Turbo- Tourism and Bell-y's Accident...

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We decided that whilst we had attempted some pretty full-on feats so far, we needed to challenge ourselves - I mean REALLY challenge ourselves - so agreed on eight desired sights to do in just ONE day...

We awoke bright and early, (5:45am - though our parents probably don't believe us) and headed downstairs to the breakfast smorgasbord, where we feasted and also stole sandwhiches for later in our travels. We walked down to the T-Bane (Underground station) and caught the train to Vigeland Park, a park (in the middle of Frogner Park) dedicated to the works of Norwegian artist Gustav Vigeland. We were completely blown away by his meaningful and sometimes confronting works. Our photos don't really do the experience justice, but will hopefully give you some idea of the amazing nature of the park...

We then hopped on a tram (one of many in Oslo's highly efficient, yet confusing, public transport system) to the wharf, where we swapped to a ferry, which took us to Dronningen (The Queen's Landing). We walked to the Viking Museum, where we were met with the discoveries of a Viking burial chamber - complete with a HUGE longship, food chests, animal remains, clothes and jewels - as well as many objects tagged with the somewhat bemusing line "unsure of the use for the item". The Vikings figured the dead needed everything the living did, so no expenses were spared (although grave-robbers stole many of the valuables over the years) - it was fascinating, but somewhat creepy. To make matters darker, we also saw the remains (complete with teeth) of two women that were buried with the ship who were only discovered in 2005.... We probably would have left in a somewhat sombre mood had Alyce's request for a specific object (of many on ONE hook) not resulted in chaos and a nervous/hilarious shop clerk...

We then walked to the Holocaust Museum, which we didn't take photos of (out of respect).... It is set in the beautiful Villa Grande - old home of Vidkin Quisling, Norwegian Nazi Leader - and was entirely sobering. Gave us a harsh reality check about the nature of racism, and the ease with which national-pride can become hatred can become mass murder. The entrace features a huge punch card ticket with "innocent questions" (race/age/sexuality/gender/religion); the exhibition is then set up in the following way:
-Stigmatization
-The racial state/ The racial war
-Worldview, exclusion and extermination

You then have to walk down a black flight of stairs...
-The Holocaust in Norway
-Auschwitz and the death camps
-After Auschwitz (survivors speak of their stories)
-Norwegian Victims of the Holocaust (the Rememberance Room is completely white, but covering every surface is, in black, the name and date of birth and death of every Norwegian victim of the Holocaust... One little boy was born in May 1940, and murdered in April 1943... It was heartbreaking)

You then have to walk up two flights of white stairs...
-Contemporary Reflection - you enter a chamber where there are multiple montag images projected onto the walls, which are also reflective so you can see yourself in the images. According to the brochure, it is to encourage "visitors to contemplate on the meaning of the Holocaust in contemporary society. Four themes are on display:
-Human Rights
-Racism and Anti-Semitism
-The Challenges Constituted by Totalitarian Regimes
-Genocide"

Are you exhausted? We already were! We almost got to the next stop on our list when Michele realised Belly seemed to have run away. Either that or he fell out of her picket between leaving the Holocaust Centre and our current spot... We re-traced our steps and found poor Belly - who had gained some horn-like features on his head thanks to being stepped on by some terrible person! Apart from that, though, he seemed cheerful. Maybe because the Dockers are so used to bouncing back after being beaten repeatedly? Alyce now refuses to let Belly out of her sight....

Anyway, we EVENTUALLY reached our next destination : the Contiki Museum. This was interesting, although filled with loud, annoying, badly behaved Norwegian children. We all felt, however, that we would not recommend this to other travellers - it mostly focused on Easter Island, and we felt that it seemed somewhat irrelevant to our Scandinavian Itinerary.

We strolled across to the Fram Museum, which was simply amazing. Michele has to slip out of third-person narrative for a second here... Ah, that's better! I thought that some polar-ship sounded as interesting as the proverbial bat poo but I was absolutely astounded by this place. Not only was the actual ship freaking HUGE (and the engine room creepy - we got to wander around the interior of the ship) but the story was just incredible. Essentially (and, although I purchased myself a book with the story, Im just going to tell it colloquially from memory because Im just that excited!)... There was this Norwegian dude, Nansen, who really wanted to get to the North Pole - nobody had been there before and there was this gigantic hole in the top of the world that hadn't been chartered. He had the Fram built, and captained it on a voyage to discover the North Pole, much to the disbelief and consternation of his peers. The scientists of the world at that stage believed the north to be one big, shallow, sea full of little icey islands, so Nansen steered accordingly. He ended up with the ship stuck on this huge mound of ice. Whilst it was stuck there and they were dwindling through their supplies, he became determined to figure out where he went wrong; came up with the idea of doing depth-sounding tests and discovered - GASP - that they had been travelling in an OCEAN over 4km deep, not a sea. The currents of the ocean had pulled him off course. He had made a ginormous scientific discovery but still was not satisfied. He really, really wanted to get to that damned North Pole. So, one day, after some clever estimations and a little calculation, he sat down with his crew.... He announced that he realised they would never make it to the North Pole, but in a time manageable to their supplies-ratio, the summer would melt the ice they were stuck in enough to get home. The crew were cheered by the prospect of home, and probably pleasantly surprised that he had given up the notion of reaching the north pole by boat without being completely heartbroken. BUT THEN - another gasp! - he finished telling them his news and they realised they shouldn't have started celebrating so quickly. "Ships are SO yesterday," he exclaimed, "but ski's and dog-sleds are TOTALLY in!" (Or something to that effect)..... He picked his first mate, Johansen, who was known to be the quickest skier, gathered together 100 days of supplies, and, on 14th March, 1895, braved -40*C weather....

They didn't make it. Not even that close. They ended up having to hole up for shelter, then make their shelters into kayaks and kayak to Cape Flora, which they reached in June 1986. Imagine that - a year in white desolation.... Because he just wanted it that much.

The Fram (and Nansen, for that matter) went on and did other great things. I'm pretty sure at least one of them eventually made it to the North Pole, although I do need to read that book properly... Ok... Back to third person again now, Bye!

Michele and Alyce felt a bit "shipped-out" so sat in the sun-shine and chilled whilst Bri hunted for a sketch of a ship at the Maritime Museum - unsuccessfuly.

The three of us caught the ferry back to where we had come from, and headed to Akers' Hus - the Oslo fortress. It was highly photogenic (as you will probably have guessed from the huge number of beautiful photos we uploaded). Bri and Michy visited the WW2 Resistance Museum (did you know Norway was occupied by the Nazis for FIBE years?) whilst Alyce sat outside and followed Michele's instructions ("Don't fall off anything, don't talk to strangers").

We then used a mix of walking and tramming to make our way past Parliament House and the National Theatre to the Royal Palace and surrounding gardens. Quite lovely.

We jumped on a tram which eventually got us back to our hotel. We discovered the hotel's internet was down, which made us pretty sad chickens, but by using the old-fashioned way of brochures, figured out our day tomorrow. It is going to be comparatively easy and light, but still somewhat full-on. Michele is writing this in her PJs onto Notepad while Bri showers and Alyce sleeps... She is pretty exhausted now though, and still needs to pack. So.. good night lovely readers. She will upload this and accompanying photos tomorrow when the hotel's internet is fixed. Thanks. Love. Missing most of you heaps. 😊

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Photos

Vigeland Park
"The Monolith"

The Ferry
Michele insisted on calling this the "bat-service" : as in serviced by Bat Man. Bri insists that the Norwegians pronounce it "bawt service"