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Norwegian Dream Cruise : Trip Report

Oslo, Norway

What a way to end the trip. Oslo is a beautiful city and very pleasant. Once again the tour we signed up for wasn't worth it but we did like the city. It was scenic and relaxing, just what we needed after many days of intensive touring.

We were driven around the city a little, then we visited the goofy Norwegian Folk Museum, an outdoor museum of traditional Norwegian buildings. The grass roofs were the most interesting part. All the houses here are original and were moved here from various parts of Norway. I noticed on the map that there was a Viking museum right next door that I really wish we could have visited.

After that we were taken for a 10 minute visit to a park dedicated to the sculpture of Gustav Vigeland. They were "interesting" to say the least. I can see why they were controversial to begin with. I wish our tour guide told us what they were before hand, I probably would have taken more and better pictures. Oh well. In case you're wondering, they are scultures depicting various stages of life.

Then finally we were taken to the opposite side of the bay where we boarded an old ship over 100 years old. There was a Kon-Tiki Museum near the docs that I wish we could have visited as well. There we were treated to a very simple bread, butter and boiled shrimp lunch. I wonder what someone who didn't like eat shrimp was going to eat? Oh well, we were all hungry and ate them up. The boat took us on a very slow tour of the Olsofjord and were shown a few sights. Overall the cruise was pretty boring.

If you were expecting one of those Fjords with tall sheer walls you've seen in pictures, like we were, you will be very disappointed. We're told that this side of Norway the Fjords are very deep but not that much sticks out above water. The really impressive looking Fjords are on the west side of Norway.

After that we were dropped off at a pier right next to our ship. Instead of calling it a day we climbed to the top of the Akershus Castle & Fortress that was right there. Unfortunately "some members" of my group were castled-out so they didn't want to go inside. They just wanted to walk around and take in the view from the top.

Click on thumbnail for a full-size picture

That's all folks! The only thing left to do is check out my References Section for a list of books and websites we found helpful in planning our travel.