1982 Oslo, Norway (7/13/1982)

Tuesday, July 13, 1982

Sometime during the night, the elderly couple got off and the Norwegian conductor came through. There were no customs officials. We arrived in Oslo at 6:45, used the facilities, locked our bags away for 3 Norwegian Kroner (NOK)/50 cents, and looked for a tourist information booth.

Baggage check

A sign directed us to City Hall. On our way, we saw the Akershus Festning/Fortress or castle and it wasn’t yet open. (Oslo awakens at 10:00!) It was a 13C medieval castle made into a Renaissance-looking royal residence by King Christian IV. He renamed Oslo after himself as Christiania.

We found a vantage point to look down across the harbor and the broad Oslo Fjord with a few ships among the ferries and sailboats.

Oslo Fjord

Sue and Oslo Fjord

When we reached the Oslo Rådhus/City Hall (1933-1950 by Arnstein Arneberg and Magnus Poulsson), it wasn’t open, so we continued to the docks to check departure times for Bygdøy.

Oslo Rådhus/City Hall

Next we walked up to the Nationaltheatret/National Theater (1899), stopping at a Kredit Kassen for Sue to cash a traveler's cheque. Behind the theater we found the underground rail station where you get the ticket at the gate, buying one for 7 NOK/$1.10 to Voksenkollen on the Holmenkollbanen/Holmenkoll Line.

Holmenkoll Line ticket

There were one, two and three-car trains. We boarded, and it took us a while to figure how to get off, since the train did not stop at every station! I finally caught someone pushing a button at eye level when standing. There were similar buttons above head level, but they were labeled Nöd/Emergency. There was also a suspended string, but the conductor pulled that to let the driver know it was okay to go. From the Voksenkollen station, we followed signs for the uphill hike of 15 minutes to Tryvannstårnet/Tryvann Tower (1962), a telecommunications tower.

Tryvannstårnet/Tryvann Tower 

I found a 4-leaf clover on the hike up. We wandered for 5 minutes before the tower opened at 9:30 and bought the 7NOK/$1.10 tickets which were given to us as a 5 NOK and a 2 NOK ticket!

Tryvann Tower 5 kroner ticket

Tryvann Tower 2 kroner ticket

We boarded an elevator and waited. Finally an employee came over to tell us it was a self-service elevator, as he pushed the top button! It was cloudy, but from the observation platform at 60 m/197’ you could look down on Oslo and see City Hall, see the hills of Sweden, and the Oslo Fjord, although you could not see out to the sea (North Sea).

View down on Oslo

View out to sea

The tower sits at 529 m/1,736’. There were telescopes with sight lines printed on the base, and although we didn’t pay for a close-up view, we used the telescopes to sight along to see factories, fishing ponds, a farm in the woods, a mountain near NATO headquarters, etc. Returned to the ground by elevator to the gift shop.

Following the “Let’s Go” guidebook suggestion, we hiked down to the Frognerseteren Hovedrestaurant. In front were several old buildings with grass growing on the roofs and some were set on pillars.

"Token" Lapp houses

We headed next to Holmenkollen, but lost track of the signs, hiking down a gravel road, before deciding to play it safe and follow a real road. After 15 minutes we crossed a pedestrian bridge over the road and saw the Holmenkollbakken Ski Jump (first built in 1892, rebuilt with many upgrades including this year, and the grandstand was made permanent for the 1952 Olympics) and made a beeline for the base.

Holmenkollbakken Ski Jump

Holmenkollbakken Ski Jump at base

The bottom was a deep hole with water at the bottom; I assume it is frozen and covered with snow during ski jump events!

We went in search of the Holmenkollen train station, and caught a train back to Oslo. I paid using leftover coins and mistook “quarters” for “dimes” and overpaid.

Holmenkoll Line ticket

Arrived at The National Theater about 12:00, and hurried to the docks to meet the shrimp boats, since we were told that the shrimp boats cook some of their catch and serve it to workers on their lunchtime. We saw no sign of boats at the docks, but when purchasing some peaches at a fruit stand, we were told the shrimp boats come in tomorrow at 8:00 or 9:00! Waited for the 12:45 boat for the 20-minute ride to Bygdøy. On board we paid the 7 NOK/$1.10.

In Bygdøy, there were very few signs and only a rough map on display. We headed in the general direction of the Viking Ships but turned in at the sign for the Norskfolkemuseum/Norwegian Open-Air Museum. The ticket was 12 NOK/$1.90 and we entered a square of buildings.

Norskfolkemuseum/Norwegian Open-Air Museum ticket

Inside the main building were period rooms, and upstairs was a small “parliament” and playwright Henrik Ibsen’s study brought from his home in Oslo. We continued past farm buildings, through the woods, and found the Gol stavkirke/Gol Stave Church (1212).

Gol stavkirke/Gol Stave Church

Gol stavkirke/Gol Stave Church

A remarkable church of dark wood with carved “dragons” on the peaks of the roofs. We continued past lots of lofts on stone pillars and some were furnished. Ate at a snack bar, getting hot dogs on “tortillas” and drinks for 30 NOK/$4.75.

Explored some more, noting that there is always a round bowl in the middle of the dining table, meant to hold bread. Came to a restored town with a candy shop, small residences, and a silversmith at work: she was creating rings at this time. The apothecary was a museum of pharmacy paraphernalia. We returned to the main square buildings to see the Lapp exhibits: old furniture, hunting & fishing equipment, clothing, and looms. There were models of stave churches and upstairs was the musical instrument and toy museum.

We hiked over to the Vikingskipshuset/Viking Ship Museum, paying 5 NOK/80 cents to enter the modern cross-shaped building.

Vikingskipshuset/Viking Ship Museum ticket

The remains of three Viking ships found in burial mounds were on display, basically the hull and oars.

Viking burial ship

The treasures (papers, weapons, jewelry) found in the ships were displayed in one wing with a ship in each of the other wings. Stairs led to balconies overlooking the ships and contained furniture found on the ships. Left the building and walked down near the water to see the Kon-Tiki and Ra II Museet/Museum.

Kon-Tiki Museet/Museum ticket

The Ra II is in one room with photographs telling its story and the impressive Kon-Tiki is in the next. You could go downstairs to view the underneath of the balsa wood Kon-Tiki along with models of fishes of the sea. There was a model of an Easter Island cave where families kept their sacred lava rock carvings, and some of these carvings depicted Kon-Tiki-like boats. This Kon-Tiki was used by Norwegian explorer and writer Thor Heyerdahl in his 1947 expedition to show that pre-Columbian people from South America could have gone by such a raft to the South Pacific Islands. The Ra II was a reed boat that Heyerdahl sailed from Morocco to Barbados to show that such a boat could have crossed the Atlantic in ancient Egyptian and Mesopotamian times.

Bygdøy seems to be an exclusive residential area with big homes and swimming pools. The Canadian Embassy is located here.

Since the heat was still getting to us, we stopped at another snack bar for ice cream. Our next stop for 5 NOK/80 cents was the Frammuseet/Fram Museum with the polar ship Fram used by the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912; it was from this ship that Amundsen was in the first group to reach the South Pole.

Frammuseet/Fram Museum ticket

We were able to enter the boat to see the engine and crew cabins with a variety of memorabilia and instruments, Eskimo parkas, etc.

View of Oslo from Bygdøy

We finished in time to catch the 17:30 boat back to Oslo. We sat to rest in the square in front of the National Theater where a flea market was in progress. Then went in search of a restaurant, the first being a little too expensive and besides, it closed at 18:00. We ended up at Kaffistova, a cafeteria where we got smørbrøds. Sue had lox and fried egg, and I had prosciutto and fried egg. With drinks the bill came to 53 NOK/$8.40. From the restaurant we saw the YMCA/KFUM symbol and feeling hot and sticky, we decided to stay overnight in Oslo. The only entrance we could find to the YMCA was closed. We went to the accommodations window at the train station, and when it was our turn, the man got busy on a telephone conversation. Between paragraphs he served us, finding a double room for 245 NOK/$39 at the City Hotel nearby. We paid him a 10% deposit of 24 NOK/$3.80, plus a booking fee of 16 NOK/$2.50, before he showed us the way one block down and one over on Skippergata. We had to take an elevator to reception on the 4th floor and fill out information forms before getting a key to room #65 that was two flights up. Although the reception area was neat and modern, upstairs had an old once-elegant carpet, and our room was pinkish with forest-green trim. The beds had down comforters and flat pillows, and there was a desk, wardrobe, a couple chairs, a three-legged table, and a sink. There was only one bathroom and one ladies toilet for the whole floor. When I took a shower, someone started banging on the door as I was trying to clean out the hair from the drain. It was slimy down there and I ended up using a plastic bag to pick up the mess and rinsed out the tub well. But why do people have to keep banging on the door, when hopefully we all are trying to use the bathroom quickly?
We had to draw the curtains to shut out the still bright daylight outside!