Norway Day 8

At 8:30 we walked to the tourist information center and got two 72 hour Oslo Passes for 820 NOK/$137. Bus 30 dropped us right at the door of the Vikingskipshuset/Viking Ship Museum. Three burial ships about 1100 years old thrilled us along with the associated artifacts. They had platforms to look down on the ships and with no tour busses dropping off hundreds until we had finished we walked through and enjoyed the museum almost by ourselves. Back on the bus we rode to the Kon-tiki Museum where full sized replicas of the Ra and Kon-tiki along with movies and grand displays of Thor Heyerdahl's world famous expeditions kept our interest for over an hour. The Norwegian Maritime Museum across the street had every kind of ship, painting, and display of ships possible. However, the star of the show, the giant cinema, broke and as usual, when we returned the next day, remained broken - not a German museum, what do you expect? After fish and chips at the food stand, we entered the Frammuseet/Polar Ship Fram Museum. This sturdy vessel sailed into polar regions, lodged in the ice for months, remained sea worthy, and sailed back to port when the ice thawed. From the museum, we walked along the water, boarded Ferry 91 across the harbor and walked into Akershus Slott/Akershus Castle. Up on a hill we walked around the fortification, watched the guard watch us, and entered the Resistance Museum about WWII resistance fighters harassing the Nazis. To rest our legs and see the outskirts of town we rode tram 12 to the end of the line, disembarked, reboarded, and rode back to our stop, Brugata in about an hour. We got the best meal deal around, the McD's 2 cheeseburgers, fries, and Coke for 71 NOK/$12, awful for the U.S. but great for Oslo. Back on the tram, we departed at Vigelandsparken/The Vigeland Park named for Gustav Vigeland(1869-1943) who sculpted a bunch of nude bodies from babies to geriatrics. His huge pole in the center made up of nude bodies intermingled looked like a wrinkled wang from a distance. One baby statue had a shiny hand from people rubbing it while his wittle wee wee wasn't. I'm shocked. The granite, bronze, and cast iron figures freeze in winter as no clothes shield them from the Norge cold. Bus 20 should have returned us to Brugata, but it didn't. We got on 31 and returned in darkness. After buying 2 bananas, a Coke, and cookies for 58 NOK/$10 we walked up to room 212 in the Thon Spectrum to find a clean room but a pair of underpants in a plastic bag missing. Damn that maid. Sorry Lee, OK, I had misplaced the bag in my backpack which we found the next day. Today ranked as one of the best on the trip and more adventure awaited tomorrow.

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