Kauffman Commentary

After running on four hours sleep on the plane, we slept in until 10:30 this morning. To start the day we decided to purchase an Oslo Card. It was $60.00 each for a two day card. It was worth it for what we saved today in trams, ferries and museum costs.

Close to the central train station is the Oslo Cathedral, which was built in 1697. It is a Lutheran church and is quite colorful. The royal family has a box in this church, as it is the church that commemorates all the royal marriages.

Tram #12 took us to the City Hall. It is like visiting a cathedral in other parts of Europe. Oslo tore down an area in the slums to begin building in 1931. It was not completed until 1950, terribly delayed because of WWII. It is right on the waterfront which didn’t look like a very slummy spot to me.

Since the harbor is directly on the backside of city hall we decided to take the ferry to the Kon-Tiki and Fram Museums. The trip across that part of the North Sea is gorgeous, especially today being sunny and 75.

I always read the book Kon-Tiki and I to my students, way back when I taught 4th grade. So I really wanted to see this museum. Thor Heyerdahl was a Norwegian who had been an adventurer since birth. He ironically was not a fan of water and so it is really amazing that he pulled off the voyage in 1947 that proved South Americans could have crossed the Pacific to settle in Polynesia. It took 101 days on a balsa wood raft. The Kon-Tiki story was not only an award winning book, but also an award winning documentary. He went on to explore Easter Island and had other voyages on a ship made of reeds that went from Morocco to Barbados.

Right next door to the Kon-Tiki museum is the Fram Museum. It is about exploration too, but in a lot colder climate. These explorers thought that there could be a northwest passage, which could open a trade route though the Arctic. In 1845 two ships and 129 men were lost looking for this route and many more died after that still looking. In 1893 a more prepared group set out on the ship called Fram. It was designed with a rounded hull and could withstand being stuck in the ice without being crushed. The bulk of the museum is spent climbing onto the ship and exploring all decks. These were some really tough Norwegians.

From the ferry we could see the giant ski jump up on the side of the hill above the city. It is about 25 minutes by train up to this Holmenkollen area and then about a 15 minute walk to the jump. The elevator is tilted, kind of like a cog tram and took a few minutes to get to the top. There you walk up about 20 steps to the top platform. It is really high and I cannot imagine putting on skis and pointing them down the jump. Bryan went on the ski jump simulator, so now he has experienced the jump. This jump is known worldwide and keeps evolving into higher and wind resistant jumps. It would be interesting to see in the wintertime.

Following the ski jump adventure, we headed back into town to Frogner Park which contains the Vigeland Sculpture Park. Frogner Park is a large park in the middle of Oslo, like Oslo’s version of Central Park with plenty of grassy areas, trees and walking paths. Because the weather was so nice, there were hundreds of people in the park sunbathing, picnicking and just enjoying the sun and temperatures.

The Vigeland Sculpture Park runs up the middle of Frogner Park. Gustav Vigeland, in 1921, made a deal with the city. In exchange for a great studio and state support, he’d spend his creative life beautifying Oslo with his sculpture park. He worked on-site designing 192 bronze and granite sculptures, depicting 600 figures in all. All the figures are nude because he didn’t want to tie them to an area or time period. At the head of the string of sculptures is the 50’ tall monolith, formed from a single block of granite and depicting 121 figures. This single sculpture took three carvers working daily 14 years to complete.

Finally it was supper time. We found a great little (seating less than 30) restaurant named Lofotenstua. It was worked by one man who functioned as owner, chef and waiter. There were about 6 dishes on the menu (though one had already sold out) and they were all fish. Technically, one wasn’t a fish, it was whale which is a mammal and tastes and looks like the most tender beef imaginable. He also imports the beer special from the Lofoten Islands off the coast by Bergen. A really great way to end the day.

Below are pictures of the grounds around the Palace. Reid and Owen, the creepy spider picture is for you guys.