Last Day in Norway (sounds like a song)
Beautiful day! High today was 700, no rain, hardly a cloud in the sky, perfect day for touring. We started early and took the metro and city bus to the Folk Museum. This is about 40 minutes out from the apartment so much better to ride than walk.
This is an outdoor museum with about 160 buildings that have been moved here to show how life has evolved in Norway over the last 1,000 years. This museum also has re-enactors dressed in the period that are performing everyday tasks that would have happened in the 13th century. During the summer, this place is wall-to-wall people but today, not more than 30 people at the entry. Perfect!
Entry was about $14.00USD each with our senior discount, a real value. Once inside we headed for the Gol stave church to get some good photos before the crowd of tourists arrive. This church is the centerpiece for the museum and gets pretty crowded.
The Gol stave church is named as such due to it being from the community of Gol. Built in 1212AD, this “stave” church was sold to the Society for the Preservation of Ancient Norwegian Monuments in 1880 after the community built another church. Before the Society could rebuild the church in a new location, King Oscar II purchased it and had the church moved and reconstructed at his private open-air museum in Oslo. And here it has resided ever since. Trivia note: After Gol sold the church and realized the revenue that Oslo was making from tourists viewing it, they built a replica to get back in the game. That’s the stave church we posted earlier!
Interior detail
The nave
Painting over the altar, circa 1212
Door trim detail carving
Grumpy re-enactor
So, why is it called a “stave” church? A stave is a medieval wooden church that derives its name from the post and lintel construction, a type of timber framing where the load-bearing corner posts are called, “stafr” in old Norse, “stav” in modern Norse.
We enjoyed the rest of the museum, taking our time to stroll through the buildings and talk with the re-enactors. The young woman in the celebration home was busy weaving a belt when we entered. She described the technique she was using, the design of the finished belt and how long it would take to compete the project. (1 week or so!) The finished belt would be used by one of the re-enactors in the museum.
Typical storage shed 1600’s
Typical storage shed 1500’s
Inside door detailed carvings and lock
Birch bark insulation, sod on top, roof
Wonderful young lady “tablet” weaving a belt
The next person we spoke with was making a dowel. Looked to me like he was just whittling down a twig but he said it was going to be used by the young woman making the belt, for a future weaving. Seems her thread keeps falling off the spindle while she is tablet weaving (a specific style of weaving using cards to hold each thread), so he was making a spindle that is concave to help keep the threads to the center. Everything that is made in the museum is used by the museum re-enactors.
A typical farm from 1600. Better grass on the roof than I can grow in my yard!
Fence
Ornate storage shed
All this walking and reading is making us a little hungry so time to head back to the coffee shop for the fika. Nothing like a slice of caramel cheesecake and a roasted pecan Danish to perk up the old metabolism.
Caramel cheesecake-YUM!
Roasted pecan Danish-YUM as well!
Back on the metro, we headed for the Edvard Munch museum to see his famous painting, “The Scream”. Munch was a famous Norwegian artist who was greatly influenced by Impressionists like Monet, Manet, and post-impressionists van Gogh, Cezanne and others. Most of Munch’s paintings depicted death, terror, love and loneliness using contrasting lines, dark colors and exaggerated forms. “The Scream” is one of his most famous paintings and is part of the permanent collection stored at the museum in Oslo.
But today it is not on display! According to the young lady at the ticket counter, after having the picture on display for the summer, it was time for it to “rest”. Apparently, the type of paint media (tempera, crayon, oil) and because it is painted on cardboard, the picture requires “resting” from light which damages the pigment. Instead, we can view several of Munch’s other paintings absolutely free. Deal!
The Vampire
Anxiety
Mural for the art museum in 1930
That wraps up our regularly scheduled program for the day. Next, we need to decide where to have lunch. Yep, time to eat again! The Hard Rock is right down the street so hamburger and fries sounds pretty good. Not to mention a couple of good tunes!
Downtown Oslo in the theater district
Hard Rock Cafe
Tomorrow we leave Oslo for Denmark. Our drive will take us through Kristiansand (3hr 40min drive), then a 3hr 15min ferry ride across the Skagerrak strait to Denmark, then a 1hr 40min drive to Hanstholm. While we’re in Kristiansand, we’ll visit a WW2 installation that has the 2nd largest land cannon, 337 tons, the 380mm Krupp cannon! Then once we arrive in Hanstholm, we visit the sister battery housing more than 28 bunkers and a 150mm cannon. Collette is in heaven!
Senere dudes!