THE BEZEAR'S TRAVELBLOGUE: THE CRUISE

Day Thirteen - Thursday, 30th June

We both woke early to catch some of the sights coming in to Oslo. It is a long stretch up to the city, although not as dramatic as going to Alesund or Olden. Nevertheless it is quite beautiful, with little townships dotted along the peninsular.

The ship docked starboard side and we could look directly across to a castle/fort, which is quite stunning, and can be accesses from the roadway along the pier. There seemed to be a 'changing of the watch' and these very elegant soldiers emerged along the pathway in their uniforms, and with grand feathers topping their helmets.

The dock is quite close to the city, and flat, and it seems to be set up for cruise ships as there are no trucks or containers around. P & O again weren't advertising anything else other than their own organised tours, but we did see a pamphlet of those Hop on Hop Off buses, which happened to be lining up along the dockside. We decided we'd do that, just to give ourselves a look at the layout of the city, which looks quite stunning, and it would also get us to several of the things we thought we'd like to see.

One of these was the Maritime Museum, which happens to be a t the farthest end of the bus's run, so we went all the way through the city, and past the palace and the parks, and finally got off at the end. It was a very sparkly day, and there was a lot of activity both on land with us tourists, and on the harbour. The Maritime Museum is very interesting, but as we entered there was an almost overpowering smell of fish! Turned out to be a huge pallet of dried herring, sitting on the floor in one of the display areas. Not sure if it was meant to stay there, and for how long, but it must have put some people off!

Wonderful models of boats, and some actual sized ones, and a display of how the harbour had been formed, together with an account of what they found in the mud when they decided to build on reclaimed land near the city.

Another wonderful area was a gallery of beautiful paintings depicting life at and on the sea, and we amazed just how clever people are to be able to capture the look of sun on water.

Some of the examples of ships were a dugout canoe, 2400 years old and a section of a cruise ship from the 1920's, showing cabins, bathroom and eating quarters, etc., and a bit of an eye-opener as to how things have changed over time. We were in there about an hour, which wasn't hard to do, as there is so much to see.

Later, we went across to the Fram Museum which is built around a huge ice-breaker ship used by Norwegian Arctic/Antarctic explorers. There are three levels and you can go aboard and see what it was like.

We then got the bus back as far as the Viking Museum, which is so interesting and there are actual preserved long ships, and we think this museum was also built specifically to house them. Beautiful artifacts and treasure, and funeral sleds which were carried on board to hold the body of a king when he died.

Next we thought we'd like to visit the Norwegian Folk Museum, but it turned out to be a vast area of houses, churches and other buildings, which had been brought from all parts of Norway. It would have taken hours to do it justice, so we didn't go in. One of those things that might really have been interesting, but with only one day in port, it was impossible to do everything we wanted.

We got off the bus in the heart of the city, near the city hall. Not a very imposing building from the outside, but inside was a huge hall with all the walls decorated with murals depicting Norway's history. Just stunning. We think it is the venue for the Nobel Prize. (The other good thing was that they have public loo's downstairs).

Had a look in some souvenir shops and finally got Jeremy a decent T-shirt. The knitwear and clothes are just great, but so expensive, as are most things in Norway.

Quite an easy flat walk back to the ship, and had lunch on board. Depending on where you dock, it is probably just as easy to have lunch back on the ship and go out again, if you feel you need to.
As we were docked on the starboard side, we were able to watch all the comings and goings from our balcony, and the thousands of people who seemed to have appeared from all points. The On/Off buses did a roaring trade all day, and then much later the tour buses made their way back to the ship. I have to admit that some of these "older" people are to be admired for doing the whole bit and being out all day.
There had been some rain during the afternoon and we went aft, to the Terrace Bar, which is on the same level as the Trattoria, and the buffets. By the time we'd watched all we could of the sail away from Oslo, and down into the fjord to the sea, we were too late for the fixed dinner in the restaurant, and so made do with some very nice snacks from the buffet, which was themed Indian again tonight.

The following are some more shots of both Oslo itself and things to be seen on the way out/in.

(Just a note to say that we were here 3 weeks before that dreadful massacre, and had probably been in some of the streets where the city bombing happened, but the shootings were on an island quite a distance from Oslo. We can really understand how the Norwegians are affected, as those we came across and talked to, were all very peaceful and lovely people)