From Russia With Love: Oslo, Norway! (Day 1)

After our short time in Stockholm, it was time to move on to Norway! I wasn't sure what to expect in Oslo, but I was ready to explore!

We woke up and left our hostel at 9:45 am and headed down to the tourist center by the metro station. We bought an Oslo City Pass that included free entry into most museums, bus travel, ferry travel, and discounts at some restaurants and stores. We got it for $60 with our student discount. It seems like a lot, but really, I think it definitely saved us some money overall!

After that, we headed to the folk museum, which was an open air museum kind of like the one in Stockholm. The one in Sweden was definitely better, but this one was still interesting! We looked at old wooden structures from the early days of Oslo, and also saw the world-famous Stave Church. EPCOT has a replica in their Norway area.

Stave Church

Folk Tale about this particular house: According to tradition, the farmhouse from Hemsedal is where "Fanitullen" took place. The legend tells about 2 men starting a brawl at a wedding. The famous fiddle tune (Fanitullen) was said to come from the master of ceremonies, who had gone down to the cellar to fetch more beer during the fight. There he found a creature sitting on the barrel and playing a tune. But when he saw that the fiddler held the fiddle the wrong way and tapped the rhythm with a hoof, he realized it was the devil himself. The master of ceremonies ran upstairs and found one of the fighters dead. (And that's Norse Folktales for ya haha)

Stave Church

Carvings on Stave Church

Inside Stave Church

Door of Stave Church

More carvings from the church

I felt like Emma from Once Upon a Time <3

Victoria is a doofus!

After we finished exploring the folk museum, we grabbed some lunch at a cafe. And I found a gluten free sandwich AND a gluten free slice of cake. I hit the jackpot.

When we finished eating, we went to explore the Viking Ship Museum, which was pretty darn cool! It is a small museum, but interesting none the less. There were 3 viking ships on display that were found in Norway during and excavation in the early 1900's. They were "burial boats" for well respected and powerful vikings. One ship contained the remains of 2 women, and there is a small mystery about who they were. One was a servant and one was an important figure in the viking community, but which bones belonged to which person? That is the mystery! It was pretty cool to look at the bones, because both women were so different.

The two ladies (One was tall and one was short. One was young and one was old. One had better teeth than the other. Who do YOU think is who??

They also found many viking artifacts during the excavation, and these were on display too. There was some of everything: shoes, cookware, oars, sleds, buckles, you name it! It was interesting to see so many artifacts from such a long time ago.

A burial chamber that was found on one of the ships

The ships themselves were also pretty dang cool. One was in better condition than the others, but on each ship, you could see details of carvings in the wood, and it was incredible. Real viking ships! I had to touch one just to say I've touched a real viking ship, but I wasn't supposed to. So, I did it while no one was looking.....

Mystery #2: These runes were found carved into a piece of wood on one of the ships. The meaning has never been discovered...

I bought a couple of souvenirs for Kian, and then we took another bus to a stop near by that would lead us to Oscarshall Castle. We couldn't find a direct path, so we took a little hike. We walked through the forest and after a while decided to each be a different character from The Hobbit. Because, well, we're nerds. I was (of course) Gandalf, so I grabbed a walking stick and called it my staff. The forests here are absolutely breath taking. I'm not kidding when I say that Europe has fairy tale forests.

As we kept walking, we came across the Oslo Fjord! It was a beautiful little spot, and we decided to stop there and enjoy the view. We searched around for sea shells, and I found another bottle cap to add to my collection. We also tried skipping rocks, which I am incredibly bad at, turns out! But I did get one to skip two times! Not that impressive, I know haha.

Finding the Fjord

Gandalf always carries plastic bags.

After a bit of rest, we decided to walk up the hill a bit more and look at the castle. Sadly, it was closed, but we could still see part of the castle from a distance, and I got a couple of nice pictures of it. It reminds me of a Cinderella castle.