Published by Vinayak Hegde on 24th May 2010
Oslo has several good museums. They are very varied both in what they exhibit and how they exhibit. I generally avoid visiting museums unless they have something special. But a glance over a list of over 20 museums brings up some interesting museums.
The Fram Museum
The Fram Museum on the Peninsula of Bygdøy showcases the lives and the ships of the Norwegian Polar explorers Fridtjof Nansen and Roald Amundsen. Roald Amundsen led the first expedition to the South Pole – where he was locked in a tight race to reach the South pole first along with Robert Scott – who finally perished in his attempt to reach it first. Roald Amundsen was also the first person to reach both the north and south poles. The museum is built around the intact body of the ship Fram. Visitors can actually go onboard the ship and see how it was built. Fram is the wooden ship that has traveled farthest North and South. The whole journey is nicely chronicled in the displays around the ship and conveys the sense of adventure the men aboard the Fram must have experienced.
The Kontiki Museum
The Kontiki museum documents one man’s quest to change history and it’s understanding by conducting expeditions. That man was Thor Heyerdahl. Before Thor Heyerdahl’s voyage across the Atlantic on a reed boats (The Ra), historians believed the people from the ancient world could not cross the great oceans using Papyrus boats and hence did not have any contact. The Ra Expedition, The Kontiki Voyage and his other voyages across the great oceans of the world changed the understanding of history and spawned several best-selling books and documentaries (Kontiki). Kontiki is the only film from Norway to win an Oscar. More about the Kontiki Museum
The Viking Ship Museum
The Viking Ship Museum displays 3 Viking ships and artifacts that were recovered from Viking graves. The Tune, Gokstad and Oseberg Ships are displayed here. These are some of the most well preserved viking ships in whole of Scandinavia.
The Munch Museum
The Munch Museum is located in one of the suburbs of Oslo, Norway and is dedicated to the life and work of famous Norwegian painter Edvard Munch (pronounced Moonk). The Munch museum has several famous paintings of Munch including the iconic “The Scream”, “The Madonna” and “Starry Night”. It also has several watercolour and charcoal paintings by him and his iconic master-series “The Frieze of Life”. Munch’s paintings have a certain minimalism and economy of colour but are able to convey emotions beautifully – especially the dark moods – fear, jealousy and melancholy. I later read that the brilliant colours of the sunset in the background of “The Scream” were inspired by the brilliant sunsets all over Europe in the aftermath of Krakatoa eruption.
The Folk Museum
Oslo’s Folk museum is an open-air museum that has actual houses and building that have been reassembled from all over Norway. You can walk into some of these houses which have been preserved as they were built originally and can get a glimpse into the everyday lives of ordinary people from all over Norway including the Sami tribes that live north of the arctic circle in Norway. It also has a stave church built completely from Wood. Some of the Stave Churches around Norway have survived over several hundred years.
Published by Vinayak Hegde on 18th May 2010
The Vigeland park is a part of Frogner park – a large recreational area about 3kms away from the city center. The Park is quite big (about 80 acres) and features around 212 sculptures all carved by the Gustav Vigeland. Some of the sculptures are made of Bronze and the rest are made of granite. The sculptures depict the human form in different interactions such as between a father and a child, two lovers, grandparents and grandchildren and are very realistic. The realism of the sculptures is very moving. Partly it could be due to the influence of Auguste Rodin (who sculpted “The Thinker”).
In addition to the bronze and granite sculptures, there are also several wrought Iron gates featuring men and women conversing on either side of the huge granite monolith. The Granite Monolith is has carving of humans all over it and is made of a single block of granite. The monolith is about 17m high and has about 121 figurines carved on it. The monolith is on raised plateau that has about 36 granite sculptures.
Published by Vinayak Hegde on 17th May 2010
From the Pulpit’s Rock wikipedia entry.
Preikestolen or Prekestolen, also known by the English translations of Preacher’s Pulpit or Pulpit Rock, and by the old local name Hyvlatonnå, is a massive cliff 604 metres (1982 feet) above Lysefjorden, opposite the Kjerag plateau, in Forsand, Ryfylke,Norway. The top of the cliff is approximately 25 by 25 metres (82 by 82 feet) square and almost flat, and is a famous tourist attraction in Norway. During the four summer months of 2009, approximately 130,000 people took the 3.8 km (2.4 mi.) hike to Preikestolen, making it one of the most visited natural tourist attractions in Norway.
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When I researching for places to visit in Norway, I chanced up some photos of Pulpit’s Rock and Kjerag. It seemed like a good trek with some fascinating views of Lysefjorden. The only problem was that there were very few details to get there. After searching a lot and contacting a few people I figured how to get there. You have to take a bus to Tau and from there take a ferry across the sea to a bus stop. From the bus stop, you can get to Preikestolhytta (youth hostel) where the climb starts. The climb is not long but tiring as you continuously go up and down by the edge of the Fjords and takes about two hours each way. In some places it is downright dangerous to climb as you have nothing much other than a chain to cling to and a crackegde to put your foot on. The fall can be several hundred meters.
It was raining during my stay at Stavanger and the rain continued during the trek. That make the trek worse as I was carrying my camera and completely drenched as I reached the top. It was misty and it was hard to see more than a few meters ahead. But the views were magnificent whenever the mist receded. There were few people that day due to the weather. About 70% of the people did not reach the end of the trek as they decided it was too dangerous to go on or were ill-prepared. Those who reached the top alongwith me were greeted with thick mist. At the end, there were only about 50-60 stubborn people who stayed back. I was determined to get a good glimpse of the Lysefjorden below and stayed back hoping that the skies would clear. They did clear and our patience was rewarded some of the most awesome views of Lysefjorden below.
Among the people who stayed back were a group of models who had climbed all the for a photo shoot and a married couple who wanted to take their wedding pictures in the scenic surroundings. The upside of the inclement weather was that there were few people on Pulpit’s rock.
Published by Vinayak Hegde on 9th May 2010
Fjords are U-shaped valleys dug out by glaciers. When the ice melted during the Ice Age, these u-shaped valleys were formed. The dramatic steep valleys (some rising upto 1400m above sea level from the sea) provide a amazing backdrop to clouds nestling the tops and small houses at the foothills.
A cruise through the fjords is a fantastic experience. I visited the Sognefjord and Nærøyfjord in Western Norway using the Norway in a Nutshell tour. It worked out cheap for me as I was able to use the Eurail pass for part of the journey from Bergen to Myrdal. The journey from Myrdal to Flam using the Flam Railway (FlamsBana) is very scenic as it runs on one of the steepest gradients in the world. On the way the trains stops at the Kjosfoss waterfalls where there is a small platform where the passengers can get down.
After the scenic cruise through the Nærøyfjord – a World Heritage Site, you come to the town of Gudvangen from where you can take a bus to the town of Voss situated by the Fjord on the way back to Bergen.
Published by Vinayak Hegde on 3rd May 2010
Bergen was founded by a Viking King (love the alliteration there) almost 1000 years ago. It was also a Hanseatic trading town in the middle ages but nowadays it is known as the gateway to the beautiful fjords of Norway. It is also Norway’s second largest town and a big university town.
Bryggen is the Bergen’s Quayside with old wooden houses. They are a distinctive landmark of Bergen and can be found on every travel brochure in Norway. Bryggen is also a UNESCO World Heritage Site. This part of Bergen has been gutted by fires many time in the past and has been reconstructed many times – the most recent being in 1955.
Bergen is also one of Norway’s rainiest cities and receives precipitation about 280 days out of 365 days a year. I was lucky that I did not encounter much rain during my stay there. The city is beautifully lit during the night and it is fantastic to take a walk around the city at night. It is also very safe and has a vibrant nightlife. I did not stay for much time in Bergen as it was just a stopover for going to the majestic fjords in the West. After a nap during the day, I ventured out in the evening and at night to take some photos of this beautiful city.
