Pupletts in Sweden: Whirlwind Trip of Oslo (29-Feb) - Part 8 - Summary of the trip and some around Oslo shots

This post captures my summary of the things we did it Oslo - I created it for some of my fellow expats who were planning to go. It also shows some random shots from walking around Oslo that didn't fit in the previous posts:

Location of some of the places we visited in Oslo

Fram Museum (4): This was a big building built around a polar ship that travelled to both North and South poles. This was pretty cool but other than the ship (which you can walk on) and a smaller second ship (which you can’t), there wasn’t a lot more content. It was cool to walk around on the ship and see the rooms and the kids got a kick out of it, but I would do this one with the Oslo car, not sure I’d pay 200kr for us all to go otherwise.

Kon-Tiki Museum (6): The entry to this is about 20 steps from the entry to the Fram. It is based around an explorer who sailed from South America to Polynesia (1947) on a reed raft to see if it could be done – and hence be the reason between shared cultural heritage. There are two of the rafts for exhibit and some Easter Island exhibits also. I found the story interesting, but the kids wanted to rush through a bit. Again it was interesting but at 190kr for our family I think I’d do it on the Oslo car but maybe not as a stand-alone.

Maritime Museum (9): This one is co-located with Kon-Tiki and Fram. It was hard to judge as I don’t think we saw it all as the kids were in a rush and a bit ratty. They had a stack of figureheads in the entrance and a painting exhibition on. There were a few interactive computer games upstairs that the kids had fun with. Other than that we didn’t see much more, but as I said, I think we missed a chunk of it.

Viking Ship Museum (16): I really liked this one. It’s not a massive exhibit – they have 3 Viking longboats that were recovered from burial sites, two are almost fully intact and one is a framework only. There are also exhibits on some of the figureheads and also some of the burial items that were recovered. I’d recommend this one, but don’t expect a huge museum and if the history of the boats doesn’t interest you it won’t be too exciting as there’s not much else.

Norwegian Folk Museum (not numbered, but about 10min walk north of 16): This was another one we rushed a little (we wanted to get to Vigelands before it got dark.) This was a huge open area with a bunch of period buildings – some farm buildings and the centerpiece was an awesome 1200s era church that was relocated to the park in the 1800s. Apparently there are normally a lot of exhibits and people in period costumes etc, but we didn’t see much as it was winter offseason and we were a bit rushed for time.

Vigelands Sculpture Park (2): At the risk of becoming a sculpture art nerd, I really liked this. The sculptures are well done and interesting poses. The kids had fun mimicking some of the easier poses and it was a nice relaxing walk at the end of the day.

Oslo City Hall (1): You saw the pics – the murals are amazing. It was free entry so the only constraint is time. I’d definitely recommend a walk through. The younger kids may not get as much out of it (mine raced through a bit) but it was pretty awesome. You can also check out the harbor in front of the hall and see the castle up on the hill to the left as you face the harbor.

Nobel Peace Centre (3): This is a pretty new museum and doesn’t have a massive amount of displays but I found it pretty moving. There was a photo gallery exhibition called “Targets” which focused on what targets militaries in different countries use for shooting practice – It was pretty enlightening. There was a hall with moving screens showing each Nobel winner and a hall dedicated to some of their stories. There were some pictures in the photo hall that were not really kid appropriate (the guy at the desk warned us as we went in – essentially there was a war photo of a man who had lost his legs to a IED – nothing too gory but not what I wanted the kids to see). There was a specific kids section set up throughout the museum where the kids got to follow a trail and read about certain winners (in kid friendly wording) and answer a quiz. If they got the answers right it opened a machine and they got a card. My kids got a real kick from that. Overall there wasn’t a massive amount of content, but I found it pretty moving.

Oslo Reptile Park (15): This one scared me at first – I was expecting a park but instead it was a dingy building. We had to walk through a set of graffitied doors into a courtyard with bins and more graffiti and then down some stairs into a basement. There were no axe murderers waiting for us, but the entrance did smell a bit like pee. Inside was quite interesting – they had a decent collection of frogs, spiders, snakes and even some marmosets. The kids got a real kick out of (Tomas really liked it). I felt some of the terrariums were a little on the small side, but it seemed fairly well kept and they had a good selection of animals that kept the kids interested. If you have a real problem with animals in captivity then it may not be the best option, but the kids enjoyed it and I learnt a bit about some of the animals.

Norway Resistance Museum (10): This is actually inside the walls of the Akershus Castle. It’s a museum detailing Oslo’s resistance against the Germany occupation in World War II. It followed a timeline and showed weapons, caches and communication equipment as well as telling the story of how life was under German occupation. Not a huge museum, but the kids (esp Cameron) found it interesting once I got him to slow down and explained what the background was. I found this one a worthwhile stop in the Castle trip but it was another smaller museum that is worth a visit under the Oslo card but maybe not on its own.

Akershus Castle (4): I always like castles. This one had a small internal tour that was pretty cool. Overall it was a pretty good castle but I guess nothing that we hadn’t seen on our castle tour of Denmark. You can get guided tours and there are plenty more areas inside the walls to explore, but we ran out of time. Worth a visit but don’t expect anything amazingly different to any other castle.

De Kongelige Slot (17): The Royal Palace – Has some nice gardens outside and the palace itself looks pretty cool. There was a big snow area out the front and lots of families playing. We didn’t go inside (not sure if you even can as it is the Norwegian Royal Families Palace) but it was worth a quick look.
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Oslo Central Station

Tiger and potential tiger food at Central Station

Memorial (Called Knus Nasismen - Crush Nazism) for the Osvald Group and State Railway employees fallen in World War II - Osvald Group was a Norwegian sabotage organization. The quote says "It was worth fighting for the freedom—for all nations, for all races, for all classes, for all people"

Tom loved this piper statue which was just outside the harbour, he thinks its a pirate piper: