A Day in Norway

I've started and deleted this post so many times, so here goes. I took 240 pictures on this day alone, and I also have the ones from my mother-in-law's camera, so don't worry I just chose a few.

We spent our first full day at port in the beautiful city of Oslo. That morning when I looked out the window, I saw the sun sparkling off the calm waters, surrounded by the gorgeous green hills/mountains all around. We had a bus tour with many stops planned for the day.

Since it was early on a Saturday morning when we got our start, the city seemed empty. Oslo was so clean, pretty, and picturesque. After seeing a few sights while driving through the city, we made our way to the Viking Ship Museum, where we saw the oldest and best preserved viking ships in the world!!
A really cool look statue that I saw on our drive around the city. Just thought you'd like to see it.
It was amazing how intact these real viking ships were! They were both buried in the mud, full of items, when their owners died. What's even more amazing to me is that these ships would make it from Oslo to Boston and back! The ships were built in 820 and 850 A.D. Whoa!!
This is what the first ship looked like as they were digging it up.
This ship was amazing with all the detail it had. No picture did it justice. You'll just have to see my postcards!

This one wasn't as fancy, but it probably sailed better. You can see the holes for the oars. These ships were sooo shallow!

Here are a few of the artifacts found buried in the ships. Not pictured are things such as horses, armor, the person, and gold.


Next we visited an outdoor museum that featured authentic homes, farms, and churches from Norway. On the way we saw this cool market with tons of flowers and fruits.

When we got to the museum, we got some Norwegian water and a Norwegian snack--which was first eaten by people in the 1700s! The best way to describe it was a tortilla with butter, cinnamon, and sugar all rolled up. It was extremely yummy!

This was a typical home used for summer farming (I think) up in the mountains. Notice the sod roof, which most of the homes had, the fact that there are NO windows, and no chimney. Inside it was extremely cramped, dark, and smokey. Goats were put on the roof to trim the grass. It would be so depressing to live in one of those!
Next, we got to see a church built in the 1200s. It also had no windows and it would have been near pitch-black on the inside if not for a couple of dim modern lights in the front. All those considered unclean had to stay outside (that included pregnant women, like me!), but I think I would have preferred that back then anyway!

One of the people in native costume who worked at the museum. Interestingly, a lot of people own costumes that are representative of where they live in the country.

The wrap around porch where the unclean people had to stay for the service.

More homes with sod roofs.
Our guide told us to look for a gnome. I was the first person in the group to find it!

We got to hear this lady play some folk music, learned about how hosts were supposed to have strong beer so that everyone got drunk, and if you didn't get drunk, you had to act like it be polite. We got to explore some more buildings and farms for awhile before boarding the bus.
Our next stop was the Vigeland Sculpture Park. Every sculpture made by Gustav Vigeland is in this gigantic park in the city. The sculptures were in 3 different sections, but each were about family, the circle of life and friendship.
Emma, this one is for you! Hehe.





Next we visited the new ski jump that will be open for the World Cup in 2011. After seeing a ski jump in real life, I realize TV makes the ski jumps look like ant hills. I cannot fathom how any human being subjects themselves to such a scary, death-defying feat.
That's just the top half.
The picture does not do this justice. It is incredibly steep and at the top of the slope in this picture, the jumper has already been in air for about 70-80 meters. Yikes!!!
From the front, but you can't see how deep the pit goes. This structure is phenomenal and scary all at once.

Sailing away through the fjords was one of the most beautiful things I have EVER seen. All the islands had little summer homes and everyone and their dog was out on their boat. You gotta enjoy the great weather here, because it doesn't last long.






Lastly, it was amazing how late the sun is up here! In the northern half of the country, the sun is up for 24 hours for a part of the year. In the lower half, where we were, I could still see the sun just about the horizon at 1 am and it comes up very early!

Did anybody actually read this whole thing? If you did, you deserve a prize. For reals.