine museums. The Peace Prize museum had a display that featured the winners from 2011. Three women they referred to as sheros. All have been very involved in bringing peace and women’s rights to a couple of Muslim dominated countries. There was also a display of fighting in Afganistan and the documentary “Behind the Veil”

The three marine museums were the Kon Tiki museum featuring the explorations of Thor Heterdahl. He is famous for proving that ancient societies could have crossed the oceans in papyrus boats. He also discovered and started excavations of the idols on Easter Island.

The next one was the Fram museum. This featured a ship named Fram. It was used in the late 1800s to explore the Arctic. He proved there was a current that allowed ship to pass through a north east passage. The ship was built to withstand the ice without being crushed and despite the cynics it did survive a winter locked in the ice. The same ship was used by another Norwegian explorer to sail to Atlantic and they won the race to the south pole at the same time Scott and Skackelton were trying to get there. For all you engineers out there I am sure Gary will provide all necessary details on the ship’s construction.

The last museum was the Viking ships. The ones they had on display were actually from burial mounds. It was the custom to bury the dead in a ship (had been a working ship). The ship had a special burial chamber where the body was put with various artifacts for the afterlife.

Oslo was originally built in 1000 and relocated and rebuilt in stone in the 1600s after many fires. It was named Chistiana at that time. Norway was under Danish rule until 1814 then given to Sweden as spoils of war after the Napolianic wars. Independence came in 1905 and after a referendum the second in line to the Danish throne was invited to become king of Norway. He accepted and his son is the current king. Norway is currently a constitutional monarchy.

A city of many marinas there is evidence everywhere of the Norse love of the outdoors. Lots of sail boats, the famous ski jump that dominates the city skyline, the many walking and biking parks. You can reach the top of the local ski hill by subway from the center of the city.
skyline,