Weekend in Oslo

Oslo – Capital of Norway and largest city. Nice tight little town, only about 600,000 population. A port city for cruise ships and large ferries that travel to Denmark and Germany. The Oslo Fjords are famous and beautiful, but I have to think the fjords around Stavanger and along the west coast to Bergen are much more spectacular looking.

We took two tours of the city – one by boat and one by hop-a-bus. Visited some good museums which celebrated their maritime history including the Vikings, my favorite. They were back in 900-1000 and 3 different Viking boats had been recovered as well as many of their belongings. Amazingly when someone associated with the Vikings died, they buried an entire boat and much of their belongings including dogs, jewelry, accessories, etc. The Vikings Museum had 3 boats and displays of the articles buried and uncovered – though they spared us the animals.

Visited the Nobel Peace Center which was very impressive. Will post a couple different blogs on it. Below are pictures from Oslo including the Opera House and assorted boat views. Leading off is the majestic Parliament Building and the Grand Hotel.