Oslo

So I went to Oslo. And it was fantastic :)

Diana and I went to visit Monica, who lives in Oslo. We were all in Malawi at the same time a couple of years ago.

After arriving late on Wednesday night, we were awakened on Thursday morning to a beautiful champagne breakfast. It was the 17th May - Norways National Day. Monica's friend Moona joined us for breakfast. Both looked gorgeous in their national outfits.

After breakfast we made our way into the centre of Oslo where the streets were packed with celebrating people, many wearing their national dress, which differs depending on where in Norway you come from. Moona had advised us that it was acceptable to stare at the men on national day. We didn't really understand what she was talking about until, while on the tube, a man walked on. The men's national dress is incredibly dashing - sort of Jane Austen style!!

There was a huge parade up the main street and past the palace, where the King and Queen waved from the balcony. Hundreds of school children were part of the parade, representing their school, as well as brass bands. There were flags everywhere and everyone was in great spirits.
On the right is Moni climbing over the rails in order to cross the road - not very easy in national dress! Note one of the dashing men looking on!!

After watching and enjoying the parade, we headed down to the docks for a polser (hotdog) and an icecream. We would later become addicted to polser.

You can see on the left - the traditional mobile phone carriers.

Later on we went to a concert in the park where bands were playing. One of the bands was brilliant - so we had to buy the cd. To hear some Norwegian tunes - check out their myspace here
The next day we took a boat on the fjord to get to Bygdoy (pronounced Bigday) to visit some museums.

The Fram museum (below - Aframe) houses the ship Fram, which sailed to the Arctic and Antartic around the beginning of the 20th Century. It is thought to be the strongest ship ever built and took some of Norway's most famous explorers, including Roald Amundsen. You could go onboard the ship. Absolutely brilliant museum.

The other museum held the raft Kon Tiki and the papyrus boat Ra II. Thor Heyerdahl, the Norwegian explorer sailed the balsa wood Kon Tiki from South America to Polynesia in 1947, and the papyrus Ra II from West Africa to the Caribbean to prove that there was contact between these places.

On the right is Ra II.

Below - we are enjoying the most delicious curry in Oslo :)

Later we went to Vigeland Park, which is, I think, the most amazing park I have ever been to.

Gustav Vigeland was a Norwegian sculptor who created the hundreds of statues in the park, some bronze, some stone, all in the theme of the "Human Condition". The expressions on the faces of the sculptures are beautiful.

Below is one of the most famous sculptures - a VERY cross little boy!!

The next day we went to an enormous ski jump on a hill overlooking Oslo, where we went on a ski simulator - woohoo! The view was fantastic. Later to the Munch museum (didn't manage to steal anything).

Thank you to the best Oslo tour guide ever xxxx