Oslo

Hard to believe but there was fresh snow on the ground as we landed. However the beautiful wooden interior of the airport and an outstanding bakery made us forget the weather in a hurry. The car rental agent gave us the largest car that they had and the Toyota was perfect. Kim got her phone working as a WiFi site and we navigated to Hildegunn's house, unloaded our bags, freshened up and drove to Vigeland Park. We wandered through the park looking at some of Gustav Vigeland's life work of 212 bronze and granite sculptures portraying the life cycle of Man. (sort of a Leo Mol statue garden on steroids)

We headed to the grocery store for provisions for our Oslo stay including some expensive wine that Gloria bought. We received proper parking instructions from a local for that lot and once finished headed to another lot convenient to our dinner location, Sushi & Wok Colosseum. Denmark had taught us to inquire about parking procedure. Dinner was great, Kim & Jude F walked back to the house and took in some of the local colour, as the area was close to the university and full of food and beverage spots.
On the 27th, emboldened by functioning GPS, we headed downtown to retrieve our Oslo passes. Kim & Jude F were our couriers and they had a quick look at the area. With passes in hand, we drove to the Bygdoy peninsula and toured the museum housing both the Kon-Tiki and the Ra II boats that Thor Heyerdahl used to cross the Pacific in 1947 and Atlantic in 1970.

A short drive from the Kon Tiki museum, past the Viking Museum led us to the Norsk Folkemuseum with its outdoor display of 150+ buildings relocated from small towns and rural areas reflecting the architectural history of the country. We wandered through the buildings and displays and joined up for lunch at the on site Arkadia restaurant. Lunch finished, we crossed the street, used a printed page as a reservation that the driver scanned allowing us all to board the on/off tour bus and ride throughout Oslo. Following the tour we continued to the Nobel Peace Center.

Photo notes - Although Curt Paul was not with us in Oslo, he had been there a week before us and got a fellow traveler to snap him in front of the old stave church from Gol, circa 1200, one of the prime buildings in the Folkemuseum. I am pictured in front of a moai in the Kon Tiki museum.

Oslo is an interesting mix of old and new and the opera house is a fine example of the modern era of this ancient city

The Nobel Peace Center is a shining example of "the thousand points of light" referenced by the first President Bush. The Oslo West railway station was converted into the museum that showcases the best of mankind's efforts to make a difference in the world. The room that showcases each prize recipient is made up of dark and light to highlight that point.

Prize recipients include Martin Luther King Jr., Lester B Pearson, Lech Walesa, Dag Hammarskjold, Kofi Annan, Sadat, Begin, Arafat, Peres, and the Red Cross and United Nations several times each. Prizes were not awarded during the great wars and several other years in the 20th century.

Our tour of Oslo ended with a boat ride across the fjord back to the Bygdoy peninsula, a bus ride from the Marine Museum to the Folkemuseum included an interesting chat with a Norwegian woman who as a diplomat's daughter had been raised in Washington D.C. and attended parties at the White House.

Kim navigated through wrong turns and rush hour traffic to get us back home. She and Jude F headed downtown for the evening. The rest of us had a long chat with Hildegunn and a tour of the main floor of her large home.

Friday morning, we were on the move at 9 am to make the 45 minute drive to the airport, gas up the car and have adequate time for check in and pass through security. Norwegian Air was late which affected our plans in Stockholm.
Below - the Royal Palace in Oslo