adventures in *

Only managed 2 hours of sleep, thanks to the jet lag and tram. Headed out around 8:30a to Holmenkollen, using the subway and bus. One ticket system to use the mass transportation here – bus, tram, subway, ferry. Real easy to get around.

The Holmenkollen Nordic Center includes a museum of skiing. It shows the history of telemark and they had wooden skis from 600AD to present day carbon fiber skis.

A short elevator ride to the stop of the jump to get a birds eye view of the city. A weather system moved in overnight and the skies were cloudy, so I didn’t get take any good pictures of the skyline. The ski jump itself was still under construction for the FIS Championships next winter.

Next I took the ferry over to Bygdøy to visit the Viking Ship and Fram museum. Vikings buried their heroes with weapons, jewelry, and even full size ships – to use in the after life. Three ships were on display, dating back to around 800AD, they were in good shape considering how old they are.

The Fram museum houses the ship used by Norwegian explorers Fridtjof Nansen, Otto Sverdrup, Oscar Wisting, and Roald Amundsen, they explored the South and North Pole in the late 1800s to early 1900s.

Rain started to fall, it was starting to feel like Seattle. I walked over to Vigeland Park and risked my camera taking pictures in the heavy rain. There were hundreds of stone statues showing the human form in everyday poses. There weren’t too many people out braving the weather, I practically had the park to myself.

In the morning, I head off to Sogne og Fjord region in the west. Route 55 goes through the mountains, highest point is 4600 feet, I’m hoping it doesn’t snow.