The Eleventh Day: Viking Museum, Oslo

Monday, February 11: 

I journeyed through Oslo today while Chris had work meetings. I went to the Viking Museum. Check this place out:

This was my favourite ship at the museum, the Oseberg ship. It was built in Norway around 820A.D. and discovered in 1903. It's widely considered one of the richest Viking finds in history. The ship is well preserved, as well as the remains of two women buried with the ship, and a variety of "grave gifts," presents to accompany the women into the after-life.

The Tuneskipet. This ship was found in 1876,  "at a time when modern archaeology was only just developing. It was pulled from its grave quickly and roughly. Both the man buried in the ship and most of the items that followed him to the grave were either lost or destroyed. These items are described in notes that were made during the excavation, but most of them disappeared during or just after the excavation and never came into the museum. The items that still exist are unfortunately in very poor condition."

"About the year 900AD, a rich and powerful man died, and the Gokstad ship was used for his burial... The skeleton shows that he was a man in his 40s, of powerful build and between 181 and 183 cm tall. Signs of cutting blows to both legs indicate that he died in battle. A cut to the right shin bone shows that he would not have been able to stand upright, but a knife wound to the inside of the right thigh indicates the probable cause of death. Striking at the legs was a common fighting technique in Viking times and the middle ages."

The burial chamber from the Gokstad ship.

I left the museum, and took this from the bus ride back to the hotel:

Then, I made the impromptu choice to get off a few stops early and photograph The Nationaltheatret.

Right across from the theatre is this building, which I later learned is an old University. 

The Oslo Cathedral. The red heart reads "The Greatest of All is Love." This is a memorial/remembrance of the terrorist attacks on Oslo on July 22, 2011.

After wandering around the main part of the city for a while, I headed back to our hotel. Chris's meeting went long, and he asked if I'd be able to be at the hotel and welcome some of the Norwegian educators for their 3:00 demo. It was cool to be able to meet some of the guys, and I hung around to watch the demo. It was great to see Chris in action. He's great at what he does.

After the demo, we extended the work meeting into cocktails at the bar on the 34th floor of the hotel. (Chris and I ordered pineapple juice. haha.) We then went to a local steak house for dinner, which was delicious.

We fly out tomorrow, but we're going to try to visit a few other places before we go. It will be another early morning, so I'm gonna catch some sleep while I can!

Cheers!
Kami & Chris, the Pseudo-Osloers