After breakfast, join your guide for a tour of Oslo. You will see the Akershus Fortress, which has guarded the harbor for centuries; the Royal Palace, home to the beloved Norwegian royal family; the Parliament; and the National Theater. You will also visit the Norwegian Maritime Museum and learn about Norway’s seafaring history that spans over centuries. Enjoy the rest of the day at your leisure; dinner is on your own.
We spent the morning on a driving tour of Oslo. The guide did a nice job talking about Oslo and Norway's history. I didn't realize that Norway, Sweden and Denmark's histories were so interwoven. We drove by the Opera House, the Akershus Fortress, the Royal Palace, the Parliament and City Hall. The tour gave us a nice overview of the layout of the city that we will useful when we stop at Oslo on the cruise next week.The Opera House is on the fjord and designed to look like an ice burg when it snows and the fjord freezes over. I am going to try and get a picture of it when we are back next week.
As part of the tour, we walked through the Vigeland Sculpture Park in Frogner Park. It features over 200 sculptures and fountains by Norwegian sculptor Gustav Vigeland.
We finished the tour at the Maritime Museum with a talk about the Vikings and Viking boats.
Dropped off at the hotel, Sharon and I wandered down Egertorget, the major shopping district, and had lunch at Olivia. We both had a shrimp salad.
After lunch, we headed to the National Museum. They had a nice collection of Edvard Munch, including a version of his painting the scream. We are going to the Munch Museum on a behind the scenes tour next week. The museum had a couple of nice painting by Picasso as well as some by Monet, Manet and Degas.
I really enjoyed the special exhibition of Mark Rothko. It traced the development of his style from the 1930s to the 1960s.
Sharon did some clothes shopping on the way back to the hotel.
Two of our three bags showed up just before we left for dinner. Unfortunately, Sharon's big bag with most of her clothes and shoes is still sitting in Denver. The situation is creating a lot of stress... We had to leave the bags that we just got in the hall before we went to dinner; they will be transported to Bergen overnight.
We finished the night with dinner at Klosteret. I had the five serving fixed menu, while Sharon had the three. It included an interesting salad, a smoked salmon entree, a duck entree, a cheese plate and a chocolate dessert. The food and the accompanying wine pairing was very good.
After dinner, Sharon talked again to Viking representative about the status of her luggage; this person seemed to have a better sense of what to do. It was almost 10:30 pm by the time we crashed.
Footnote. I am writing this entry on the train ride from Oslo to Bergen using my cell phone as a hot spot.
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