Oslo Day 3

Today we pick up our breakfast from the same bakery as yesterday. Fortunately it is right on the way to the City Hall, our next stop. From there we take the ferry towards Dronningen. With a view of the open sea, we eat our chocolate croissants, cinnamon rolls and pretzel and drink our coffee. From the boat landing it is another 10 minutes’ walk to the Folk Museum (Norsk Folkemuseum), where the very famous stave church (Gol stavkyrkje) stands. We take a good look at it, with the smell of wood in our noses the whole time. The church dates from the 13th century and has already been moved to a new location several times.

Since our Oslo Pass is only valid for just under another hour, we can’t see all of the large open-air museum, so we go straight on to the Viking Ship Museum (Vikingskipshuset), which is very close by. There are 3 original Viking ships on display, still very well preserved. These Viking ships were buried together with their leader after his death. Countless grave goods, such as horses, jewellery, weapons and money, were placed with them. After their discovery the ships were excavated within 5 months. The restoration of the ships took over 7 years, however, because the wood was in poor shape after so long in the ground. Even so, the ships today are still made of 90% original wood from back then. And that was a long time ago, because the ships were built between 700 and 900 AD. So the wood has survived for more than 1000 years.

After this very interesting visit we take the ferry back towards the City Hall. Our Oslo Pass expires in the meantime, but we can still use the ferry for free, because the ticket inspector remembers us and doesn’t want to scan our ticket again.

After a stop at a shop we have lunch by the beautiful opera house, looking out to sea.

We take a few more photos of the imposing building before we make our way to the hotel. Today we have to pack and plan everything for tomorrow, because our flight has been rebooked. So tomorrow we set off for the Lofoten even earlier. We have to catch the train to the airport at around 06:00.