Oslo is Fjord-geous - Norway Day 2
- Emily Salazar
- Aug 4, 2016
- 3 min read
Today we saw Viking ships!
Four ships were found at the bottom of a lake nearby in Oslo. Two out of the four ships were remarkably well-preserved since they were under layers of clay at the bottom of the lake. All four ships had been used for funeral rites (two for men, two for women, all of them were leaders and highly respected within their communities). Obviously these ships hadn't been burnt and nowhere in the museum was there any mention of setting the ships aflame. Isn't that what a viking burial is supposed to be?
On the ships were remnants of slaughtered animals, a variety of household objects (some with utility, some just for decoration), and there should have been weapons and jewels, but all four grave ships had been robbed by other vikings. All of these items were to guarantee the deceased smooth passage to the afterlife.
Once again, I'd like to reiterate how crazy it was that people got into ships like this and then sailed for months and months. Where did they sleep? Weren't there animals and food aboard too? Where did all this stuff fit? Also, can we talk about how incredibly low the sides of the ship are!? I feel like one wave would come along and that'd be it. But no, the Vikings traveled all over the Atlantic and were the first to find North America. Craziness. And to just really emphasize how crazy sailing in a Viking ship is, here's a YouTube video of a Viking ship at sea:
And now I'm seasick. Apparently people sign up for weeks-long journeys in these boats to experience that. I don't understand it, but I am completely in awe of it.
Also on board the Viking ships at the Vikingskipshuset were a bunch of carved animal heads that serve no clear purpose. Either they decorated the captain's chair, were hung up on the wall for decoration, or were carried around to shake at people (apparently they rattle). I like to imagine Vikings walking around with these animal heads shaking them at each other instead of speaking.
Also! The spirally bit at the front of the Viking ship is a snake's head and the spiral at the back is the snake's tail. I'm not sure if that's for every Viking ship or just the one we saw today, but the detail and craftsmanship is astounding.
Near the Vikingskipshuset is the Norsk Folk Museum, AKA the world's first open-air museum. The Norsk Folk Museum is a series of houses and buildings throughout Norwegian history. They had everything from sod huts to an apartment from 2002. There were also farm animals, people dressed up in period costumes who pretended to be from that era (like a farmer's wife from the 1950s who invited you to coffee in her "modern" kitchen), folk dancing, a variety of smithing. and (did I forget to mention??) a complete replica of the Helmer's apartment from A Doll's House.
The dining room is set up to allow space for Nora to perform her tarantella (dance for freedom) and the child's bedroom includes the dollhouse that would have been Nora's as a child.
After the museum, we entered our very own fairy tale.
As we were walking back to the bus stop, Sam spotted a body of water at the bottom of a steep hill. "Let's go see the water!" she suggested. So we did. At the bottom of the hill there was, in fact, a very beautiful body of water that turned out to be Oslo's fjord. But, not only was there a gorgeous fjord, there was also a magical little Italian grandma who told us in English/Italian to follow a path around a park and that we'd end up back at the Folk Museum. She said it was very beautiful, and so we took her suggestion!
The path led us along the fjord before heading back up the hill. As we were walking up the hill, we looked up and we saw:
A castle. More specifically, Oscarshall, the best example of Romantic Neo-Gothic architecture in Norway! Quite the surprise.
At the top of the castle, we looked back over the fjord and found the most beautiful view of Oslo we've seen thus far:
Incredible, ja?
Our very quick stop in Oslo is already over, and we're getting ready for another day of traveling tomorrow!
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