Shamrock Report #17

We had strong headwinds during the night resulting in fairly rough seas. As a consequence, we arrived in Oslo late at about 3:45 PM. We were following a fairly significant rain storm into Oslo but as we arrived, the sun came out. We, and several of our friends, met for an excursion to Oslo's Maritime Highlights.

The tour started with a quick drive through Central Oslo, which we planned to explore on foot the next day. Our first stop was the famous Viking Ships Museum. The ships on display are well-preserved examples of the Viking period's ship-building craftsmanship. They had been found by farmers in their fields. They were found in Viking burial mounds. The Vikings believed that when they died they went to Valhalla and, that they would need their ships and other implements to survive in that world. There were also displays of household implements that were found during the excavation of the ships. These ships were like the ones that were used to discover America 500 years be fore Columbus.

The next stop was the Kon Tiki Museum, which houses the original balsa raft used by Thor Heyerdahl and his five companions. In 1947, their voyage took them from Peru to Polynesia, cross 1,864 miles of ocean. We saw photos, including their stop at Easter Island. Also on display was the papyrus boat, RA-II, which Heyerdahl used to cross the Atlantic Ocean in 1970 from the Western coast of Afirca.

The final museum stop was to visit the FRAM, built by Colin Archer in 1892 to explore Polar Regions of the Arctic and Antarctic. The ship was built so that when the ice would freeze the ship would be pushed on top of the ice and therefore would not be crushed. The ship made three voyages, each about three years long, one to the North Pole, not to Greenland, and the last to the South Pole by Norwegian explorer Roald Amundsen, who was the first to reach the South Pole in 1910-11. We were able to board the FRAM and walk through the ship looking at the Captain's quarters, the galley and the recreation room. No balconies or even port holes! It was very tight quarters. The three museums are located in the same general area.

Since we were running late because of our late arrival into Oslo, upon return, the six of us quickly dressed for dinner with Ngaire and Ken on their last day. The number of main dishes per person at our table definitely greater than one and included Beef Wellington, Dover Sole, and Florida Lobster Tail. After a leisurely dinner, we said good bye to Ngaire and Ken as they were flying back to Dallas from Oslo. (They will miss Copenhagen tomorrow, but in 9 days, they leave again to escort a Black Sea cruise.)

First Viking ship that we saw


Detailed carving


Second Viking ship


Oars of ship


Inside of ship from above