Off the ship in Rotterdam and on to an Uber to the Amsterdam airport. One of the “rules” we attempt to apply when we travel is never take public transportation with luggage. What I mean is: No public transportation that that locals take. It’s either an uber, taxi, dedicated airport bus or train, etc. This “rule” started years ago in Rome when we entered a crowded subway carrying luggage and I was pickpocketed. Talk about being a sitting duck target. Plus, stupid me I was in a hurry and put my wallet in my back pocket.
There is nothing wrong with public transportation. We take it all the time without luggage.
We were warned by a nice couple from Amsterdam about the prices in Norway, especially alcohol. So, if we wanted a bottle of wine or six pack of beer, purchase it at the duty-free store in the Amsterdam airport, which we did.
When we arrived in Oslo we discovered our first somewhat disaster. Rebecca’s checked suitcase was broken. The handle that pulls out of the suitcase simply would not extend, which made it very difficult to move along as we walked.
While our hotel was only about seven minutes away, we had a difficult time figuring out how to get out of the train station. The exits were not easily marked. Either that or we were tired or stupid.
When we finally got out of the train station, we found ourselves on the second floor of a mall with no escalator in sight. So we pulled over to an elevator where we waited and waited and waited and waited. The elevator stopped numerous times on our floor, but the elevator was always full of people. No room for us and our broken luggage. We finally gave up, walked around a bit kind of pushing the suitcase along, until we found an escalator. Moving a huge suitcase with no handle is not fun.
We were in Oslo for only two days, so we planned a free walking tour and museum tour the first day, and three more museums on the second day. Normally, our trips are not so museum-heavy, but the forecast was to rain on both days. We originally planned a boat ride, nature walk, and picnic on a few of the islands, but figured that was not a good call due to the rain.
On the first day we took a free walking tour with our guide Nicola. He was a pleasant fellow that used to be the cruise director for Holland America. He even knew the cruise director that we just had on the ship.
How the free walking tours work is that the tour is free, but the guide expects you to pay something at the end based on the quality of the guide and tour. Every free walking tour I had previously in Europe, the guide received cash. Not Nicola, he had a credit card machine when the tour was finished.
Seems that EVERYONE and EVERYTHING takes credit cards. No need for Norwegian Kroners. One snickers bar: credit card; one hot dog on the street: credit card; one toilet for one kroner: credit card. Pretty much a cashless society.
One thing Nicola pointed out on the tour was a large statue of Franklin D. Roosevelt. Turns out that when the Nazis invaded Norway during World War II, the President provided refuge for the Norwegian royal family.
We also noted three red, white, and blue outdoor toilets purchased from the French. Each of the three toilets had a sign above displaying the motto of the French Revolution: Equality, Liberty, and Fraternity. The toilets are a pretty good summary of the French Revolution.
On the second day we decided to take a local bus #40 to the museums. What mess trying to catch a bus. According to google maps, we were to walk ten minutes to the Jernbanetorget bus stop. The problem was, there were five or six bus stops labeled Jernbanetorget, all located on different streets in the area. So what should have taken only a few minutes to catch the bus, we wasted about 45 minutes talking to four random people as we moved from bus stop to bus stop. Of course we did all of this in the rain.
We first went to the Norsk Folk museum which was an outdoor re-creation or re-enactment of Norwegian life over the years. Here we noticed again that rural Norwegians have grass growing on the roofs of various cabins. In fact, when we were in Eidfjord, we saw a couple of sheep grazing on the roof of one house. Not really sure how the sheep go up there.
Next was the Fram Museum—a museum dedicated to the history of Norwegian polar exploration. It focused on the famous expedition ship Fram.
The Fram was a wooden ship built in 1892, the strongest polar ship at the time. It is famous because of three major Arctic expeditions and an Antarctic expedition to the South Pole.
Here are the key facts:
- Groundbreaking Design: Built to withstand the immense pressure of polar ice. Its rounded, smooth hull allowed the ship to rise and float on top of the ice when compressed, a revolutionary concept at the time.
- Successful Arctic Drift: In 1893, the ship drifted with Arctic ice for three years to prove that a transpolar drift exists.
- South Pole Expedition: In 1912, the Fram transported Roald Amundsen to Antarctica where he became the first person to reach the South Pole.
- Record-Breaking Endurance: It is still the strongest wooden ship ever built and holds records for the farthest north and farthest south voyages of any ship.
What was great about the museum is that the entire ship Fram is inside the museum. You can explore the ship from top to bottom. It was one of most fascinating and interesting museums that I’ve ever visited. The Norwegians are very proud of their Arctic exploration history.
Our last museum was the Kon-Tiki. The story of Thor Heyerdahl who sailed a balsa raft across the Pacific ocean in 1947. He had no sea experience and couldn’t swim. Quite an incredible story. I remember reading the book about it when I was a kid.
We went to Mass at St. Olav’s Cathedral, named after St. Olav, the Norwegian King who brought Christianity to Norway. Construction was completed in 1856. King Karl Johan IV who gave permission to construct the first non-Lutheran church since the Reformation.
We also bought a new suitcase.