British Isles Explorer Ocean Cruise

Day 22: Tuesday, April 28, 2026 - Oslo, Norway

The day's statistics:
⛅ Weather: upper 50s
👟 Steps: Linda 14,068; Steve 14,708

The last full day of this trip. 😢
The elevators - similar to those we've ridden elsewhere in Europe - had a nifty feature. When in the lobby, you select the floor you want to go to, then scan your room key. When on your floor, when you select the lobby, the system tells you what elevator to take, where it is, and about how long it will take for the car to arrive.

When we have breakfast - particularly a buffet - at a new location, I try to get a picture of the spread as it is usually nice. For some reason, maybe because I was tiring or it was too early, I didn't get one here, and it was the only day it would be up for us too. Bummer.
Our excursion was at 9:00, so we arose at our usual time, got ready for the day, and made our way downstairs.
After our meal, we returned to the room, brushed, gathered our excursion items, and headed back down to the lobby for the excursion.

We had to cross the street as there wasn't enough room for the bus to pull up in front of the hotel.
After we all boarded, we headed out to begin our tour of a drive through the city.
Our guide was Signa, and our driver was Erik.
Oslo was founded in the 1100s, but the exact date is actually unknown.
The city has burned down 20 times, though the last time was in 1624. Each time the city was rebuilt, it wasn't rebuilt in the exact same spot.
In 1925, the city name of Oslo was again returned, replacing Christiana.
We first passed the fairly new Deichman Bjørvika (Deichman Library), with a sculpture out front.

Across from the library was a statue of Kirsten Flagstad, a famed Norwegian Opera Singer - because also across the street from the library was the opera house (I couldn't get a shot of that as I was on the other side of the bus and it was a rather large building that was too close to the bus too).

On the next block, at the end overlooking the harbor, was the Munch Museum.

Further on, as we passed this particular building, I noticed something in front of it. After a moment, I realized it was a drone. Then as we started pulling away, I saw it start to clean a window and or the side of the building.



On our route, we passed the opera house again. But this time I was able to get a shot of it.

Continuing on.


We stopped near the harbor and heard about the city, some of the structures, and some artwork. We saw City Hall and the Nobel Peace Prize building. Across the way was also a monstrous cruise ship (non-Viking).









On the way out of the alcove area, we passed the Akershus Fortress.

In the shadow of the fortress was a Memorial to the Deported Jews of Norway, aka "Empty Chairs". We saw a similar sort of memorial when we were in Krakòw, Poland, in 2023.

Then we drove around the front of the fortress.


And further on.






The route took us across the pedestrian street we walked on yesterday, with the Pateet Mall right there, and the Royal Palace in the distance.


Continuing on, including espying a Porsche Targa, and a Rolls Royce.







Why Viking did NOT provide VOX devices for this post-cruise extension excursions we don't understand.
We arrived at the south end of the [Gustav] Vigeland Park, a large 110 acre park with a lake / pond, but had to drive around to the north side so we could walk down hill to the other side. He was such a renowned artist, they gave him space in the park to erect his artwork.
The park contains a total of 630 sculptures.






To our right was the Wheel of Life sculpture.

Ahead was the sculpture known as the Monolith. What made this carved piece so special was that it was one large slab of granite that was 20 meters (64 feet) tall, and had 121 human figures carved into it.

Signa guided us completely around the Monolith, viewing all 36 larger-than-life unique statues. Generally, the sculptures represented the many stages of life, from friends, love, marriage, family, getting older, and ultimately, dying.
The statues also represented feelings of love, joy, passion, despair, and anger.
considering some of the detail - in MARBLE - it was rather remarbleable remarkable.
















There were pairs of gates - 4, I believe - circling the monolith.




We proceeded south to the Fountain.


The fountain had a large quantity of bronze figures around the perimeter, most in small groups. These groups were each around trees, Trees of Life. And a cluster hold up a large - huge - bowl in the middle.












Not only were there large statues with the trees erected around the rim, there were raised reliefs representing the Circle of Life along the side too.




After the fountain we continued on to the bridge - which was lined on both sides with yet more statues. However, the hospitality strikers were gathering on the bridge for a rally of some sort, so some of our observations were otherwise obscured and or eliminated.
The tall pillars at the ends in the first shots show a battle between a human (representing good) and a serpent (representing evil).



And continuing across the bridge.






The striking workers adorned this one statue in a hat and vest (for some reason). Our guide removed the vest to show us the statue and was going to put it back, but a nearby striker said they would take care of it.
The baby's left hand is "polished", indicating it is touched by a LOT of people...

And still continuing across the bridge (it was a long bridge...)










On the far side of the park, through the gate, was the bus waiting to take us to the next destination, which was about fifteen minutes away.



Our route took us past the harbor.

The Kon-Tiki Museum was the next stop.

A fellow traveler actually read about this boat in school. Neither Linda nor I did, though.
In 1947, Norwegian adventurer and explorer Thor Heyerdahl led a 101 day expedition of six (including him) 6,900 km (4,300 miles) across the Pacific Ocean from South America to the Polynesian islands. By raft. This raft.
The raft on display had video projected water around it.
The raft was rather crude looking considering it held six, and sailed for more than three months.





There was a basement / lower level area in order to see the underside.
A wooden cage was installed on the raft too. A video simulation, as well as some stuffed fish showed how the cage could be useful in fishing and acquiring food.


Elsewhere in the museum were some (actual) artifacts from the expedition, including some replica Easter Island heads as Heyerdahl visit the island.








The museum was very interesting.

After our visit to Kon-Tiki, we walked across the parking lot to... another famous ship related museum.

This museum was dedicated to a ship called Fram. It was a ship that was used in the first expeditions of both the Arctic and Antarctic regions, and the captains were the Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen between 1893 and 1912.

The 39 meter (127 feet) long by 10 meter (34 feet) wide ship was contained in a building with a soaring roof to accommodate the masts, but only had three stories of walkway around it that contained information about the ship, captain, crew, and expeditions, while granting access to the main deck and below deck from the second floor.
The ship's hull was atypical that it had a bulging hull in order to protect it from potentially crushing ice.
There was a wind "turbine" (it looked like a windmill, but because it generated electricity, it could be considered a turbine). There were no reports of any of the crew succumbing to ear cancer. There was a crew capacity of 16.
After a brief history lesson from Signa, we were set free for an hour to tour and look around. We chose to check out the ship, and started on the main deck.



Then we followed the roped and arrowed path below deck to tour the various areas below deck including quarters, the galley, open room, dining hall, supply areas, and mechanical area.




















The path below deck took us all the way to the bow on one side, before returning to the stern on the other.
We had to walk across a little bit of the deck to disembark.

While we were on the second level, we toured the items on display as they related to the Arctic expedition.
It is a little hard to believe how much they accomplished with such rudimentary equipment.












On the first floor were two maps showing the expedition routes: the Arctic and Antarctic.


Of course, we had to leave through the gift shop, that also offered a small collection of figures from Vigeland Park.


This museum was another very interesting visit - learning about another ship we had no previous knowledge of.

It was time to return to our hotel.
We boarded the bus and headed back. On the way, as we passed the ski jump used in the 1952 Winter Olympics. Signa noted that in the past - 1952 and 60s - there would be 100 days of snow a year. Now they only get about 30 days of snow.

Along the harbor, we saw the former summer palace residence.

The ride back to the hotel was rather short - fifteen minutes or so.
We were dropped off across the street where we got on the bus to begin with.
But rather than go to the hotel, we headed out to lunch.

Before leaving on the trip, Linda read about a restaurant called "Mamma Pizza". It was at the end of the next block from the bus drop-off spot.
We went inside, sat, and perused the menu.

Seeing how big the pizza was at the table across the aisle, we ordered a Regina Margherita - so we can compare it to Italy's - to share.
It was a really this crust pizza. But it was very good.

From the restaurant, rather than head back to the hotel a couple blocks away, we headed in the other direction.
We were only six blocks from the Deichman Bjørvika (Deichman Library) - the same one that we passed on the bus earlier - that was across the street from the opera house.


This was almost more like a community center than a library as it had a bar, restaurant, and a café.



The library had about six or seven floors, with a pentagon patterned opening from the skylight all the way to the first floor.

After the first floor, we visited the second and third too.







On the way down the escalator to the first floor again, we noticed the gift shop.

On the way out, we passed the "hold" rack, and the restaurant.

Again, across the street was the Opera House. In front was the statue of Kirsten Flagstad.
Now, we get to see it closer, and stationary.

We stepped inside and saw the lobby. It reminded me of a wood-clad Guggenheim Museum...


We went back out through doors a little further down, then circled back around to the side (on the right looking at the library from the library).
Across the harbor was a large warehouse being converted to offices and apartments.

The roof of the opera house was special. Pedestrians can go up on the roof. They can take the stairs to the left, or climb the slope. All the way up about seven floors. We weren't feeling it. Plus, we had something else in mind.


As we walked around the back of the opera house, we saw the sculpture in the water that we saw... on the bus.

We kept walking past the opera house, crossed a bridge over an inlet, and headed to the Munch Museum.



Rather than enter the main entrance, we went around the side. Signa told us about the view from the 12th floor of the museum. So we headed to the deck. But when we entered the facility, there was a café. So we sat and had coffee first. There was a small signboard on the table.
Munch... The Scream...

I wanted to run up to the 12th floor to get some pictures. Linda waited at the table for me. It was an express elevator to the 12th - and there was a restaurant up there, a bar, and an outdoor patio area.
I did the best I could through the windows with tinting, seeing the opera house and library, and landscape.


I discovered that I could walk down one flight and step out onto the patio. From here I got a better shot of the surrounding, including the statue Moren (The Mother), and more of the landscape. The fourth side of the floor was only accessible from the museum.




It was a quick ten minute visit to the observation deck / restaurant.
After returning to the café, we finished the coffee, then headed back to the hotel.

On the way back, I took a fashion photo.

We headed straight to the train station area in order to get a dinner salad. But we had to get there first.


I took a shot of the Oslo station sign, but a bird photobombed it. So I took it again. But Linda liked the bird, so I retained it...

We decided to NOT go to the train station mall, but rather try the mall across the street - to the right of the hotel. We found in the lower level was Meny market. They had a make-your-own-salad. So we assembled a southwest chicken style salad with nacho chips. We took it back to the hotel.
We finally got a look inside the lobby.

In our room, we enjoyed our salad.

Based on the timestamp, this must have been in our room somewhere, perhaps hanging on a wall.

We had another early start in the morning, so we were washed up and in bed by 9:00, with our alarm set early.

 <    Summary    1     2     3     4     5     6     7     8     9     10     11     12     13     14     15     16     17     18     19     20     21     22     23     >