We woke this morning to the rather pleasant sight of pine-covered shoreline sliding past our window. Around 10.00am we docked at the Oslo cruise terminal and shortly thereafter we set foot on Norwegian soil.
The first visit of the day was to Oslo’s famous Ski Jump tower. I know nothing of ski jumping but as long as it isn’t a castle or a cathedral I am all in favour of visiting it.
The weather had turned and it was the chilliest day we have struck so far on our travels so wrapping up was the order of the day.
Our next visit was to the Vigelund sculpture park. This was an amazing place created in the 1920s by one sculptor with at times over 100 assistants working on the project. He was not paid for his work but the town council funded his materials and assistants’ wages and gave him a place to live and work.
It attempts to tells the story of life from cradle to the grave and there are some truly beautiful and inspiring pieces. You could easily spend many days here.
The next stop on our day’s itinerary was the Viking Ship Museum where we saw three large and two small amazingly preserved and almost complete Viking ships from the eighth and ninth centuries. These had been recovered from burial mounds.
Back to the ship for a freshen up before Jeanette and I headed out again on foot to explore Oslo but due to the cold gale and rain our last expedition only covered the Akershus Fortress next to where we tied up, before we were driven back to the ship.
Here is a shot Jeanette got from the wall of the Fortress looking into the city.
Hardys’ Travels 