Norway - BRRR!

On the evening of Wednesday, March 18th, Ed and I left for Norway via Iceland. We thought the Iceland layover would be a nice break as opposed to me having to sit in the airplane for an extended period of time. The flight was okay, but could have been better. There was an open row across from us but the woman who was sitting in the aisle seat of our row (Ed and I were seated in the middle and window seats) refused to move and soon the open seats were filled up. So, I was uncomfortable for the entire flight. In retrospect, Ed and I should have stepped over her and taken the spot, but we didn't want to be too rude about the whole thing.

We finally landed in Norway Thursday early afternoon. Because I was exhausted from flying, Ed and I checked into our hotel early. We ate a quick lunch and I took a short nap while Ed explored Oslo. Of course, he ended up checking out the Askerhus Fortress which overlooks the Oslo harbor and also spent some time at the Norwegian Military Museum and the Norwegian Resistance (WW2) Museum. After I woke up, we went to dinner at the Theatercafeen Restaurant, where the food was spectacular. I must say that Ed and I only had one "okay" dinner while we were in Norway and that was because we were outside of the city and most places were closed for Easter. Every other meal we had was amazing!

The next day, we woke up and took a ferry boat across the harbor to the museum neighborhood. We started off at the Norsk Folkemuseum (http://www.norskfolke.museum.no/), which is the the Norwegian Museum of Cultural History. I really enjoyed the museum. They relocated several farms and a small city from outside of Oslo to the museum to show how people lived during earlier times. My favorite part was the Gol Stave Church, from the 13th century. The church is made entirely out of wood and the carvings/paintings are amazing. I was really impressed with the craftsmanship of the church. While we were at the museum, Ed and I purchased one of our many Norwegian articles -- we purchased a rosemaling bowl, which is a type of decoration/craft in Norway(http://www.tole-expressions.com/rosemaling/).

After we toured the church, we walked over to the Fram Museum (http://www.fram.museum.no/en/), which contains the only ship that has been the closest to both the North and the South Poles. The museum was interesting, but cold -- they don't believe in heating the museum and it was freezing inside that day! After we finished with the museums, we took the boat back to Oslo, ate some lunch, and I took a nap. Being six months pregnant and traveling can be tiring! While I napped, Ed toured the city a little more.

On Saturday, we rented a car and ventured outside of the city. Our first stop was about an hour south of Oslo at Fredrikstad, Norway (http://www.opplevfredrikstad.com/uk/default.asp). Fredrikstad is an old fortress town, which contains a lot of little shops, restaurants, and of course....fort stuff for Ed (i.e. cannons, etc.). Yes, a trip without cannons wouldn't be a proper trip for Ed. As for me, I could do without all of the forts, cannons, etc. for at least one trip. The fortress was nice. I found some more Norwegian art and a bear made out of pottery for the baby's room. I think that the baby room theme is starting to turn into a bear theme. Oh well! At least the pottery bear was cute!

Sunday, we decided to head to Halden, Norway. And guess, what it contained? Yes, another fort, Frederiksten Festning (http://www.visithalden.com/). This fort was built to protect the Norwegians against the Swedes. It's kind of funny how everything in Norway is geared against the Swedes! The fort was interesting and it had pretty views of the town and the water below. Also, in Ed's defense, we were in Norway over Easter Break and most things other than forts were closed. Ed did also visit a couple of forts while I would take my afternoon nap so I wouldn't get bored.

After we toured the fort, we headed back toward Oslo and stopped off at Holmenkollen, Norway (http://holmenkollen.wp.karbon.no/). During 1952, the Norwegians hosted the Olympic winter games at Homenkollen. Today, they still have one of the ski jumps and there are tons of cross-country skiing trails. Also, many of the families use the area to teach their children how to skate ski or cross country ski at the facility. It was a lot of fun watching everyone interact.

My favorite part of the day was having dinner at Vaerthus Baernums Verk - Norway's oldest restaraunt, dating back some 375 years. Unfortunately, I couldn't eat some of the items of the menu (i.e. cold smoked salmon, moose carpaccio, etc.), but I was able to find two amazing, cooked dishes. I would definitely go back, if Ed and I return to Norway (Ed wants to go back to Norway and travel the countryside more and visit Bryggen, which is located in Bergen and is a UNESCO World Heritage Site).

Monday was our last full day in Oslo. We started off visiting Oslo City Hall (http://www.oslo.kommune.no/the_city_of_oslo/), where they award the Nobel Peace Prize. The Oslo City Hall was spectacular. The artwork on the walls and the attention to detail in the marble floor was astounding. I was very impressed by it. Also, it contained huge windows that looked out over the harbor. The view was amazing -- I really enjoyed touring it.

We also took the boat back over the museum neighborhoods. We started at the Kon-Tiki Museum (http://www.kon-tiki.no/), which I really enjoyed. I was fascinated by Thor Heyerdahl wanting to prove that natives from different parts of the world could sail a little wooden boat in the Atlantic/Pacific oceans. He made several expeditions -- also, he published a book and made a documentary film about his adventures/findings. I haven't read the book yet, but intend to do so during my free time. Ed of course has the book in his library and read it when he was younger. After we toured the Kon-Tiki, we headed over to the Viking Ship Museum (http://www.khm.uio.no/english/viking_ship_museum/). The Viking Ship Museum contained three large Viking ships, Oseberg, Gokstad and Tune. The three ships are the best preserved Viking ships known, found in royal burial mounds in the Oslo fjord. The museum contained some interesting artifacts. The most interesting to me, would be the preserved peacock feathers found with the Tune Viking Ship. I would highly recommend visiting both museums while in Norway. Surprisingly, Ed said the Viking Ship Museum was his favorite stop in Norway - not the forts! Ed said he was also glad that we weren't Vikings, because when I died I'd have to be buried in my Volvo with my LeCruset cookware, my shoe collection and my requisite year of organic groceries - it would be expensive!

We finished our trip the next morning running around, picking up various books (I always like to purchased books that relate to the countries that we visit) and a few tourist kitsch items before our plane left in the early afternoon.

All in all we had a great trip! Norway was cold, and a little slow because of Easter, but we had most of the country to ourselves and could see what we wanted without competition. Before living in Alaska, I wouldn't have considered going to Norway in the winter, but now I just put on my coat and go! Oslo is a nice compact city that is easy to walk and easy to see and access to the countryside is easy with a rental car. Of course, Ed likes Germanic and Nordic countries because everything is clean and orderly - and Norway was no exception.

Here's some more of Norway in pictures...