Oslo

July 10 - Oslo

Click a picture to see a larger view.

Although Oslo is at the same latitude as St. Petersburg, it feels close to the Artic. Norway bears more evidence of the ice age than perhaps any other country, with deep, long fjords reaching like fingers from south to north. Oslo is at the tip of one of these fjords. It was quite a ways up that fjord, taking our ship five hours to cruise from the Baltic up to the city.

OK, now that we visited Norway, we had to know what exactly a fjord is. Although it appears to be a wide river, it is a long extension of the ocean. Water flows from the ocean inward rather than the other way around as in a river. That means that the water is salty sea water. Sea water abounds in Norway. Of over three hundred lakes in and around Oslo, only three have fresh water.

The old part of Oslo hugs the port. This was the only city on our itinerary in which we could walk from the ship into town in short order. But walk into town we did not do. Our tour started at the same dock as the ship in which we took a large boat around the fjord. There were two things that we quickly discovered: People live all over the small islands around Oslo and these are boat people. Norwegians have a proud history of ship building up to the current day and one in four have own a boat.

At the Maritime museum we boarded an old wooden sailing ship that holds the distinction of being the first ship to visit both the North and the South poles. This was done in the late 1800’s and early 1900’s. The ship was sailed into the site of the museum and the museum was then built around it.

The city of Oslo takes in a lot of territory. 80% of it is in forests and is the home of over 5,000 elk. One site of which the people of Oslo are particular proud is the ski jump situated high above the city. This jump was used in the 1952 Winter Olympics.

The citizens of Oslo are also proud of their king, who, at age 70, remains an avid cross-country skier.

Oslo is also home of the Nobel Peace Prize. We first saw the place in which the Nobel Prizes are awarded in Stockholm. However, those are all the other awards. The Peace Prize is awarded in Oslo.