Museum Hopper

Our next to last stop of the day was the National Museum of Art, Architecture and Design .  This was a must stop on the list since I needed to see a few paintings for my list! The museum (like all the others) accepted the Oslo card, so we were really going in and out quite quickly.  One piece I really liked about this museum -- the walls are color coated.  Each color of the four corresponds to a painting periods.  It made it really easy to quickly find the section of the museum we were looking for! I really wanted to see the Edvard Munch paintings.  His paintings were just recently re-displayed at the museum.  I believe it has been loaned out while the museum was under construction.  It was loaned to el Museo  Thyssen-Bornemisza , so I was surprised when I was there in June to see quite a bit of The Scream in the gift shop.  Our main objective in the museum was to see this! What a classic well-known painting!  I unfortunately did not get a picture of Dance of Life or Girls

After visiting the Nobel Peace Center, we walked over to Norway's Resistance Museum , which is on the port as well.   I was intrigued by the museum and the history behind an occupied territory. The museum is in the Akershus Fortress.   The museum was much bigger than we expected.  It is organized chronologically and really walks through the lead-up to World War II and through to the end of the war.  The content was really interesting.  It was a nice lead in from the Nobel Peace Center with its feature exhibit; this almost starts where that left off.  Norway resisted the German invasion.  Norway was at an interesting position as it is disconnected from mainland Europe and fairly close to the UK.  It is believed that Hitler was fairly paranoid about an invasion via Norway to mainland Europe.  With Sweden maintaining its neutrality throughout the war, it also offered an easy "out" for all protesters in Norway.   I think the museum painted an extremely optimistic pictur

We were really excited to see the Nobel Peace Center .  The center is in the middle of downtown Oslo, just off the harbor.   The center is focused on the mission of the Nobel Peace Prize .  It had a variety of exhibits.  The feature exhibit currently is The Dangerous Prize , which tells the story of the 1935 Nobel Prize winner, Carl von Ossietzky .  He was a German journalist who was imprisoned by Hitler for treason.  He was nominated for 1934, but the committee could not make a final decision.  No winner was announced for 1934.  It was a rare nomination (the first time someone convicted of treason won).  Once he won, there was also a concern about how this could impact his imprisonment.  The Norwegian royal family did not attend the 1935 award ceremony and distanced themselves from that year's ceremony to avoid provoking the German state.  German newspapers were forbidden from mentioning the Nobel peace prize win.  von Ossietzky died shortly after he won the prize from TB that h

Our last and final stop on our marathon day was to the Historical Museum in downtown Oslo.  It is right behind the art museum.  We had our Oslo card, so we were able to get in free.  I am disappointed to say it was one of our least favorite museums of the trip (and definitely of the day).   The museum has a great collection.  What it lacks is editing and context.  It was very challenging to know where to look or what were the top items within the collection.  The collection has the only known remaining viking helmet.  Unfortunately, it does not have the horns like all the stereotypes! I also do NOT know what these were.  I think they were supposed to be pictorial representations of Norwegian gods.  As you can see from the cabinets, they had a lot of objectives in them, but very difficult to differentiate and value each one. It did have one redeeming quality though: a great gift shop (the reason this is a "C+," not a "C").  I ended up getting a gre

After visiting the Viking Ship museum , we headed down the street to the Norsk Folkemuseum .  The museum reminded us of Greenfield Village in Michigan.   Our guidebook highlighted the Stave Church .  I wish I had read ahead in the guidebook.  We would have skipped all of the other stave churches we went into and just visited this one.  This one was spectacular.  The details within the Church were exquisite.  It was also one of the few that was "more original" than some of the other ones we saw.  The roof was so spectacular on this church.  This church is the highlight of the collection at the museum.   Front of the Church Back of the church The roof line The roof line The inside was beautiful, too.  The paining was beautiful and ornate.   It was the most beautiful church we saw on the trip.  All of the other churches paled in comparison.   The other buildings in this part of the museum were beautiful as well.  It does not hurt that the dark wood

Our first stop on Saturday in Oslo was the Viking Ship Museum .  It is located in   Bygdøy  in Oslo.   Truthfully, I am not sure we would have gone to this museum, but it opened at 9 AM, whereas most of the other museums in Oslo opened at 10.  We were able to go since it was that earlier slot.  I sure was happy we did.   The museum has fantastically preserved Viking ships.  They were found in burial mounds.   The Gokstad ship is suspected to be a true war ship.  It was a more robust, well created ship, more sea-worthy.  This ship was the burial site for a wealthy man, suspected to be chieftan or war hero, who died in battle.   The Oseberg ship was suspected to be for more ceremonial in use, for more processionals and most likely not used in the open sea.   As you can see, it is also more decorative than the other one with exquisite carvings.  This ship held the bodies of two women .  It is unclear why they were given such a magnificent burial, but they were defi

We wrapped up our wonderful day in Oslo by heading to the "outskirts" (about 15 minutes by the tram from our hotel) to the Frogner Park .   From what I understand, the Frogner Park contains the Vigeland Sculpture Exhibit, but I have seen it incorrectly called the Vigeland Park as well.   The park is the largest installation by a single artist anywhere in the world.  The park has over 200 granite sculptures completed by Gustav Vigeland .  The park was completed after he died -- he unfortunately did not see it. The exhibit has three major sculptures with the Monolith at the center of the park with over 121 figures climbing on top of each other to the reach top.  It is also surrounded by a number of large statues of the cycle of life.   The next major sculpture is the Wheel of Life .  It also plays on the theme of life stages, which was very prominent in Vigeland's art.   I liked this photo since you can see the Monolith in the background I also liked

On our last day in Copenhagen before we headed onto the cruise ship, we walked over to Rosenborg Slot in downtown Copenhagen.   Compared to the other two slots/castles, this one seemed relatively diminutive in the park.  It is a beautiful brick building surrounded by beautiful gardens.  It looks out on what used to be a very structured garden.  Now, it is a barracks and has a practice grounds.  Jason really enjoyed watching the drum line.   As we were watching the drum line, I could see the line of clouds approaching.  So, we started running for the entrance to the museum.  I was surprised at how long the line was to buy tickets.  We waited in line for almost twenty minutes.  Once we finally got in, I saw why -- they had two at the most, sometimes only one, person selling tickets.  This did have one pro, it was not quite as crowded at the front of the castle as I would have potentially suspected...but still.  This was really the only line we encountered while on this tri

On our second day of riding, we headed out to the Kronborg Slot .  Kronborg is on the coast and just about 2 miles away from Sweden.  Given its close proximity, it had strong fortifications, which grew over the centuries!  It is also a UNESCO heritage site.    As a bit of history, Kronborg slot was built in early 1400s and is immortalized in Hamlet as Elsinore, the castle within the book.  The play happened to be written 400 years ago, which has implications for our visit, which I will get to later! As I mentioned, we biked up to Kronborg along the sea.  It was a ~50 km ride.  We had a gorgeous 10-15 km stretch of a ride today.  It was along the train (which were electric so nice and quiet).  It was shaded and a little narrow.  The road also had a bit of rolling hills, so it was a great part of the ride.  We also really enjoyed biking along the water, which was really fun! Entrance to the castle gives you access to a few different buildings.  They had a few different art g

On our first day in Denmark without our friends, my husband and I biked to Frederiksborg Slot , which is ~42 km outside of Copenhagen.   I just want to spend a few seconds on our bicycles.  We found really good ones for this trip!  They were beautiful...and if we lost/got robbed, it was going to cost us 4000 EUR.  I need to share just one glamour shot of them...taken in the gardens with Frederiksborg Slot in the background ! The ride there was not the most scenic, but we had pulled over at one point to say we think we are almost there and went around a bend and were greeted by this: It was a beautiful grand reveal.   The slot was built in the 17th century in the elaborate baroque style.  It was inhabited during a period of time when Norway and Denmark were all under a single crown, so it counts for both a castle in both countries!  My husband was constantly amazed by the ceilings in the slot.  I tended to agree!  They were works of art in and of themselves! I was surp