Oslo Part 2

This post is all about Bygdoy, Oslo's museum island. Getting to it is easy, there's ferries, busses and taxis that all head there. It's got a wealth of museums and interesting sights, all of which, are included in the Oslo pass, which also includes public transport. It's well worth getting one for a couple of days, just head to the tourist information in the main train station to get one.

The first museum is the Norwegian museum of cultural history was an incredible museum. It features many buildings taken from around Oslo and re-erected, to show you haw many different regions of Norway look and live. It's the largest museum of the island, and so will take the longest to visit. But it is well worth it.

Just up from there is the Viking ship museum. It contains three longboats, possibly used for raiding in England and abroad. This is electrifying, you are so close to them you could almost touch them. It's a clean, simplistic museum that only further highlights how special these boats are.

The sleek profile of this boat meant it would have been almost silent. It's beautifully built, not a nail out of place. If you love Viking history, this is the one for you.

Now the Kon-Tiki was something I had never heard off until James mentioned it the night before we went. The Kon-Tiki was a raft made of Balsa wood, and said from Chile, across the sea to the Polynesian islands. Wow.

Wow.

This museum not only tells you how and why, but it makes you feel it. You can almost feel the excitement of the voyage, almost smell the salt spray. This is a must see attraction in Oslo, and you are sorely missing out if you do not visit it.

This is the famous Kon-Tiki, and the one underneath was another ship, made of reeds called Ra 2. Both of them are impressive vessels, and it's crazy to think these both travelled hundred of miles on the sea.

The final museum on the island that we visited was the Fram museum. By this point, we were getting tired and a little museum'd out, but it was still interesting. It features the famous polar exploring vessel Fram, one of the most advanced ships of its age, and it's trips up to the north pole. Sorry I din't take any photos here!

And one final thing, while not on museum island, the national gallery is worth visiting too. Most importantly it has many pieces of art by Munch, and most notably, the scream.

How one painting can have such an effect on your is extraordinary. Just by looking at it, I could feel the sorrow and pain, while the colours washed over me and the room, only making me more and more desperate to know more about this sorrowful character.

                                                           It truly is, a piece of art.