Oh Slow (down)!
July 20th - 21st, 2016
After the peace and calm of the last week in the fjords, coming to Oslo was almost shocking-we are back to city life with tons of traffic and people. Before we got to Oslo, we felt like we received a grand finale from Norway! Every turn was another epic view of what Norway has to offer and it became dangerous since it was hard for Chuck to keep his eyes on the road. We made sure to pull over when it felt appropriate. Without logic, we even decided we had to put our feet in the water, maybe just to see if what we were seeing was real? It sure was real, reeeaaaal cold, but it was a warm day!
This is what we kept passing on our way to Oslo.
We are only here for a day, well actually about half a day, as we pass onto Copenhagen. We walked over to the opera house which is on the water and is designed to look like an iceberg coming out of the water. The structure is building of angled white stone which you can walk on and get to the roof that leads to some pretty great views. We could see the city and a concert going on nearby. We walked around a little and and noticed it is definitely one of the bigger cities and is more diverse and urban than the other Scandinavian cities we’ve visited.
The really cool, and interactive, Oslo opera house.
The drive to Denmark is another 7 hours so we didn’t have time for too much more here. We began our next day with a quick stop at the Viking Ship Museum. It is housed in an old church and has three of the best restored viking ships that were excavated from burial mounds.
Definitely one way to reuse a church.
We were amazed by how huge thee mounds must be with the size of the ships! They were used to bury the elite in society and they would build a wooden tent on top of the ship with their goods to bring to the afterlife and then cover them in soil to form burial mounds. They were dated around 900 AD and were re-exposed in the early 1900s.
Amazing that these were buried!
Unfortunately, they had been looted during Viking days, so any treasures that were buried with the people are missing. However, there were still many artifacts still in incredible shape, including a skeleton, textiles, decorative wooden objects, sleighs, and the burial tents. We finally said goodbye to Norway with experiences and views that will last a lifetime! On to Denmark!
