European Vacation

The Burgeson's trip to London and Norway 06 is chronicled here for anyone who's interested. Enjoy!

Sunday, June 25, 2006

Norway day two


This morning we woke up and had a fantastic breakfast at the hotel (part of our deal), and met with Oddbjorn, Kirsten, and her boys. We went first to the Viking Ship Museum, where we saw several ships from around 800 or so. They were actual ships which were used by the ancient norsememan and later made into burial ships. With them were found many artifacts which are on display at the musuem as well.

Then we made our way over to the Norsk Folkemuseum where houses from all over Norway have been brought so you can walk through Norway's history (think Greenfield Village.) Each valley had their own distinct style of architecture. There were ancient timber homes with grass roofs and similar huts of the era, as well as more modern buildings from the 19th century. One of the 10 or so surviving early christian churches -- which is housed in a heathen style temple -- is at the Folkemuseum.

Costumed performers were scattered around playing instruments and singing. Reidar even got to join in on a local dance. There was also craftsmen and women such as potterers, silversmiths, and women in costume cooking traditional foods (which Reidar tried.) While we were there, we viewed one home (from the picture) that was donated from Karin's family farm. Many farms in Norway still have these historic centuries-old buildings which they still use.

After the Volks museum, we went to lunch at Frognerseteren (meeting place) restaurant. The historical building which houses the restaurant is high atop a mountain with a spectacular view. We enjoyed a tasty lunch while taking in a fabulous view of the fjords. Cross country ski trails weave around the area and are still in use in the winter.

On the way down the mountain, we stopped at Holmenkollen ski jump, where the 1954 Olympic ski jump matches were held. Matches are still held there, and have been since the mid 1800's. The jump has been rebuilt several times to make it larger, and will be rebuilt again when Oslo hosts the 2011 world championships of ski-jumping. Each time they make it taller, the records for jumping are broken.

Reidar was happy to see that four of the names on the record board where held by Reidar's. "My name's really popular here, dad!" he told me. Tiana was happy to see the gift shop, because she had no desire to go to the top of the ski jump with the rest of the group. The view from the top of the jump was awesome, and the boys enjoyed climbing to the jump platform.

After the skijump museum, we went to Karin and Oddbjorn's to have a sandwich and watch England beat Ecuador in world cup soccer. The sandwiches here are very good; open faced with very fine meats, cheeses, vegetables, and breads. Beckham scored for England on a free kick for the game's single goal. After the game, we had some excellent salmon with a salad and Norweigan strawberries for dessert. Reidar used the free time in-between to play some more football with his cousins from across the sea.

After dinner, we made our way down the mountain to rest and relax at the hotel. Tomorrow we have a fine day planned in Oslo.

0 Comments:

Post a Comment

<< Home