2024 Viking Homelands - Day #11 - Oslo, Norway

Behind Closed Doors at the Munch Museum

Works and Restoration of Norway’s Masterpieces

Enjoy Privileged Access to Oslo’s Munch Museum on an exclusive behind-the-scenes tour.

Connect with the brilliance of Edvard Munch, Norway’s beloved expressionist artist, and get a sneak peek at the inner workings of the museum. Meet your expert art historian and enjoy a guided tour of the exhibition, stopping to marvel at Munch’s work. Discover more about this captivating artist and his long and successful career, which began at the age of 17. Step behind the scenes and see the museum’s private collection of printing plates that showcase Munch’s innovative and surprising techniques. Next, gain exclusive insight into the work of the conservation department and meet the museum’s team of skilled craftsmen, who painstakingly restore precious works and prepare masterpieces for viewing. After your tour, enjoy coffee and cake before returning to your awaiting ship.

The ship was in port in Oslo overnight. Before breakfast, Sharon and I went to the Fitness Center. Sharon did a 10 minute Peloton Core workout with me. Afterwards, I ran on the treadmill for thirty plus minutes, while Sharon did a weights workout.

We had a late breakfast in the restaurant. I had an egg and pancake, while Sharon had salmon benedict. We ended up sitting next to a couple that we met on the Stavanger tasting walk (Sue and Wiston).

We didn't end up using the morning as well as we might have. I had hoped to walk to City Hall and the Opera House. Instead, we had a lazy morning. I did some laundry; I washed my workout clothes. Sharon did some shopping on the pier, including buying a rain poncho. We also explored the ship, including the sports deck and the sun deck. We putted for a little while on the putting green on the sports deck.

Our excursion for the day was a small group guided tour of the Munch Museum. The group only included ten people.

We got an overview of the Munch and his work with some coffee and cake. Kvæfjordkake, also known as "Verdens beste" (Norwegian for "The World's Best"), is a Norwegian dessert cake consisting of three layers: a base of sponge cake, a layer of vanilla custard, and a meringue topping. It is often garnished with almonds and whipped cream.

The guide took us through the main three exhibition floors. She did a very nice job. After the guided tour, we had a presentation by someone working on restoring and maintaining the painting, e.g. behind the scenes; this presentation was mediocre at best. We had a few minutes to go back on our own, but could have spent a much longer time wandering the museum.

After the excursion, we had a snack in the Pool Grill. From there, we went to the Explorers' Lounge, watched the ship sail away from Oslo and finally said goodbye to Norway. Norway is a beautiful country!

We joined a common table in The Restaurant for dinner. It included a couple from Australia and a couple from Minnesota. I had the destination menu, including Halibut. Sharon had a caesar salad and lamb chops.

After dinner, We went to the Torshavn bar to listen to live music. Although we had intended to crash early, it was almost 11 pm by the time we went to bed.