quick visit to Norway

our boat

We feel like we ran out of time for a long trip to Norway, but we decided to take a weekend to see a bit.  I thought we were taking a ferry to Oslo, exploring a bit, and taking the ferry back, but when I saw the boat had eleven decks and room for over 2000 passengers, I understood it would be our first cruise.

the view as we approach Oslo

The ship had indoor and outdoor pools,

several entertainment areas for children, a casino, duty-free shop, and a nightclub (right below our room - I had wondered what they meant when they said it might get a bit loud).

The best part was being able to walk around outside and see the coast as we cruised through the Oslofjord.  I could imagine spending the summer along the water with the woods in my backyard.

Knowing we had less than seven hours to see the city, we signed up for a bus tour.  If we went back we would explore on our own, but it seemed like a fine way to see a lot in a short time.  

Our first stop was Frogner Park, also known as Vigeland Park because all the sculptures are by the artist Gustav Vigeland.

The artist made the statues naked because he thought clothing would make them look dated.  Maybe if we had just arrived in Denmark we would have felt uncomfortable, but after a year of nudity it seemed natural.

Our next stop was the Holmenkollen ski jump, which looks even bigger and scarier in person.  This jump opened a little more than a year ago, but 12,000 people watched the first jump on this site over 100 years ago!  Almost as amazing is that the first women's ski jump here was only ten years ago!

do you think the trolleys really drive through here?

Afterward we drove around town, learned some history, saw a few sites, and visited a couple museums.  Oslo has some nice trams, but we were surprised to see a bike lane only on the outskirts.

on a house near the train station

After getting a few postcards, we found a place to buy food for dinner (wow!  At least seven kinds of Norwegian goat cheese instead of just one!), and headed back on board.  It was hard to have such a short visit, but now we know what we want to see next time.

off-shore windmills by the Copenhagen harbor

Arriving back in Copenhagen we were surprised to find that the trains were not running from Østerport.  We hopped on two more busses to get to the main station and were surprised to find half the trains to Roskilde cancelled.  Apparently we had missed a major rain storm, which had flooded many roads and train tracks.  We were happy to have taken the trip, but we were also happy to get home!